Hallo,
I got through to a local 'young musician of the year' final last night - its in July and I and playing piano I need some really really good pieces to play, havent really got any ideas at the moment.

I want something VERY lyrical (with lots of minor 7th chords in - yum) and something very flashy. If they were quite safe (not much room to muck up) it would be even better. I have grade 8 so I am willing to give anything a go!

Ta, Jonathan

Would Gershwin's Three Preludes fit the bill? They're lovely to play, with some yummy chords and some flashy sections.

Especially the third one - very impressive

Schuberts Impromptu in E flat from the first set D899.
Chopins Fantasie Impromptu in C#minor,or Revolutionary Study in C Minor, or 'Military' Polonaise in A, or Berceuse in D flat.
Rachmaninovs G minor or C# Minor preludes.

Also, you could consider Rachmaninov's Bb major Prelude (I love it but have never had the courage to practise it!) It would definitely have the virtuosic requirements you are looking for.
Good luck.

I agree that Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G Op 32 No 5 ticks all the boxes. It is lyrical, it is flashy, it ain't half difficult, and it is eminently muck-uppable.


As a safer choice I have just learned to play Glinka's "Prayer" from Vol 2 of the Complete works Urtext and can recommend it as a concert piece. It is outside the mainstream repertoire, it is lyrical, and am sure the audience would love it.

Unfortunately it does not show off the ability to flirt successfully with danger. Most of it is quite straightforward to play, but you can still show off your technique in the introduction which needs a VERY good trill/vibrato to bring it off.


What are you learning for your encore!!

Congratulations: I don't know about anyone else, but I'm impressed!

Congratulations on getting to the final!

How about the Scriabin D# minor Etude? I think it's Op. 8, no 12. One of Horowitz's signature pieces (but maybe only watch the Youtube videos of him playing it before you starting working on it - once you start learning it, watching Horowitz is too depressing!)

It ticks all the boxes for me (although, to tell you the truth, I never really learned it properly back when I used to play it):

- Flashy as ######
- Combines flashy with lyrical
- Not exactly minor 7th chords, but every bar is packed full of nutty, crunchy, fruity harmonies.
- Unfortunately, it's quite muck-upable! The left hand is constantly jumping about over a 4-octave range.

Still, some muck-ups can maybe pass as just adding yet more nutty, crunchy flavour. OK, this may not be true at the standard of the competition you're playing in....

Since you're Grade 8, this piece would certainly be in your range. (It was the reason I scraped a Merit at Grade 8 - who wants to learn Mendelssohn when there's a monster like this piece demanding work? The Rach Bb Major Prelude bobsie mentions was another enjoyable distraction - personally I'd rate it as harder to pull off than the Scriabin).

good luck!

If it's the Bb major prelude I'm thinking of, I would have said it's a little on the difficult side for grade 8, to be honest - at the moment my brain is mush so I can't offhand think of anything but when I've managed to get my head round it, I'll try to come up with a couple of suggestions. Not sure if Ravel's Sonatine would be the kind of thing - it certainly has the scrummy chords, and the flashiness appears in the last movement.......gorgeous, gorgeous,gorgeous piece........ is it a single piece you're looking for? Or 2 contrasting ones? Or something slightly more short sonata length? It's DipABRSM level, so not impossible for a post-grade 8 - and you really want something that sounds flashy that you can play well rather than trying something too difficult and not being able to quite pull it off convincingly. Depending on length required, there are also some pretty impressive sounding Brahms short pieces too....... from op.76, 116, 118, 119........or his 2 Rhapsodies maybe......just a few more ideas to throw into the pot for you...... If I think of any more, I'll let you know......

Well if we are going to start including Scriabin then the entire Op. 8 is up for grabs. It must be one of the greatest works ever created for the piano - and deserves to be much more widely heard. All twelve etudes are wonderful, but ...


I can't agree with this. Apart from the slow one (Number 8) they are well beyond an average Grade 8 standard. Currently Nos 10 and 12 are on the LRSM Syllabus

That is not to say that pianoman84 couldn't tackle them with success - as a competition finalist he is likely to be quite a lot better than your average Grade 8 pianist. Of course they are mostly very short, so he might have to learn as many as half a dozen to fill the competition slot, and that is a lot of work. You would need to be a phenomenal musician to get that much music, of such difficulty, up to a competition winning standard between now and July.

But for the record, my favourite is No. 3 which has an achingly beatiful lyrical tune in the middle, washed over with typical Scriabine harmonies/dissonances and complex rhythms - and it is marginally easier than No 12

The Scriabin etudes are wonderful pieces, but i would agee with Mad Tom that most of them would be beyond grade 8, even though they are not that long. The left hand is always challenging with this composer, in some of the preludes that don't look too difficult i have found many of them deceptively hard to master. Though when it comes to amazing chords and thundering power it would be hard to top his Poeme Tragique, reminiscent of Rachmaninov.... i don't play it, another for my ever increasing must learn wish list. I am working on some pieces at the moment, which are very flashy, but also poetic, one is Walter Giesekings arrangement of the Richard Strauss song ''Standchen'', this was without doubt my hardest search ever to aquire a piece, which in the end i managed to order a special print from Germany. Despite being told by Foyles and Chappels copyright prevented ordering this piece from the UK. But if you heard Andsnes play it on his Horizons CD, you'd know why i needed to get it. Very difficult, but one for the long haul. Also the Grieg Agitato, which is one of my favourites, full of lyricism and Nordic drama. Really though, there are so many, that in the end i would just go with my heart and a piece you truly feel something for, and not merely because it's impressive.

Having just dug the music out and had a go at no.12 14 years after the event, I now have to agree! How on earth did I manage to perform this piece back then? Probably some combination of "by the skin of my teeth" and "ropily"...

Interesting that it's on the LRSM syllabus - there goes the next few hours while I see if I can starting learning it properly...

[Edit: thanks for pointing me towards Op.8 No 3 - what a piece! That's definitely going on the list for work this year.]

I agree with your thoughts on the Rachmaninoff Bb major Prelude - it is well beyond grade 8.
However, the reason I suggested it was that the competition concerned may demand the performance of works of this level.(This piece is in the LLCM syllabus - I would consider this to be one of the more technically challenging works on the syllabus without a doubt!)