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So my school does a concerto concert each year, but they normally have 4-6 performers who each do a single movement. I'm planning to audition for it next year, and I'm starting to think about what I'd play now. I don't know the concerto rep that well, and I'd love some ideas here of movements that work well alone. I've considered doing Addinsell's Warsaw concerto, I also enjoy Bach's concertos. I don't know Beethoven's that well. I'm going to be listening to a lot of concertos over the next week to help decide, but I'd love some input on what you guys here think would do well by itself. I also don't want to play anything Mozart - I've played a couple of his sonata's and they just don't do anything for me. The concertos I've heard and seen live by him are the same. Just not my thing. I'm open to most suggestions and I'll give em a good listen. Thanks! [Also, please just throw suggestions out there, I'll decide after listening if it's something attainable for my skill level]


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There is not enough information in your post to give a reasonable answer. What are the time limitations? What is your technical ability? Can you give us a repertoire list? Have you played any concertos before? You want me to throw suggestions out there? I could literally say ANYTHING at this point. Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Medtner, Scriabin, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, etc, etc, etc.


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Just a general thing, which most people probably don't agree with because this hardly ever gets done:

I think LAST movements make the best "stand alones." (Because, of course, they have a real ending.) smile

I've always only heard FIRST movements done as stand-alones. There's been only one near-exception, when a friend played the 2nd and 3rd movements of Mozart's F major Concerto (K. 459) for a competition. (It worked great, and she won.)

So, if it were me, I'd pick a last movement, and I think the last movements of just about any great or well-known concerto would work well. (Right at this moment, I'd probably pick Mozart's D minor.) But the first movements of just about any great or well-known concerto work well enough, that's what people usually do, and it's what you'll probably want to do. Sure, listen to the Beethoven concerti, and I'd say you'd be fine picking any one of them that really grabs you. From what you say about your repertoire, I think you'd be best off staying within numbers 1-3.

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Almost any concerto where the first movement is in sonata form. Or a single-movement piano/orchestra work.

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Originally Posted by Polyphonist
There is not enough information in your post to give a reasonable answer. What are the time limitations? What is your technical ability? Can you give us a repertoire list? Have you played any concertos before? You want me to throw suggestions out there? I could literally say ANYTHING at this point. Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Medtner, Scriabin, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, etc, etc, etc.


Sorry, I should've included more.

Time restriction, I don't know for sure, but I imagine around 10 maybe 12 minutes would be max. I haven't played a concerto before, and technically I've played Beethoven 10 no 3 and 27 no 1, Chopin 10 no 4, 25 no 1 & 2 and am working on 25 no 5. I also just finished Rachmaninoff 32 no 10. [that's all rep from this last year.] I have a good grasp on voicing and phrasing and have a very easing time memorizing music and understanding what a composer was thinking and how he was moving through a piece. I also have good octave, chord, and scale technique. My arpeggios are not my strongest suit, but I've been working them a lot lately and I'm getting significantly smoother and faster


Piano/Composition major.

Proud owner of a beautiful Yamaha C7.

Polish:
Liszt Petrarch Sonnet 104
Bach WTC book 1 no. 6.
Dello Joio Sonata no. 3

New:
Chopin op. 23
Bach WTC book 2 no. 20
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Originally Posted by TrueMusic
Originally Posted by Polyphonist
There is not enough information in your post to give a reasonable answer. What are the time limitations? What is your technical ability? Can you give us a repertoire list? Have you played any concertos before? You want me to throw suggestions out there? I could literally say ANYTHING at this point. Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Medtner, Scriabin, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, etc, etc, etc.


Sorry, I should've included more.

Time restriction, I don't know for sure, but I imagine around 10 maybe 12 minutes would be max. I haven't played a concerto before, and technically I've played Beethoven 10 no 3 and 27 no 1, Chopin 10 no 4, 25 no 1 & 2 and am working on 25 no 5. I also just finished Rachmaninoff 32 no 10. [that's all rep from this last year.] I have a good grasp on voicing and phrasing and have a very easing time memorizing music and understanding what a composer was thinking and how he was moving through a piece. I also have good octave, chord, and scale technique. My arpeggios are not my strongest suit, but I've been working them a lot lately and I'm getting significantly smoother and faster

Well, Chopin 25/1+2 are two of the best pieces to work on to improve that. smile

If you've played all the repertoire you say you have, and you play it well, and your technique is good enough, and you have a strong enough understanding of the music, and you have a strong drive to learn it, you may want to consider undertaking one of the Chopin concerti. Be warned-they are large projects and require a high amount of both technical and musical competence to pull off successfully.



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Poly: The post you seem to have deleted was pretty clever. grin

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Originally Posted by Mark_C
Poly: The post you seem to have deleted was pretty clever. grin

Oh, I didn't even realize I had deleted it! wink Oh well. ha


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I wouldn't have thought of the Chopin concerti, simply because I haven't played any other large Chopin works [Ballades, Scherzi, Sonatas, etc.] Besides the etudes, I've only played the nocturne in Fm, opus 55 no 1 and the Am waltz whose opus number is escaping me. I'll give them a listen and see what I think, if it's something I could do. That'd be a fun project.

I'll definitely be listening to the Beethoven Concerti soon as well.

As a side note, do you guys have any experience with the Warsaw Concerto? I LOVE it and it would fit the requirements, but I don't really know anyone who's played it or knows it to well.


Piano/Composition major.

Proud owner of a beautiful Yamaha C7.

Polish:
Liszt Petrarch Sonnet 104
Bach WTC book 1 no. 6.
Dello Joio Sonata no. 3

New:
Chopin op. 23
Bach WTC book 2 no. 20
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Originally Posted by TrueMusic
Besides the etudes, I've only played the nocturne in Fm, opus 55 no 1 and the Am waltz whose opus number is escaping me.

Maybe because there isn't one? grin

(It's a posthumous work.)



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Originally Posted by TrueMusic
....do you guys have any experience with the Warsaw Concerto? I LOVE it and it would fit the requirements, but I don't really know anyone who's played it or knows it to well.

I don't think it's considered a 'serious' concerto, and I don't think it would be suitable for what you want to do.

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Originally Posted by Polyphonist
Originally Posted by TrueMusic
Besides the etudes, I've only played the nocturne in Fm, opus 55 no 1 and the Am waltz whose opus number is escaping me.

Maybe because there isn't one? grin

(It's a posthumous work.)



Actually, it was 34 no 2. The very first classical piece I ever learned. smile. (Before that I was all improv and rock band stuff) (well except for playing fur Elise when I was six or something.)


Piano/Composition major.

Proud owner of a beautiful Yamaha C7.

Polish:
Liszt Petrarch Sonnet 104
Bach WTC book 1 no. 6.
Dello Joio Sonata no. 3

New:
Chopin op. 23
Bach WTC book 2 no. 20
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Originally Posted by TrueMusic
Originally Posted by Polyphonist
Originally Posted by TrueMusic
Besides the etudes, I've only played the nocturne in Fm, opus 55 no 1 and the Am waltz whose opus number is escaping me.

Maybe because there isn't one? grin

(It's a posthumous work.)



Actually, it was 34 no 2. The very first classical piece I ever learned. smile. (Before that I was all improv and rock band stuff) (well except for playing fur Elise when I was six or something.)

Ah, I was thinking of the other A minor waltz. smile


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You might look at the short concert pieces by Mendelssohn and Schumann. The Serenade and Allegro Giojoso by Mendelssohn is worth looking at, as it is not played too often and has a lot of fireworks without being terribly difficult.

The Warsaw Concerto, being a little snippet for a movie, makes me wish that it had been a more complete piece. SheetMusicPlus lists it as being an advanced piece.


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Originally Posted by Mark_C
Just a general thing, which most people probably don't agree with because this hardly ever gets done:

I think LAST movements make the best "stand alones." (Because, of course, they have a real ending.) smile

I've always only heard FIRST movements done as stand-alones. There's been only one near-exception, when a friend played the 2nd and 3rd movements of Mozart's F major Concerto (K. 459) for a competition. (It worked great, and she won.)

So, if it were me, I'd pick a last movement, and I think the last movements of just about any great or well-known concerto would work well. (Right at this moment, I'd probably pick Mozart's D minor.) But the first movements of just about any great or well-known concerto work well enough, that's what people usually do, and it's what you'll probably want to do. Sure, listen to the Beethoven concerti, and I'd say you'd be fine picking any one of them that really grabs you. From what you say about your repertoire, I think you'd be best off staying within numbers 1-3.

Absolutely agree. I might give exception to the 1st mvt of Rachmaninoff's 2nd concerto, since it was actually written after the 2nd and 3rd movements, and since it does have a "real" ending.


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My vote would be for the first movement of the Grieg Concerto, which opens and ends with a cadenza grin. Or the first movement of Schumann's, which was originally conceived as a stand-alone piece by the composer.

For a complete piece, there's Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which has rather more substance than the Addinsell movie score (and you can make cuts to shorten it to the required length if necessary).


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Originally Posted by BDB
You might look at the short concert pieces by Mendelssohn and Schumann. The Serenade and Allegro Giojoso by Mendelssohn is worth looking at, as it is not played too often and has a lot of fireworks without being terribly difficult.

The Warsaw Concerto, being a little snippet for a movie, makes me wish that it had been a more complete piece. SheetMusicPlus lists it as being an advanced piece.
That's a very good point about the Mendelssohn one movement pieces. The Capriccio Brillante is probably played the most; it starts with a soft, slow introduction, and then turns into a flashy showpiece with lots of scales (and, sad to say, arpeggios). It's very effective-think Rondo Capriccioso with effective orchestral writing.

The Warsaw Concerto is a fully work-out piece, and would be a good choice for a school function. But is it worth learning a piece that is not really one of the standard pieces when other choices abound?

I should also mention the Franck Symphonic Variations. The piece might be more than you want to tackle, but it it wonderful.

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I think that the first movement of many a standard piano concerto would function just as well as a stand-alone piece as would the last movement. In some cases, I think that the first movement would be an even better choice than the last.

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Originally Posted by BruceD
I think that the first movement of many a standard piano concerto would function just as well as a stand-alone piece as would the last movement. In some cases, I think that the first movement would be an even better choice than the last.

It seems you might not realize that you're agreeing much more than disagreeing! You're saying essentially that last movements are just as good for this and often maybe better. All I was really saying was that last movements are fair game and deserve consideration for this kind of thing -- and they very rarely receive that. They're usually regarded as not even on the map.

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Originally Posted by Mark_C

It seems you might not realize that you're agreeing much more than disagreeing!


It may even be that he doesn't know he is arguing with you. Not everything is about you. smokin

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