Piano Recital Material - Avoiding the Beethoven Hyperstandards

[DavidO]

I attend a lot of children's piano recitals throughout the year, & of course Beethoven is quite often played. These piano students are beginners to early-intermediates, so the Beethoven pieces one hears are of course what I call the hyperstandards: Fur Elise, Moonlight 1st mov't, Pathetique Adagio, simplified arrangements of the big themes from piano concertos & symphonies, &c.

I'm growing pretty weary of these hyperstandards, so I started thinking about other Beethoven piano pieces that I'd like to hear these kids try--something a little fresher to the ear.

How about the beautiful, passionate & relatively easy Minore (Un pochettino piu sostenuto) from Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 7? It's fairly brief, it's highly learnable for beginners or early-intermediates, it's certainly fresh (I've never heard it played apart from full performances of the sonata) & it's passionate in that Beethovenian manner that everyone loves.

What other pieces would make suitably fresh recital numbers for lower-level students?

[Rutradelusasa]

The Rondo in C. I don't recall the Opus n. (or WoO n.)

[Chris]

Some of the bagatelles, particularly Op. 33 and Op. 119 would be good. The WoO 84 waltz might be a nice option as well.

[PDG]

The Six Ecossaises (Scottish Dances), WoO.83 played down the pub always gets me a round of applause and a free pint! Or maybe the second minuet of six, WoO.10, "Grandmother's Waltz".

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Rutradelusasa:
The Rondo in C. I don't recall the Opus n. (or WoO n.)

I believe it is opus 51. There is also a rondo in G that is very good.

And there are some themes and variations that might be appropriate, too.

[ruudp]

And let's not forget the sonatina's in G and F major *allthough they may be spurious* and the sonatina's op.49.

[Joy]

And how about the Menuet in G (WoO 10, No. 2) which I remember learning as a youngster and also the Country Dance WoO 11, No. 2 is a nice piece.

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[gprengel]

To me the most beautiful piano piece for beginners is the haunting 2nd movement from sonata op. 79 . It conveys such a beautiful melancholie!