I'd love to suggest some concertos (or anything piano + orchestra) to grade 5 to 8 pupils to learn and do with school orchestra.

- the sort that have some fast scale/arpeggio bits, but not the complexity of Rachmaninov!

- I guess baroque or classical probably?

Is anyone familiar with the repertoire (e.g.Mozart, Haydn, J.S.Bach)?

Please share any number of suggestions, or website links if there's a site with the information.

Many thanks.

P.S. Piano plus string quartet (i.e. Piano quintet) etc. suggestions at this level also welcome. I know Beethoven's Archduke Trio, but it might be a bit much on the big chords aspect.

Someone approaching grade 8 might be able to play the Beethoven 3rd Concerto in C MInor, or at least the first movement.

I am also sure my daughter tackled the Dvorak Piano Quintet in A Op 5 when she was Grade 8 on both piano and violin, but I think she played the violin for that. There are also piano quintets by Shostakovitch Op57, Schumann Op44, Granados, and Elgar. In the 'Ensembles' syllabus for1995 they are under 'Ensembles:Advanced' though but that is usually about Grade 8. You might find a movement or two thats not too demanding.

You might find that the Andante from Mozart op 21 would be playable and also the Beethoven C Major concerto number one. I remember playing a classical one when I was well below grade eight but cannot remember who wrote it. It may have been Clementi or possibly Kuhlau.

Beethoven's 1st concerto, in my experience and opinion, is suitable for the pianist and the school orchestra. Mozart A major (not THE famous one but there is another one in that key) is also good.

There are movements from various concertos which Grade 8 pupil will be able to play... most of Mozart concertos have a movement or two, for a start. Bach's keyboard concertos are also possibility.

Further to my earlier post, yes I concur with the Beethoven No 1 as well as No 3.
Petrats suggestion of Andante for Mozart 21 does not contain any real 'passagework' bits, I understood you were wanting a faster movement.
I also found a score of the Schumann Piano concerto - thats not too difficult either

Oops! Forgot that you had asked that.

I presume you mean the second movement?

I find the Schumann Concerto rather difficult, more so than the Grieg.

[quote name='hero' date='Dec 13 2006, 01:42 PM' post='433877']
Mozart A major (not THE famous one but there is another one in that key) is also good.

Do you mean K488, hero? The one with that fabulous slow movement and the Neapolitan 6th in it? What's the other A major one?

The K414.

Thanks, F.C. I wish I knew my Kochel numbers like you and - what wasd his name? - Robin Ray! (Sorry, that dates me a bit.) (A lot.)

Some great suggestions so far - thanks ever so much folks!

I had a very nice birthday present from my husband recently - sheet music plus CDs of two piano concertos, Haydn's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra Hob. XVIII:11 in D major and Mozart's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra KV414 (385p) in A major. These are published by Dowani International and are available through de Haske. There are other titles available. The sheet music is very clearly laid out and looks like an Urtext edition. I have found one mistake in the first movement of the Haydn, but haven't checked the rest through thoroughly yet. There are two piano scores - one with the orchestral accompaniment and one for solo piano part, so if you have access to two pianos you could play it with your teacher or duet partner. The great thing about them is that the accompanying (in both senses!) CDs have tracks at three different speeds, making practising much easier. The work is divided up into movements, so you have reasonable practice sections. Speeds 1 and 2 have piano accompaniments of the score and when you reach the heights of concert performance speed you are rewarded with an orchestra to play along with. One CD is a performance of the complete work with no breaks. These two concertos are rated at grade 4 to 5, which is probably about right for technical difficulty, but it would be a very able grade 4 or 5 player who could keep up with the CD at concert performance speed and retain dynamics and expression.

I don't know if full orchestral scores are also available from the same source, bu they must be published somewhere.

I found de Haske's website very difficult to search - I had to find my paper copy of their information in order to find it on the web, so it's probably best to phone them and ask them to send information if you are interested. I can't put the link here as there seems to be something wrong with the link icon tonight.