Hello everyone, I have had a regular duet partner for a number of years now and a friend of ours is interested in doing some trios with us. It seems desperately difficult to find any material to play at an advanced level (we're not proud, would settle for interesting intermediate) but there seems very little beyond the early Laura Shur books. Any suggestions (with web links if poss because they're really difficult to find) We have the opening movement of Beethovens V to try and the overtures to Mozart Magic flute and marriage of figaro but am struggling to find anything else.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTPGHFDaPcA any of these would be any good, particularly fancy the joplin. Mind you we'd be like Macbeths 3 witches in comparison.

So does nobody play advanced trios? this is going to be harder than I thought.

Give it a bit more time Digby, some only come on here at the weekends.

The only piece I know is 'The Secret' by Gautier, which Panthera, Mwl1 and myself played at the Headingley concert on 30th May, see thread. It seemed to go down well and was fun to play although we only had about 15 minutes rehearsal and could have done with more to really polish it. One of my music group colleages says she has a number of 6 hands pieces and has promised to bring them. I will post details when I receive them. The Gautier, by the way, is on Youtube played by 3 Japanese girls - worth a look.

I was given a few 6 hands pieces some time ago and I've never been able to use them so they're stuck on a shelf. When I get home I'll let you know what they are, although I'm sure one of them is the Gaultier already mentioned.

Excellent - thank you all

Are you talking about one piano 6 hands or two, or even three, pianos? I just keyed "one piano 6 hands" into Google and there were some results. Sorry if this is not of any use.

Have a look at the Trinity Guildhall syllabus for Piano - Six Hands which goes up to Advanced Recital level. (Sorry - can't be bothered to type them all out!) It includes a book by Mike Cornick called 3 Pieces for 6 Hands at 1 Piano which features quite heavily.

My apologies Digby; apart from The Secret (Gaultier - arranged by C. Gurlitt) the only other thing I have is something called Opus Two and a Half by Anthony Hedges. The difficulty in this seems not so much the music as following how the three parts are laid out! I have 2 photocopies of this

(The other thing was for four hands-two pianos which doesn't really answer your requirements.)

If you would like either thing mentioned (they are only photocopies) I would be happy to post them to you unless you can download them from somewhere quicker.

While I was waiting for a student today, I had a quick look at the tiny piano 6 hands section of the music store and they did have a couple of works.

Most noticeably a collection of pieces by well-known composers (including Beethoven) published by Schott. It had about 8 pieces in it, so it might be worth having a look out for it. It was just called "Piano Pieces for 6 Hands" (its german though so "Klavierspiel zu Dritt") - http://www.schott-music.com/shop/Sheet_Mus...show,37643.html

They also had a volume of pieces by Mike Cornick.

feeling incredibly embarressed I didn't even realise there was one, and I use their details all the time. thanks for this will check it out.

I've had a go at arranging an organ piece - Guilmant March on a them by Handel for 1 piano, 6 hands.

I didn't get enough time with my intended collaborators to try more than the first page and some redistribution may be needed to avoid collisions. It was extraordinarily difficult to work out which register each pianist could play in and to try to give them all a fair crack of the whip.

The ABRSM ensemble syllabus:

Primary (grade 4-5)
LISTA
BeethovenTrio movement (Allegretto) in E
b. Beethoven Piano Trios, Book 3(Henle or Henle/MDS)
J. Klengel Trio (Kindertrio) in G, Op. 35 No. 2: 1st movt (Breitkopf & Härtel)
Schobert Presto in B
b(from Op. 3 No. 1). The Piano Trio, ed. Höckner(Simrock/MDS)
LISTB
Bridge 3 Miniatures, Set 1: anytwopieces (Stainer & Bell)
Bruch Andante in Aminor, Op. 83 No. 1 (Simrock/MDS)
Wilfred Josephs ATrio of Trios, Op. 87: anyonetrio (Boosey & Hawkes/MDS)

Intermediate (grade 6-7)
LISTA
J. C. BachTrio (Sonata) in C, Op. 15 No. 1: 1st movt (Möseler)
C. BohmTrio in Aminor, Op. 352 No. 3: 1st movt (Simrock/MDS)
Donizetti Trio in E
b: 1st movt,Largo–Allegro(Peters)
LISTB
SchumannTrio in F, Op. 80: 3rd movt (Peters)
TurinaTrio No. 1, Op. 35: 2nd movt (Salabert/UMP)

Advanced (grade 8+)
LISTA
Brahms Trio in B, Op. 8: 1st movt (1stor2nd version). Brahms Piano Trios(Henle orHenle/MDS)
HaydnTrio in C minor, Hob. XV/13: 1st movt. Haydn Piano Trios, Book 2(Henle orHenle/MDS)
Mozart Trio in B
b, K. 254: 3rd movt. Mozart Piano Trios(Henle orHenle/MDS)
Schubert Trio (Sonata) movement (Allegro) in B
b, D. 28. Schubert Piano Trios(Henle orHenle/MDS)
LISTB
Bloch3 Nocturnes: Nos. 1and2 (Carl Fischer/MDS)
DvoˇrákTrio in G minor, Op. 26: 2nd movt (IMC/MDS)
ShostakovichTrio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67: 2nd movt (Boosey & Hawkes/MDS)

ahh thank you - maybe I need to be looking directly onto the Henle site rather than sourcing them randomly.

It was fun to listen to as well, and I think everybody is agreed that it was one of the most memorable highlights of the concert




I hope Panthera and mwl1 are reading this thread as well as oldnotes - lots of ideas for the next time you get together

These are all Piano Trio pieces, meaning they were written for Piano, Violin and Cello, not for piano 6 hands, so unless they've been arranged for piano 6 hands, you'll struggle to play them!

Jacob.