Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Please recommend 4 hands, 6 hands, 8 hands

I posted this in the teacher's forum but then I realized you, my PC buddies, might have some suggestions too.

A few weeks ago, I started a Piano Club in the high school where I teach. Members are expressing interest in playing four hands, six hands and 8 hands - with one or two pianos. Can you please make some suggestions of pieces or books of pieces that intermediates could play? Also, if you have any suggestions for books of duets, etc. they could sightread without too much difficulty, that would be appreciated too.

Thanks!

Hmm, I guess you'll want something easier than the Brahms Hungarian Dances?

Schumann wrote good pieces for 4-hands which are not very difficult, except that he used keys with a lot of accidentals. I think Pictures from the East is one of the best sets by any composer.

A couple of the Mozart 4-hand sonatas are not difficult. Neither are the Spanish Dances (2 sets) by Moszkowski. There are sonatas by JC Bach and Dussek. Mendelssohn transcribed a few pieces from his Children's Album for 4-hands.

2 pianos tends towards more difficult, usually. The Chopin Rondo is not bad, though. The waltz L'Embarquement Pour Cythere by Poulenc is a fun piece. The Three Romantic Waltzes by Chabrier are not as difficult as they sound, as is some Saint-Saens, particularly the Scherzo and the Variations on a Theme of Beethoven.

Look into transcriptions of Haydn Symphonies, as well as those of other composers.

I recently purchased a second piano for my home and immediately went out to hunt up some 2-piano pieces. My daughter and I are enjoying an arrangement of Schumann's "The Happy Farmer" by Sylvia Rabinoff. And for sight-reading a simple little piece, I suggest Syncopated Sam by Martha Mier.