I really should be working, but I can't resist this intellectual exercise. Here's my list of pieces that I've tackled, in my subjective order of difficulty. I'll put asterisks in front of the ones I think are the prettiest:

Limbo -- yes, the easiest. But it's not nearly as pretty as "I due fiumi," so I usually suggest that one first, just to make sure the person becomes a committed Einaudi fan for life.

**I due fiumi-- stunningly beautiful, and fairly easy. 'nuff said.

**Fuori dal mondo-- good intro to common Einaudi bass pattern. One of my hubby's favorites, so I play it a lot.

Exit-- has some really deep bass chords that are fun to play, rather ominous in tone.

Samba-- not hard, and very repetitive. Not one of my favorites.

Ombre-- nice; dynamics are key.

Una Mattina-- rhythm is easier to learn if you've heard the music. One of the most minimalist of Einaudi's pieces.

**Dietro casa-- this may be Einaudi's easiest bass, very repetitive chords in right hand. The dynamics make or break this one.

**Un mondo a parte-- the most "classical" sounding piece of Einaudi's I've played so far. The ff section starting on measure 48 is tremendous fun to play.

Primavera-- in terms of the notes themselves, this would be rated even easier, but getting it up to tempo was challenging (for me; I don't do andante ). The section on pp. 42-43 is just lovely; the section on pp. 40-41, not so much.

**I giorni-- this has a few big chords I can't reach, but if you rearrange them, the rest of the piece is doable.

**Nuvole bianche-- one of my all time favorites.

**Nefeli-- if you can get past the dreaded measures 17-25, you'll get the piece down, and it's worth it.

**Giorni dispari-- one of my all time favorites.

**Le Onde-- my Waterloo. Nobody but me rates this that hard, but this is my list so I can rate it where I want. :p

**Ancora-- the one I'm working on now. Much of it is doable, but the length and syncopated rhythm in part of it bumps this to the harder end of the spectrum.

**Divenire-- Kawaigirl talked me into trying to learn this ages ago, when I had no business attempting it. I can butcher it, but one of these days I *will* play this piece the way it deserves to be played.

Man this guy has written some amazingly breathtakingly beautiful music.

And I really should be working, too, but I can't resist a quick peek at this!

Thanks, Monica! What a great list. These lists are going to be an enormous help as I try to discipline myself to learn just one or two pieces at a time.

BTW, my husband has just ordered "Una Mattina" and "Divenire" for me! (Okay, so I'm revealing some inconsistency here - why should I need those books already when I still have almost all of the "Best of" to learn?)

Carol

Because it can't hurt to have the entire collection to choose from?

I'll be in trouble if he has any sheet books with him at the concert as I could not likely pass up a chance to pick them up and maybe get them autographed at the same time.

You'd better bring the credit card in that case (He had the entire range at the concert I attended)

Well that's it. I can't wait until Christmas I've ordered The best of.....

Can't wait

Brilliant - I'm sure you are going to love playing the music!

Anybody have any hints on Stella? I am having trouble with the third section (beginning measure 33). Ordinarily, when I try to play an unfamiliar rhythm like this, I just try to do it very, very slowly, until it becomes familiar enough to play it at speed. In this case, it is taking me so long to move off "very very slowly", I am concerned maybe I am not doing something right.

AnthonyB, did you have any trouble with this?

I will say this part scared me at first but I just took it slow and paid attention to what I was doing. I would start by getting the left hand pattern down. Then you start playing the left hand and it continues up in the right hand. Once I had the left hand down it didn't take too long to get down. The other part is a bit of alternating between the left and the right hand if you look at the notes. Just start slow and I think you'll find that that section is the most fun part of the entire song. My biggest trouble in that section is trying to stay with an even tempo. I can go up slow with the left but my right hand likes to fly through the notes. Oh well.

We've got Chopin recitals, Beatles recitals, Holiday recitals, ABF recitals etc...

How about an Einaudi recital? I think there are enough of us who are fans and who would want to contribute. If the idea is popular enough (say 10-12 people), we could work through the albums one by one, taking a song each?

Just a thought...

An interesting idea Euan. It would be interesting to see what order we would go in if we decided to do something like this. Start with the older albums and work up?

Of course, starting with the albums that have most of the pieces in the "Best Of" book would work the best since that one is the easiest to get here in the States. Of course, there's a good chance that I'll have two more books to play with once my trip to San Francisco is over. I'll be swimming in even more sheet music than I know what to do with.

Yes, that would be a good idea - start from Le Onde. Eden Roc may be a problem as there are non-piano pieces.

I Giorni, Una Mattina are fine, and then the same problems with Divenire (string-y pieces).

[Diario Mali is also an official album, but no sheet music (and no kora players either)]

You guys are going to have so much enjoyment from the concert. I'm getting excited myself, and I'm not even going!

I do think that we would have quite a hard time getting all the pieces from the albums though as some of the sheets look pretty frightening to some of the tracks.

What a great idea Euan Count me in.

Not a problem now that Kawaigirl is involved. She can play all the hard ones, and we'll handle the others.

I'm in too. I may try to re-record some of the first Einaudi pieces I ever recorded, as I think (I hope) I can play them better now.

I'd like to be an official supporter

Then one day when I'm a bit more than a basher of keys to join in

Count on my as enthusiastic supporter (and next century I might join in) :3hearts:

Blackbird and Pixi, there are some easier Eianudi pieces that you guys can tackle. Do join in and have some fun

I've ordered "The best of..." book just to have look and wet the appetite but I must finish 'Solitude' that I'm really enjoying learning at the moment.

So much music so little time

but who knows

I already have them all
I am having lots of fun with Nefeli (i.e very little progress if any).

Hi Kawaigirl1
Which one you think would be best to try first? Please, bear in mind I've got ten pretty thumbs

Pixi, how about trying Le Onde Canzone popolare? It's only 1 page long and not difficult.

I'll park Nefeli and try that one. One pagers sound right for starters (leaving the 18 pagers for Monica.)

I posted this one to the November piano bar but soon after the recital kicked off, leaving the piano bar in the dust for a while. I figured I would add a nice little link here.

Stella Del Mattino - Recorded on Nov 16, 2008.

I took some time off playing the piece after all the work making a recording for the recital. Once I get things ironed out after the pause I can usually pull off some great renditions. Feel free to compare this one to my recital entry.

Just got my "Best of.........." through the letterbox.

Turned straight to page 100. This is definitely on my list of next to do.

Sorry for butting in

I only have another five hours work. Then Bath-Dinner-Bed duties and I'll join you in starting page 100.
Lets see where this week takes us!

I only have another five hours work. Then Bath-Dinner-Bed duties and I'll join you in starting page 100.
Lets see where this week takes us!

Ok you guys, you have got me interested too. Ive put the "Best of" on my amazon wish list for christmas. I love listening to everyones playing in the last recitals. I have recitals 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 downloaded into my mp3 player, and listen to them everyday. I would like to try to learn some of these pieces. I guess I am becoming a Einuadi fan. yeah!

We'll always take new Einaudi Fans! I also hope that some of my performances as such an inexperienced beginner have shown that some of his pieces are definitely doable with little experience and will only improve over time.

I sure hope you've been good this year wj3!

Thanks AnthonyB. I am really impressed by your playing. You have sure have made good progress. I hope I can do as well. By the way I tried to be good this year......hum..well I thought about being good this year.

Trying to get the LH patterns down on I Due Fiumi. (I assume that is the key to this piece... once those are automatic, everything else falls into line.)

I having some trouble getting the big arp in measures 7 and 8 smooth. My wife casually walked by as I was working on it, and said "What you're doing doesn't look right. It looks uncomfortable. I've never seen anybody try something like that." I had been playing it 5-4-2-1. Her suggestion was to cross over (5-2-1-2), which, I'd admit, seemed pretty natural.

What's the by-the-book way to do this?