What piece(s) are you currently trying to learn?

Wieniawski's violin concerto no. 2 in D minor

Dont - etudes 5 and 8

Anders, if you are playing rage over a lost penny, have you heard evgeny kissin play it? I saw it on youtube the other day and it reminded me how evocative Beethoven's music is!

At the moment I'm trying to improve my technical skills, so I'm concentrating on:

Schumann - Carnaval Op. 9

Liszt - Zwei Konzertetuden

Plus I'm working my way through Czerny - opus 299 as I have noticed my fingers becoming very complacent and lazy recently :O

I was playing it.. that post is from almost three years ago. :huh: And yes the Kissin recording is pretty damn incredible.

And an insane piece from Final Fantasy 9, Eternal harvest. Really fast 16th's, in 4 different keys with >5 shaps/flats each. Gonna take forever....

I love Eternal Harvest! It's deliciously primal... I tend to rename abstract pieces for myself and I called this one ''samling og leik'' or ''gathering and playing''.

I recently finished learning the Creston Concertino for Marimba (actually that was like last Spring) and Askell Masson's "Konzertstuck" for Snare Drum and Orchestra. I've been in the process of working up Bach's Cello Suite in G for Marimba, and in February I plan on starting Gillingham's Second Concerto for Marimba and Helble's Concerto for Marimba. I also will probably start working on "A Visit to Hell" by Liam Teague, on Steel Pan.

Right now I'm working on memorizing the entire Suite Bergamasque (Debussy, of course)... wrapping up Beety Op.31/2, aaaaaaannd I've just started learning this:

Martha Argerich

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, 13 December 1981

Piano Concerto No.1 in Eb - Franz Liszt.

Yes... the Fliszt. It's a douzy. Here's the Cziffra recording: YouTube - Gy

right now I am learning the Neruda Trumpet Concerto for my Music Juries on tuesday:sadtears:

La Campanella - Liszt

Parralell Octaves (at a horridly fast speed in the left hand), Chromatic scales, trills on Octaves (and not just trills, difficult ones), a trill on an octave stretch that is the melody, jumps up to 2 octaves far.

A Stretch: Octave from thumb to 3rd finger, octave from 3rd to 5th finger and back to the thumb. 2 octave stretch with one hand. "Liszt" octaves.

Bach Italian Concerto: long piece with LOADS of tricky fingers.

Rondo Capriccioso in E minor (Mendelssohn): arpeggios, jumps, but a fairly easy piece comparing to Liszt.

Toccata by Lawrance Dunn (yay!)

On Piano-

(MOZART) Piano Sonata k545

(RACHMANINOFF) Prelude in C# Minor

(RACHMANINOFF) Piano Concerto #1 in F# minor- Best concerto EVER. I love this thing. Especially the cadenza, which I might just go ahead and learn first, even though I'm not there yet.

And then on Flute-

(FAURE) Sicilienne -Very easy, technically, but so hauntingly beautiful.

(BELLAND) Fantasy for solo flute no. 1- Yep, I'm learning my own piece. Because I want to be able to play it, but I can't right now, so I need to practice it a bunch. :)

Concerto in B Minor by Henri Casadesus. Casadesus premiered it himself on viola, announcing it as a newly discovered concerto by Handel. It wasn't until fairly recently that it was discovered to be actually written by Casadesus. Currently I am not playing piano in order to focus on viola, but hopefully I'll start again in the summer (I suck at piano anyways).

YouTube - Julian Bream - Bach Fugue in A minor

This piece, not played exactly as in the recording, but you get the idea

For Piano:

Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata

Chopin's Waltz in C# minor (memorizing)

Chopin's Ballade in G minor

For Violin:

Mozart's Strassburg concerto (concerto no. 3 in G Major)

Beethoven's Romanze in F Major

And as I suck I should probably be getting back to practice.

YouTube - Julian Bream - Bach Fugue in A minor

This piece, not played exactly as in the recording, but you get the idea

That fugue is gorgeous! I once sight read (slowly) up to the end of the exposition, but haven't had time to learn it properly, I really should do that some time :happy:

I don't currently have much time for learning new music, as I have to perfect the pieces for my exam on Sunday, and am trying to learn Jazz Piano as well as keep my hand in with composition.

*curses God for making days too short*

(I play piano, of course)

My current pieces are:

Bach: Prelude and Fugue 20 in A minor, Book 2 for AMEB AMUSA Beethoven: Sonata Op 78 in F sharp major (complete) (Associate diploma) and Trinity LTCL (Licentiate diploma)

Brahms: Intermezzo Op 117 No 2 (AMUSA)

Carl Vine: I, II and V from Five Bagatelles (AMUSA)

Chopin: Nocturne in D flat major Op 27 (LTCL)

Etude Op 10 No 1 (LTCL)

Rachmaninoff: Etude Op 39 No 2 (LTCL)

Prelude and Fugue 18 in G sharp minor, Book 2 (LTCL)

Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody II (LTCL)

Beethoven: Complete moonlight sonata (Op 27 No 2) (Just for fun)

I also like playing through parts of Rachmaninoff's second and third concertos and look at heaps of new pieces all the time.

nikolas' trio :P

(haven't started yet, but I will start as soon as I finish with everything else I have to hand in :P )

Organ -

Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E flat "St Anne"

Franck Theme, Fugue and Variations

Dupre - 49 Chorales

Hymn Improv

Brahmns - one of the CHorale Preludes

Piano -

Since my focus is more organ, I am preparing a few of the Chopin Impromptus - the second is my favorite.

The piece that has taken the longest so far is the Bach. The St anne Prelude and Fugue comes from the Organ Mass which was meant as a musical/spiritual exercise for the player and a showcase of Bach compositional prwess which he would solicit at the large fairs.

The Franck has its own challenges -- it is a great piece to practice controlling the opening and closing the swell boxes which control the volume (the only other option on the organ is to pull or subtract stops). The third is a nice etude in touch - the left hand must keep a leggiero touch but NOT staccatto while the other hand plays very legato on a separate manual while playing a not too difficult pedal line but one which can become ponderous as you are also controlling the swell boxes.

The Dupre chorales are "easier" but are fascinating compositions. He wrote them for the sexton of his church at the beach whil on a compulsory vacation by his doctor. He wrote these to prepare the sexton for the Bach chorales. It isn't used for that purpose anymore -- rather it is great preparation to play romantic and modern organ music (and of course Dupre's works) The counterpoint and modal language is wonderful and the setting of the chant melodies are, for part, extremely beautiful.

The Brahms organ chorales were som of the last pieces he wrote and serve as an hommage to Bach. Not too dificult but definitely not "easy" as Brahms applieds his predilection for the crossing of duple and triple rhythmns with the hands and feet!

The Grieg Piano Sonata, 1st Movement (though I haven't started); some twentieth century stuff (Kabalevsky, Khachaturian, Shostakovich, etc.); more stuff.

Oh, yeah. I'm supposed to be learning the Beethoven F# Major sonata. But I haven't started that, either.....oh well.

Currently re-learning Tartini's Devil's Trill (with the Kreisler cadenza, which is yummy, not challenging but a show off) and Haydn's C Major violin concerto for my exam. If I had the patience I'd completely 're-polish' the Wieniawski no. 2 concerto. I learn things very quickly but if I spend a few days without studying certain passages again I'm back at square one :(

Haddaway's "What is Love?", from the Night at the Roxbury for Alto Sax.

Hmm let's see.

For piano, I'm trying to learn some Chopin etudes (Op. 10 #1 and #12 to be precise, off and on, depends on my schedule really) but not for the sake of performance though. It's more of technique development for me (e.g. to improve on my improvisational "vocabulary") as well as trying to look into Chopin's compositional style. :)

It's a shame though that I can't put much focus into learning pieces as I split time between family, my day job, composition, and piano technique. How I wish I had much more time in my hands.

I'm currently working on some new music for college this fall. It's a nice mix of stuff, but I'm still looking for a Bach prelude and fugue... I'm thinking maybe the F minor, WTC I...

Mozart - Sonata No.18 in D Major, K.576

Chopin - Nocturne No.1 in Bb minor, Op.9

Ravel - Miroirs No.2, Oiseaux Tristes

Prokofiev - Piano Sonata No.7 in Bb Major

Beethoven - Piano Concerto No.1 in C Major

Scriabin - Etude in D# minor