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I am in high school, and we are allowed to perform a short recital. The only requirements are that the piece has to be around 7 minutes or less. We can play any part of a solo work. What would be a good piece (it can be a movement from a sonata) for me? I am looking for a piece that is very beautiful, or a very sad and mournful piece, or a fast, powerful piece. I want to perform a piece to show off my skill, it should be a pretty difficult piece. I was thinking about the last movement of the Appasionata, a movement from the Hammerklavier, or a Liszt Etude. What are some suggestions?

Love your sig.

Are you capable of the pieces you enumerated?

If you are capable, a Liszt etude would be nice. How about a Chopin polonaise? Op. 53 isn't terribly long, as long as it is within your capability.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki5ur78jdUQ

Horowitz does it in about 7 minutes. Sorry for the no so great sound.

Well, you have made three good suggestions of your own. You might help people here if you give a bit more information. For starters, what is your current repertoire, and to what level of perfection do you usually aspire (i.e. are you a regular finalist at reasonably high level junior competitions or have you not entered many competitions, for instance). Do you have any of your own playing recorded that you could post to assist people in making a judgment about appropriate stuff?

Consider your audience -- I highly doubt a bunch of high schoolers would like to sit through a Beethoven sonata, much less the Hammerklavier! Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody comes to mind, as does Chopin's 10/12. Most people are somewhat familiar with these pieces.

Playadom makes an excellent point. Playing something that is either recognizable or at least attractive to a young teen audience is a good plan.

One possible set of choices is Lecuona's Andalucia Suite. There are a number of pieces in there that pass both tests.

Playdom, it is only for the parent and the teachers. Students are welcome, but probably most will not come. I have already played the Appassionata, Chopin Etudes, and Liszt Sonata (really!). I would be able to learn something like a Liszt Etude. Right now, I am just looking to choose a piece. Remember, I am looking for a piece that is difficult and shows off skill. I also want it to be beautiful or sad. Currently, I am leaning toward part of the Hammerklavier (any suggestions for which movement-it has to be less than 7 minutes), or a Liszt Etude.

In that case, Chopin's op. 53 would be perfect. It's a crowd-pleaser and is very showy technically.

I looked at the recording. I could play it, but is there anything more showy-technically, maybe something faster and more powerful. Or, something more emotional and expressive?

I'd go with an abridged version of the Hammerklavier's Adagio in that case. I'm not sure that it would be a good thing to cut it to under 7 minutes though. Truly beautiful, sad and
sublime.

Liszt's Chasse-Neige[Transcendental Etude 12] is quite beautiful. The 10th one is also quite passionate, although in a less "beautiful" way[10 is my current favorite]. 9 and 11 are probably the most beautiful, but are both longer than 7 minutes.

You could try La Campanella, some people might know it, and it's quite a nice piece[although it might be tricky getting it to sound perfectly bell-like].

Un Sospiro is another one of his etudes, also quite beautiful.

Op. 40-2 is not played often, and I believe it is quite somber in tone. Op. 44 would work as well, except that it is too long for your time constraints.

Op. 40-2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QABmXWBjSu8


Op. 44: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq-ScKoB_BY

Thanks everyone, I have chosen Liszt's Chasse neige.

Good luck! That one's quite a killer. It'll take a little work getting perfect evenness of tone with those tremolo figures when playing pianissimo. Not to mention the large jumps and quick chromatic scales. Of course, the real work comes when putting in the feeling while overcoming these technical difficulties.

I'd probably say this is the 2nd most difficult out of the 12 Transcendentals.

The Hammerklavier fugue is rediculously hard, so if you want something that is technically difficult....

Anyone notice that the OP and whoever was answering the questions are two different people?

Umm.... no.....

Yeah, my friend actually started the post because I asked him to. I am just answering the questions. He is my classmate.

Ah, alright, everything makes sense now.

[edit] Thanks for clearing this up!

Right. It's probably the same poster with two different accounts. Or it's two idiots wasting everyone's time on this forum.

Let's get real now. One of them has already performed the Liszt sonata (really!). And he's in high school and so is his friend. They both keep posting about the Liszt Transcendental Etudes, Goldberg Variations, Hammerklavier.

Remember, firediscovery was the one who asked what he should perform for his Juilliard pre-college audition, the entire WTC or the Goldberg Variations.

Let's get real folks, do we really have two young geniuses posting here? If so, I'd like to know who their teachers are, what masterclasses they've played in recently, what competitions they've won.

It could be two wiseguys...