For about a year I have been learning tunes from popular songs written in the early twentith centuary and now am thinking of going back to more classical works. In the past I have played some of Bach's easier pieces (parts of the French Suites), Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Clementi sonatas but have always been reluctant to play Schubert. I have the Schubert Impromptus D899 which I find very challenging to play at a reasonable tempo. Can anybody recommend easier pieces by Schubert suitable for an intermediate player? Thanks.
Suggestions for pieces by Schubert
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Moments Musicaux
No. 3 is very famous and I think within your reach given your previous experience.
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PS: The Moment Musical no. 3 is still quite tricky if you're not used to its challenges (double-notes and ornaments with weak fingers) but is well worth learning.
If you want to go even easier then the Sentimental Waltzes are quite easy and short.
The impromptus are nice but IMO they are too long (and thus require too much work) for the amount of satisfaction you get. For an intermediate I think it's better to go for shorter pieces.
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Most people find this waltz irresistible.
Hungarian Melody played by Piano World member and winner of the Hammamatsu Competition, Can Cakmur.
Second movement of his little sonata in a major
I like his dances. They are short and fun.
There are a lot. I'll just post a few.
And of this set I like no 13 very much, you can bring multiple voices out, it's so much fun to try to play it in multiple ways. Schubert was so clever. I think of all the pieces I learned or tried to learn so far, learning this one was most fun. In the replies someone wrote down timestamps.
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Another vote for the the Kupelwieser Waltz (it's actually a transcription) and the Andante from the A Major Sonata D664 - both very accessible - oops, I see the Schubert A Major listed above was a different one than D664 - but D664 is also very accessible.
I'll second the vote for Schubert Dances. They are short (though if you play all the repeats, you can string them out quite a bit), not too difficult, yet give you plenty of opportunity to work on voicing, pedaling, etc. My favorite is probably Opus 18, no. 6.
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Thank you everyone for your lovely suggestions which I will use to make a written list to take with me when I visit Forsyth's music shop in Manchester. Besides buying some Schubert I hope to be looking at a four year old Fridolin Schimmel baby grand in order to ask myself "does it play better than my little upright ?"
PS If anyone has experience of playing a Schimmel or Fridolin Schimmel or indeed on how to go about selecting a new piano I would be grateful to read it.