Audience-pleasers
I'm pondering repertoire for the upcoming season and thinking about some good crowd-pleasers. (Think "music that elderly concert-goers love." Last season I did the Franck sonata, which was a hit.)I'm looking for two contrasting works that are each about 4 or 5 minutes long (not to exceed 10 minutes total) and which could preferably be thematically related, or a single work of under 10 minutes. Works (possibly multi-movement) that don't exceed 20 minutes might also be okay. Can be difficult but I probably don't have the patience for virtuosic. The piano accompaniment can require practice but shouldn't be exasperatingly difficult.
The context for this: I often have opportunities to play in shared recitals / chamber-music concerts where 10 to 20 minutes is a good length, but there's not 30 minutes available to perform a full sonata. (For this season my chosen sonata is Faure No. 1). I'm doing as many such concerts as possible as part of my stage-fright desensitization personal project.
(Other stuff I'm performing this year: Shostakovich No. 1 which is my "pedagogical" concerto which I'll only do in student recital; Mozart Sinfonia Concertante, which I'm performing with my community orchestra; the Dvorak Piano Quintet; the Schumann Piano Quartet; Rachmaninoff Trio Elegaic No. 1; and the Reger Clarinet Quintet.)
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Replies (16)
Four Seasons is a future tentative plan for performance with orchestra.
If your pianist is up to it
Sounds far harder than it is.
Oistrakh did a recording of all the Tchaikovsky salon pieces -- there are some real gems in there. The easiest one by far is the Melodie.
If you want to go a little lighter in character, how about one or two of the innumerable Heifetz arrangements? Many are featured on Perlman's "violin encores" album. For example the arrangements of the Gershwin piano preludes. (I guarantee your pianist already knows them thoroughly.) The tune "It Ain't Necessarily So" is a gorgeous piece also.
Everyone loves the Drdla Souvenir.
The Kreisler collections have some really nice pieces- easy generally, and also easy to edit out the harder measures if needed- Shepherd's Madrigal, Midnight Bells, Dancing Dolls, Song of India, etc. are lovely sentimental pieces
When Paul mentioned Heifetz, it reminded me of Girl with the Flaxen Hair, another piece full of character but not very difficult.
Wieniawski, Legende
Hindemith's solo sonatas
Etudes- Rode, Kreisler 13, etc.
I'm sure I'll think of more as I'm drifting off to sleep.
I've played the Dvorak Romance previously, yes. I did the Tchaikovsky Meditation a little while ago but haven't played the Melodie. (I have sort of wanted to do the Valse-Scherzo but my teacher deems it to require a lot of practice time for an insufficiently rewarding result.) The Gershwin suggestion is excellent. I love the Drdla Souvenir; I planned to put it on a recital program back in my 20s, learned it, and never got around to presenting that recital (I was going to split a program with a friend of mine).
Malcolm, I'd never heard that Smetana work before. Really enjoyed listening to it. Thanks!
Dvorak’s four romantic pieces are absolutely gorgeous
The songs without words of both Felix and fanny Mendelssohn.
Estrellita as arranged by Heifetz.
Coincidentally last night I looked at a book I bought a few weeks ago in a charity shop called The Golden Album of Violin solos. It contains things like the Boccherini menuet, Mendelssohn's Spring Song, Gossec's Gavotte and Schubert's Serenade, and I thought, Jeez, talk about tearoom music from the 30s!
All the best with your recital planning and prep.
Schindler's List
Thais meditation.
I was once asked to play at a wedding for my daughter's friend.
Found there wasn't a lot for one violin, so got a couple of books for two violins, and asked a friend.
Went down a treat.
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Romance from Wieniawski #2
Scherzo Tarantella (Wieniawski)
Bartok Rumanian Dances
Preludium and Allegro (Kreisler)
Tambourin Chinois (Kreisler)
etc
etc
When I played informal concerts at my mother's assisted living facility, mostly I played hymns, Broadway tunes, patriotic songs, and so on, but I always included Thais and Czardas. I'm sure you could do either of those in your sleep but they do fit the "crowd-pleaser" category.