[NewMusic] 20th century sheet music store

[Matthew Goodheart]

I sent this earlier, but it never posted. Apologies if it shows up  
twice. . .

On Oct 9, 2007, at 2:29 PM, Ron Lettuce wrote:
My whole problem with ordering through the internet it that you can't  
go in and browse around, you need to know exactly what you want, and  
if someone hasn't recorded it and put it on napster, itunes or  
youtube, you're pretty much out of luck. What you "can" find recorded  
on the net is frequently the virtuoso level show-off pieces (which I  
have very little chance of learning to play in the next 30 years, let  
alone for next month...). whereas what I'm looking for is something  
intermediate in playing level that gets across the point...here's a  
12 tone piece...etc...


. . . which is why I recommend hanging out in the Berkeley music  
library. And if you find pieces you like, there's always the  
photocopier. . .

As to some pieces:  Shoenberg's op. 19 is free atonality, and the  
pieces are very short and easy to intermediate grade; it's actually  
one of my favorite pieces by him. For super-easy, Stranvinsky's Les  
Cin Doigts are great- the right hand is in a single hand position,  
and they have that distinctive "stranvinsky modernist pentatonic"  
sound. (Both of these are in the Dover, but then so is the  
astoundingly difficult Petroushka. . . ) Next level would be  
something like the Prokofiev's Visions Fugitives.

Some of the Ruth Crawford preludes are doable, and check out the  
Piano Study in Mixed Accents, which is a palindromic row piece:  
tricky but the hands are in unison (sort of a Hanon meets  
Slonimsky. . .). Webern's Variations for Piano op. 27, mvmt's I and  
III are also also around this level- requires a real different kind  
of approach, but great stuff. There's a great Universal Edition that  
includes a facsimile with his annotations for interpretation (but  
keep yer German dictionary handy. . .)

Some of Feldman's stuff is good, too: Piano Piece 1964, Vertical  
Thoughts 4, some of Last Pieces. Some of For Bunita Marcus isn't too  
hard, it's mostly counting, until you get around page 12, then it's a  
dog for about 5 pages or so (and there's a bunch of stuff notated  
idiotically). His box-notation pieces are generally difficult.

Cage's ONE(5) . .  .or one to the fifth whatever, is doable, and not  
a bad introduction to the number pieces.

Also, some of the pieces in Ligeti's Musica Ricercata aren't too hard.

These are easy (Stravinsky) to somewhat difficult (Crawford, Webern).  
email if you want more suggestions. . .

mg