Playing pieces when in a certain mood....

[nanabush]

I got a random idea... name a piece you play while you are:

a)tired
b)sad
c)confident
d)angry
e)frustrated

The reason being my sister is always saying play the 'song' you always play when ur frustrated... or play that song that you played when you were p****d off.  So ya... don't have to put one for each, just what applies...

[apion]

When I'm angry and frustrated, yet confident enough to trudge beyond my tired sadness, I play the piano concerti of Johannes Brahms .......... works like a charm .........     

[pianonut]

being that i'm never tired (hahaha) and always confident - i play the waldstein sonata.  the way it goes on forever makes me feel like i can play anything if i can get through it without stopping.

if i'm sad, i usually don't practice.  if i'm angry, i go work out.  if i'm frustrated, i yell.

never take your frustrations out on your dear piano

[Goldberg]

Hmph, wish someone had told me that sooner...then again, the pianos I've banged up in the past weren't exactly "mine" and certainly not "dear" to me, or anybody for that matter!

When I'm sad, I play the Liszt/Wagner Tannhauser Overture (still a work in progress though)
When angry, Chopin's op. 44 polonaise (also a WIP)
Confident, just about anything, but perhaps a Liszt HR--not because they're extremely difficult but because they're so satisfying to play, and sound much better under confident fingers.
Tired, I usually just improvise (which I do in any of the moods, as well)
And, in truth, I am never frustrated at the same time I'm playing piano. That mood is one that goes away instantly with the feel of the keys to my fingertips. Though I really did trash a few pianos, but that was because I was only frustrated with the instrument itself--for instance, a terrible old upright I "had" to practice on while in school a few years ago...I felt like Chopin playing, because no matter what I did, the instrument would never sound above a mF...then one day, a few keys stopped sounding, period. Ahem.

How about happy? I'm usually for a Chopin waltz, Bach P&F (or Bach-Busoni's D major organ P&F, also a WIP lol), Haydn sonata, and so forth.

[mlsmithz]

Hm.  Tired, usually the centre section from Chopin Scherzo No.2 or 'Paysage' from the Liszt TEs.... sometimes the D major prelude from the Shostakovich P&Fs, Op.87.  Sad.... hm.  The F major section from the finale of the Grieg concerto, 'Hommage a Rameau' from Debussy's Images I or 'Et la lune descend sur la temple qui fut' from Images II, or the B-flat minor, F minor, C minor, and G minor preludes and fugues from the Shostakovich Op.87.... and sometimes 'Paysage' again. (I do remember once, after a family loss, spending a lot of time playing the Chopin preludes in E minor, B minor, and C minor, as well as the slow movement of the 'Appassionata'.) Confident, definitely 'Quasi-faust' from Alkan's Grande sonate, or almost any of the Liszt for which I have the music.  Angry and frustrated are usually related for me, but pieces I play when I'm in such moods include things like 'Wilde jagd', the first movement of the 'Pathetique', Alkan's 'En rhythme molossique', and once when I was really ticked off I practically smashed the keyboard of my college's Bechstein with the coda of the Grieg concerto finale.  I can't play all of those WELL, of course, but well enough to fit whatever mood I'm feeling.

[Barbosa-piano]

When I am tired , I play something light, as Chopin's Op. 25 No. 1 Etude,  the Rondo in Beethoven's Sonata Patetique, most of Chopin's Nocturnes, etc.

When sad  , I play selections from Chopin's Preludes, Brahms' Ballade in G minor, Chopin's Waltz in F minor, other of his Nocturnes, Rachmaninoff's Barcarolle, Bach's Preludes, Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G sharp minor, etc.

When angry  , I either don't play at all, because I might break the piano, or I play Rachmaninoff's Preludes Op. 3 No.4 or Op. 23 no. 5 (at it's loudest FFFF), Chopin's "Octaves" Etude (Op. 25 No. 10, if i'm not mistaken), Chopin's Etude Op. 10 no. 12 (Revolutionary), Chopin's Prelude in G sharp minor, Liszt's transcription of Beethoven's 5th Symphony...

When confident  , I play Variations 5 - 10 of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, parts of the Hungarian Rhapsodies nos. 2 and 15, I attempt to finish the Apassionata Sonata and Ballade No. 1 by Chopin, etc...

Mood changes can really affect my playing.

[greyrune]

Well when sad i play Chopin nocturne Op9 no1, angry or frustrated Bartok, Allegro Barbaro (that one's great for venting), when i'm confident or happy or good things like that i play whatever i'm working on at the time.

[nanabush]

I forgot to put what I play:

When I'm tired I'll play Claire de Lune HAHA, seriously, or The Girl with the Flaxen Hair

When I'm sad I 'learn more of' Op9, 1 Nocturne, I can play quite a bit of it now, or Heart asks Pleasure First

When Confident I play March for the Love of Three Oranges that piece kicks a**!  Or the prelude in C sharp major bk 1

When I'm angry I play Fantasie Impromptu, skipping the middle section  , or the disgusting prelude in A minor by chopin.

When I'm frustrated I play C sharp minor prelude from the set of 24 by chopin, or the first mini cadenza from Liebestraum, or even Etude in F minor op 10.

[quantum]

Tierd: Chopin Op.48/1, Op.27/2; Scriabin Op.2/1; Bach "Jesu, Joy of man's desiring"; Brahms Op.118/2, 118/6. 

Sad: Brahms Op.118/6; Bach "Jesu, Joy of man's desiring"

Confident: anything

Angry: I improvise.  I used to play the Chopin octave etude, but didn't like my performance of it when I'm angry. 

Frustrated:  Better call the piano technician.   This is when I decide to experiment with "new sounds and techniques" at the piano. 

----

In my first few years at university I was always cautious about banging up one of their pianos.  But one day in my 3rd year or so, I was flaming mad (don't remember why) so I decided to "play" on one of the Kawai uprights.  Managed to put parts of the action out of alignment and seriously altered the pianos tuning, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't break a string - I guess this is why they call them "workhorses". 

It amazes me though, because sometimes I find these new Kawais so badly warped, it looked like someone jumped ontop of the keyboard.  I wonder how much force one needs to excert to do this.