Chopin's Nocturne op.27 nr.2

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Pete

Guest
Gary Askwith said:
Kirsty has good taste, Ravels Piano concert for left hand is amazing..in fact Its difficult to list any of Ravels piano works because i want to include them all :biggrin:
Le Tombeau de Couperin
Gaspard de la Nuit
and Jeux d’eau are 3 of the lesser known pieces

Kirstie said:
absolutely. le tombeau de couperin is practically impossible to play.
I don't doubt that tombeau de couperin is impossible to play, BUT .... having had a look at the score of Gaspard! Have you? I think I can just about manage the first three notes of the last part (Scarbo) - three slow notes deeply resonating in the bass. But after that I gave up...
 
Maz said:
Theme to The South Bank Show.

No idea who composed it.


Err, that variation was composed by none other than Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Best piano piece?

Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire. Only song that I play 'air piano' to.

George Winston is also a God who walks as man http://www.georgewinston.com/
 
Pete said:
I don't doubt that tombeau de couperin is impossible to play, BUT .... having had a look at the score of Gaspard! Have you? I think I can just about manage the first three notes of the last part (Scarbo) - three slow notes deeply resonating in the bass. But after that I gave up...

Nope. Not played the piano for quite a while now, and my accordion only has two and a half octaves...Also my left arm probably isn't long enough so I could get enough air in it to have a go at the long phrases...!
 

Flying_Monkey

Recyclist
Location
Odawa
Maybe it's a cliche, but I love Glen Gould's interpretations of Bach's Goldberg Variations. I saw another very, very good performance of this by a young Finnish pianist, Olli Mustonen. If you get a chance to hear (and see) him perform, you should.

Satie, Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninov - all wonderful too.

And one of the most sublime moments of my life was hearing a completely mad but awesomely talented friend of mine playing one of Chopin's Nocturnes in a completely deserted chapel in one of the Oxford colleges... it was, as Gary says, a justification in itself for the existence of humanity.
 

NickM

Veteran
Pete said:
I don't doubt that tombeau de couperin is impossible to play, BUT .... having had a look at the score of Gaspard! Have you? I think I can just about manage the first three notes of the last part (Scarbo) - three slow notes deeply resonating in the bass. But after that I gave up...
I can play anything on the piano(la) - if I have the roll for it.

As far as I know, from Gaspard only Le Gibet was made into a roll - played by the composer, no less. I prefer rolls which are straight transcriptions to paper of the sheet music, containing no rubato - the pianola allows you to supply that, along with overall tempo, sustaining pedal, attack and left/right hand balance. It need not be the least bit mechanical-sounding in the hands of a practised player. And since you provide the puff for its wind-powered analogue computer by pedalling a bellows, it goes well with cycling :sad:

My favourite of the rolls I have? Probably Liszt's sublimely romantic Petrarch Sonnet number 104, played here by my favourite pianist, Alfred Brendel.

The piece I really wish had been made into a piano roll? Well, either Pictures at an Exhibition (Kissin is quite something, isn't he?) or this.
 
U

User169

Guest
A few more...

Brahms' Concerto No. 1
Mozart's Concerto No. 20
Britten Concerto

To keep up the French theme...

Milhaud - Saudades do Brazil
Poulenc - Piano Suite
 

yoyo

Senior Member
For me it is organ or choral works that hits the spot; anything by Bach, Messiaen, and the Piece Heroique by Franck - if only my hands and feet were big enough to play it. Anything choral by CV Stanford makes for stirring listening.
 
U

User169

Guest
NickM said:
The one on the left keeps fidgeting! Is that in the score?

I see they cut the "bravo"s and applause at the end...

I don't think the fidgeting is in the score, but at least they do the open and closing of the lid to indicate the movements.
 

Pete

Guest
Delftse Post said:
Britten Concerto
That's an unusual one! I've not met many people who even know of it, let alone heard it! I don't regard it as one of the great warhorses but I enjoy listening to it. I don't have the score, but I'd like to get hold of a copy one day...

Here's another less well-known one which shares with the Britten (and Brahms 2) the unusual distinction of being in four movements: Prokofiev Concerto no.2 with its immense and monumental cadenza taking up half the first movement. Not an easy listening choice: if you're hooked, play it through a few times, and wow it! When a competitor selected it for the final round of the Leeds a few years ago, the judges were suitably wowed - though it wasn't enough to win the player first place...
 
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