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

Lately I have been practicing (piano)...

Mozart; Sonata K. 457 in c-Minor (which is incredibly difficult)

J. S. Bach; English Suite No. 4, 6 (I've got 2 and 3 under my belt pretty well--but No. 4 is my favorite)

Granados; Six Expressive Studies

Mendelssohn; Variations Serieuses

Stravinsky; 4 Etudes Op. 7

Schubert; Impromptu No. 3

Debussy; La Cathedrale Engloutie

Bruch; Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano

...I need some Beethoven. Not sure what yet though... I do love the third movement of the appassionata... but do I need all that stress in my life? hmmmm.

Just one piece right now... and probably for a long time, because I've been known to go well over a month without practicing at times. Vieuxtemps, Viola Sonata.

Schubert; Impromptu No. 3

That is the Gb if I'm not mistaken correct? What an amazing piece of music. My favorite Schubert piece :D You should try to get a recording of yourself playing it and then send it in. I'd love to hear that.

Could also be in Bb. There are two sets of four impromptus, op. 90 and op. 142

Well then the mystery lives on!

Originally posted by J. Lee Graham

QUOTE

now here you have another pointless post by Cavatina.

Hardly. smile.gif

What you say about Mozart...hmmm. I think I've posted elsewhere that I'd cheerfully have punched Mozart's lights out because he could be such a jerk. He was known to be cruel even to his closest friends - for example, he routinely humiliated a horn-playing friend of his in front of other people by throwing a stack of music on the floor and ordering him to pick it up...and for some reason, the man did it. He is known to have publicly bad-mouthed even his friend and influential champion Joseph Haydn, who when he heard of it didn't seem surprised in the slightest, replying with a smile, "I forgive him."

I have a big problem with people like that.

Yet I listen to some of his music - particularly the slow movements, like the Adagio from the Gran Partita, K 361, or any of 80 or 100 others - and I hear the reflection of a spirit as beautiful as any that ever walked the earth.

I don't know how it can be possible, but Mozart's behaviour seems almost the product of some deep-seated insecurity. In my experience, only people who are really afraid that they're not half as good as they think they are behave as he did. As great as he was - and he surely knew it - he must have tortured himself inside over some perceived failures. Was it that his mother died while with him on a concert tour to Paris? Or that he broke his father's heart by not staying in Salzburg and taking up the family business as music-mongers to the Prince-Archbishops? Or was he just plain scared inside, and this was his way of hiding it? We may never know. But despite his childish and often vicious behaviour to the people in his life, his music shows us who he really was.

That's a really good post.

Yea, we may never know why he behaved how he did. some people try to say he had atention defecit disorder, or Tourette's syndrome. It could be that people can't understand how someone who wrote such beautiful music wasn't so beautiful in real life.

I actually respect Haydn alot more, reading that.

Originally posted by Recursion

Lately I have been practicing (piano)...

Mozart; Sonata K. 457 in c-Minor (which is incredibly difficult)

J. S. Bach; English Suite No. 4, 6 (I've got 2 and 3 under my belt pretty well--but No. 4 is my favorite)

Granados; Six Expressive Studies

Mendelssohn; Variations Serieuses

Stravinsky; 4 Etudes Op. 7

Schubert; Impromptu No. 3

Debussy; La Cathedrale Engloutie

Bruch; Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano

...I need some Beethoven. Not sure what yet though... I do love the third movement of the appassionata... but do I need all that stress in my life? hmmmm.

The second movement of the k457 is really beautiful IMO. especially the long flowing scales. the other two movements are great as well though, lol.

I found a REALLY challeging piece, the point is, I dunno the name, and there's no composer listed, I'm calling it christiands madness just becuse the one who gave it to me is named christian, well, the piece is mainly, semi-quavers (think that's the right name, they're named 16th's on swedish). they're just 1 crotchet in the entire piece, so it's kinda hard, but fun though

Where is the love for Romantics? I have heard Liszt mentioned maybe twice, and Chopin a little, but I see much more Beethoven and Mozart.

Someone a while back said they were progressing on La Campanella; that is my.. second favorite solo piano piece.

Ironically even though my love for the Romantics extends far beyond any passion for Classics, for my November concert I am performing Mozart's Sonata in D Major for Two Pianos (K.448/375a). I was stuck with the Secondo because I was on vacation for the week my instructor assigned duet partners. So far I have the first movement down and memorized, which is incredibly incredible.

As a whole, I don't enjoy Mozart's compositions very much, purely from the basis that many of his works are played everywhere, not always in tribute or positive connotation. When I hear Rondo all Turca, I think to myself it is a beautiful melody, but because of the sheer commonplacity of it, I can't hear the music with my ears.

Not that I dislike popular classics; so far my favorite piano concerto is Rach's 3rd. ^^

Anyways, this piece revived my old interest in some of his piano works. I remember I first began listening to Mozart after playing through his seemingly caprice Fantasie in D Minor (I forgot K#) because it sounded much like later-Romantic pieces that I love so much.

There are awesome runs, uber-piano tradeoff things, and sweeping melodies that make me very tense playing through.

One problem with this piece though, is that most of it relies on precise execution. Many of the melodies compound on each other, and most of the duet, we are playing sixteenth-note runs simultaneously. It was very difficult for me to get them synchronized with his tempo, even though the entire thing is uniform. It's a lot of fun though, and I encourage everyone who hasn't done so already to ask their orchestra leader permission to perform a 2-piano piece. Being a concert pianist, it does get kind of lonely during rehearsal and all that stuff, and working with someone of equal skill and determination is refreshing.

90% of the above text was gramatically incorrect.

Speaking of chopin, his etude in F - Minor is one i've been wanting to play for quite some time. I'll probably try it when i finsh the pathetique (in a long time :D ). Anyone played the etude?

Somebody was looking for the ROmantics? I got them right here!

I'm currently working on Liszt's 13th Hungarian Rhapsody, and Dohnanyi's Passacaglia in Eb Minor. I'm also relearning Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata, but I accomplished that one many years ago (just haven't had much opportunity to play at all since then, so it seemed a good one to relearn).

Liszt's 13th Hungarian Rhapsody is not one of his more well-known, certainly not compared to the 2nd. However, I think it is one of the most beautiful. The gentle theme in the beginning is just so dulcet and tender that I cannot help but love it. And the riotous finale i just somuch fun to listen to (and to play!)

Dohanyi is a name I've mentione dhere many times before, and I'll do it again. His Passacaglia in Eb Minor is a major piano work, full of pathos and tenderness. It is full of melodic and harmonic variety, as well as emotional intensity. It opens with a brooding ostinato passage over top of which develops a rather flowing melody. This holds through several variations until an upbeat fugue starts. At the fugues tumultuous end, the passacaglia reasserts itself in a bravura of pianistic challenges. This finlly wears itself down and the softer romantic theme returns, only to be swllowed up at long last by a pitiless rendition of the ostinato and a flourish to close off this masterpiece. I consider adding this to my repetoire to be a significant life achievement, once I manage it that is!!

Since I now find myself without a viola, I'm now playing violin, and occupying myself trying to learn Bruch's Scottish Fantasy. It'll probably take the better part of a year.

I'm learning Beethoven's violin sonata No.8 which is a pure joy to play, and Ysaye's Ballade, which is just so damn hard but it's a great challenge.

Can you recomend me any pieces that are are actually FUN to play, and not ridicolously hard?

Mozarts no:? sonata third movement (Alla Turca), is fun to play and fun to listen to.

Edit: hah, it would seem that i answered my own question! ;) Any other recomendations?

Im studying Chopin's preludes. Im not going to play them all because some of them are difficult for me (like No. 8 in F#) but i want to study all of them.

Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues are fun. His 24 preludes are apparently quite fun too, though I don't know these.

Haydn: Koncert für Violoncello und Orchestr in C Dur

On the piano, I'm currently playing Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor. I love its opening! :-D

On the oboe, I'm working on a concerto for violin, oboe and string ensemble by Bach. (in D minor, the second movement)

On the clarinet, I'm pretty much idle at the time. My clarinet is collecting a lot of dust.

on the clarinet, I'd say you can try Per grynt, Anitras Dance, I love those trills. And it's not hard either. Or if you want for an orchestra, try the hall of the mountain king, also good. Or you can play schuberts 3rd symphony first part (Allegro con brio I think), I played that at orchestra camp, really fun, for clarinets anyway :)

It's "Peer Gynt". :P

I'm playing some symphony orchestra stuff on the clarinet for the time being, but I try to keep my clarinet playing at a minimum. My oboe teacher doesn't like it. :blush:

I like all those Peer Gynt melodies though, Hall of the Mountain King is the best and most thrilling. Morning Mood is nice too, with the oboe solos :-D

Oboe solos, I dunno why, but I love oboe solos :) for beutiful solos at least, soft calm solos are for oboe, big proud mega solos are for trumpet, to bad our trumpets aint that good :(

God, that pathetique sonata!

Maybe i should just give up...

polonaise in a flat major by chopin.

Händel: Concerto en Si Bemol for harp.. piece is killing my right hand. :)

B. Andrès: Epices 2, 3 and 4. .. Have been playing pieces by this composer for years, and his stuff still suprises me. These peticular pieces are kindof like early-Stravinsky and can be a bit weird at times but there very fun and challenging to play.

Now that the Keck School of Medicine String Quartet is up and running...

S. Sechter - String Quartet

Mozart - String Quartet No. 20 "Hoffmeister"

Beethoven - String Quartet No. 7 "Razumovsky" (Op. 59 No. 1)

Trying to decide between:

Brahms - String Quartet No. 2

Borodin - String Quartet No. 2

Although Brahms is my favorite composer bar none, I'm actually leaning toward Borodin, so as to include some reflection of our intended profession.

That's neat! Keep us updated!

I need to round up some friends and form a string quartet at some point, now that the little casual one from high school is divided pretty much evenly between here, our hometown, Vancouver, and Montreal. * laughs *

At one point I thought the little group of friends I've made in the college orchestra was a quartet, but then I realised we've only one violinist, and two cellists. (I wonder which one we'll convert first. Heh heh.)

Not necessarily. If you were a theorist, for example, you needn't play an instrument but you might be working on a detailed analysis of [a group of] piece.