Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Themed recital - the BIG ONE!

Back to add: well go figure, I seem to have learned those two measures of descending first inversion chords after all, plus a bit of what follows. Worked it out carefully with what I remembered of them: by the names of their roots (appearing as the melody).

What I wonder is, does memorization ever get easier, or is it always like this? (I've been stuck at this point for a couple of weeks.) (Of course, when I say "like this", neither of us really knows what the other's mental experience of memorizing is. I hazard that my experience is completely unlike that of those who say they just play the piece enough, and pouf! it's memorized.)

I soooooo need time to think, bk 2moz

ok please sign me up for 85/1 as a second piece. (unless anyone else was really hoping to do that one).

i'm also playing around with 38/5 but I know I am dreaming about being able to play it. so no sign up on that one...at least for now...:P

I've edited the list Valencia, cheers

Book 1, op. 19b (1829–1830)
No. 1 Andante con moto in E major - Dipsy
No. 2 Andante espressivo in A minor - ragnhildK
No. 3 Molto allegro e vivace in A major - Evelyn S
No. 4 Moderato in A major - Devrie
No. 5 Poco agitato in F-sharp minor - Ganddalf
No. 6 Andante sostenuto in G minor - Recaredo

Book 2, op. 30 (1833–1834)
No. 1 Andante espressivo in E-flat major - Valencia
No. 2 Allegro di molto in B-flat minor
No. 3 Adagio non troppo in E major - PianoStudent88
No. 4 Agitato e con fuoco in B minor -DanS
No. 5 Andante grazioso in D major - Beric
No. 6 Allegretto tranquillo in F-sharp minor - LimeFriday

Book 3, op. 38 (1836–1837)
No. 1 Con moto in E-flat major - dire tonic
No. 2 Allegro non troppo in C minor - ROSSY
No. 3 Presto e molto vivace in E major
No. 4 Andante in A major -
No. 5 Agitato in A minor
No. 6 Andante con moto in A-flat major - Sam S

Book 4, op. 53 (1839–1841)
No. 1 Andante con moto in A-flat major - IreneAdler
No. 2 Allegro non troppo in E-flat major - Ganddalf
No. 3 Presto agitato in G minor
No. 4 Adagio in F major - WiseBuff
No. 5 Allegro con fuoco in A minor - Sam S
No. 6 Molto Allegro vivace in A major -DanS

Book 5, op. 62 (1842–1844)
No. 1 Andante espressivo in G major - ZRTF90
No. 2 Allegro con fuoco in B-flat major
No. 3 Andante maestoso in E minor - ZRTF90
No. 4 Allegro con anima in G major
No. 5 Andante con moto in A minor - LimeFriday
No. 6 Allegretto grazioso in A major

Book 6, op. 67 (1843–1845)
No. 1 Andante in E-flat major - timmyab
No. 2 Allegro leggiero in F-sharp minor - dire tonic
No. 3 Andante tranquillo in B-flat major - timmyab
No. 4 Presto in C major
No. 5 Moderato in B minor - Pavel.K
No. 6 Allegro non troppo in E major

Book 7, op. 85 (1834–1845)
No. 1 Andante espressivo in F major - Valencia
No. 2 Allegro agitato in A minor - Wayne33yrs
No. 3 Presto in E-flat major
No. 4 Andante sostenuto in D major - Rupak Bhattacharya
No. 5 Allegretto in A major
No. 6 Allegretto con moto in B-flat major

Book 8, op. 102 (1842–1845)
No. 1 Andante un poco agitato in E minor - Greener
No. 2 Adagio in D major - FarmGirl
No. 3 Presto in C major - AimeeO
No. 4 Un poco agitato, ma andante in G minor - LadyChen
No. 5 Allegro vivace in A major
No. 6 Andante in C major - Greener

Not many left folks

Many of the remaining pieces are very difficult - comparable with Chopin etudes in my opinion. But there are still a couple less complicated songs available on the list.

Op.85 No.5 is a gem. It starts with a short introduction where the piano somehow simulates brass instruments. Then comes the melody which is a very typical Mendelssohn "choral" tune. At the end the introductory theme is repeated. The difficulty of this piece is not more than moderate. For people used to playing four part chorals it is rather easy.

Op.62 No.4 is another beautiful piece. Formally it resembles 85/5. The melody is very joyful, and the piece is comparable with 85/5 when comes to difficulty. I think both pieces are well suited for people who also play the organ.

Op.38 No.4 is another piece that isn't too technically demanding. I haven't paid much attention to it myself, but I think it is a nice piece.

Ganddalf, many thanks for your recommendations. I'm really struck by 85,5 and for the moment I would like to take that on in lieu of the 38,1 (ok, Wayne?).

These choices are sometimes far from straightforward. A seemingly easy piece may spring a tricky surprise just as the superficially diffcult may turn out to be very manageable after a bit of practice. And then again, if we're going to choose our own tempo, a piece can drop or rise a grade in difficulty. Either way, one sometimes has to sink a bit of time into a piece to know if it suits.

Incidentally, I noticed in an earlier post, amongst the pieces you thought difficult, you singled out op.38 no. 1. Can I ask, what troubles did you foresee in it? So far, I've just fumbled a poor reading of it so haven't been able to properly evaluate it but I know it must be demanding because it's rated grade 8 in at least one list along with the spinning song (!!) and a couple of others.

It turns out I have to mock myself with my own argument. I would prefer to stick with 38,1 - well at least, Wayne, you've no extra work to do on my behalf!

I've spent an hour or so playing through 85,5 and much as I like it, it doesn't give me enough to push against so I'll stay for the moment with my original choice.

To put it another way, disregard this and my previous post.

But I would echo Ganddalf's recommendations, 85,5 and 62,4 are not too ambitious and great practice for playing chords really tight and time-perfect.

I can't really remember that I made any statement about Op.38/1. Maybe I just mixed it up with another one (risky writing posts without the sheet music readily available). I think 38/1 is difficult, but not in the same class as the hardest ones. I don't emphasise the difficulty grades too much, since sometimes I find pieces with high grading manageable, while pieces with lower grading can be unplayable. Maybe because I have lots of experience playing four-part chorals, but at the same time I have very small hands. Among the remaining pieces I find the following ones in the "very difficult" to "extremely difficult" range:

Op.30 No.2 (Definitely requires bigger hands than mine)
Op.38 No.3 (I played through this one this morning at slow speed. Beautiful, but hard)
Op.53 No.3
Op,62 No.2 (Difficult when played fast. To me, however, it doesn't sound bad when played a bit slower than e.g. Barenboim)
Op.67 No.4
Op.85 No.3

"difficult but not in the same class" - yes, quite so.

Your list pretty much reflects the pieces I rejected out of hand - mostly at presto, too fast for me to do any one of them justice.

For those who haven't noticed, there's some really helpful Mendelssohn analysis going on in;

zrtf90's Classical Sonata Analysis thread
Here

Thanks, Wayne. Yes indeed, there is. I am certainly benefiting from it, currently with one of my Mendelsshohn selections -- Lord knows, I can use the help -- as has PianoStudent88.

We've taken a detour from the current Haydn analysis, specifically for some practical work on the Mendelssohn pieces.

So yes, please do, join the discussion (anyone/everyone) with your Mendelssohn (or other) selection, if you care to.

How do you go guys?

I have to say that I’m into that group called “this is the hardest piece I’ve ever learned”. I’ve memorized the music score, except the last twelve bars which are a sort of recapitulation.

I play the piece slowly, about half speed and without musicality. This is being really hard, and I don’t know how far I can go. But I feel that am learning a lot with this song without words, which probably is the most important thing of these recitals.

Nevertheless I hope to speed up my tempo and get some musicality someday before the deadline

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year Recaredo You're not on your own with this one, I'm only at part 2 of mine (it's in three parts) and there is literally no musicality pmsl. I almost gave up, but "F-it" I'm just gonna keep goin' and take it more serious after xmas and new year. I'm hoping we can still get the pieces not taken, taken. If not, no worries, I still got my cunning stunt

Bk soon folks, after the festivish season

Maybe we can ask our piano teachers to take on the more difficult ones so that we have the whole set.

Happy New Year to all Recital fellows
I will keep only one song. It belongs to the easiest ones but still I will be glad it will not end catastrophically
I am "playing" just one year and without teacher so this is pretty steep cliff for me. Now I am somewhere in the middle of the song - that melody played with big chords is something new for me.
Good luck to all.

Good for you, Pavel for taking this on. It is a lovely piece and one you will be proud, I'm sure to have added to your line up. It sure does not sound easy to me (perhaps easier of the many challenging pieces.)

I would encourage you to join in the discussion on the Sonata analysis thread with this piece. You'd be amazed at the value in learning that can be achieved in viewing and understanding the work from a different perspective, as well as tremendous practice discipline advice.

At any rate, good luck to you as well. I am sure you will do a fabulous job, and I look forward to hearing it.

~Wayne

I am not sure if I will be able to stay in the recital. Work on the piece is not going as well I had hoped. My teacher wants me to work on a piece by Beethoven instead. At my next lessson I will know for sure if I can continue working on the Mendlessohn piece and I will let you know whether or not I will be staying in the recital.

You can do this! I'm propper struggling too, but just keep at it, and you will get there see you at the recital