The most PERFECTEST classical piano composition in all the world!

[phil13]

What do you think is the most perfect piece for piano solo? You can count anything written for clavichord and harpsichord too (i.e. Bach is okay.)

Phil

[rachmanny]

personally i like the fantasie impromtu (chopin), because of the efect it produced on me when i first heard. it was like leaving my body and floating around for a while.. it also made me like piano a whole lot more (i still liked it a lot before).  ; 

Rachmanny

[Kassaa]

personally i like the fantasie impromtu (chopin), because of the efect it produced on me when i first heard. it was like leaving my body and floating around for a while.. it also made me like piano a whole lot more (i still liked it a lot before). ;

Rachmanny

Rofl


The best piece? I read that Chopin's Barcarolle is perfect in structure and 'amount'.

[llamaman]

Mmmm.....Chopin mazurka in G minor..........

[6ft 4]

Most Mozart is "perfect" in terms of its structure, development of themes etc etc.

I mean at least im not just naming a current piece i like   

[nanabush]

I think personally a piece is more perfect if it has a better effect on the ppl listening to it, than having good structure, but having both is the best... Supposedly Jeux D'eau is written as complex as one of Bach's fugues, but that's just what I've heard, and it's really a nice piece...

[presto agitato]

What do you think is the most perfect piece for piano solo? You can count anything written for clavichord and harpsichord too (i.e. Bach is okay.)

Phil

What you mean by perfect?

[prometheus]

Even my most favorite pieces have some thing about them I don't like.

[raffyplayspiano]

Fantasie impromptu most perfectest piece??

this makes me really sad  

there are way too many pieces that I find close to perfect for me to even try to name one...although FI is not one of them. 

raffy

[JCarey]

This topic is an embarrassment.

By the way, the most... perfectest... piano composition in the world is most obviously 4'33" by John Cage.

[pita bread]

No John... you're wrong.

It's Ligeti's 0'00".

[JCarey]

My God, how could I have been so stupid? You are absolutely right!

[thierry13]

Hamelin's triple etude. I think he puts the three etude together really good, wich is... hard  !

[jeremyjchilds]

Brahms 118-2

[mikey6]

I would have thought the Liszt Sonata would rank somewhere considering it's known coz of it's structural coherence (and it's freakin length!).  Not really piano, but I was told Bartok's music for percussion strings and celeste is structurally perfect (if that's waht you mean by perfectest composition)

[lisztwasgod]

perfect? structure wise easily a bach prelude and fugue...sound-wise i am partial to both the orchestral and pianistic overture to tannhauser

[ahinton]

Hamelin's triple etude. I think he puts the three etude together really good, wich is... hard  !

Do tell him! I'm sure he'll be delighted to hear it!

Best,

Alistair

[perfect_pitch]

Raindrop Prelude - Chopin.

Perfect.

[pseudopianist]

Someone might kill me for this

Scriabin Poem No 2 Op71

or possibly Bach contrapunctus 1 (Must be played by Gould tho or someone who can capture the sadness in it) or WTC Fugue No 4 Book 1

[phil13]

What you mean by perfect?

This topic is an embarrassment.

Someone might kill me for this

By perfect, if you are an emotional, romantic musician, I mean a piece that is musically beautiful, full of feeling, something that means a lot to you, like Chopin or Beethoven. If you're more into mathematical music, I mean something that is structurally meaningful and gives you a deeper meaning through the way the notes or phrases are set, like Schoenberg or Xenakis.

Perfect is, of course, subjective, and that's what this topic is all about. So please, don't tell me this topic is an embarassment. It's just a subjective, tell-me-and-others-what-you-think type of thread, with no right or wrong answers. Please try to lighten up.

And no, we're not going to kill you, Psuedopianist, for having an opinion.

Phil

[klavierkonzerte]

brahms 2nd piano concerto

it's not the perfectest but it's one of the perfects.

[pianistimo]

this may sound ridiculous, but the first time i heard mac dowell's 'to a wild rose' i really liked it.  then, last semester i heard 'iceberg' or something like that also.  they are short pieces, but perfect in description of whatever he wants to describe.  also like, 'the tailor and the bear'  (you can hear violins warming up, then the bear hears it and does a dance).  i don't know why i like short poetic pieces.

all of schumann's stuff like abegg variations, carnival, etc.  has short pieces that are connected.  my very favorite still is probably mussorgsky's pics at an exhibition.  same thing. short pieces connected.  they are easier to hear in my head, and i don't worry that i won't get through (haven't tried pics from memory) and can focus on the beauty of the piece.

oh, yes, and i agree with the above mentioned mozart.  i haven't heard anything of mozart that i didn't like and think wasn't perfect.  i like the K595 piano concerto and think that's the most perfect.

[apion]

Two utterly perfect pieces come to mind:

1. Bach, Goldberg Variations

2. Brahms, Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel

[lisztwasgod]

And no, we're not going to kill you, Psuedopianist, for having an opinion.

Phil

pseudo is spelled p s e u d o...and no one opinionated enough to excercise their honest opinion on this forum is false...

[phil13]

pseudo is spelled p s e u d o...and no one opinionated enough to excercise their honest opinion on this forum is false...

My bad. Apologies to pseudopianist, if it matters.

And we're STILL not going to kill him because it's my thread and everyone can voice what piece they think is perfect (or close to it). 

By the way, I guess it's time I voiced my own...

I vote for the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 'Pathetique' sonata. Musically simple, but full of feeling. And that main theme is so beautiful! One of Beethoven's best melodies, if not THE best.

Phil

[arensky]

                         Rondo in a minor, K.511  Mozart

[arensky]

tmac dowell's 'to a wild rose' i really liked it.  then, last semester i heard 'iceberg' or something like that also.

"From a Wandering Iceberg" from Sea Pieces op.55; They're a little bigger in scope than Woodland Sketches, good stuff that people don't play a lot.

[franzliszt2]

Chopin etudes, exept the thirds (op.25 no.6), as does not cover major chromatic thirds, most annoying when you think you can play thirds, and you are floored by a major chromatic scale in double thirds!

Bach Goldberg variations

Chopin Ballade no.4, that is AMAZING, the greatest piece ever, I can listen to that over and over again I feel a different way after each.

[gorbee natcase]

Most Mozart is "perfect" in terms of its structure, development of themes etc etc.

I mean at least im not just naming a current piece i like   

I agree 100 %

[Aziel]

Mozart - Requiem

[pseudopianist]

Mozart - Requiem

Piano?

[practicingnow]

Objectively speaking, there is really no such thing as "structurally perfect". That would be to suggest that there is a pre-existing structural ideal, that all music must match. If there is, then what is it?  Of course, there is not and never was.  I guess the closest thing to perfect in music is:  How perfectly does a finished piece capture the composer's conception and intention when he wrote it?
Subjectively speaking, though, I'll vote for:
The second movt. of Mozart's K.467 piano concerto.
  "         "          "      "     "         K.466   "        "
And for non-piano, Beethoven's 5th,6th,9th, and Wagner's Liebestod
- Have a great weekend!

[prometheus]

Mozart's Requiem isn't even finished, how perfect is that? BTW, is there a pianistic piano transcription of the requiem?

Bach at his most silly/human and genius/inhuman, ie the Goldberg variations. That's not a very perfect piece either. It has both Bach's best and worst moments.

Fantasy Impromptu was imperfect enough to be burned.

I can see the Chopin Etudes as perfect pieces. But not the 20/6? Major chromatic scale? Huh? It may be one of the top candidates for close to perfect. Are you referring to the technical problem that make it impossible to play the piece properly?

Beethoven's 9th is too long. It's funny that you skipped the 7th, though I don't view it as a perfect work either. Symphonies are so complex and long there is always something to find you don't like or would have done differently.

I get the idea people can't see the difference between perfect works and works you yourself really enjoy.

[Aziel]

My bad, thought you meant most perfect classical peice.  The Requiem was finished kid, look your facts up.  It doesn't matter by who, it's a perfect peice.

Again, didn't pay any attention to the 'piano' part.

[mikey6]

Beethoven's 9th is too long.

explain please? considering it's rep, just curious.

[lisztwasgod]

actually, i forgot about the liebestod...Wagner came as close as anyone in history to perfectly capturing the mood along with his music...his compositions are so jammed with musicality and feeling it is hard to deny the immaculate nature behind his coneptualizations of his topics (although i ma of the opinion that some of his works can be best expressed through highlight reels as much of his operas are just a tad too long); Mozart and Bach worked wonders with form, and rachmaninoff did wonders in capturing the moods and innovations of sounds...this topic is so frustrating because there is nothing even close to a right answer, yet everyone is thinking there must be one and striving to find a flawless work (which if it existed probably wouldnt be as good!)

[phil13]

...this topic is so frustrating because there is nothing even close to a right answer, yet everyone is thinking there must be one and striving to find a flawless work (which if it existed probably wouldnt be as good!)

There's not supposed to be a right answer. This is just expressing opinion.

Think of it this way: There are a lot of threads coming out now about whether a piece is easier or harder. No one really knows, because everyone has different abilities. In here, everyone has different tastes in music, different interests. They express what, to them, is the most perfect piece. Of course, that is biased by what they like or don't like. Thus, there is no right or wrong answer, nor is there supposed to be.

Phil

[prometheus]

Beethoven's 9th is too long.

explain please? considering it's rep, just curious.

Yes, I think it's too long. This may make it a nice piece, because it is a strong characteristics and impressive powerplay by Beethoven, but it does make the piece less perfect.