Piano Dipabrsm Program Options

[piano guy]

Dear all,

I'd like to take a DipABRSM sometime, probably in December 2010, maybe a bit later. I've pretty much learnt Debussy's Sarabande and am learning Brahms's Rhapsody op.79 no. 2. Here is a potential program I have thought of (all pieces from the syllabus):

Poulenc: Toccata: no.3 from ‘Trois Pièces’
Mozart: Adagio in B minor, K.540
Chopin: Berceuse in Db, Op.57
Debussy: Suite ‘Pour le Piano’: 2nd movt, Sarabande
Brahms: Rhapsody in G minor, Op.79 no.2
Gershwin: ‘The Man I Love’ and ‘I Got Rhythm’

Total time: about 30:10 without breaks (worked out from times of tracks on Spotify!)

I realise that this is heavily weighted towards the 1800s onwards, but this kind of music is my forte so I thought I'd see if I could create a balanced programme within my interests. I've tried to have lots of different styles of music (in order: neo-baroque?, classical, early romantic, impressionist, late romantic, 'jazz') - is this balanced enough? If not, then maybe I could replace something with a prelude and fugue by bach or something, or could take out the Gershwin and do a longer Mozart piece?

Any opinions gratefully received,

Thanks,

Neil

[clavicembalo]

Welcome to the Forum piano guy.

A nice selection of pieces, yet I do think it's lacking a contribution from the baroque, so a Bach P&F would be a wise move. I'm planning on my Dip' in July of this year and together with the Debussy Sarabande, a Liszt Petrarch Sonnet and Schubert Sonata have programmed Bach's D major P&F (Bk II).

I'm sure others will recommend the F minor P&F which seems to be a very popular choice, although key-wise your programme might benefit from avoiding the addition of more minor-key pieces.

Furthermore, no doubt others too will comment on the number of pieces you have chosen to play, given that you have also to prepare accompanying programme notes. You wouldn't have any trouble reaching the required number of words, but would have problems either keeping that number down and/or being able to do justice to what you have/need to include for each piece in the programme.

I'm also wondering whether sonata form ought not to make its appearance better felt; it wouldn't necessarily have to be a 20-minute contribution, such as Beethoven or Schubert though.

Is that the order in which you would choose to play them?

Lots of points to consider, although learning your programme would doubtless be a most enjoyable experience.

Best of luck!

[fsharpminor]

I too feel that should be something from an earlier period, but if you dont want to do Bach try Scarlatti.
Also I agree that maybe 4 pieces is enough, certainly no more than 5.
I'd be inclined to do Bach/Scarlatti, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, Gershwin

[piano guy]

Thanks for the replies!

A nice selection of pieces, yet I do think it's lacking a contribution from the baroque, so a Bach P&F would be a wise move. I'm planning on my Dip' in July of this year and together with the Debussy Sarabande, a Liszt Petrarch Sonnet and Schubert Sonata have programmed Bach's D major P&F (Bk II).

I'm sure others will recommend the F minor P&F which seems to be a very popular choice, although key-wise your programme might benefit from avoiding the addition of more minor-key pieces.

I will have a look through Bach's preludes and fugues then and see which ones I like best - thank for the suggestions. I did the one in Ab in Book 1 for my Grade 8 and enjoyed it.

Is that the order in which you would choose to play them?

Yep - pretty much chronological order except for the Brahms coming after the Debussy as I felt that the Brahms was a good 'wow' piece that should go near the end.

Best of luck!

Thanks!

I too feel that should be something from an earlier period, but if you dont want to do Bach try Scarlatti.

I'll have a look at both Bach and Scarlatti then - I've no particular preference at the moment.

Also I agree that maybe 4 pieces is enough, certainly no more than 5.
I'd be inclined to do Bach/Scarlatti, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, Gershwin

I'm also wondering whether sonata form ought not to make its appearance better felt; it wouldn't necessarily have to be a 20-minute contribution, such as Beethoven or Schubert though.

Best of luck!

I think I'd like that programme, depending on the length of the Bach/Scarlatti I choose I could do
Mozart's Sonata in D, K.311 (instead of the other mozart) as I like this piece and it isn't too long.

Thanks for your replies, would be great to hear what you all think of the programme now.

Neil

[Robodoc]

Dear all,

I'd like to take a DipABRSM sometime, probably in December 2010, maybe a bit later. I've pretty much learnt Debussy's Sarabande and am learning Brahms's Rhapsody op.79 no. 2. Here is a potential program I have thought of (all pieces from the syllabus):

Poulenc: Toccata: no.3 from ‘Trois Pièces’
Mozart: Adagio in B minor, K.540
Chopin: Berceuse in Db, Op.57
Debussy: Suite ‘Pour le Piano’: 2nd movt, Sarabande
Brahms: Rhapsody in G minor, Op.79 no.2
Gershwin: ‘The Man I Love’ and ‘I Got Rhythm’

Total time: about 30:10 without breaks (worked out from times of tracks on Spotify!)

I realise that this is heavily weighted towards the 1800s onwards, but this kind of music is my forte so I thought I'd see if I could create a balanced programme within my interests. I've tried to have lots of different styles of music (in order: neo-baroque?, classical, early romantic, impressionist, late romantic, 'jazz') - is this balanced enough? If not, then maybe I could replace something with a prelude and fugue by bach or something, or could take out the Gershwin and do a longer Mozart piece?

Any opinions gratefully received,

Thanks,

Neil

I think that your program is a great program in itself, it's one that I would like to hear and contains pieces all of which I like. You certainly have a balance of periods and I think you could quite easily justify the absence of a Baroque piece by making up for it with the range of 20thC stuff, particularly if you include the Poulenc. However, I just think it's not quite right for a Diploma. My objections are fourfold, three of which are related:

Firstly, there is no single major work.
Secondly, someone (Clavicembalo) has already mentioned the sonata form probably needs to be represented.
Thirdly, 6 composers is at least one and probably two too many.

You could solve all of these problems by taking out three shorter works and playing one three-movement Classical sonata instead.

Finally (and by far the least important) the Brahms is overplayed.

However, according to your original post you have already learned the Brahms and the Debussy.

Option 1: Stick to your guns & play it as per your plan.
Option 2: Play Brahms & Debussy, plus Poulenc OR Gershwin (if you must but definitely not both) and a classical sontata
Option 3: Drop Brahms & learn the Chopin instead, otherwise as per option 2.

Dropping the Brahms would not such a disaster. So far I have learned (& dropped) from the Dip repertoire list a pair of Scarlatti sonatas, the Szymanowski etude, part of a Haydn sonata, some Chopin and part of a Beethoven sonata.

[Mad Tom]

Apart from any problems with the content, if you are going toplay works from six different composers you will struggle to squeeze everything that needs to be said within the word limit for the programme notes.

[piano guy]

Thanks for the replies, sorry I didn't notice them until this morning as the email notification seems to have switched off!

However, according to your original post you have already learned the Brahms and the Debussy.

Option 1: Stick to your guns & play it as per your plan.
Option 2: Play Brahms & Debussy, plus Poulenc OR Gershwin (if you must but definitely not both) and a classical sontata
Option 3: Drop Brahms & learn the Chopin instead, otherwise as per option 2.

Dropping the Brahms would not such a disaster. So far I have learned (& dropped) from the Dip repertoire list a pair of Scarlatti sonatas, the Szymanowski etude, part of a Haydn sonata, some Chopin and part of a Beethoven sonata.

I haven't fully learnt the Brahms yet, however from what I've learnt of it and from what I've heard on Youtube and Spotify I think that's the one piece I'd definately like to learn.

I've also learnt the second movement of Beethoven's Pathetique sonata and started on the first movement, but I doubt I'll do that piece for the diploma as I'm not particularly keen on it and that piece is definately overplayed!

Thinking about it I'm happy to do a Bach Prelude and Fugue instead of the Poulenc. So how about this programme (in order that I would play them)?

1. Bach Prelude and Fugue Book 1 no.12 in F minor BWV 857
2. Mozart Sonata in D, K.311
3. Brahms Rhapsody in G minor, Op.79 no.2
4. Either Debussy Sarabande OR Gershwin ‘The Man I Love’ and ‘I Got Rhythm’, probably the Gershwin

I've gone for the F minor Prelude and Fugue as it's the one I like best: it's really haunting! I've taken out the Chopin Berceuse as although it's really nice I prefer the Brahms and it looks like I'll only have space for one romantic piece. Then it looks like I'll have space for either the Debussy or Gerhswin - either combo of 4 pieces will take me to approx 32:30-34:00 without breaks and it needs to be 31:30 - 38:30 with breaks (35mins +/- 10%). I suppose once I've learnt all the pieces, if it so happens that I'm towards the lower boundary for the time limit then I could do both the Debussy and Gershwin.

Thanks,

Neil

[Robodoc]

. . . So how about this programme (in order that I would play them)?

1. Bach Prelude and Fugue Book 1 no.12 in F minor BWV 857
2. Mozart Sonata in D, K.311
3. Brahms Rhapsody in G minor, Op.79 no.2
4. Either Debussy Sarabande OR Gershwin ‘The Man I Love’ and ‘I Got Rhythm’, probably the Gershwin

I've gone for the F minor Prelude and Fugue as it's the one I like best: it's really haunting! I've taken out the Chopin Berceuse as although it's really nice I prefer the Brahms and it looks like I'll only have space for one romantic piece. Then it looks like I'll have space for either the Debussy or Gerhswin - either combo of 4 pieces will take me to approx 32:30-34:00 without breaks and it needs to be 31:30 - 38:30 with breaks (35mins +/- 10%). I suppose once I've learnt all the pieces, if it so happens that I'm towards the lower boundary for the time limit then I could do both the Debussy and Gershwin.

Thanks,

Neil

Now THAT'S a good program, with either the Debussy or the Gershwin.

If you reckon it will take you a minimum of 32.30 without the breaks then you are well within the limits so don't even think about doing both.

[piano guy]

. . . So how about this programme (in order that I would play them)?

1. Bach Prelude and Fugue Book 1 no.12 in F minor BWV 857
2. Mozart Sonata in D, K.311
3. Brahms Rhapsody in G minor, Op.79 no.2
4. Either Debussy Sarabande OR Gershwin ‘The Man I Love’ and ‘I Got Rhythm’, probably the Gershwin

I've gone for the F minor Prelude and Fugue as it's the one I like best: it's really haunting! I've taken out the Chopin Berceuse as although it's really nice I prefer the Brahms and it looks like I'll only have space for one romantic piece. Then it looks like I'll have space for either the Debussy or Gerhswin - either combo of 4 pieces will take me to approx 32:30-34:00 without breaks and it needs to be 31:30 - 38:30 with breaks (35mins +/- 10%). I suppose once I've learnt all the pieces, if it so happens that I'm towards the lower boundary for the time limit then I could do both the Debussy and Gershwin.

Thanks,

Neil

Now THAT'S a good program, with either the Debussy or the Gershwin.

If you reckon it will take you a minimum of 32.30 without the breaks then you are well within the limits so don't even think about doing both.

Thanks (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The times I've given are very approximate, since for example the performances of Bach's Prelude and Fugue in F minor BMV 857 on Spotify vary between 5:17 and 8:21 and the times for the other pieces vary similarly, so depending on how I play the pieces my total time could vary wildly! Of course I wouldn't play the pieces quickly just to fit in both the Debussy and Gershwin: I'd only play both if I had time left when playing the other pieces at my preferred speed.

[clavicembalo]

Your programme, piano guy, has a much better balance now I think.

I have already compiled a draft of my programme notes and very much enjoyed doing the research for them. I hadn't done anything like that before, having taken for granted those supplied at concerts I have attended in the past.

I'll have some rewriting to do, specifically to cut down on what I have written for my Liszt and to include a little more information on sonata form to accompany my Schubert. Your programme should present a good deal of scope for writing an informative set of notes; don't leave this to the last minute - in any case it may well help inform the decisions that you make on interpretation etc.

Most importantly, have fun with the whole process!