# Piano reductions of symphonic and chamber works



## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Today, I listened to a piano version of Liszt's Faust Symphony and really enjoyed it. I like the bare-bones structure that it shows without the blurring orchestral effects. What other piano reductions of orchestral and chamber works in general (not just Liszt) would you reccommend?


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

Glenn Gould did recordings of the Beethoven _Symphonies #5 & 6_ by Liszt. 
Gould also did his own transcription of Wagner's _Seigfried Idyll_ and Vladimir Horowitz did the Liszt transcription of _Isolde's Lebestod_ also by Wagner.


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## pjang23 (Oct 8, 2009)

Otto Singer did fantastic transcriptions of the Brahms symphonies and piano quintet, and you can find them on IMSLP. The transcriptions are very challenging to play, but very pianistic and are effectively a hidden extension of his relatively small body of solo piano music. Silke-Thora Matthies and Christian Kohn have recordings of two piano and piano four-hand reductions of many of Brahms' works.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Rachmaninoff prepared a two-piano version of his _Symphonic Dances_ that I greatly enjoy. I have Ashkenazy/Previn pounding the ivories.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

I'm a big fan of piano reductions, as, from a composer's perspective it allows me to cross-analyze composers on a more base level, and I assume the best ones are of works merited less by their orchestration and instrumental subtleties, and more by their amazing structure. Currently enjoying _Jupiter Symphony on Two Pianos_ by Georgievskaya/Schwan. Compare that with the Gould Beethoven.

After cross-analysis, one can more easily capture an idea of how a Classical symphony could be orchestrated in a fashion of Romanticism by adjusting marks, tempo variations, and instrumentation. The greatest composers of Romanticism greatly favored Mozart, and I'm sure they played a lot of him from a piano. Even more apparently, is that Mozart had a strong foundation for orchestra = piano in his mind, than later composers did, who were thinking less of counterpoint and more of orchestral impact.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I quite often enjoy piano reductions especially, for some reason, of early 20th century works. Stravinsky's earlier works (part of Petrushka, the whole Rite) are good. Holst's Planets works well.


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## accmacmusic (May 9, 2020)

Ferruccio Busoni wrote some interesting reductions for piano, of both pieces of other composers (my favourite: Carmen) and his.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Rachmaninoff prepared Glazunov's Sixth Symphony for piano duet.
There is also a piano duet version of Glazunov's The Sea (very well done in my humble opinion).





Leslie De'Ath transcribed Schmitt's La Tragédie de Salomé into two pianos (a very enjoyable listen).


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Mendelssohn made brilliant four-hand piano arrangements of two of his greatest works- The _Octet_ and the incidental music to _A Midsummer Night's Dream_.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I like them to use while driving long trips. The dynamic range isn't nearly as wide as an orchestra and you can actually hear it all. The Mahler symphonies I have: 1, 2, 6, 7 work well. Then there's Scheherazade, the New World Symphony and of course the more familiar Beethoven symphonies. Balakirev's Tamar is really good, too, if you can find it. Back in the LP days when Quadraphonics was trying to get a foothold, CBS made a Monster Concert with multiple pianists. William Tell overture was quite fun. I don't know if it ever made it to CD.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

K as Ss. S, s,


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I forgot to mention this (La Mer). It is very worth hearing.


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## aioriacont (Jul 23, 2018)

I love love love love love love love Max Reger's 4-hand piano arrangements of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos! It adds so much interesting colours. Be sure to check the Orchestral Suites' ones too!

And Liszt rules! His piano versions of Ludwig's Symphonies and some of the other Franz's lieder (Winterreise, especially) hold a special place in the space between my ears.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

This is fantastic....


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Not quite a reduction (as I believe the piano version was written first) but one shouldn't overlook Brahms' Haydn Variations. According to Swafford, it is not clear whether Brahms was planning the orchestral version from the outset.


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## aioriacont (Jul 23, 2018)

jegreenwood said:


> Not quite a reduction (as I believe the piano version was written first) but one shouldn't overlook Brahms' Haydn Variations. According to Swafford, it is not clear whether Brahms was planning the orchestral version from the outset.


ah how I wish he had done that orchestral one


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