What classical pieces are you currently playing?

[Jasper Blunk]

Me:

Baroque: Suite No.1 in D Minor by Bach.
Classical: Sonata in B Minor by Haydn.
Romantic: Hungarian Dance #1 by Brahms.
Contemporary: Serenade by Ornstein.

[ewkarl7777]

You're currently playing them all at the same time? Wow. ;)

About 15 minutes ago, I listened to Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Three Songs" (1950). Early piece. He was 22. Kind of corny, actually. He hadn't found
his voice yet.

Before that? Um, yesterday I listened to Alexander von Zemlinsky's "Die Seejungfrau" (The Little Mermaid). Late Romantic.

Nice that you're listening to Ornstein. Most people don't know who he is.

[Jasper Blunk]

Yes.

This is about what you are playing, not listening to. :)

[Bart Klepka]

I'm not 'performing' any classical pieces but I certainly listen to them occasionally.

Mendelssohn's 3rd movement from his Scottish (No.3) Symphony I can listen to for hours (and did so just last week!).

[nikolas]

Currently nothing, cause I don't have much time.

But rather recently:

Prokofiev Sonata No. 8 (3rd war sonata), Tocatta Op.11
Ravel Concerto in G
My own works! :P
Bach Toccata and Fugue in E minor

[Gedren]

Brahms - violin sonata #2, Op.100 (love it so much!)
Prokofiev - violin sonata #1, Op.80
Sarasate - "Zigeunerweisen", Op.20

Not much for now. Usually I have much more compositions to work on at the same period of time.

[ewkarl7777]

"This is about what you are playing, not listening to. "

Oh, you mean *analog* playing? Pushing down keys and banging on things? That's just so last-millenium. ;)

[ChemicalReaper]

I'm trying to learn how to play Bach's Prelude in C on piano and Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary on Organ. Needless to say, I'm good at neither instrument!

[iLoked]

I recently bought a piano and after years without any proper response from the keys I've been trying to get the feeling back via Beethoven's "Für Elise" :)

[Enrique]

Studying some more Bach WTC, particular the first B minor prelude and fugue, and the second C minor fugue. Just recently finished the first C minor prelude.

[chest]

Like Nikolas, I'm not playing any classical pieces at the moment.

And I've never actually built up a proper repertoire of classical pieces.

I keep on having periods of a few weeks when I hardly touch the piano, and then it's too frustrating to try to play anything that's not easy. So, after a gap, I end up spending most of the time that I have at the piano dabbling and just making sure that what I hear in my head does actually come out of the piano - it's very disturbing, after a while away from the piano, either to play a completely wrong sound or to stop dead for a moment because your hands don't automatically go where they should: it doesn't seem to take long for some of what had seemed completely ingrained to fall away and have to be put back in place.

When I do actually get to practice every day for a while, I get out Ravel's Valses Nobles et Sentimentales. I'm not a particularly good pianist, and a couple of the Valses are right at the outer limits of (or perhaps beyond) what I'll ever be able to play, but I've liked the Valses a lot ever since I first heard them, so that provides an incentive to try to play them.

Unfortunately, I'd probably have said the same thing a couple of years ago: I wish I could be sure to practice every day.

Click the arrow...

[... for an indirect link to YouTube - see Post #90]

[peter5992]

Heitor Villa Lobos - Etude No. 1
Francisco Moreno Torroba - Sonatina
JS Bach - Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in D major (transcribed from lute for guitar)

Well ... to be honest, that is what I *should* be practicing / playing although in reality I don't have the time, or the skills (that I once had) for that matter.

Not to mention some missing fingertips, due to a climbing accident.

[Dean Krommydas]

Currently working on a couple things from Rachmaninoff:

Piano Concerto No. 2
Prelude op.23 no.4

Scriabin - Prelude & Nocturne for Left Hand op. 9

and as NIkolas mentioned... some pesonal compositions. :)

[justinhaupt]

Currently working on a couple things from Rachmaninoff:

Piano Concerto No. 2
Prelude op.23 no.4

Scriabin - Prelude & Nocturne for Left Hand op. 9

and as NIkolas mentioned... some pesonal compositions. :)

So- you're working on the Rach 2, eh? And the preludes? Funny, that's exactly what I'm working on at the moment. I just got the Rach 2 from the library actually, and I've owned all the preludes for some time. I only play the easiest ones. None of them really are easy though. Murderous is more like it. Murderous but so, so good. Much better in fact than my playing.;)

Do you like Ligeti and Bartok as well? Esp. Vertige and Devil's Staircase? I mean who doesn't like the evilest music in the world? Now, if you can pull off Ligeti's Atmospheres on piano, I'd be really impressed!

[Dean Krommydas]

So- you're working on the Rach 2, eh? And the preludes? Funny, that's exactly what I'm working on at the moment. I just got the Rach 2 from the library actually, and I've owned all the preludes for some time. I only play the easiest ones. None of them really are easy though. Murderous is more like it. Murderous but so, so good. Much better in fact than my playing.;)

Do you like Ligeti and Bartok as well? Esp. Vertige and Devil's Staircase? I mean who doesn't like the evilest music in the world? Now, if you can pull off Ligeti's Atmospheres on piano, I'd be really impressed!

Hey Justin!

I think it's cool we are both working on Rocky's music :) You said it well...they can definitely be murderous but are well worth the effort. He has such wonderfully powerful music and arguably has written some of the most beautiful music ever. If I had to choose a favorite right now...he is mine.

It seems we have similar tastes for sure. I definitely do love Bartok and as much as I'd love to impress you with Ligeti's Atmospheres on piano...I am not familiar with this! I have heard his etudes...yes Vertige and "Devil's Staircase"...absolutely incredible and I would like to challenge myself with at least Devil's Staircase one of these days! I have also heard his impressive 5 movement piano concerto. I guess I will have to bone up on his "Atmospheres" so I can knock your socks off!

Thanks for giving me more to check out!

[JaapVisser]

Currently the Sonate for Clarinet and Piano from Poulenc. Me on piano and my wife on the clarinet. Amazing piece to be honest :)

[PaulR]

Good to see so many playing Bach works.

Currently learning Bach's Italian Concerto for a small concert and Bach's Echo from B minor Partita. Getting harder to commit things to memory these days.

[OneThrow]

Currently the Sonate for Clarinet and Piano from Poulenc. Me on piano and my wife on the clarinet. Amazing piece to be honest :)

That's a good one. The Flute sonata is pretty good too.

[Gedren]

I have the really very beautiful programm for the beginning of this winter:

Haydn - Violin Concerto C major with solo cadenzas composed by myself, and Trio G major with that splendid Rondo in gypsy style.
And for orchestra: the masterpiece - Tchaikovsky Symphony #6 (each page is pure perfection!) and Brahms Piano Concert #1.

[mezzoforte]

"This is about what you are playing, not listening to. "

Oh, you mean *analog* playing? Pushing down keys and banging on things? That's just so last-millenium. ;)
This should not go unnoticed.
Priceless!

I have lost interest in playing classical music, it is much more rewarding to listen to Yo-Yo Ma, Perlman, Richter, & co.
This way I can pay attention to the music as opposed to my fingers. And they play better anyways, so what's the point?

[V o n h ö g e n]

I honestly didn't expect to see so many Bach players in this thread. Very interesting! Clearly, there's a lot of talent in this forum, but now we know for sure that there is a great deal of good taste as well! ;) (I love Prokofiev's violin Sonata no.1, by the way).

Here's what I am working on at the moment:

1. Bach: 'Klavierübung' part IV (Aria + 30 Variations), perhaps better known as the Goldberg Variations.
(It's not an easy piece to play, so to perform it successfully one should keep his or her fingers crossed. Some of the variations even require crossed arms, like the variations #11, #20 and #26 that were originally written for double keyboard (=2 Clav.) which makes them a little awkward to play on a modern day piano/grand piano).

2. All the instant requests I get from my two little sons on a daily basis, ranging from film music to TV commercials, though most of the time it's either a John Williams request ("Daddy, could you please play that Chinese song from The Temple of Doom again?") or a Disney request ("Now play the diner preparation from Beauty & The Beast, pleeeeaaase!"). :)

By the way, playing on demand "à l'improviste" is a very useful skill which I think every instrumentalist could learn given the right amount of dedication. Being able to play instantly whatever music pops into your head is a great joy that I've discovered only a few years ago when my kids started asking me to play their favorite songs and tunes on the piano. It seems they have managed to open my mind for a more spontaneous approach to music. If they weren't so busy all the time, I would have considered hiring them as my personal assistant-composers! :D

- Jerome Vonhögen

P.s. Mezzoforte, it's a proven fact that the human brain is more active (in different regions of the brain) when someone is playing music on a regular basis than when that same individual is only listening to music in a passive way, and this is not only due to the increased neural activity involved in performing the complex task of playing an instrument. There seems to be a more intense musical experience with active musicians. Interestingly, with trained musicians, the same neural activity also appears when listening passively to music as when they are actively playing the music on their instrument. So, you might say there is enough reason to believe that trained, active musicians do pay more attention to music than the inactive listener, to put it a little less precise.

[A.Leung]

OMG - I get sooooooo much enjoyment from playing. Its like a drug I cant get enough of. I could never stop.

[OneThrow]

I have lost interest in playing classical music, it is much more rewarding to listen to Yo-Yo Ma, Perlman, Richter, & co.
This way I can pay attention to the music as opposed to my fingers. And they play better anyways, so what's the point?

It improves your IQ.

H ö k e t u s has it right. I like listening to music, but I love playing music. It is no accident that Einstein played the violin. I can't think of a better more stimulating all round mind exercise than playing music.

The other thing is that you can have a tiny part of the master's thoughts flowing through you when you play a great piece of music. And for that instance only you are responsible for it. Of course if you'd rather have it second hand that's up to you.

I'll go quietly into the corner now and blow up.

[A.Leung]

Hmmm-I just spent 5 hours straight on Sibelius... THAT doesnt 'quite' count as playing does it! lol.. I WISH it felt the same!

[Andrew Sigler]

Heitor Villa Lobos - Etude No. 1
Francisco Moreno Torroba - Sonatina
JS Bach - Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in D major (transcribed from lute for guitar)

Well ... to be honest, that is what I *should* be practicing / playing although in reality I don't have the time, or the skills (that I once had) for that matter.

Not to mention some missing fingertips, due to a climbing accident.

I played PFA on my Master's recital in '98. I always paused between the last two movements, but many people play them without the pause...which is painful and insane.

I'm not playing anytihng at the moment, but I did an arrangement of 'The Entertainer' for guitar quartet today.


I'm listening to a lot of John Adams...mid 90's in particular.

Violin Concerto (last mvmt) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RxNVzV39Bc

Chamber Symphony (third mvmt, but the 1st and 2nd are fantastic too...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y3fJ1RODqI&feature=related

[mezzoforte]

P.s. Mezzoforte, it's a proven fact that the human brain is more active (in different regions of the brain) when someone is playing music on a regular basis than when that same individual is only listening to music in a passive way, and this is not only due to the increased neural activity involved in performing the complex task of playing an instrument. There seems to be a more intense musical experience with active musicians. Interestingly, with trained musicians, the same neural activity also appears when listening passively to music as when they are actively playing the music on their instrument. So, you might say there is enough reason to believe that trained, active musicians do pay more attention to music than the inactive listener, to put it a little less precise.
Occasional players tend to be more attentive to the music they're playing than to the music they're listening to. That makes sense; there may be several reasons for that:
- because of the lack of intense daily practice, their need to focus on fingers, limbs, lips, tongue, and breath, in addition to the musical score, does increase their brain activity,
- when listening, they lack the interest (or the tools) to get too deep into a piece of music,
- they care more about their own playing than about other players' playing,
...
On the other hand, professional players tend to pay as much attention to their playing as to their listening. That makes sense too; and the reasons are obvious.

Did I see your point correctly?
Do you see mine? If not yet, here's the explicit version:
There is no evidence that playing an instrument is a necessary requirement for understanding music at a high level of abstraction, or even for experiencing it at a deep and intense emotional level. In consequence, the facts you mentioned, while correct and meaningful, don't mean at all that not playing an instrument impeaches on someone's understanding (or/and emotional experience) of music.

It improves your IQ.
It might. Although there might be some other more effective means for IQ improving than playing an instrument. Like: listening to music. Actively.

H ö k e t u s has it right.
100% agree.

I like listening to music, but I love playing music.
I love listening to music, and I used to like playing it. Playing it, that has probably improved my IQ to a level that I realized I need to give up playing. Now I'm only listening, reading, and writing it. And that has probably worsen my IQ to a level that I don't realize I'd better start playing it again.

It is no accident that Einstein played the violin.
What a rewarding thought for violin players! Kind of childish, but a feel-good one for sure. Good point, btw.
In return, you would probably agree that there are (and have been) many brilliant individuals who never touched an instrument. And, however rewarding, it would be delusional to think that playing violin makes Einstein more brilliant than other scientists. At the most, it just makes violinists look smarter (somewhat undeservedly).

I can't think of a better more stimulating all round mind exercise than playing music.
I can: (guess what) listening to music. Actively.

The other thing is that you can have a tiny part of the master's thoughts flowing through you when you play a great piece of music.
You can have, you could have, you may have, you might have, you could have had, ...
It depends. It sometimes depends on how carefully you have listened to the renderings of some truly great players.

And for that instance only you are responsible for it.
Exactly! I hate to be responsible for bloodbaths. I suck at playing. But I do realize and admit that, unlike many many many. Also, I am a great listener. Unlike many many many.

Of course if you'd rather have it second hand that's up to you.
Depends on whether you'd call your hand: first hand, and (say) Richter's hand: second hand.

I'll go quietly into the corner now and blow up.
Hope you won't. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6nNn8iJQa8

[OneThrow]

Wow. That's me found out. :D

Had to have a little chuckle.

Would like to have replied with the big foot coming down and squashing everything, but the raspberry was missing, not the same effect.

Second best eh...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ72fcHDUC8

[PaulR]

Some of the variations even require crossed arms,

Goodness! Crossed arms? :D

You should give Bach's Fantasia in C minor a go. There's a lot of crossed arms in that one. There's just not enough crossed arms in composing these days in my view. I almost never post anything - but this minimalist piano part is nearly all crossed arms - it's the only way to play it. Crossed arms are a must - I think the family's coat of arms is in fact - crossed arms.

http://www.productionmusiconline.com/track_detail.php?track_id=644

[PaulR]

There is no evidence that playing an instrument is a necessary requirement for understanding music at a high level of abstraction, or even for experiencing it at a deep and intense emotional level. In consequence, the facts you mentioned, while correct and meaningful, don't mean at all that not playing an instrument impeaches on someone's understanding (or/and emotional experience) of music.


It might. Although there might be some other more effective means for IQ improving than playing an instrument. Like: listening to music. Actively.



I just noticed this. That is actually probably quite true. I have a cousin who never played an instrument in his life and we are the same age. We have known ech other well since we were about 4 and started school together. I went on to the the RCM and he had no involvement in music other than listening and buying records - going to concerts, mostly rock concerts in those days. He probably knows more about 'music' than I will ever know - and will appreciate it much more because he's never been bogged down with constant having to rip it apart and study it bar by bar. It's fair to say that this kind of listener will get a lot more out of music than people that play and study it - but in a very different way. What way that is - I have no idea.

BUT - he should have learned to play. To me that's just a waste. He may have been useless at whatever instrument, but that doesn't matter - there's something organic about playing. Therefore, in my view, you will not necessarily be a better writer if you play and appreciate music on that level - but your chances are greatly improved.

IQ I think can be improved with music - but also just about anything else that requires thought and study. This is one of the reasons most of northern England is full of morons.

[rav4]

I've added playing "Moonlight Sonata" at xmas gigs this year. Pretty easy to sightread. And a blast to play.

[Nathan Allen Pinard]

Not as classic but my favorites of all time have to be The Planets, New World Symphony, Pictures of an Expedition, and "Symphony No. 1" by Daniel Bukvich (which is actually a concert band piece), specifically for the last movement. Chilling.

[chest]

"Moonlight Sonata" ... Pretty easy to sightread.
You mean the whole sonata? I get quite intimidated seeing good sight-readers in action. I've never got good at it. :( I know that the right kind of practice improves sight-reading, but I sometimes wonder whether good sight-readers just have an innate ability that I'm lacking.

[Ravich]

There's so much more to it than practice. We know very little about reading written language, but we know next to nothing about reading music notation, partially because classical music as a whole isnt really interested in expanding beyond the early 20th century mentality it has managed to retain.

One thing that we do know is that it probably has a shit-ton to do with tracking. Written language is a single line at a time, to the next one down. Reading music is 2 separate staves, where each staff has plenty of parallel lines and extra leger lines. To sight read effectively, a person must read both staves at the same time, interpreting various figures and not just individual notes, and their hands are playing accordingly while they read what their hands will do next

I started piano at age 6 with a crazy (but wonderful) russian lady who studied music at a conservatory there before immigrating to the US. She had me playing 4 octave scales with contrary motion and all 3 forms of minor, chords and inversions, arpeggios, cadence chord progression exercises in whichever key I warmed up in. Then of course there was the standard classical repertoire and etudes.... until I was 18.

I never ever was able to read music on. I went through an entire bachelor of music program following that and still ended up doing everything by ear.

Yes, sight reading is a skill, and practice will improve sight reading skills. But when it comes to those crazy people that can sit down with anything they've never seen before and play it up to speed at a glace, it's not just the simple fact of them having practiced more than you.




Anyway, sorry for the tangent. I'm currently playing around with Satie's troi gymnopedies, but in general not learning a whole lot of new music at the moment.

[Lovesmusic]

have been playing oboe for five years, clarinet for around three and a half, various orchestral percussion instruments (marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, etc.)

[Tyler Johnson]

Most recently I learned Chopin's Scherzo No. 1 in B minor.

It sounds like a very difficult piece, and has some very hard stuff in it, but once you learn the 4 sections of it, it just repeats itself over and over again.

Took me 2 weeks and my metronome to learn the whole thing. The middle part is absolutely beautiful.

[rav4]

You mean the whole sonata? I get quite intimidated seeing good sight-readers in action. I've never got good at it. :( I know that the right kind of practice improves sight-reading, but I sometimes wonder whether good sight-readers just have an innate ability that I'm lacking.


No, just the first 4 pages, the adagio part!

[A.Leung]

Not as classic but my favorites of all time have to be The Planets, New World Symphony, Pictures of an Expedition, and "Symphony No. 1" by Daniel Bukvich (which is actually a concert band piece), specifically for the last movement. Chilling.

+1 For "Pictures at an Exhibition."

[Tyler Johnson]

I've always been good at sight reading. But I DID get better when I was a pianist for Royal Caribbean. When you're forced to do it, anything really, you get better at it.

[chest]

I've always been good at sight reading. But I DID get better when I was a pianist for Royal Caribbean. When you're forced to do it, anything really, you get better at it.
True, but in my case I think I'd just be getting a little better at something I'm fundamentally not good at. I certainly have found that, when I try more sight reading, I get better at it, but the good sight-readers that I've come across don't seem to be just an improvement on someone like me -- more like a different species. :D

I think I probably don't scan the staves effectively or efficiently, don't get enough benefit from recognising patterns (scales, patterned scales, etc) properly or quickly enough, and don't read far enough ahead; and I could think of other things wrong. I expect I could improve all those by practice, but I don't think that would make me into a good sight reader.

I remember seeing someone playing from a six-part vocal score that didn't have much of anything like conventional harmony that could be helpful in recognising groups of notes vertically - essentially, he was reading six independent musical lines without the prop of tonality to help, and playing perhaps a dozen or more new notes per second. That's so far from anything I can do that I find it hard to believe that it didn't involve something that's simply not present in the way my brain works.

[Gedren]

New year - new beautiful music pieces to play. :)
Well, most of it I actually already played before - more often or less...

So here it is:

Ravel - Tzigane.
Schumann - Sonata #1 a-minor, Op.105.
Bach - Sonata #2 a-minor for violin solo - Grave & Fuga.
Paganini - Caprice #20.
Beethoven - Violin Concerto, the 1st movement.
Vivaldi - Winter, Spring and Storm from the Four Seasons. Concerto for violin G-major RV310 and Concerto for violin and cello B flat-major RV547.

[aptmusic9]

some demanding orchestral first violin stuff. we have to play william tell, merry wives of windsor (nicolai), weber overture to oberon, vaughan-william serenade to music, mendelssohn wedding march, puccini o mio babbino (w/ soprano), verdi scene and aria from otello w/ soprano, all in the same concert. im gonna collapse....lol

[Gedren]

aptmusic9
Woo, this is quite challenging!.. Good luck! Everything will be great! :cool: :)

[Nathan Allen Pinard]

aptmusic9
Woo, this is quite challenging!.. Good luck! Everything will be great! :cool: :)

Says the person that could probably play all of those flawlessly... lol

[Jamie Devisser]

Mozart Fantasie in Dmin for piano.
Beethoven Fur Elise.
That's all that I can half ass play these days. I would like to learn some more advanced chopin pieces, but unfortunately I got my radial nerve slashed in my right arm and my fingers don't move like they used to. :rolleyes:
I think its time to learn a new instrument that doesn't require to much finger action. :cool:

[noldar12]

Currently:

An original double-bass concerto.
Transcription of the Faure Elegy (originally for cello, transcribed for bass).
An incidental piece by Ravel (transcription)
The Dittersdorf Sinfonia Concertante for viola and double-bass.
Sonata in A Minor by Telemann (another transcription).

Will be playing most of these in a mini-recital in about a month (first public performance in about 1 1/2 years) - if I played in public more often, I would probably be better at it.