Hey,
I've been asked to play a piano solo in a concert in early july. I was thinking of a bit of a mozart sonata, but then thought again - they aren't that great to listen to, but fun to play.

Could anyone suggest any good concert pieces (gd 8 standard), that are of the modern/romantic era- I wanns play something really different. I was thinking of looking at the gershwin 3 preludes, or Poulenc 5 novelletes ( ) what are they like>

thanks, jonathan

How about having a look at the Wedding Day at Troldhaugen by Grieg? It's a really good piece, but I'm not sure what standard it is

What about rachmanninoff prelude in c# minor,thats really nice.

Wouldn't you be better going with something you already know well because July is not so far off and also you will fell much more confident playing it under pressure.

Of course if you are the sort of person who can thoroughly learn something quickly to performance level and is not bothered much by nerves then ignore what I just said as that is for ordinary mortals...

I've just had a piano pupil take the crowd by storm at my recent pupils' concert with 'The Rustle of Spring' by Sinding. It sounds REALLY impressive played up to speed, but a lot of it is built up on arpeggio patterns, so it's not as tricky as it sounds! It's an excellent concert piece.

Gershwin's 3 preludes are harder than Gr 8 - I did two of them for my Advanced Certificate in 1998.

What about anything from Debussy's Children's Corner Suite? There are some catchy pieces in there!

I've just passed my grade 5 and I'm playing the 5th and 6th movements in the childrens corner suite. They might obviously be a bit too easy for you but they are good audience pieces because they have catchy tunes. The 5th (the little shepherd) is a really atmospheric beautiful piece with alot of pedalling, and the 6th (golliwogs cakewalk) is harder and longer. The other pieces in the book are harder, and I've heard the first one (the name begins with "dr"...) which is like a study to begin with but then develops into a gorgeous piece. Anyway, hope it goes well!

lucie x

that's a great piece, some of it's quite hard - but i'd definately recommend it!

Remember that a comparatively easy piece played well is much better than a mediochre difficult piece! It's not what you play - it's the way that you play it!

Its about grade 7. I think it was on the Trinity list or Guildhall list a few years ago. And yup, its a lovely piece!

Try some Chopin's Nocturnes.....ie. the C# minor op.posth., Eb op.27, Db op.22(??)

Thanks everyone

I'll look into some of those options - just wondered if anyone had any thoughts on the poulenc I mentioned. I'm so interested as I;m doing the poulenc clarinet sonata, & it rocks