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Debussy20... the Grieg concerto is awesome. I'm still not bored with it. I'm trying to get it ready for a competition next year. The third movement is my favorite.

Now that I have more time to devote to music I am embarking on many projects. At the moment I am trying to learn several of the Farrell transcriptions of Waller at once. It's all a bit slow because I have allowed the memorising faculty to get slack in recent months. Most of my playing time is going, as usual, in recording CDs of improvisation, in which the ideas are tending to outstrip physical capability - so I have some work to do there. I'm probably getting further away from any semblance of musical normality but I am enjoying my music more than ever, which I suppose is all that matters in the end.

Once I am fully retired I might start writing a few compositions again, although not to the extent of earlier years.

Bach: WTC Book I C# minor P&F
Beethoven: Sonata Op.10 No.3
Chopin: Op.25 Nos 7 & 9
Debussy: Reflets dans l'eau
Hindemith: Sonata No 2

-Michael B.

Just finished learning-
Handel- Prelude and Fugue F minor, Suite 8
Haydn- 1st movt Sonata in E major No. 37
Faure- Prelude No. 4 Op. 103
Khatchaturian- 3rd movt. Sonatine (my teacher wants me to learn the other two movements, which i probably will now that i have 4 months uni holidays!)

I want to start learning-
Faure- Nocturne No.4 in E flat (cant remember opus)
Debussy- Suite Bergamasque
Schubert- Sonata in A minor Op. post. 143
Grieg- Wedding Day at Troldhaugen
*Maybe* Kabalevsky- 'Youth' concerto Op.50
and *maybe* Mozart- Concerto in B flat K456.

Oh, and I just remembered, i need a study for next semester as well...I'd better look for one!

Well, I'd better get cracking!

This competition is mainly for high school students. It only allows you to play one movement that is less than 10 minutes. If the Haydn isn't "strong" enough this year, we're planning on the Grieg or Schumman or a Beethoven for next.

Matt

*Double Post - sorry*

Mozart : Sonata in Bb major, K333
Schubert : Impromptu in c minor, Op 90, No 1
Schubert : Impromptu in Eb major, Op 90, No 2
Chopin : Nocturne in F# major*, Op 15, No 2
Chopin : Nocturne in c# minor*, Op posth.
Brahms : Intermezzo in e minor, Op 119, No 2
Grieg : Schmetterling (Butterfly)* from Lyric Pieces, Op 43, No 1
Liszt : Liebestraum, No 3*

* pretty well "finished", just polishing up memory work. Well, a piece is never "finished"; it continues to grow as we live with it, but you know what I mean, I hope.

Regards,

I'm actively working on my long term goal of learning Book I of the Debussy Preludes. Currently working away on
- Les Collines d'Anacapri
- La Seranades Interompue
which will put me about 3/4s of the way through this project that was started in the late 1970s, interrupted by 25 odd years of other priorities and now resurected...

As well as the
Shostakovich P&F #24 (d-)
Shostakovich PC#2 (Mvmt 2) (hoping to be able to play all of this over time...)

gmf001:
...project that was started in the late 1970s, interrupted by 25 odd years of other priorities and now resurrected...

Hey, I resemble that remark

-Michael B.

Beethoven, Op. 78, 1st movement finished and memorized but needs some work, just starting on the 2nd movement.
Scriabin, Op. 11, Nos. 7, 13 & 14
Chopin, Op. 25, No. 12 (Still trying to get up to speed.....cleanly.)and Op. 10, Nos. 5 & 12.

Polishing:

Bach, Prelude & Fugue in F minor WTCII
Schumann, Des Abends and Aufschwung
Scriabin, Op. 11, Nos. 5 & 10.


Brendan, I love the Kreutzer, especially the variations!

apianonne, good luck with the Rach Etude. I started it earlier this year, but put it aside. At the time it was (probably still is) a big stretch for me and I just didn't love it as much as the other stuff I was working on to really put the effort into learning it. Will probably pick it up again next year.

Alkan - Allegro Barbaro
Albeniz - Sevilla

Ah I hate these threads . . . always makes me feel that I should stop working on a piece because I keep repeating myself; I keep on working on pieces for ages, there's no real end to it, I'm pretty sure that all pieces I'm learning now or have learned I won't go over a week (unless I'm away from home) without working on them.

But anyway, here goes:

Brahms: Two rhapsodies.
Chopin: Ballade in G minor, etudes op.10 no.1 & 2, nocturne in F minor.
Rachmaninoff: Prelude in G minor.
Liszt: Liebestraume.
Shostakovich: Prelude and fugue in A major (no.7 op.?)
Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata, 3rd mvt..

Mine are vocal & instrumental accompaniments which I have to perform soon:
Faure - La Bonne Chanson (nine songs)
Bernstein - song cycle "I Hate Music" (really cute but tricky rhythmically in parts)
Mozart concert aria Ch'io mi scordi di te - I've performed this before but there are some bits I need to work on again.
Brahms clarinet sonata op.120 no.2 (E flat). I've performed this before, too, but it's hard to keep everything maintained when there's always so much new music to learn.
Montsalvage - Cinco Canciones Negras
And as for solo repertoire, well, I spend a bit of time on the Chopin F minor ballade when I can, and a few of the etudes. And I've started looking at the Janacek From an overgrown path. Also planning to revive the Bartok bagatelles. So much music, so little time - *sigh*

talk to Playadom about this one. I'm sure he'll be quite interested to know that there's another Allegro Barbaro player here. Arn't there no black keys in that entire piece?


Matt

Hey! I finished the Alkan a little while ago.

Matt- you're right, it's all white keys!

Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor (for a concert w/ an orchestra)

Chopin Etudes Op. 10 No. 4, 8
Op. 25 No. 9 (main focus on the first 2)

Liszt Mephisto Waltz

Rachmaninov Trio No. 1 in G minor (with 2 of my friends). Severely underplayed IMO.

It appears I've got a lot of work needed right now...

Chopin: Ballade no.4 Op. 52
Liszt: Transcendental Etude #5 Feux Follets
Liszt: Transcendental Etude #4 Mazeppa
Ravel: Gaspard De la nuit "Le Gibet"
Beethoven: Sonata "Hammerklavier" 2nd movement.

I think I'll need to hold Mazeppa out...seeing as I'll only need one etude at a time and finish Feux Follets first. Either that or I'll pause the Gaspard and take the Mazeppa along with the Feux Follets. I don't know...hehe I'll ask my teacher what she thinks...

Other than my endless attempt at "polishing" Chopin nocturne 55/1, Etude 10/2, Fantasia Impromptu and Shubert Impromptu op 90 #2... I'm working on;

Chopin
Nocturne in C# min
Waltz 64/2
Mazurka 17/4
Mazurka 7/1

I've been without a teacher since the beginning of summer but I hope that will change soon.

Bach: English Suite in A-minor
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.18, Op.31/3
Chopin: Scherzo #2 in B- minor
Gershwin: 3 Preludes

Only the preludes are memorized and are near ready for performance.

(continuing) work on Hanon...#11 this week.
Working on getting Solffiggeto up to speed...
2 technic exercises from the Hirschberg book - "Butterflies" and "Old Mill Wheel"

And...struggling through Schutt's "Canzonetta". I made a LOT more progress than I thought I would, and I can play it all the way through, but I'm missing a couple fingerings, and the teacher found a couple mistakes - missing the change from D to Dm on page 2, and playing in unison instead of harmony in the last 2 lines.

I seem to swap between making lots of progress, and feeling like I'm not making any....but I guess that's normal.