This summer between semesters, I might get the opportunity to perform several recitals in my home town. I am currently talking to a few places I have played at before. For some reason I am not sure if this program would need another piece in it towards the end. Any thoughts would be Appreciated.

Scarlatti Sonatas: K380 E Major
K127-A-flat Major
Mozart Sonata in E-flat Major K282

Chopin Polonaise in E-flat Minor Op. 26 No. 2
Brahms Cappricio Op. 116 No 7 in D minor
Liszt/Schubert Aufenthalt.

Barber Ballade. op 46

It doesn't "need" anything else, but I'm curious, what other options you have in your repertory to add? Any more of the Brahms Op 116? I don't really get the appeal of Scarlatti, so my natural and biased suggestion is: add more Brahms, scrap the Scarlatti.

-Daniel

One quick thought: Since you have the Barber Ballade programmed, and it was written for the 1976 Cliburn Competition, you might want to have a look at Leonard Bernstein's "Touches", which was written for the 1980 competition, or Copland's "Homage to Ives", written for the 1972 Competition.

Make sure to correct that to "E major."

Unless you're transposing it.

Two Scarlatti sonatas back-to-back with a Mozart sonata may sound too similar to the unrefined ear. I'd suggest more variety in the first half.

Depends which scarlatti sonata you end with. Since it is A-flat major, it transitions a better into the Mozart.

Right now, Schumann Romances Op 28, Schumann novellette No 8, Chopin nocturnes. Those are the ones at the moment I have ready that I could replace those with. My teacher keeps trying to get me to play Robert Muczynski.

Thanks for the suggestions. I like how they are connected by the Cliburn comp.

Scarlatti rocks! Very nice recital choices I think, jd.

OOO, the Schumann Romances are really great. The novellette is nice too, although I personally don't like playing it. If you did do the novellette, I would do it more toward the beginning as it has that fanfare quality.

I really like Scarlatti to.

If there was an intermission, I would start the first half with Scarlatti, then follow it with Barber and Schubert/Liszt. Then I would begin the second half with Mozart and follow the Mozart with the Chopin Polonaise (both in Eb major then minor) Then replace the Brahms with a Schumann set of the Romance in F Sharp Major and then end the program with the Novelette.

It is a great piece, but hard on some audiences with its structure.

BTW....just noticed that you got the key wrong on the Mozart too. I didn't notice before because I didn't know which Mozart sonata this is -- but I got curious and checked, especially because I realized that I wasn't aware of ANY Mozart piano sonata in E major.

I guess you just reversed the Mozart and Scarlatti keys.

Hard for me to see how someone could do that.
Even if the keys don't have very different "flavors" for you, I mean, you KNOW if you play the piece with sharps or flats, you know whether you keep landing on E or on E-flat.... I know that people sometimes make mistakes like this. I just don't understand how.

Or lack thereof

Yeah, I originally made a mistake just on the scarlatti, and when I corrected it I changed the Mozart. Not that I would screw that up when playing but heck see the word sonata 3 times ina Row and E twice, at least I didn't put G minor.