Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Looking for a Contemporary/20th cent. piece

I haven't worked on a contemporary piece in a while, and so I'm considering Muczynski's Toccata, or possibly somehting by Prokofiev. There's also that Toccata by Ravel in his Tombeau de Couperin suite. I do love Bartok, too. Does anyone have any suggestions along these lines?

If you like Shostakovich, I recommend his Prelude and Fugue #16 in b-flat minor, Op. 87. I would love to study these, but the rhythmic patterns in the Fugue are too complicated for me.

Or the Prelude and Fugue #10 in c-sharp minor, Op. 87

Or the Prelude and Fugue #12 in G-sharp Major, Op. 87

Or the Prelude and Fugue #24 in d minor, Op. 87.

It gave me enormous satisfaction to learn this year the Prelude and Fugue #18 in f minor, Op. 87.

Really, I think almost all of Shostakovich's Op. 87 pieces are worth exploring if you like his music and have the chops....

I have some thoughts on this, but do you have any particular requirements for a piece, i.e., length, tempo, character?

How about Shostakovich's Prelude Op. 34 No. 5? It's very light and toccata-like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLaHLuq_8aw

Since you like Toccatas, you might also explore Khachaturian:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfo4-CnJZQQ


And there's also Shostakovich's great, great Sonata #2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-CFF0kuC4

Oh! I forgot about Shostakovich! I love his orchestral stuff, but I've never tried any of his piano works. That might be just the ticket!

Janus: I'm looking for something rhythmic, faster tempo, and a bit of atonality is OK (or polytonal), but nothing too jarring like Ginastera's preludes (can't stand listening to them as I play...I think I would have done them better if I wore earplugs).

The Khachaturian was OK, but maybe a bit too repeitive (I know, its a Toccata, so what do I expect ). But I really like the Shostakovich sonata! It is just like his piano trios and orchestral works.

Keep them coming!

Has anyone worked on the Muczynski at all? I'm curious to see how it compares to these others.

Ok then, here are some recommendations off the top of my head:

Bartok:
Two Romanian Dances Op. 8A (I prefer the first)
Dance Suite -- originally for orch., transcribed by Bartok himself, look especially at mvts. 2&3 (nice pair) and 5
Sonata -- outer movements
Out of Doors -- last movement
Mikrokosmos volume 6 -- Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm
Allegro Barbaro -- I know, obvious...

Prokofiev:
Sonata no. 2 -- last movement
Sonata no. 3 -- one movement, 7 mins., highly recommended
Sonata no. 4 -- last movement
Sonata no. 6 -- first or last movement
Sonata no. 7 -- last movement (overplayed but still very effective)
Suggestion Diabolique from Four Pieces Op. 4
Sarcasms Op. 17

Barber:
Sonata -- last movement

Ginastera (I know you have reservations but check them out anyway):
Argentinian Dances -- last movement
Malambo -- an effective "build-up" piece
Criola from 3 pieces Op. 6
Suite de danzas criolas -- last movement (thrilling and D major-ish)
Sonata no. 1 -- last movement (also thrilling A minor/major-ish)

Shostakovich:
Sonata No. 1 -- one movement, about 11 minutes long, angsty but thrilling

Hindemith:
Ludus Tonalis: Fugue in A or Fugue in G (both energetic) or Fugue in Bb (very funny, believe it or not!)
Sonata no. 3 -- second movement (quirky scherzo) or last movement (thrilling fugue)

Debussy:
Danse (very effective, but may not count since it dates from 1890)
Masques
Preludes book I: What the West Wind Saw, The Bells of Anacapri
Preludes book II: Alternating Thirds, Fireworks
L'Isle Joyeuse
Etudes: For Mister Czerny, For Eight Fingers, For Fourths, For Octaves, For Chords
Estampes: last movement (Gardens in the Rain)

Busoni:
Prelude and Etude in Arpeggios
Toccata

Wow, thanks, Janus. I've got my work cut out for me now listening to all these! The Busoni I'm curious about as I don't think I've ever heard him played.

I don't know if you consider these to be contemporary pieces, but I'm working on Ravel's Jeux D'eau and Debussy's L'Isle Joyeuse and they are really great pieces to play, for both the performer and the audience.

One of Messiaen's Vingt Regards pieces, No. 6 is a good one that isn't too bad. (I believe I reccomended this before)

Alkan's Concerto for Solo Piano is also a fairly simple piece that is also great.

Good luck and have fun =)

A few more:

Messiaen:
Isle of Fire I & II from Four Rhythmic Studies (both are quite Bartokian)
Les sons impalpables du reve and Un reflect dans le vent from Preludes

Ravel:
Boat on the Ocean and Alborada from Mirrors
Sonatina -- last movement
Rigaudon from Le Tombeau de Couperin

Copland:
Sonata -- middle movement (somewhat jazzy)

Gershwin:
First and third of the Three Preludes

Khachaturian:
Sonatina -- last movement
Toccata from Ten Children's Pieces (different from the other more famous Toccata)
Sabre Dance (originally for orch., transcribed by another hand for piano; orch. version is overplayed)

Stravinsky:
first ("Russian Dance") of the Three Movements from Petrushka

P.S.: I've been editing this and my other post as I think of more pieces from the composers I've listed...

Shostakovich loved this sonata. He called it his "symphony for piano."

And just for fun:

P.D.Q. Bach (aka Peter Schickele):
The Short Tempered Clavier (Preludes and Fugues in all the major and minor keys, except for the really hard ones) -- absolutely hilarious!

What's wrong with the second one?

Have a listen to the "George Gershwin's Songbook", too. Towards the end of his life he wrote down some improvisations on the choruses. William Bolcom's made a wonderful recording.

Nothing at all. It's just that I didn't think it fell in the fast, rhythmic category that Morodiene had in mind.

I like Robert Muczynski, but not his Toccata. I like his Six Preludes, Masks, Seven, and Desperate Measures (Paganini Variations).

I also like the music of Lowell Liebermann: Gargoyles, Three Impromptus, Four Apparitions, and most of the pieces from Album for the Young.

Other modern composers to consider: Francis Poulenc (Improvisations, Three Pieces), William Bolcolm (rags, etudes, or bagatelles), and Heitor Villa-Lobos (Bachianas Brasileiras).

I've just played prokofiev's suggestion diabolique in performance and it's fun to play and learn, as well as a crowd pleaser. I would recommend it.

I am a big Bartók fan. I can ABSOLUTELY second the recommendation for the last movement of his Out of doors suite, The Chase. It's technically quite hard, but manageble. Also, the first movement, 'With Drums and pipes' is a great rythmic piece, easy yet impressive. By the way, the fourth movement 'The Night's Music' is absolutely fantastic, but probably not what you are looking for now. You can listen to first minutes of these pieces on Amazon, they are not on Youtube yet (wait till I have proper equipment ).

The outer movements of his Sonata are great.
The first is quite difficult and has quite experimental tonality and extreme dissonances, maybe not your cup of tea. The last is more folksy, but is technically out of my reach.

I recommend, go for the Out of doors suite! I can email you the score, so you can see whether you like it.

Robert:
That would be great, as our local music store went out of business, so now I have to order things online or special order through other stores. I'll PM you my email.