Rostropovich, cello Karajan The Berlin Philharmonic Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a Russian composer of romantic music. Tchaikovsky composed his Variations on a Rococo Theme in 1876, dedicated to his good friend Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, the famous German cellist, and it was premiered in Moscow on 30 November 1877. The word "rococo" is derived from the French word ro-caill, meaning "shell-shaped".

A little anthology for the left hand. Dedicated to the "Apostle of the left hand", Monsieur Godowsky. "The left hand is favoured by nature in having the stronger part of the hand for the upper voice of all double notes and chords. It has the incontestable advantage of enabling the player to produce with less effort and more elasticity a fuller and mellower tone, superior in quantity and quality of the right hand." Godowsky Note: I did not include pieces like the Finale of Chopin 2nd sonata where the left hand is easily fakeable by the right hand. Famous left hand octaves as in Liszt's Funerailles will (probably) appear elsewhere. 1) Blumenfeld Etude Op.36, Barere 1936 ("I was listening to a radio show and the announcer asked how many hands were used in the piano piece he was about to play. I figured it was a trick question and guessed three. My jaw hit the floor when I learned that a single hand was responsible for everything I heard."; L. Fleisher's recollections on his discovery of Blumenfeld's etude played by Barere.) 2) Schlözer Etude Op.1 No.2, Joyce 1933 2:35 3) Moszkowski Etude Op.24 No.1, Hambourg 1909 3:05 4) Godowsky Ignis Fatuus, Saperton 1952 4:39 5) Bach Goldberg Variations, Gould live 1959 5:42 6) Bach WTC Book I, Fugue in A, Gulda 1972 6:13 7) Beethoven Waldstein Sonata, Backhaus live 1969, 7:20 (The young Wilhelm was 85 here at his very last concert, a bare few days before the Commendatore knocked on his door) 8) Liszt Don Juan, Barere 1936 7:55 (chromatic sixths in the left hand do not appear often..., but in this context, Don Juan's raison d'être is mainly that it left Scriabin with bad tendonitis in his right hand (or so legend goes). And luckily for us he composed his Op.9.) 9) Scriabin Nocturne Op.9 No.2, Moiseiwitsch 1916 8:18 10) Scriabin Nocturne Op.9 No.2, Lhevinne 1906 10:23 ("Lhevinne's left hand was fabulous; it was the envy of all pianists" A. Rubinstein) 11) Scriabin Nocturne Op.9 No.2, Rubinstein 1961 live, 12:22 ("Who is your favourite composer?" When I answered "Brahms" he banged his fist on the table. "What, what?" he screamed. "How can you like this terrible composer and me at the same time?" Arthur's stormy encounter with Scriabin... 12) Scriabin Prelude Op.9 No.1, Sofronitsky live 1960 13:42 13) Scriabin Prelude Op.9 No.1, Cherkassky 14:53 14) Scriabin Sonata No.3, Sofronitsky live 16:23 (Among the many indications of Scriabin's megalomania is certainly the fact that despite his peculiarly small hands, he really loved wide extensions...) 15) Scriabin Etude Op.8 No.7, Merzhanov 1969 17:06 16) Moszkowski Etude Op.72 No.6, Horowitz live 1968 17:41 17) Moszkowski Etude Op.72 No.11, Horowitz live 1965 18:00 18) Liszt Legend No.2, Horowitz live 1947 18:16 19) Chopin Prelude Op.28 No.3, Rubinstein 1946 19:15 20) Chopin-Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.6, Bolet 1978 20:06 21) Chopin Etude Op.10 No.12, Pollini 1960, 21:29 22) Chopin-Godowsky Etude Op.10 No.12, Hamelin 1999 22:21 23) Liszt Grande Etude No.6, Howard 1994 23:26 (In the 1837 version, the beginning of this etude is played by the left hand only. Choreographically a wonderful insight.) 24) Ravel Piano Concerto in D, Katchen 1968 24:55 (On hearing this you really regret that Julius "forgot" to include the 5 etudes in his Brahms complete cycle. This was his last recording.) 25) Britten Diversions, Katchen 1954 25:34 26) Strauss-Godowsky Symp. Metamorphoses (Gipsy Baron), Fleisher 1993 26:31 27) Rachmaninov Moment Musicaux, Berman live 1989 27:39 28) Prokofiev Sonata No.6 Richter 1966 live 29:15 (lovely "jumpy" arpeggios) 29) Bartok Etude for left hand, Kocsis 1998 30:06 30) Bartok Etude Op.18 No.2, Kocsis 1993 31:14 31) Liszt Trans. Etude No.10, Arrau live 1970 32:11 32) Liszt Sonata, Arrau live 1971 33:32 33) Brahms Sonata No.3, Arrau live 1978 34:04 34) Brahms Sonata No.3, Katchen 1962 34:28 35) Alkan Etude Op.76 No.1, Hamelin live 1994 34:55 36) Schumann Carnaval, Michelangeli live 1957 36:45 37) Lipatti Sonatina, Lipatti 1943 37:05 38) Chopin Sonata No.3, Lipatti 1947 37:43 (one of the most hefty passages...especially if your keyboard is too heavy and/or you started the Finale too excitedly fast. My rough statistic is that half of the pianists who play this are forced to slow down a bit here...) 39) Isidore Philipp Etude de Concert No.2, Ullen 2000 38:45 (What a left hand Isidore must have had...! According to his pupil Magaloff when there was a difficult right hand passage Philipp (by the right side of piano) used his left hand to show the righteous way! His Exercises et Études Techniques(1895) includes many Chopin's Etudes transcribed for left hand, to end with the 2nd sonata finale in octaves "à la Dreyschock".) 40) Sorabji Trans. Etude for the left hand, Ullen 2005 39:29 41) Bach-Brahms Chaccone, Zimerman 1982 40:38 42) Weber-Brahms Perpetuum Mobile, Jones 1992 42:06 43) Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.4, Serkin 1958 43:25