HOW TO CREATE THE PERFECT PIANO RECITAL PROGRAM // What Makes An Interesting Recital? Piano Tutorial

Hi everybody, this is Danae and in today's video I want to talk about how to program a piano recital. Now this is a question that is geared more towards the people that are also kind of actively performing or also towards the people that are preparing for their very first piano recital, but I think that it is a very important topic to talk about because growing up I had a very different notion of what is supposed to go into the program of a piano recital than I do now. So if you're interested in hearing my thoughts and in me sharing how my idea of the perfect piano recital program has changed over the years, then keep on watching. First of all, as you can tell, I am not at home. I am actually in Poland right now. This is my hotel room in Katowice, where I will be performing Clara Schumann's piano concerto tomorrow together with the Paris Mozart Orchestra. I actually just played with this orchestra in Paris in the Philharmonie and I was the soloist for a conducting competition called La Maestra, which is a conducting competition only for female conductors, and in the semi-finals they had to play a piano concerto with a soloist and I was the soloist. So it was a very interesting experience and now that the competition is over, the orchestra is touring and I'm playing with their usual chief conductor and the first concert is here in Poland. The whole competition was actually also broadcast on the TV channel A.T.E., so if you are curious in seeing what this was like or if you want to watch segments of it, then you can just head over to A.T.E. It's going to be in their library for I think two years and it's also on their YouTube channel, so you can definitely go there and watch it to see what that experience was like. But now let's get back to the actual video. So as I said, when I started playing piano recitals when I was much younger, my idea of what I had to put into the program was very different. I thought that the program has to consist of pieces from all the eras. I thought I'm going to start out with a Baroque piece, then maybe a Classical Sonata, then maybe something Romantic and maybe something Modern and maybe something Virtuoso. This was kind of how I thought I was going to structure my recital. It's also kind of how my recitals went. I remember my first piano recital, I started with Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue and then I played a Mozart Sonata, then I played something by Schumann and of course this was influenced by how I was practicing at the time, how my repertoire was built. My teacher was telling me to practice pieces from all the different eras and different centuries, so this is how I programmed my recital program. However, I would not suggest that this is how you program a recital program. So when programming a recital, there are two important factors to think about. Number one, which is by far the most important factor, is you. So what do you want to play? What brings you joy? What do you feel that is something that you want to express? Choose programs according to that. Also, what makes you feel comfortable when you're on stage? What are the pieces that have a special meaning to you or that convey a special message that you want to get out? All these things. So everything surrounding you, the artist, because you are channeling the art that you are going to bring onto the stage in your piano recital. However, there is also a second factor and that is the audience. What does the audience want to hear? Now, this is a bit of a dangerous path, let's say, to think about because of course you don't want to go total crowd-pleasing way and forget about yourself, but also you don't want to only think about yourself and not about the audience. Ideally, of course, those two will go hand in hand because if you are convinced by what you do, then I truly believe that you can also convince an audience no matter what the piece. But it is good to also have the audience in mind when structuring your piano recital, when thinking about which piece to put first, which piece to put last, and when thinking about, for example, if you have a very challenging piece to listen to, let's say it's very complicated new music, for example, then maybe to also put an easier piece to listen to into the program so that the audience can have a bit of a breather. So these are factors that you have to decide when thinking about the audience. But let's start at the very beginning. When I am planning a recital program, what I do is I try to first decide on a core piece. So this can be anything that you like to play. Whatever you feel is your favorite piece right now, or your best piece, your strongest piece, can become your core piece. I like this core piece to be something that is maybe a little bit longer, be it a 30-minute cycle, be it a long sonata, anything like that. And then I start programming from there. Once I have the core piece, there are a million ways to go, of course. Let's say the core piece is a Beethoven sonata. I can make a pure Beethoven sonata recital out of that. For example, if my core piece is Beethoven's Pastorale sonata, I can say, okay, I'll just add two more Beethoven sonatas. There you have the recital. But of course, you can also go in a completely different way. Let's say my core piece is something by Schumann. I can create a recital where I interchange pieces by Schumann and Jörg Wittmann, who is a composer that was heavily influenced by Schumann. So I can kind of show that perspective on Schumann, once by a Schumann piece himself, and then once by playing a piece by a composer that very much admired him and that was influenced by him. You can also go the route of playing pieces of contemporaries. So again, if your core piece is Schumann, you could say, I'm going to add in some Brahms. I'm going to add in some Clara Schumann, maybe. You just create a recital of a certain period of time, of maybe a certain group of friends, something like that. Maybe Beethoven and his students, for example, could also be a theme. Another way to go is you have a core piece and it has a certain theme. For example, let's say that your core piece is Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. Then you have this night theme. So you are looking for other pieces that are connected to the theme of the night. So you could do the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven, for example, or you could do the Nachtstücke, the night pieces by Schumann. So you could find different pieces that are connected to the night or Chopin nocturnes. So as you can see, there are many different ways to go about it. But I think what is important is to find what connects the pieces of your recital. Personally, I think it's always a pity when a recital just has different pieces kind of scattered and there is no real connection between them. Because when you're in the audience and you go to the concert, you also kind of want to go on a journey. And it's so nice if you feel that the performer has put some thought into the programming and really takes you on a journey in all these different ways that are possible. And of course, you can find many, many different ways from what I mentioned. These were just examples to give you some ideas. But the important thing is, I find that there is a connection and that the program in itself makes sense. And it's not my earlier type of programming where I basically just took competition repertoire from different points in time and compiled them into one recital program. Now, one important point that I would like to mention, which is very much geared towards what is important for you, is to also pay attention to the first piece. The first piece of the recital is very important because it is where you are still the most nervous. It's how you start. And it's also, of course, your first impression that you leave on the audience. And for me, I've realized that the way I start a piece very often determines how the rest of the concert will go. So when I start a recital, I want to make sure that I'm starting out with a piece that I feel 100% comfortable in, confident, that maybe doesn't have the hardest of all beginnings, and that I really feel that even if I'm a little nervous and, you know, have a little bit of stage fright, I can go on stage and start that comfortably. And then once the first page is done and I get into the harder stuff, I'm there. I'm fully there and I'm ready to tackle it. Starting out with the hardest piece ever, I think, is a bold choice. Some people do it and it works, but for me personally, I always practice the beginning extra much and I give it extra time in my preparation for a concert, because I really believe that the beginning needs to be perfect. You need to be prepared for everything. You might be a little bit shaky, you might be a little bit nervous, so make sure that this beginning is something that you feel 100% secure with. Another thing to think about is last piece, because the last piece, of course, is the end of the recital. Of course, you want to go out with a bang. Now, what exactly is a bang? Does it need to be a highly virtuoso piece? Of course, it can be. This is a very nice end to a concert. You play a virtuoso piece, the audience usually loves it, they clap a lot, you play encores. But of course, going out with a bang can also be ending with a very profound ending. One of my favorite ways to end a recital in a previous recital program that I had was Schumann Fantasy. Schumann Fantasy has an incredible third movement, the last movement, which is a slow movement. It's 10 minutes of incredibly magical atmosphere. It ends very softly, kind of in nothingness. I feel like it gives us a bit of a heavenly feeling. It's not virtuoso at all, it's not technically impressive, but I think when done correctly, it's musically so touching that this can be an incredible ending. So when thinking about the ending of the recital, you might also want to think about how do you want your audience to go home? Do you want them to go home in a joyous mood, or do you want them to go home in a thoughtful mood? Do you want them to think about a certain subject? For example, Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps, which is the quartet for the end of time, is one of those pieces that is so touching, so incredible. When you hear it, there's nothing that can really follow that. So when you end a concert with that, that's a pretty intense experience. Usually the audience is just in awe, sitting still. I've experienced concerts where the audience has not clapped after that piece because they were so touched and they felt that the clapping would kind of destroy the atmosphere. So there is this type of very introverted but incredibly powerful endings to recitals as well. So this is also a choice to make, but definitely make sure that it is a powerful piece at the end. You know, there are nice little short pieces that can be filler pieces that are maybe more harmless, but that are nice to have in a recital. But at the end, I think there should be something that has a statement, be it a highly virtuoso statement, or be it a very powerful, thoughtful, introverted statement. Another fundamental question is, do you want to have an intermission? The classical way to program a recital is 45 minutes intermission, 45 minutes. So you have 90 minutes of total music. However, more and more I've realized, especially in the recent years, people have started programming 60-minute recitals or 60-70-minute recitals without intermission. And I must say that personally I find that very interesting, because I like playing these types of concerts. I like playing 60-minute recitals without an intermission. I feel like you get deeply into the music, because the intermission kind of, of course, takes you out of it, and then you have to get back into it in the second half. Whereas if you have the full 60-minute concert experience, you're really in it, and then at the end of the journey, it's over. So I think it's an interesting concept. But I know that the opinions differ and go into different directions, also within musicians. So I will be interested in listening to your opinion. What do you think? Do you prefer 90-minute recitals with first half, second half, and then intermission in the middle? Or you can also maybe have a drink and talk to the other people in the audience? Or are you intrigued by this new concept of 60- or 70-minute concerts, where you just go, listen to the music, and then it's over? And then one last thing that I want to mention, it's not directly connected to the program, but I do want to mention it, because I think that it is an important point, is I would recommend that you speak to your audience. I know that 20 years ago, not even 20, 10 years ago, this was very unheard of, and most pianists did not do this, speak to their audiences. Nowadays it's being done more and more. But I think it's such a nice thing to do, when you have a recital, to tell them your thoughts about the music, tell them what's on your mind, tell them maybe what is important to you in the pieces that you're playing. The audience, in my experience, really appreciates it, if you share your thoughts and kind of take them on this journey with you. And also it creates a feeling of closeness, when they also hear you speak, and speak to them directly, and not just you're floating on stage, you're playing, and you're floating off stage. I am a big fan of that, and I like to speak to my audience, not before every piece, but I might say something maybe after the intermission, I might say something in the middle, I might say something in the beginning, depending on the program, depending on what I have to say. But I think that it is a very nice gesture, and I think the audience really appreciates it. Yes, so these were my thoughts on how to program a recital. Really the most important thing is to find a way to connect that program, and to make it logical, to make it a journey, to make it a story, an adventure for the audience to go on, and to have this kind of common thread that takes you through the entire concert. I actually really like looking at other pianists' recital programs, and very often draw inspiration from that. So if you are up for it, leave a comment down below with a recital program that you have played in the past, or maybe a recital program that you want to play in the future, or simply your dream recital program. What do you think is the best recital program that you would put together, that you would love to listen to in a concert, or that you think an audience would love to listen to? I'm actually very curious right now to read those comments, because I think that we all have different creative ideas, and I'm very interested in reading your creative recital ideas. So let me know! If you enjoyed this video, please like it and subscribe to my channel, that would help me a lot. And before I end this video, I just want to mention that there are still horrible things going on in the world. Last week I didn't post a tutorial, I posted me playing a Beethoven sonata, because I felt that it just wasn't appropriate to be sitting there and talking about piano related, piano tutorial related stuff. I'm doing it right now, it's still very weird, but the situation has not gotten better whatsoever. It has gotten worse. I don't really know what to say, I'm shocked, I'm deeply saddened by it. Whenever human lives are being taken, it is never good, and people are suffering a lot. So if you have any way that you can help, then please do, be it with donations, financial donations, or if you can just donate medicine, and there are many things that they need. Check out your local organizations that help, and if you can help, please do take in refugees that are fleeing from this war. I am also doing my part, and I think if we all do our part, maybe we can try to ease the pain just a little bit. I hope that you are all safe and healthy, and I will see you again next week. Bye!