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I agree it's nice to see the Stravinsky Piano & Winds concerto on this thread. One of my favorites as well.

I am in a rut, shall we say, in that I'm working on material for a new CD to be recorded in June, and so practicing for that to the exclusion of everything else. Well, almost. There's a performance of the Cage/Hiller HPSCHD coming up in New York in early May, and I'm playing three of the Solos (two other pianists play the others).

For the CD:

Michael Byron, Book of Horizons
Julius Eastman, Piano 2
"Blue" Gene Tyranny, The Drifter
Stuart Saunders Smith, Fences, in Three Tragedies

OSK, thanks for reviving this thread. It's interesting to see what people are working on.

Me:
Polishing: Chopin Ballade #3 (Hope to perform this at piano camp recital this summer).
Reviving: Mozart Sonata #14, K457 (Also hope to perform this at camp.)
Learning: Beethoven Sonata #18, Opus 31 #3
For fun: Rachmaninoff Morceaux de Salon Opus 10, No 1 (For my piano group, maybe this Thursday.)

I'll bite. (looking forward to hearing the Ballade Deborah!)

Polishing (to be performed at an upcoming festival):
Chopin Nocturne Op. 48 1
Beethoven Tempest Sonata
Brahms Intermezzo Op 117 1

Learning:
Rachmaninoff Preludes Op. 23, 5 & 6
Bach P&F in A-b major, Bk 2

I am playing the gigue and the gavotte from Bach's French Suite no.5 and the prelude and fugue in C minor from WTC1 and March from "Seasons" by Tchaikovsky.

Rappel des Oiseaux by Rameau and allemande from the French Suite are in the queue. And then the rest of the suite. Then about 10 other Bach things.

Fun thread!

I'm practicing these for an upcoming performance and Jury:
Rachmaninoff opus 32 no 10
Chopin opus 25 no 1
Beethoven Opus 27 no 1

All these I'm doing refinements and in depth shaping on

I'm also "mentally practicing", or these but will be going at them full force over the summer:
Rachmaninoff opus 32 no 13
Kapustin variations opus 41
Chopin opus 27 no 1, opus 10 no 4, opus 25 no 5
Bach WTC book II in am
Liszt "Un Sospiro"

Now, I probably won't actually perfect that big list of stuff I'm gonna take on over the summer, but I'm going to start through them and see which ones start to really take hold.

Chopin 28/24

Here is my update for the Boston Amateur Competition, coming up 19 - 23 Jun 13 --

First Round

John Harbison On an Unwritten Letter (1999)
Milton Babbitt The Old Order Changeth (1999)
Steven Paulus Rollicking, from Five Preludes (1993)

SemiFinal Round

Katherine Hoover Toccata (2011)
Richard Danielpour Elegy (2009)
Judith Zaimont Wizards (2003)

Final Round

Either
John Harbison Sonata No 2 (2001)
Or
Fred Hersch 24 Variations on a Bach Chorale (2004)
Michael Torke Blue Pacific (2006)

As you can see, all these pieces have been written over the past 20 years, and I consider them ALL reasonably "accessible" -- even the Babbitt! In these Amateur Competitions, I've sort of made seldom-heard literature my "shtick" -- and certainly virtually all solo piano contemporary compositions fit into that category.

Needless to say, I'll be shifting back and forth between all of these for the next couple of months.

Wow Tim, that looks like a serious program you're working on! I don't know any of the pieces, and not all of the composers either. Fred Hersch, is it the same guy who is more known as a jazz pianist, or is this someone else?

STILL trying to perfect every note of Ondine.

Mostly through the Waldstein 1st movement. I had it to memory, but took a lot of time off from it recently.

Working through Ginastera's unbelievable first sonata.

Finishing up the Chopin C# minor waltz. The D-flat section gives me the most trouble to memorize! Lots of syncopation.

Thinking about picking up another Scarlatti sonata, maybe K.9 or K.12

Can't wait to hear you too. Which do you think you'll perform?

working on:
Beethoven Sonata #17, Opus 31 #2 (2nd mvt)
Bach 3rd French Suite

I'm also working on that.

Patience.

Hi, fnork -- Yes, that is indeed the jazz pianist Fred Hersch. He took it upon himself to compose an extended work in the Classical style -- although some of the variations clearly are informed by a jazz sensibility. The Bach Chorale in question is a setting of Hans Leo Hassler's "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded", which also was used as the melody for the contemporary '60s folk hit "Because All Men are Brothers". That's pretty much why Hersch thought it was an especially appropriate choice for a set of solo piano variations. I think he provided a really effective vehicle to hear both jazz-based and classically-based variations.

Just out of curiosity, which of the composers had you not heard of previously? I admit to not knowing much of anything of some of the European composers you've presented (Szymanowski, Lindberg). The composers are not widely known American composers, in the sense of a Gershwin or Bernstein, but they are all (IMO) pretty well known in the Classical Music world here in the US.

Who are you addressing and why?

First movement of the Appassionata. I'm playing it for my teacher's conservatory students this Friday. Carving out 2h of practicing in the morning before work.


-J

Babbitt and Harbison are of course very familiar names, Judith Zaimont rings a bell somehow, but the other names are unknown for me. I'll check them out though.

I will probably try to fit in all of the polished ones (Tempest, Brahms Intermezzo and Chopin Nocturne 48 1). The Chopin is a beast but would like to attempt it on the concert grand :P

I would assume the weather!

Jazz standards, Charlie Parker Omnibook

I don't have any classical music in my repertoire or my practise regimen. Should I?
My performance goals are exclusively jazz and blues oriented