# Rare but Good



## vafolks (May 29, 2009)

When I'm picking piano repertoire pieces I like to choose pieces that don't get played a lot. I also like to choose pieces that are entertaining, I usually pick a lot of Russian Composers, spanish, etc. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions of a rarely played but very engaging piece, preferably one that someone who's less familiar with classical music would still enjoy? i.e. nobody doesn't like hungarian rhapsody. A little too familiar though.


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## Bach (Jun 2, 2008)

The C major Bach Prelude from Book I


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Tchaikovsky's Dumka
Anything by Gottchalk
Any Nocturne or Barcarolle by Faure.


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## Cyclops (Mar 24, 2008)

Schubert's Piano Sonata in Bflat D960
Also his Wanderer Fantasie
Shostakovich's Piano Concerto no 2


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## LvB (Nov 21, 2008)

Anton Rubinstein's Op. 82, the _Album de danses populaires de differentes nations_. There are seven; the first six are extended, while the seventh, the 'Polka Boheme,' is only about two minutes long (it was added well after the first six were written) and thus forms a natural encore. The seven are, in the order usually given:
1) Lesghinka, G (Caucasus, though, oddly enough, he uses the tune from Glinka's _Russlan and Ludmilla_, which is emphatically a Russian opera)
2) Csardas, e/E (Hungary)
3) Tarantelle, g (Italy)
4) Mazurka, D (Poland)
5) Valse, F (Germany) (this was very famous, and has often been recorded)
6) Russkaya i Trepak, C (Russia) (a real romp)
7) Polka, G (Bohemia)

Any one of these would fit your requirements nicely; the whole set would make a spectacular second half of a recital.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Lately I've been listening to piano pieces by William Sterndale Bennett, particularly his Sonata, 'The Maid of Orleans', Op.46.

http://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Sonata_"The_Maid_of_Orleans",_Op.46_(Bennett,_William_Sterndale)

There are a lot of charming shorter works as well.

Though he is firmly within the romantic period, much of it sounds very Beethovenian to me.


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## JSK (Dec 31, 2008)

Marion Bauer's Preludes for Piano might be good. They are "modern" yet still quite accessible. Stephen Beus made a very good recording of them.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Rubbra needs to be played more often. I don't know his output for piano very well, but he did write for piano, I know that for sure.


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## petrushka1611 (May 28, 2009)

Rare but good, Bach, RARE but good.


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## vafolks (May 29, 2009)

sweet! thanks


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## bdelykleon (May 21, 2009)

Ives' Concord Sonata.


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## UniverseInfinite (May 16, 2009)

Could you please list 10 of the outstanding music pieces you have played?
So, when people make suggestion, they may know your preference.
Great!


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## Saturnus (Nov 7, 2006)

Maria Szymanowska - Nocturne 'La Murmure' 
Domenico Scarlatti - Sonata in c, K. 158
Francis Poulenc - 15 Improvisations
Joh. Seb. Bach - 6th English suite (not often played I think)


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## petrushka1611 (May 28, 2009)

vafolks: It would be helpful if you'd let us know the most advanced pieces you've played successfully.


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## BuddhaBandit (Dec 31, 2007)

bdelykleon said:


> Ives' Concord Sonata.


But you might want to include the viola and flute parts- I'm particularly fond of those passages.

How about Rezewski's *North American Ballads* or, for a challenge, his *The People United Will Never Be Defeated*?

Shostakovich's prelude and fugue cycle is not terribly rare, but it is interesting music and is certainly not common.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Anton Rubinstein...kanieshna, would be the best choice!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=anton+rubinstein&aq=f

Choose!

This is a BIG composer....unknown in the West.

Martin


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*Sensemaya or how to kill a snake*

A master piece called Sensemaya or how to kill a snake, a poem by the Cuban Nicolás Guillén. The music by Silvestre Revueltas, a great Mexican composer is programmatic in the sense that it follows the poem verse by verse...Listen to the music carefully:






Now

read the poem. Culebra is not exactly a snake, rather a snake without poison.

Sensemaya 
canto para matar una culebra 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
La culebra tiene los ojos de vidrio; 
la culebra viene y se enreda en un palo; 
con sus ojos de vidrio, en un palo; 
con sus ojos do vidrio. 
La culebra camina sin patas,; 
la culebra se esconde en la yerba; 
caminando se esconde en la yerba, 
caminando sin patas. 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombe! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Tú le das con el hacha, y se muere: 
¡dale ya! 
¡No le des con el pie, que te muerde, 
no le des con el pie, que se va! 
Sensemayá, la culebra, 
sensemayá, 
Sensemayá, con sus ojos, 
sensemaya. 
Sensemayá, con su lengua, 
sensemayá. 
Sensemayá, con su boca, 
sensemaya . . . 
¡La culebra muerta no puede comer; 
la culebra muerta no puede silbar;, 
no puede caminar, 
no puede correr! 
¡La culebra muerta no puede mirar; 
la culebra muerta no puede beber; 
no puede respirar, 
no puede morder! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, la culebra . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, no se mueve . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, Za culebra . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Sensemayá, se murió! by Nicolás Guillén John A Crow, John T. Reed, John E. Englekirk, lrving A. Leonard, An Anthology of Spanish-American Literature. New York: Meridith Corp., 1968. Sensemaya 
(Chant to kill a snake) 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
The snake has eyes of glass;, 
The snake coils on a stick;, 
With his eyes of glass on a stick, 
With his eyes of glass. 
The snake can move without feet; 
The snake can hide in the grass; 
Crawling he hides in the grass, 
Moving without feet. 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombe.! 
Hit him with an ax and he dies; 
Hit him! Go on, hit him! 
Don't hit him with your foot or he'll bite;, 
Don't hit him with your foot, or he'll get away. 
Sensemayá, the snake, 
sensemayá. 
Sensemayá, with his eyes, 
sensemayá. 
Sensemayá, with his tongue, 
sensemayá. 
Sensemayá, with his mouth, 
sensemayá. 
The dead snake cannot eat; 
the dead snake cannot hiss; 
he cannot move, 
he cannot run! 
The dead snake cannot look;, 
the dead snake cannot drink,; 
he cannot breathe, 
he cannot bite. 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, the snake . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, does not move . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, the snake . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, he died! 
===========================================
Now read out loud the poem and put the music again...It is magic!

Martin


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