C.1 Hear an entire variation cycle as one work
Prepare the complete Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria, thirty variations and the returning Aria. Compare the retained bass-and-harmonic framework with the changing surface, including the canonic variations, the French-overture opening of Variation 16 and the final Quodlibet. Group the cycle by musical evidence and rehearse its transitions. The whole cycle counts as one work in your programme. The C-major voicing preparation is a separate independence model.
- Technique
- C major hand crossing in semiquavers, hands together: land the crossing hand without looking
- G major scale, hands together, 4 octaves
- C major moving top voice above held chordal voices, hands together (faster: Concert tempo)
C.2 Give a late-sonata movement structural weight
Learn Beethoven Op. 111, first movement only: Maestoso and Allegro con brio ed appassionato. Follow the bass and thematic transformations through its tonal route before pacing the large arrivals. Reduce a dense passage to its essential voices, then restore its articulation and register. The Arietta, the second movement, is not part of this lesson, so announce it as the first movement only. The C-major voicing model prepares balance before transfer to the minor score.
- Technique
- C harmonic minor scale, hands together, 2 octaves
- C major moving top voice above held chordal voices, hands together (faster: Concert tempo)
C.3 Pace a complete four-movement dramatic sonata
Prepare all four movements of Chopin’s B-flat-minor Sonata, Op. 35. Plan the relationship between the opening movement, Scherzo, Funeral March and largely octave-doubled finale from their scores. Rehearse the joins and silences as part of the complete work, and preserve the finale’s written line rather than inventing a missing accompaniment. The A-flat bass-to-chord model prepares released landings in another key; transfer the movement comfortably to the original passages.
- Technique
- A-flat major two-octave leaps from bass note to chord, hands separately, staccato
- B-flat harmonic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves
C.4 Keep a theme audible beneath a storm of figuration
Prepare Chopin’s complete A-minor Étude, Op. 25 No. 11, including its Lento introduction, Allegro con brio and coda. Trace the theme in the right hand in the Lento introduction, then in the left hand in the Allegro. First play the Allegro’s left-hand thematic route and essential bass; then restore the right-hand figuration without allowing its volume to erase the theme. Judge the complete arc as well as the velocity. The C-major voicing model isolates balance before applying it to the A-minor score.
- Technique
- A harmonic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves
- C major moving top voice above held chordal voices, hands together (faster: Concert tempo)
C.5 Make cyclic returns audible without announcing them
Prepare Franck’s complete Prélude, choral et fugue, FWV 21. Compare distinctive material across the three parts using interval, rhythm and harmonic evidence before deciding how the returns should sound. Practise a reduction of the related passages together, then restore their different registers and textures. Let the long-range relationship guide balance and pacing without treating every resemblance as a quotation or every local intensity as the work’s main climax.
- Technique
- Chromatic minor thirds from B, hands together, 2 octaves
- B melodic minor scale, hands together, 2 octaves
C.6 Preserve contrast across a complete late sonata
Learn the complete B-minor Sonata, Op. 58, with all four movements. Compare the first movement’s corresponding thematic passages, the Scherzo’s lightness, the Largo’s long line and the Finale’s forward motion. Build movement-specific memory landmarks before rehearsing the full order with realistic pauses. Test whether the final movement still has room to intensify after the earlier climaxes, rather than giving every movement the same dynamic trajectory.
- Technique
- Chromatic minor thirds from B, hands together, 2 octaves
- B harmonic minor scale, hands together, 2 octaves
C.7 Reveal an embedded line inside bilateral arpeggios
Prepare Chopin’s complete C-minor Étude, Op. 25 No. 12. Extract the melodic notes and bass goals from its two-hand arpeggio waves, then restore the figuration without losing those connections. Practise released changes of position instead of holding a static stretch across a wide span. The C-major voicing warm-up trains balance on its own; for the performance, return to the piece’s minor harmonies, dynamics and climax.
- Technique
- C minor arpeggio, hands together, 4 octaves: the sweep of Chopin's Op. 25 No. 12
- C harmonic minor scale, hands together, 2 octaves
- C major moving top voice above held chordal voices, hands together (faster: Concert tempo)
C.8 Carry a twenty-four-piece cycle as one programme identity
Prepare all twenty-four Preludes of Chopin’s Op. 28 as one complete cycle. Compare the key succession, changes of texture and the effect of each transition rather than treating the sequence as a collection of unrelated encores. The mixed-key technical preparations address contrasting textures within that cycle; they are not simplified substitutes for any prelude. In your programme the cycle counts once; its preludes do not count again on their own.
- Technique
- F-sharp major scale in alternating thirds and sixths, hands separately, 2 octaves
- E-flat minor held voices over moving harmony, hands together
- B major chord tremolo, hands together: coordinate rotation and register
C.9 Make a substantial toccata a musical argument
Prepare Czerny’s complete Toccata in C, Op. 92, a concert study from the nineteenth century. Identify its melodic direction, harmonic goals and changes of texture before increasing speed. Compare a reduction with the full passage, then make a complete performance in which the technical surface remains subordinate to the phrase. Use the result to choose a specific next practice target rather than repeating the whole work faster.
- Technique
- C major scale in double thirds, hands together, 2 octaves (faster: Concert tempo)
- C major repeated notes across the octave, hands together
- C major octaves in groups, hands together (faster: Concert tempo)
C.10 Keep volatile colour under complete concert control
Prepare Scarbo, the complete third movement of Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, not the whole three-movement set. Separate its repeated-note, tremolo, leap and melodic layers, preserving the written proportions of its runs before combining them. Prepare controlled repetition in the B-major tremolo and C-major repeated-note models, then return to the original G-sharp-minor passages and their changing sonorities. Test pedal by listening to the projected layers. Rehearse the complete movement and surrounding recital order, assessing recovery, clarity and architectural pacing without treating onset scores as a verdict on interpretation.
- Technique
- B major chord tremolo, hands together: coordinate rotation and register
- C major repeated notes across the octave, hands together
- G-sharp harmonic minor scale, hands together, 2 octaves
C.11 Carry a whole concerto from tutti to finale
Prepare all three movements of Chopin’s complete Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor from the piano part, in which the orchestra’s tutti are written out as a playable piano reduction. In each movement play the last bars of a tutti reduction to establish the pulse, then practise the solo entry that follows until it starts on time (in the Allegro maestoso at bars 139, 385 and 510); learn the solo exposition of the Allegro maestoso, the singing line of the Romance and the dance of the Rondo as their own blocks; then pace the three movements as one performance. This is solo piano-reduction practice, not playing with an app-provided orchestra or an ensemble assessment.
- Technique
- E harmonic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves: the runs of Chopin's E minor Concerto
- C major moving top voice above held chordal voices, hands together (faster: Concert tempo)
