Grand-only repertoire

[redhead]

I was wondering if there is any repertoire that can only be played on a grand piano.  I'm not as interested in pieces requiring the extra notes (Bosendorfer), or the sostenuto pedal.   

With those limitations, is the only thing really in play the faster repetition of the double escapement? 

Does that make pieces like Liszt's Erlking (schubert) with all the really fast repeated octaves much harder to play on a vertical at tempo?  Or does it make it impossible?   What about Scarbo?

Are there any pieces that are truly grand-only?



   

[Brian Healey]

There are pieces like Cowell's "The Banshee" and "The Aeolian" that require a grand because you need to use the actual strings (although you can play them on some uprights), but other than that I can't think of any other pieces where you NEED a grand piano.

That's an interesting question, though.



PC load letter?,
Bri

[Vivers]

There are a few prepared piano pieces where you need direct access to the strings (or you can take the front off an upright), but other than that, in terms of the better mechanical action, there probably are bad grand pianos that can't handle stuff that good uprights can, and technology in pianos gets better and better as time goes by.

And I doubt that there is one piece that requires such a perfect piano that only the best would be able to handle it. Then I would go searching for the pianist who could play it.

[dinosaurtales]

There are in fact pieces that require use of the strings - I played the piano part to The Children's March by Percy Grainger, and it requires using 2 different mallots to tap the strings at the end of the piece.

[Bob]

Really anything that needs to sound good.  This may sound simplistic, but a piece with a lot of notes is more difficult to play on an upright.  I'm thinking of a basic grand and a basic upright.  Voicing can be a challenge.

You could take a lot of piano music and play it on an upright.  It just won't sound as good.  It's being able to get the sound you want out of the piano that's the issue.  Upright just aren't going to have the same sound and blending that a grand has.  I suppose the same goes for a poor grand piano as well.

Fast notes.... trills too and grace notes. 


Someone should start a thread on the differences between grands and uprights.  All the differences, and from the perspective of performance, not just how they're constructed.     Unless there is a thread already....

[allchopin]

I believe Prokofievs Diabolical Suggestion requres an imperial grand.

[donjuan]

I believe Prokofievs Diabolical Suggestion requres an imperial grand.

??
interesting belief..

What does the size of the grand have to do with the music choice?  Room choice perhaps..

I think Baladirev's Islamey or Liszt's most virtuosic Hungarian Rhapsodies need a grand simply for the responsiveness required in the repeated notes and such.
donjuan

[BoliverAllmon]

i think prepared piano is the only stuff that needs a grand.

[apion]

There's a Bartok concerto (I believe #2) that requires the pianist to directly pluck some strings.