# New Repertoire...



## bplary (Sep 13, 2009)

So, my piano teacher have decided to do a theme of the great pianists of the Romantic period. The four pianists being Liszt, Thalberg, Chopin, and Gottschalk.
For Chopin I'm playing his second Scherzo, I think I'm going to be doing Liszt's Funerailles but some suggestions on Thalberg and Gottschalk would be great! Perhaps something of comparable difficulty to the Scherzo..Thanks!


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## Romantic Geek (Dec 25, 2009)

Well I do know a few pieces of Gottschalk but not his entire repertoire. 

Some I'd check out are:

Op. 3 - La Savane
Op. 15 - Le Banjo (a "crowd" favorite...if there is such a thing for Gottschalk...not too many common folk know who he is)
Op.31 - Souvenir de Porto Rico, marche des Gibaros
Op.39 - Souvenir de la Havane: Grand caprice de concert
Op.47 - RO27: Berceuse

Liszt's Funerailles - awesome piece. Depends on the type of piece you're looking for with the Gottschalk. The Berceuse is probably your best shot at a "slow" piece. Le Banjo would fit best in your program though...at the end. My personal opinion. It's a doozie to pull off though. Not as technically difficult as either of the two pieces you're doing, but conceptually, one of the toughest pieces I know.


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## bplary (Sep 13, 2009)

Yeah my teacher pulls off a fantastic Le Banjo, would be a fun piece to learn undoubtedly....I have no idea what to do for the Thalberg though, everything I've looked at of his so far has just been so difficult haha


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## Romantic Geek (Dec 25, 2009)

Unfortunately, I don't know any Thalberg 

I thought of one more that is worth considering: The Dying Poet - Meditation


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Sigismond Thalberg wrote mostly paraphrases on popular opera themes of his time. The music really isn't that good, but I guess it was enough to allow him to compete with Liszt.

One of his more popular concert paraphrases is the Fantasy on Don Pasquale, played brilliantly by Earl Wild here: 




There are actually many great Romantic pianists that have become almost forgotten as composers. Alkan and Rubinstein perhaps not so much, as they seem to have a good number of followers. But pianists like Moscheles, Herz, Henselt, Tausig, and d'Albert who were big in their day are nowadays rarely performed. From the classical era there is Kalkbrenner, Pixis, Field, and Hummel who used to be part of the "standard" repertoire instead of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. Clementi used to be quite popular as well, not just his more elementary works.

I suggest you take a look at Henselt's f minor piano concerto. It was once a "warhorse" of the repertoire but since then has fallen into obscurity.


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