encores after concerto

[bigwoo358]

i'm playin a concerto with a youth orchestra this sunday and i'm not sure whats the usual amount of time you wait until ur "allowed" to play an encore...like come out 3 times excluding right after you finish or have to hear yells in audience?? not sure on this kind of etiquette lol

and also spoke with the conductor and he seems to be against this encore thing because its "unfair" to other kids and its only a youth orch....i kinda disagree because if u are better and audience wants one...then u should be allowed to play one...i dont know...thoughts?

[Goldberg]

I've only been to a handful of recitals/concerts, and have heard plenty of encores (though, incidentally, the only one I've heard after a concerto was Stephen Hough's rendition of a soothing Mompou piece after the Egyptian concerto of Saint-Saens), including--as if it matters--Islamey by Pogorelich and Chopin's C-sharp minor post. nocturne and Flight of the Bumblebee by Lang "Encore-o-rama" Lang (heh, I'm kidding. Those pieces together are not obnoxiously long for an encore, and indeed Hamelin famously played the op. 111 of Beethoven as an encore somewhere...)

But that's not your question, I know. First of all, forget about what the conductor says. If the audience wants an encore, and you want to give one, then by all means go for it.

I would say that the length of the encore should depend on your judgement of the audience's reaction--the more excited they sound, for instance, the more involved the encore could be--and also on how many curtain calls you get, which is just another way of judging how excited the audience really is. I certainly wouldn't give one if you find it is inappropriate to return to the stage at least once after leaving. Pogorelich, incidentally, played Islamey after *I think* 3 curtain calls (boliver can confirm this I'll bet). Lang Lang seemed to assume we wanted an encore, and I don't actually recall him leaving the stage before playing again--that, not to mention most of the program beforehand, kind of irritated me. Chances are, a 3-5 minute piece will be appropriate.

What did you have in mind? And what piece will you play with the orchestra? In a sense, I think choosing an encore is sort of like picking a wine or a specific dessert or after-meal snack--to be most effective, it has to blend well with the music before it, to give an extended, complete atmosphere. On the other hand, if your concerto is something relatively "profound" like Brahms, or overwhelming like Rachmaninoff, you probably don't need an encore--indeed, it may even degrade the spirit of the performance if you played one in such a case. So the encore and concerto should be compatible.

[gkatele]

The most amazing encore story:

Serkin gave the Berlin début concert by Brandenburg Concerto with Adolf Busch conducting, which won the great applause from the audiences. He kept coming back for bow after bow.

Eventually he said to Busch "What should I play for an encore?"

"How about the Goldberg Variations?" replied Busch.

So, Serkin sat down and played them - all of them.

 




George

[Rach3]

In general, I don't see how it makes sense to have an encore after a concerto. For one thing, for large concertos generally it would demean more than add to the piece that was played. It's also strange for the audience to see the piano playing while the orchestra just sits and watches (vaguely empty feeling). I think its subtly disrespectful (or not so subtly?) to the orchestra/conductor, and their role in the concerto. If the conductor tells you he doesn't want you to encore, you should probably respect that.

On an unrelated note,

Hamelin famously played the op. 111 of Beethoven as an encore somewhere...)

AWESOME!  (and ditto to Rudolph Serkin doing the Goldberg variations)

-Rach3

[gkatele]

At the other extreme, I saw a pianist two years ago at Ravinia (outdoor venue for the Chicago Symphony in the summertime) play the Prokovief 3rd piano concerto. The wine and brie crowd went nuts, demanding an encore.

So he played a tango by Albeniz. It was about a grade 4 piece - I remember playing it (badly) when I was 13. I don't know if he was serious or pulling the crowd's leg.


George

[rob47]

If there is an encore after a concerto performance, generally it will be a movement from another concerto. Valentina did 3rd mvt. of tchaik1 after her Rach2/4 performance i think.

[bigwoo358]

in reponse to Goldberg, i'll be playing only the 1st mvmt of the Grieg...so who knows...i have lots of pieces at hand that could might work (ie. widmung, rach preludes, gerswhin preludes, brahm intermezzo....)...or maybe grieg is enough??

to rach3, yea i do kinda understand what u mean how its "subtly disrepectful" but i'm friends with most of the kids in the youth orch and they're pretty supportive and enthusiastic...but yea...definately can see where ur coming from

[pianiststrongbad]

I heard Olga Kern play the 2nd Rachmaninov Concerto.  She then played the Flight of the Bumblebee and an encore.  Though I really don't see the point of playing an encore after a concerto.

[Goldberg]

I heard Olga Kern play the 2nd Rachmaninov Concerto.  She then played the Flight of the Bumblebee and an encore.  Though I really don't see the point of playing an encore after a concerto.

If you read my earlier post, this is what I'm talking about: playing an encore after a concerto like the Rach 2--*especially* one as trivial and ridiculous as Flight of the Bumblebee (even if it is in the improved Cziffra transcription)--should be generally disregarded as distasteful and obnoxious. At the very most, in that case I might give a mildly tragic, but not devestating (considering the mood of the last movement of Rach 2) Scriabin etude or prelude, or indeed maybe something by Rachmaninoff like the Db prelude (the last one). But still I would discourage it.

However, if it is just the first movement of the Grieg, I would see no real problem in playing a shorter piece, maybe 3 and a half minutes, with no real flashiness (I think quieter pieces after a concerto are much better than louder ones, even if the loud one isn't exactly flashy and virtuostic). A Brahms Intermezzo, for instance, might fit in nicely, or perhaps a folk melody from Grieg (maybe the first Arietta from Lyric Pieces) or something of the sort. Doing something like, say, La Campanella or a comparable piece, however, would be more offensive because that *would* no doubt be regarded as something of a vulgar attempt to draw attention purely to yourself.

I think I mentioned Hough playing Mompou after Saint-Saens--that's a good example. I don't know the piece exactly (it was something like a Nocturne I believe, but maybe that wasn't the precise name), but it was quiet, soothing, and not too detached from the spirit of the 5th concerto. Play something melodic and pleasing to the ear.

[maxy]

If you are mad at the orchestra, go for Beethoven's op. 106.    I heard it was done before...

[Goldberg]

*not sure*

Didn't Saint-Saens play the op. 106 as an encore for a recital when he was like 7 or 10 or something crazy like that? I heard a story that at the end of the recital he offered to play any Beethoven sonata as an encore, and I'm not sure which one he did...

[astroboy]

I went to this concert last month in which an orchestra played a shostakovich symphony, then rachmaninoffs 2nd piano concerto (with geoffrey tozer on piano).. The orchestra was amazing, but i thought the performance of the pianist was, to put it bluntly, crap. YET he played TWO encores, the first was some slow piece which I didn't quite catch the name of, and the second was the aria (theme) from Bach's Goldberg Variations. I really don't know why he chose to finish with the bach, let alone why he did any encores coz the audience wasn't exactly jumping up and down in their seats..

[BoliverAllmon]

I think Argerich (I could be way off here) played Prokofiev's 2nd and for an encore played his 3rd. That kind of thing had to be planned out previously.

boliver