🎹 The Romantic Music Challenge

Do we have any guidance from Dominic on how "short" the short pieces should be?

I’d like to do Chopin Op. 9-3. At least the first B major section. If time permits, also  the agitato, but I’m not clear on length of the excerpt we are to play. 

Count me in for this challenge.  I will play the Intermezzo from Schumann's Faschingsschwank aus Wien Op. 26 IVth Movement. It ticks all the boxes:  it's Romantic, it's short, it's beautiful, and I think I can learn it well enough during the challenge to try to incorporate some of the ideas I'm sure to get from from Dominic and the rest of you over the course of the challenge.  Scanning the comments here I see we are in for some serious repertoire as well as a wide range of levels of players, something I've always loved about the Tonebase Watch Parties!

I would like to learn Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel: Melodie op.4-2 in C#minor. 

This might be an excellent opportunity to learn Consolations nr 3 by Liszt?  Ok, I'm on!💪😃

We don't need to pick a piece up from the list, do we? I'm working on Carl  Reinecke's Canzonetta now. He "was a German composer, ... in the mid-Romantic era". So the piece fits pefectly for the challenge, does it?

I'll do Mendelssohn's Op. 19 no 4 🙂

I'm  working on a vary short piece that I love- Chopin made an arrangement of a Polish Hymn Tune that Kyohei Sorita played in the 18th Chopin competition. It's called "Largo in Eb", but it has quite a history.  

"Until recently, the album leaf which Ludwik Bronarski published in 1938 was held to be a Largo in E flat major. Today, we know it is the melody of the song ‘Boże, coś Polskę’ that Chopin played at church during his final year at the Warsaw Lyceum."  (I think this was on WIKI). 

The words of the hymn , a translation by Mary McDowell, from "Folk Songs of Many People" :

O Thou Lord God, who for so many ages
Didst give to Poland splendor and might
Who shielded her from storms' wild rages
And kept her ever in Thy holy sight.
𝄆 Father, we kneel to plead before Thy throne,
Give to us freedom, give to us our own! 𝄇

I will be playing Mendelssohn-Hensel: Notturno in G Minor. I aim to learn it all but if I cannot master the whole thing from a musical and emotional perspective then I will just work on a section. We’ll see how it goes! So excited for this challenge and to finally explore the music of this brilliant and hugely under appreciated composer! 

Franz Liszt Consolation No. 4 in Db

So happy to be doing a challenge that is not focused on virtuosity. But then I had to chose a piece that is fiendishly difficult to voice. (Excerpt from the Adagio from Rachmaninoff's Symphony no.2, transcription by Kirkor.)

This project reminds me that contrary to most people I don't like to imitate an orchestra, even when playing a transcription like this. My former teacher also had that controversial opinion, so maybe I got this from her. She used to say the piano sounds good enough to not pretend to be something else! In any case I'm having a blast, even if I sound like doodoo right now with all my hesitations/pauses. I really chose the most romantic piece I could find!

Hi all 

In order to keep it short , I will play the first 2 pages of Brahms intermezzo op 117 no2

Dominic has just recently done a video tutorial on this piece , so it’s opportune !

Thank you so much, Dominic, I've decided to work on Rachmaninov's Prelude No. 4, Op. 23; it's my favorite piece and I've been playing it for a while.’ Finally, with your help, I'll be able to improve my pain points and get valuable suggestions on phrasing and the pedal. I hug you.

Hello, 

I will play Chopin's F# Major Nocturne, Op. 15 No. 2.

Hi everyone, I'm new on TB piano, and still a bit lost. I ended up in this group first and have started practicing again. I'd also like to play my piece from memory. Dominic, do you have any ideas on how I can learn it better? Thanks! Claudia 

I will be working on Brahms Intermezzo Op. 117 No. 1. I'm not sure if I will be submitting a recording but I will try.