25 replies to this topic

[Ana Laura]

Dear all, 

I am looking for piano repertoire that has been inspired by nature. I am working on a project in my current workplace and I am looking for repertoire of all standards, (from beginners to post diploma), for both piano solo and piano duet (or more). Do you have any suggestions? I can think of a couple of pieces, but anything else would be welcome! Thank you very much!

[Latin pianist]

How broad is the topic? Does it include creatures or things like rivers, trees etc? And do you mean well known Classical pieces or anything like eg Walter Carroll pieces from River and Rainbow. Arrangements or originals?

[hennylemon]

Sibelius's  Five pieces for piano, op 75, are all dedicated to trees: https://imslp.org/wi...Sibelius,_Jean)

 

I'm not familiar with them but they are probably more advanced than beginner-friendly.

[Latin pianist]

There's a grade 1 piece by Alwyn called The Pear Tree is laden with fruit.

[fsharpminor]

Schumanns 'Waldscenen', nine pieces depicting a walk in the woods.  Mostly Grade 7 and 8,  one (Solitary Flowers, only Grade 3 ish). 'The Prophet Bird' is a nice piece.

 

Ireland   'The Cherry Tree'  'The Darkened Valley' piano pieces Grade 8.

 

Liszt    'Au Lac de Wallenstadt' , also Grade 8 ish

 

Debussy Preludes,  some have nature inspired names  (eg Feuilles Mortes)

[HelenVJ]

Janacek On the Overgrown Path - cycle of 15 piano pieces, mostly at the higher end of piano proficiency.

That's a very wide topic, especially if you're going to include beginners/early grade pieces. There are literally hundreds.

[fsharpminor]

Janacek On the Overgrown Path - cycle of 15 piano pieces, mostly at the higher end of piano proficiency.

That's a very wide topic, especially if you're going to include beginners/early grade pieces. There are literally hundreds.

Ah yes, one is 'A blown away leaf' another  'They chattered like swallows' and 'The little owl continues screeching'

[maggiemay]

I don’t have opus numbers off the top of my head, but Gurlitt wrote a number of pieces inspired by flowers.
(Eta) many around grades 3-4.

Debussy’s Jardins sous la pluie. (Not appropriate at the level the OP later mentions!)

[Dr. Rogers]

A few off the top of my head:

 

• Beethoven, Op. 79, first movement (cuckoo, cuckoo) (Currently on the ABRSM syllabus for Grade 8, though I would consider it more at the Grade 7 or even Grade 6 level)
• Schumann Forest Scenes, Op. 82
• Several of Debussy's Preludes might qualify, my favorite being Bruyères

[Latin pianist]

For beginners there's an arrangement of the Pastoral Symphony Theme in PA lesson book 1. There's quite a lot of other nature themed pieces in that book too. I could suggest lots of pieces from my collection of old exam books . Waiting for OP to be a bit more specific.

[hummingbird]

 

When I did G1, one of my pieces was Dragonflies, which was in the book The Greenwood Tree by Marjorie Helyer.  Some of the other pieces in the book are The Busy Spider, The Merry Cricket, The Rabbit's Playtime, The Silver Birch and Grasshopper's Dance.

 

A bit more information about your project would be useful

[fsharpminor]

 

A few off the top of my head:

 

• Beethoven, Op. 79, first movement (cuckoo, cuckoo) (Currently on the ABRSM syllabus for Grade 8, though I would consider it more at the Grade 7 or even Grade 6 level)
• Schumann Forest Scenes, Op. 82
• Several of Debussy's Preludes might qualify, my favorite being Bruyères

 

Well I already mentioned the Schumann and Debussy. Odd though - I have played Op 79 for nearly 60 years, and never thought about a cuckoo !  Its the most approachable Beethoven Sonata after the two Op 49 ones, and the first whole sonata I ever played.

[dorfmouse]

If you look on the ui piano ped site there are tons of pieces professionally demonstrated, from elementary onwards, many of which have nature inspired titles.

https://m.youtube.co...o ped#searching

[Invidia]

People have already mentioned Debussy (look at his Images as well). 

Ravel's Miroirs are mostly nature themed, likewise Liszt's Annees de Pelerinage.

Scriabin wrote a whole sonata about insects (op.70). 

Also Granados La Maja y el ruisenor (from Goyescas)

Rachmaninoff's Etude-tableau op.39/2 is nicknamed 'The Sea and the Seagulls'

Some of Couperin's Pieces de clavecin are about birds.  

 

I have to mention Messiaen's bird pieces, although they are very difficult. La Colombe (from Preludes), L'Alouette Lulu (from Catalogue d'oiseaux), and the Petites esquisses d'oiseaux are the most approachable (grade 8/first diploma level)

[HelenVJ]

Hope that's enough to get you started, Ana Laura. And as already mentioned, a bit more info about your project would be helpful. Interesting that this is apparently your very first post after joining over 7 years ago!