Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Extremely emotional Romantic repertoire?

This is such a specific question, I apologise! But I need suggestions

Basically, I'm entering a competition soon in which I need to play something romantic, over 5 minutes and under 12. The rest of the programme is filled with Prokofiev and Scarlatti and Debussy, but I do need that one romantic piece. Now, my teacher thinks that I do BIG emotions really well, and my programme as it stands is a little cold. Not necessarily big music, but music that shoots you right in the heart - tragic, romantic, tender, the stuff that makes you feel like you're going to cry. So, that's what I'm looking for! Difficulty isn't a massive consideration - I've played big Chopin and currently studying Gaspard for my masters.


Suggestion what you have; little known is preferred but all suggestions are great, I may have missed something big, just as long as it's emotional.

A good example, for me, is the Rach 2 mvt 2 or the Franck violin, only it must be solo.


Thanks so much!

A few pieces I can think of:

Rach Elegie Op.3 - 1 is quite dramatic and extremely emotional (only 5 minutes long)

Chopin Ballade 1

Scriabin Sonata 2 (op.19)

Liszt - Sonetto 104. or Vallee d'Obermann


Good luck.

Well, I thought I could provide a quite perfect piece for your purpose, but alas, it usually seems to clock in at a mere 4 1/2 minutes:
Medtner - Canzona Serenata (Op.38 No.6)
Alexei Volodin - Canzona Serenata

Something in that vain?

Oddly, the first piece that came into my mind is a Classical piece, Mozart's Rondo in A minor, K511.

It will also help to balance your program out, as it currently lacks a Classical piece.

Otherwise you're talking Chopin (Polonaise in F# minor, Op.44 perhaps), Mendelssohn (Fantasie in F# minor, Op.28), Liszt (À la Chapelle Sixtine - Miserere d'Allegri et Ave verum corpus de Mozart), Brahms (any of his Ballades Op.10), Fauré (Nocturne No.2, Barcarolle No.5 in F# minor - I love F# minor), Tchaikovsky (Meditation in D, Op.72/5), Rachmaninov (Prelude Op.32/13), Taneyev (Prelude & Fugue in G# minor)......

For something really wacky and off-the-beaten-track, I recommend Smetana's Macbeth and the Witches .

Hi, Sean P! A few that come to mind for me --

Chopin Nocturne Op 27 #1
Nocturne Op 48 #1

Schumann 3rd Movement from Phantasie Op 17

Faure Nocturne Op 36 #4

Rachmaninoff Prelude Op 23 #4

To me, late Brahms piano pieces are full of emotions. I think they are some of the saddest music ever written. Can you program several pieces? Or play an entire opus?

A second vote for Rach Elrgie op 3 no 1
Listen to recordings of Garilov and Reisenberg before you make a decision

At one end, Invitation to the Dance, by Weber. At the other end, the Carousel Waltz by Rodgers.

Sadness is only one emotion, however. There are many other emotions well-portrayed in music: joy, anger, passion, devotion, etc.

Regards,

Depends how obscure you want it to be, and what else you want to show off.

Chopin's Allegro de Concert (op.46) could fit the bill - it's not his best work by a long way, but is overtly with some passionate climaxes, it's a substantial and technically demanding work, if you play it a good tempo you can squeeze it in under 12 minutes, and by Chopin standards it's less well known.

Hmm...to me, late Brahms pieces provide different shades or variations on sad. Or they evoke sadness in the listener. Even that last Rhapsody, which sounds joyful and full of hope, has to end on a crushingly sad coda in a minor key.

Maybe I'm just associating that music with old age, regrets, sorrows, lost love, what could have been, yadda yadda yadda

Listen to a recording by Rachmaninoff as well.

Well, I'll let others suggest the more mainstream pieces. My heart breaks at just the opening notes of so many of them! But since you said you're also looking for more unknown, I was listening to some dumkas today; maybe one would catch your fancy. I can think offhand of a lovely one by Balakirev, and another one by Tchaikovsky.

Trying to think broadly of things people tend not to be familiar with...here are some other things that came to mind, though I didn't really think too hard other than recalling I liked them for one reason or another, and that they are not as well-known. I didn't take difficulty in mind, either, so some might not be sufficient for your purposes.

Scriabin Fantasy Op. 28

Bortkiewicz Elegie Op. 46

Medtner Forgotten Melodies (op 38 one) Sonata Reminiscenza, or the Op. 39, sonata tragica

Tchaikovsky Romance in F minor

Alkan Nocturne Op. 22

Merikanto Albumblad Op. 3

Kalinnikov Elegie b flat minor (or maybe the nocturne?)

Glinka Alabiev Nightingale variations

Kosenko piano sonata #3

Elgar, Edward - Salut d'Amour

Orchestra:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSv3iApK3DQ

Piano:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjelGZZpUjk

Ian

I came into this thread all excited to mention the Rach Elegie, and I see it was the very first suggestion listed and then a few more times after that.

Yeah, that makes two of us.

I find Tchaikovsky's Dumka Op 59 is a good piece to convey emotions. Since you say you convey big emotions well, I might consider looking at this if your teacher feels its appropriate for your level.

No one's mentioned it yet so I will. Rachmaninoff's arrangement of Fritz Kreisler's Liebeslied or "Love's Sorrow". The piece is definitely for an upper-level intermediate to advanced pianist as the rhythms can be complicated in some areas as well as voicing.

You're underestimating the transcription's difficulty. It's very hard. Also too short for the OP's criteria.

Three of us