Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner 2-piano, 4 hand music

Where can I find a listing of 2-piano, 4 hand literature? (I thought the Hinson Piano Chamber book would have it, but it does not.)

We are already doing Rach Op. 17 Suite and are looking for other pieces to round out that half of the program.

Is there something online I can access?

Karen

To name two perhaps obvious examples...

Have a look at the Brahms Variations on a theme of Haydn - a masterpiece for two-pianos, found here

Dvorak's Slavonic Dances are also great for two pianos URL

They're both pretty large scale works, but they could work opposite the Rach Suite in a programme.

Indiana University did have a book on one piano four hand music, in the same series as Hinson, but I am not certain about two piano. The Dvorak is all one piano.

The best way to look for music is to look at the on-line music dealer catalogs. Also, search here, as there have been discussions before.

What sort of music are you looking for?

Well, I really don't know exactly. My portion of the first half is Mozart 330 and Ravel Tombeau. We are both successful professionals in other fields (medicine and computer programming), so our audience will not be academic, per se. We are doing this for fun, although we both also have piano degrees. I'm thinking the Rach will be heavy enough for that half of the program. We like Scaramouche/Milhaud. Did Saint-Saens do something? As I write this, I just remembered - Carnival of the Animals....I did a cursory look, and I did not see anything on this website, but maybe I need to spend some time to find that link.......

Saint-Saens wrote a number of good pieces for 2 pianos. There is a pentatonic Scherzo which is nice. There are also a couple of movements from the Septet which he transcribed: light, fun pieces. Variations on a Theme of Beethoven, although not too serious, may be too much to go with the Rachmaninoff. Debussy transcribe his Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso.

Milhaud also wrote other works for two pianos, besides Scaramouche.

You might look into the transcription of Stravinsky's Scherzo a la Russe. (A lot of two piano music is transcribed, including Scaramouche.) Or movements from Messiaen's Visions de l'Amen.

Thanks for the suggestions!

(No, not Carnival - I just remembered what that was........)

Thanks for the Brahms Variations link. I love that piece for orchestra, I hadn't known there was a (2-)piano version.

I'm very fond of the Mozart Sonata for Two Pianos; he also wrote a very fine Fugue in C Minor.

I'm also quite partial to Debussy's En blanc et noir though it is difficult.

The Saint-Saëns Minuet and Gavotte, opus 65 is lots of fun to play and is a crowd pleaser.

Those are the movements from the Septet.

The Variations & Fugue on a theme by Haydn mentioned above is one of my favourites. A gorgeous work!

The Hinson Guide on Transcriptions has substantial coverage of 2-piano arrangements (including several underplayed 2-piano works by Liszt).

In case you can understand some German, there is a two-volume book with one volume dedicated to four hands (including two-piano) music:
http://www.schott-music.com/shop/Books/show,223683,n.html

Rachmaninoff has some sweet stuff.

Italian polka
Suites 1 and 2

Matt

http://www.piano.ru/scores/medtner/medt-58-1.pdf

http://www.piano.ru/scores/medtner/medt-58-2.pdf

Great stuff, Medtner.

Oh! You should play one of the Mozart/Grieg sonatas! I've always wanted to do one of those...

I don't know of any places you could find a list of music for two pianos but Debussy's Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un Faune and the transcription of Ravel's La Valse are among my favorite.

Schubert Rondo in D (D608)
Debussy Nocturne pour 2 pianos
Liszt Reminiscences de Don Juan
Ravel Ma mere L'Oye and of course La Valse


For inspiration take a look at a listing of Martha Argerich's duo recordings . She has played a fairly extensive duo repertoire with Freire and other pianists. A listing can be found at her website (argerich.org)..
which brings to mind the Lutoslawski-Paganini variations and the Liszt 's Concerto Pathetique pour deux pianos, in case you are looking for a real workout for two.
Best!

Superbly played. Unbelievable music making.

And yet... call me crazy, but the original Grosses Konzertsolo (S176 for Fleeting Visions) is the greater piece. The Concerto Pathetique -IMO- trims too much from the original, it lacks the ideal Liszt 'Acid Test'. To paraphrase Busoni in a different Liszt genre, if you don't love the Grosses Konzertsolo, you haven't yet come to Liszt.

To get back to the original question, what about Maurice Hinson "Music for More Than One Piano: An Annotated Guide"?
http://www.amazon.com/Music-More-th...mp;s=books&qid=1226458063&sr=8-9

Rich

Here is a duo that seems to have a very large database, but oddly, they don't provide a simple search for what you are looking for. But you may find it interesting, anyway. And they offer to do a custom search.

http://www.duolafitte.com/catalogue_en.html

Fantastic piece, but alas not for two pianos