# Works Highlighting Piano Virtuoso?



## Tibby (Dec 20, 2008)

I wish to expand my piano-centric classical music library and I’d appreciate any suggestions that you may offer with regard to composers and particular works (perhaps even the best performances/recordings), that coincide with the style of music I like best (hopefully, others here may like the same style and will benefit from this discussion also). 

I’m drawn to music that highlights instrumental virtuosity—particularly piano (followed by violin and cello). I like music that is passionate and dramatic, often in the heroic style (Baroque to Modern, emphasis on Romantic era). My favorite composer in this regard, is Franz Liszt. I thoroughly enjoy nearly his entire body of work, especially his 12 Transcendental Etudes*, Hungarian Rhapsodies and piano concertos. In fact, I like every thing about this guy: besides being a paradigm shifting composer and piano virtuoso of the highest order, he lived a long, passionate life, complete with complicated affairs of the heart and heart-wrenching loses. Yet, despite his break-neck concert tours and personal dramas, he seems to have remained a genuinely nice guy who gave a great deal of himself to his friends and the world of music, for free.

After Liszt, I like much of the piano works of Chopin (e.g. Etudes Op.10, No.4 and No. 12), and Beethoven (e.g. Appassionata, Pathetique and Moonlight Sonatas). I don’t really need any suggestions for music from these composers, nor Bach, since I’m pretty familiar with their output.

Here are a sprinkling of other composers/pieces that I like: Brahms Intermezzos (especially Op.118); Mendelssohn (especially Prelude & Fugue Op.35); Prokofieff (especially Piano Sonata 6); Rachmaninov (especially Concerto #2, Piano Suite #2 for 2 Pianos, Etudes-Tableaux), Tchaikovski (Piano Concerto No.1), Scriabin (Etude, Op.8 No.12, Sonata No.5 Op.53), Paderewski (piano concerto). I’m not as familiar with these composers, so other recommendations of their work would be appreciated along with any composers that I have not mentioned.

As a bonus, I’d be even more delighted if you could list music in a similar style that features violin (e.g. Paganini) and/or cello virtuosity. 

Thanks, in advance for your recommendations.

* Check out Boris Berezovski’s version of Mazeppa on Youtube…that’s an interesting run he does at 1:57 to 2:03.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I couldn't agree with you more about Liszt. He lived a full rich life and was quite charismatic and photogenic even into his elderly years. For many years I avoided his entire period of overblown musical histrionics, but lately I find the style so huge and epic I cannot help being carried away by it. I recently listened to Les Preludes and found my heart racing!

To address your question, you've no doubt heard the *Robert Schumann *piano concerto, his only one. It's not exactly like the pieces you describe, but has glorius melodies and emotionally moving swells. The last movement is the one worth waiting for, with its insanely complicated rhythm and a rambling melodic line you think will never find its way back from wherever it's going.

I really dislike that it always has to be paired on albums with the Grieg piano concerto, which is okay, but I don't enjoy it nearly as much. I suppose it's understandable since they both wrote only one and both are in A minor. [Edit: I am not as fond of the current version in my collection with Kurt Masur, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Cecile Ousset, piano. It is fine, but I preferred the version I once had on vinyl with Claudio Arrau on piano, conductor unknown.]

For virtuoso cello, I cannot endorse the *Shostakovich Cello concerto No. 1 *enough with *Rostropovich* at the helm. Though you may find it a bit on the modern side, it's loaded with intensity and is quite fun to watch.


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## Isola (Mar 26, 2008)

Tibby, you have a wonderful library there! I'd also like to recommend:

Brahms - Concerto No. 1 & 2; Sonata Op.5 in F minor; Hungarian Dances for piano.
Prokofieve - Concerto No. 1, 2, 3.
Rachmaninov - Preludes (all of them); Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano & orchestra. 
Schubert - Fantasy in C D.760; Fantasia for Four Hands D940; Impromptus, late sonatas.
Schumann - Kreisleriana
Stravinsky - Petrushka 3 Movements 
Shostakovich - Concerto No. 1 & 2
Ravel - Concerto in G major 
Bartok - Concerto No. 2


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## Tibby (Dec 20, 2008)

Thanks for your fine suggestions, Weston and Isola, I look forward to giving them a listen! Tell me, are either of you classical pianists? If so, what are your favorite pieces to play and which do you aspire to master in the future?


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## Isola (Mar 26, 2008)

I'm not, unfortunately.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I can barely muddle my way with no finesse through Beethoven's "Adieu to the Piano" which is an amateur level piece, and not even really Beethoven at that.

Andras Schiff may be my favorite pianist currently.


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## YsayeOp.27#6 (Dec 7, 2007)

Lyapunov has his own set of 12 trascendental etudes. I don't remember if they were good, though.


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## LvB (Nov 21, 2008)

Be sure to give a listen to Rubinstein's 3rd (Op. 45, G Major) and 4th (Op. 70, d minor) piano concerti (conveniently often coupled on CD). The Joseph Banowetz recording of the 5th (Op. 94, Eb Major), coupled with the Russian Caprice (Op. 102), is serviceable, though no one has really done this piece justice yet; rumors of a forthcoming Marc-Andre Hamelin recording, which would no doubt be incredible, keep drifting about, but I've never found confirmation. Still, it's a tremendous piece (Ferruccio Busoni, a supervirtuoso himself, thought it was Rubinstein's best piece). Also Rubinstein's 4th piano sonata (Op. 100, a minor; the Leslie Howard recording; the Pierre Van Paassen is abridged).

Busoni's own piano concerto has some highly virtuosic sections, especially in the second and fourth movements. A lesser known composer who has much to offer in this regard is Xaver Scharwenka; his 1st and 3rd concerti are especially good, and really deserve to be played more often. The two concerti by Sigismund Stojowski are quite virtuosic in the old style (in fact, pretty much any of the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series should give you something to enjoy). No one has mentioned the Mendelssohn concerti yet; they are real exercises in fingerwiggling, especially the first, in g minor. For Prokofiev, the first three concerti are quite virtuosic, especially the second, which is very difficult indeed (I don't really play piano, but I've followed score on most of these).

A violin concerto of similar difficulty is Samuel Barber's (the last movement was deemed unplayable-- shortly before it was played very successfully  ). There's a lovely violoncello concerto by Eugen D'Albert; it's not, I suspect, terribly virtuosic, but it's definitely unjustly neglected. Rubinstein also wrote a violin concerto (which Busoni quite liked) and two violoncello concerti; none is especially difficult as these things go, but each has much to offer, in particular the slow movement of the violin concerto and the last movement of the second violoncello concerto (much loved by Janacek).

Okay, I'll shut up now....


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## YsayeOp.27#6 (Dec 7, 2007)

LvB said:


> For Prokofiev, the first three concerti are quite virtuosic, especially the second, which is very difficult indeed.


Just the first three?
Newsflash, all you here in the fourth concerto is played by the left hand alone.

A pianist's pianist was Maurice Ravel. You should explore his complete piano works, which conveniently fit in a two cd set.


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## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

Weston said:


> I really dislike that it always has to be paired on albums with the Grieg piano concerto, which is okay, but I don't enjoy it nearly as much.


I feel the same way about this pairing since I would love to have multiple recordings of the Schumann, however don't feel the same affection toward the Grieg concerto.

Tibby:
Don't forget the Chopin Ballades! All four are wonderful works of poetry and Artur Rubinstein's classic recording is a wonderful treat.

If your tastes permit a listen, I also suggest Ligeti's Piano Etudes. They are thrilling works written in the tradition of Chopin and Liszt. If you have not listened to much contemporary music they may be a bit challenging at first to get musically, however the virtuosity required to play these devils will be immediately apparent.

Good listening to you


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

What do you mean by "virtuosic"? The first thing I thought of was Balakirev's Islamey, which really doesn't suit my taste. But if you mean "make people think you are really good at playing the piano," I usually sit down to play a few Liszt Opera Transcriptions (Faust, Rigoletto, Don Giovanni) and Ravel (Gaspard de la nuit, Sonatine, Le tombeau de couperin, Jeux d'eau). Dumka by Tchaikovsky, perhaps.

Being a pianist, I personally try to stay away from that mindset. Here are some very good (hard, and yes, also impressive) concerti: Saint Saens 2, 4, 5, Rachmaninoff's 3rd, Prokofiev's 5th (for a change), and has anyone mentioned Bartok and Shostakovich's piano concerti?

You CAN'T be completely familiar with Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin. Yes, Chopin maybe, and perhaps Beethoven's sonatas and symphonies. But Bach, yes, look at Bach, beyond Toccata and Fugue and the Brandenbergs. And while you're at it, listen to Mozart's impressive but delicate piano sonatas.

Schumann is also a VERY good composer with a large and beautiful collection for the piano. My favorites are the Carnaval, the Abegg variations, and Papillons, op. 2. Schumann also wrote 13 Symphonic etudes for the piano.


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## Kuhlau (Oct 1, 2008)

Weston, are you seriously saying you don't care especially for Ousset in the Grieg Piano Concerto? That's a heresy in my book - few pianists capture the work's emotional core quite as deftly as she does ... but let's move on.

A slew of fabulous recommendations here, which I can criticise only for excluding Medtner's First Piano Concerto. The wise will have discovered this BIS disc before now, which has the concerto played outstandingly brilliantly by Sudbin (he's also white-hot in the Tchaikovsky):










Also, I note that Isola kicks off her list with the suggestion of the two Brahms piano concerti. Anyone wanting a mini survey of some recordings of the _First_ Piano Concerto might want to read this. Start at post #4. 

FK


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