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Topic: Piano concertos that are not so hard for the orchestra? (Read 2013 times)

manuelc23

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Piano concertos that are not so hard for the orchestra?

on: October 25, 2022, 01:22:34 AM

Hi, I want to play a piano concerto with a local orchestra next year, they have some pros but also a lot of people that didn't actually study music and may have some trouble with difficult parts.
For now they want only 1 movement : (
They seem fine playing Grieg piano concerto and some Mozart piano concertos. But someone else is gonna try to play Mozart so I want something different, I was thinking about Chopin concertos but I don't know how hard are the orchestral parts.

I would appreciate any suggestions regardless of the piano technical difficulties!
Thanks in advance

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adariation

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Posts: 21

Re: Piano concertos that are not so hard for the orchestra?

Reply #1 on: October 25, 2022, 12:35:52 PM

I think I may know the perfect pieces.
Could you tell me some other pieces you played/orchestral pieces.
Do you have a full orchestra or a string chamber group?
And would you want something beautiful, like a nice 2nd movement or something to show off

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manuelc23

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Posts: 9

Re: Piano concertos that are not so hard for the orchestra?

Reply #2 on: October 25, 2022, 05:02:11 PM

Quote from: adariation on October 25, 2022, 12:35:52 PM

I think I may know the perfect pieces.
Could you tell me some other pieces you played/orchestral pieces.
Do you have a full orchestra or a string chamber group?
And would you want something beautiful, like a nice 2nd movement or something to show off

It's a full orchestra
I would like something that is beautiful but also something that has some show-off parts, like cadenzas or just octaves, something like that.
For context, this is the repertoire that I'm working on and it's assigned for the scholar year (2022-2023):
Bach: Prelude and Fugue no.22, Book 1
Chopin: Etude op 10 no.2
Chopin: Ballade 4
Chopin: prelude no. 24
Ravel: Barque Sur l'ocean
Mozart: Sonata in a minor
Armengol: Fantasiosa
Liszt: etude (to pick)

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hmoll53

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Re: Piano concertos that are not so hard for the orchestra?

Reply #3 on: October 25, 2022, 06:36:26 PM

Quote from: manuelc23 on October 25, 2022, 05:02:11 PM

It's a full orchestra
I would like something that is beautiful but also something that has some show-off parts, like cadenzas or just octaves, something like that.
For context, this is the repertoire that I'm working on and it's assigned for the scholar year (2022-2023):
Bach: Prelude and Fugue no.22, Book 1
Chopin: Etude op 10 no.2
Chopin: Ballade 4
Chopin: prelude no. 24
Ravel: Barque Sur l'ocean
Mozart: Sonata in a minor
Armengol: Fantasiosa
Liszt: etude (to pick)

Schumann, Rachmaninoff No.1, Scriabin, Shostakovich No.2, Gershwin Variations, Grieg as you said, maybe Beethoven, Chopin, Kapustin 2

These are all very enjoyable, not too difficult and decent for the orchestra, but some depends on whether you have enough performing forces or not

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Some Current Repertoire:
Scriabin: Sonatas 2,4 and 5
Chopin: Ballade 1,4, Scherzo 1
Rachmaninoff: Concerto 3
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit
Barber: Sonata
Beethoven: Appassionata

adariation

PS Silver Member
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Posts: 21

Re: Piano concertos that are not so hard for the orchestra?

Reply #4 on: October 26, 2022, 07:04:20 AM

Well, if you are going to 1 movement I'd probably say Movement 2 of Rach 2.
But you could also do Ravel/scriabin, im sure the violinists wouldnt mind practising at home a little.
Beethoven 3, mov 1 is also great

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symphonicdance

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Posts: 336

Re: Piano concertos that are not so hard for the orchestra?

Reply #5 on: October 30, 2022, 02:02:52 PM

Conservatory/college/university Orchestra? Professional orchestra? Pretty much depended on how skillful and committed the players are, right? History (what others did in the past) may give you good reference?

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manuelc23

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Posts: 9

Re: Piano concertos that are not so hard for the orchestra?

Reply #6 on: October 30, 2022, 07:39:50 PM

Quote from: symphonicdance on October 30, 2022, 02:02:52 PM

Conservatory/college/university Orchestra? Professional orchestra? Pretty much depended on how skillful and committed the players are, right? History (what others did in the past) may give you good reference?

It's a university orchestra, recently they have done Beethoven Symphony 7, Mozart concerto for clarinet k.622, Bhrams Symphony 3, and Grieg piano concerto. I recently got to hear Grieg piano concerto and the orchestra had some little problems...

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lelle

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Sr. Member
Posts: 2506

Re: Piano concertos that are not so hard for the orchestra?

Reply #7 on: October 31, 2022, 02:55:35 PM

Many years ago when I got the opportunity to play a concerto movement with a local amateur orchestra, I first tried suggesting a movement from Chopins 2nd concerto in f minor, since that orchestral part is quite minimal in many sections. I got the feedback that all the long notes are hard for amateurs to play so we ended up going with the first movement of Beethovens 2nd concerto. So that one could be an option. It sounds like your orchestra is more skilled though so you could check if Chopin is doable for them if you are interested in playing that.

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