Ideas & Themes for a Piano Recital
Programming a successful piano recital involves more than a passing knowledge of the piano literature. Concert pianists have programmed recitals based on composers, time periods, types of compositions and regions. An entertaining and memorable recital depends on the quality of performance foremost; although a successful program will help avoid monotony for you and the audience.
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Single Composers
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A few concert pianists, like Alfred Brendel, for example, have specialized in programming concerts devoted to the works of a single composer. A few concert pianists have even given concerts devoted to the complete works of a composer. When performing works by a single composer, it's important that the compositions complement each other as well as contrast with each other. For example, if you give a concert of Beethoven sonatas, include a serious one and contrast it with one that is lighter in character.
Time Periods
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Programming a recital around a period in history involves much research and a careful selection of pieces. When selecting pieces of a specific time period, make sure the pieces have contrasting length and mood. Instead of programming concerts entirely devoted to one general time period, such as baroque or classical, a pianist may instead program compositions composed within the last 20 years, for example.
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Transcriptions
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Many well-known composers have made keyboard transcriptions of other media. Some transcriptions are literal, meaning they're as faithfully adapted to the piano as possible. Other types of transcriptions are paraphrases, which means they're free adaptations of another medium. Operatic transcriptions have been very popular, although transcriptions of German lieder (art songs) were also popular in the 19th century. Concert pianists rarely devote recitals entirely to transcriptions, although many end a concert with one. Some popular transcriptions and paraphrases by well-known pianists-performers include the Hungarian Rhapsodies by Franz Liszt and the operatic arrangements by Sigismond Thalberg.
Single Works
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There are very few compositions in the piano repertoire that can accommodate an entire recital. A few examples may be the Goldberg Variations of J.S Bach or the Diabelli Variations by Beethoven. Often a pianist will give a recital of two large compositions, for example, a classical period sonata along with one composed in the 20th century. Programming two large-scale works requires much physical and mental stamina and should only be attempted by experienced artists.
Region
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Piano recitals containing compositions of a single country or region can be exciting and informative. The core piano literature consists generally of composers from central European heritage. An exciting alternative piano program may consist of piano music from a country that is not well-represented in the piano literature. For example, there is much interesting piano music from Latin America and Asia. Audiences are likely to respond favorably to the exoticism of unfamiliar piano compositions.
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References
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