So What Are You Working on

Working on piano music that I love.

Mozart Sonata in B flat K. 281. A nice early piano sonata and possible first round amateur piano competition piece. Pretty well complete.

Mozart Sonata in C major K 309. A middle period piano sonata and possible second round amateur piano competition piece. Just starting. Both Mozart sonatas count towards my goal of learning all Mozart piano sonatas by the time I croak. These two put me over the hump at 10 of 19.

Schumann Papillons Op. 2. A delightful piece by one of my favorite early Romantic composers. I like Schumann as well (if not more) than Chopin. This is a piece revived from my college days. Possible middle round amateur piano competition piece.

Chopin Nocturne in D-flat Op 27 No 2. This is a nocturne first learned as a Freshman with Miss Faini. This is the only piece that I played well (without performance panic) at a jury in my tenure at Eastman, and have played it many times since. I love this piece. If I decide on a tried-and-true first round amateur piano competition piece, this would be it.

Chopin Polonaise in C# minor Op 26 no 1. In working as an accompanist for BFA St. Albans, I have been priviliged to hear wonderful student pianists. A number of their performances have inspired me to learn their music (see Ginastera Danzas Argentinas). This is also one such piece. I think this would complement the above as another first round amateur piano competition piece.

Brahms Rhapsody in G Minor Op 79. Brahms is another of my all time favorite Romantic period composers. This is a possible first round amateur piano competition piece also..we will see.

Bach: Prelude and Fugue in G# Minor Book 1. I always like to do some Bach somewhere in amateur competitions. We will see if I can fit this in.

Beethoven Piano Sonata in E-flat Opus 7. I always like to be working on one longer stretch type of piece, and this is it, a difficult (are there any easy ones) early Beethoven piano sonata. This would be a perfect third round amateur piano competition piece.

Chopin Scherzo in B-flat minor opus 31. I am resting this piece now but could revive it. I am considering making my first round piece on the next amatuer piano competition a stretch piece. This is based on the way my last competition worked out in which my first round stretch piece (Ginastera Danzas Argentinas) was better than my "easier" piece (Granados Spanish Dance) in my estimation. In fact I think if my whole program had been on the same level as the difficult third dance (which rocked) I could have advanced. However, it wasn't and I didn't. Them's the breaks. But anyway, maybe an opening round stretch piece would be good.