# What's a great slow piano piece, about 6-7 minutes in length?



## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I'm having trouble deciding what the final piece of my recital program should be. It's for a piano competition in case I win. I was seriously considering the Brahms - Intermezzo Op. 118, No. 2, but I feel that it's a bit too popular and that I might appear.. unknowledgable if I played it. I need a slow Romantic-era piece in the 6-8 minute range, and preferably not Chopin because I am already playing a piece by him. For those who are curious, here's what I'm playing:

Program 1: 
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 21 in C "Waldstein"
Poulenc - Theme Variee
<6-7 minute slow piece>
Debussy - Jardins sous la pluie
Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 9 "Pester Carnival"

Program 2:
Bach - Prelude and Fugue No. 16 in Gm, WTC II
Chopin - Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise Brillante
Ravel - Gaspard de la Nuit
Scriabin - Etude.. forget which one off the top of my head
Prokofiev - Toccata

also, feel free to comment on the programs, if you notice anything interesting/unusual.


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## kmisho (Oct 22, 2009)

The only things I notice are:

Wow, that's quite a handful

and

Looks like you have all the bases covered except Classical. Why no Classical?


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Beethoven is Classical enough.


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

I suggest any of the 2 Liszt's Legendes of St.Francis. Slow, beautiful and between 7/8 Minutes.


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## Romantic Geek (Dec 25, 2009)

kmisho said:


> The only things I notice are:
> 
> Wow, that's quite a handful
> 
> ...


Lol, the Waldstein isn't classical? It's possibly like the best way to capture that era in one piece IMHO!

The Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118 No. 2 is always a crowd pleaser as long as you know what you're doing. Given your program, I would assume you know what you're doing!

If you wanted to go a little more unknown, I think the 6 Romances sans Parole by Chaminade are a good choice. Most recordings I've seen usually don't perform the whole thing, but perform #1, #2, and #6.

Also, there are some excellent MacDowell pieces out there that are slow and beautiful. Most of them come from his suites for piano, but I'm sure you could put together a wonderful mix of them! And no, I'm not talking about "To a Wild Rose." The third movement from his First Modern Suite or his Second Modern Suite would be very nice. Also, you could consider doing the entire "Forgotten Fairy Tales" suite, as it's about 8 minutes long and very easy, but very beautiful! Also, consider the 2nd movement of his 4th piano sonata "Norse." It's a bit on the shorter side of what you're looking for, but is impressive in the middle, but very beautiful as a whole. (Can't you tell I love MacDowell?!)

Going on the more obscure theme: check out Gottschalk - La savane, op. 3 and Gottschalk - Bercuese, op. 47

Hope I've introduced you to some new music


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## danae (Jan 7, 2009)

How about Takemitsu? Or are you not allowed to play a contemporary piece?


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

If you play Hungarian Rhapsody 2 from Liszt, people will go absolutely insane.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Thanks so much for the suggestions, Romantic Geek! I will check out as many of those as I can.. and I do like Takemitsu, but I'm already playing several 20th century compositions and I need another Romantic-era piece.


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## Organum (Nov 29, 2009)

Schumann - Arabeske, Opus 18


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## Romantic Geek (Dec 25, 2009)

Ravellian said:


> Thanks so much for the suggestions, Romantic Geek! I will check out as many of those as I can.. and I do like Takemitsu, but I'm already playing several 20th century compositions and I need another Romantic-era piece.


Please let us know what you actually pick. I personally would like to know what you think of those particular pieces because not too many people know them.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

*Update*: I talked with the competition official recently and they are upgrading the program requirements to 80 minutes instead of 60 minutes. That means I have about 40 more minutes of music required for a total of 160 minutes of music. I decided to fill in the gap with the Schubert D 960 piano sonata, since I know that piece well (it's a lot to memorize though). Also, my teacher convinced me to stick with the Brahms intermezzo since it's a 'crowd favorite,' but he wanted to choose a different Debussy piece because jardins is too easy. And I'm cutting out the Scriabin.

So I've had to change the programs around, and now it looks like this:

Program 1:
Bach - Prelude and Fugue in Gm, WTC II
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 21 in C "Waldstein", Op. 53
Schubert - Piano Sonata No. 21 in Bb, D. 960
Prokofiev - Toccata

Program 2:
Chopin - Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise
Brahms - Intermezzo in A, Op. 118/2
Ravel - Gaspard de la Nuit
Poulenc - Theme Variee
Debussy - Reflets dans l'eau, from Images I
Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 9 in Eb, "Pester Carnival"

In addition to these programs, by the way, we are required to play two piano concertos, and I am playing Mozart's 21st in C and the Tchaikovsky.

Sorry I couldn't end up choosing one of your pieces, Geek, but I will look at them and let you know what I think of them.. maybe I'll use one as an encore piece.


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## Romantic Geek (Dec 25, 2009)

Hot dang. That's a lot of music friend! Best of luck to you! 

The Brahms is amazing. Don't let other interpretations influence yours though. Play it for the beauty it is.


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