EXPANDING THE REPERTOIRE
Piano Transcriptions
“The process of making a transcription is akin to the most consuming and passionate process of taming a wild animal. You never know if it will follow you completely, if you would be able to domesticate it and conquer its unpredictable character. The same is true with a “wild” piece of music. You have to discover an approach to it before you can tell that it will let you possess it – meaning that all of its stunning, heartbreaking and seemingly impossible episodes would let you portray them on the keyboard. And when you finally find that all of it is possible, you are the happiest creature in the world.”
© Asiya Korepanova
ONE-PERSON ORCHESTRA
Transcriptions For Piano Solo: Large Works
Sergey Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata, Op. 19
Over her career, the Cello Sonata has become one of Asiya’s favorite chamber pieces to perform. Her transcription, hailed as ‘a miraculous achievement’ by the New York Classical Review, is a heartfelt tribute to one of her favorite composers. It is a significant contribution to the solo piano repertoire and the first complete transcription of this Sonata ever made.
Peter Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony
Asiya premiered her piano transcription of the complete Manfred Symphony on January 30, 2023 in New York City.
Modest Mussorgsky: Songs And Dances Of Death
In 2017, Asiya has written the transcription of No. 2, the Serenade, for her Midnight Pieces series. In 2019, she completed the whole set of four songs to commemorate the 180th anniversary of Mussorgsky's birth, and premiered it at the Rockefeller University’s Tri-I noon Recital Series. The cycle was recorded and filmed in 2024 on a 1882 'Centennial-D' Steinway&Sons Grand Piano in New York City.
MORE THAN ENCORES
Transcriptions For Piano Solo: Small Works
Frederick Chopin: CelloPolonaise, Op. 3
A project of the pandemic year of 2021, Asiya has written the piano transcription of Chopin's Introduction and Polonaise Brilliante for Cello and Piano, Op. 3, expanding the existing virtuosity of the piano part, while interweaving the cello voice inside and around the flourishing texture.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Christmas Oratorio - Opening Choir
In 2019, Asiya has fulfilled her longtime dream of creating a solo piano transcription of the Christmas Oratorio's Opening Choir - music that she grew up with and internalized since being a small child. The daring solo piano part incorporates most of Bach's highly polyphonic orchestral and choral writing, giving the main lines their distinctive character.
Leonard Bernstein: 'Maria' from 'West Side Story'
One of the most revered melodies from the West Side Story, it has never been made into a concert transcription before, to Asiya's surprise. A great recital or an encore piece, this transcription adorns the main Bernstein material with a Lisztian style of passagework.
W.A. Mozart: Queen of The Night Aria from 'Magic Flute'
Perhaps the most favorite aria of Asiya, it has never had a concert transcription of it created before - and for good reason, as the musical material and style of Mozart's writing here is not an obvious transcription material. How to convey the immense difficulty of the coloratura soprano passages, when those notes are very easy to play on the piano? The score is coming soon.
Peter Tchaikovsky: Rose Adagio from 'Sleeping Beauty'
One of the most iconic moments from Sleeping Beauty, this solo variation of Princess Aurora has never had a concert transcription written of it, despite other ballet movements having many incredible renditions. Asiya wanted to challenge that injustice and the resulting work is an excellent encore piece.
Peter Tchaikovsky: 'If Only I Had Known' Art Song
A heartbreaking and incredibly moving art song turned into a mini piano concerto by Asiya, who was drawing her inspiration for this transcription from the massive cadenzas of Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. 2 and Concert Fantasy. The score is coming soon.
Anton Bruckner: Scherzo from Second Symphony
Honoring Bruckner's 200th anniversary of Birth in 2024, Asiya wrote a transcription of one of her favorite movements from Bruckner's early symphonies - the Scherzo from Symphony No. 2.
The score is coming soon.
MUSIC TO MAKE WITH FRIENDS
Transcriptions For One Piano, 4-6 Hands
Gabriel Fauré: 'Pavane' For 1 Piano, 4 Hands
Asiya's transcription of Fauré's Pavane, written in 2025, is a version of the piece for one piano, four hands, in which the thematic material is specifically distributed to allow an active dialog between the players. It has a distinctive difference from versions by other authors, in most of which the pianist 2 accompanies the pianist 1.
The score is coming soon.
Heitor Villa-Lobos: 'Air' For 1 Piano, 4 Hands
Written in 2024, Asiya's piano transcription of the 'Air' from Bachiana Brasiliera No. 5 by Hector Villa-Lobos contains a flourishing interaction between two players,