greatest 6 individual solo piano works

[phil39]

ok, just a bit of fun and maybe start a few friendly arguments!... name your 6 (whole single works only, not concerti- but solo piano only). the critieria is that hazy word 'great', not necessarily best, most important, or most likeable. judge according to what you view as justifying 'greatness'. here's mine:

1.  Liszt B minor sonata
2.  Pictures at an Exhibition
3.  the Hammerklavier sonata
4.  Schumann fantasy in C
5.  Brahms Paganini variations book 1
6.  Ravel, Gaspard de la Nuit

[rach n bach]

This will most certainly start arguments...

1.  Rach. 2nd Sonata
2.  Alkan Symphonie for Solo Piano
3.  Alkan Concerto for Solo Piano
4.  Liszt B minor Sonata
5.  Mozart Fantasia and Sonata in C minor
6.  Bach Goldberg Variations
7.  Beethoven Appasionata  (bleh bad spelling)

[phil13]

Whole single works? As in, not a set of Etudes, or the WTC as a whole? Okay, not in order at all....

1. Bach Goldberg Variations
2. Beethoven Sonata No.32 in C minor Op.111
3. Chopin Barcarolle in F# major Op.60
4. Scriabin Sonata No.5 Op.53
5. Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit
6. Berg Sonata Op.1

 
Phil

(EDIT: Fixed. Just realized I'm illiterate, too.  )

[rach n bach]

LOL

I just realized I can't count... 

RnB

[pianistimo]

don't worry.  phil passed you up.  anyways - it's interesting to see people's choices.

mine are somewhat stilted:

1 prelude and fugue #1
2 mozart fantasy in C-minor
3 beethoven waldstein
4 chopin polonaise-fantasy
5 leroy anderson's syncopated clock
6 poulenc - something or other

this is what i would put into a time capsule for future playing - if i didn't have anything to play in 20 years or something.  i never get tired of the various interpretations one can get out of some of these pieces.  the polonaise-fantasy would keep me going for a good 4-5 years probably.

each one of these pieces signifies something different to me.  the prelude is not as easy as it looks because you are 'illuminating' a sort of x-ray to the listeners.  the mozart fantasy - you are bringing life into something that starts out rather drearily.  it's almost as if mozart is in a bit of a depression and kind of paranoid at the same time - and then, suddenly 'let's go' and doesn't have much of a care in the world.  but, occasionally the paranoia creeps in again.  i'd say it's kind of a recognition of how life can get you down and looking extremely skeptically and realistically at the world - but mozart always knew he needed and other people needed the release that music offers to those who get stressed out. 

the waldstein - well, that is in a class by itself.  the fluidity of how the movements flow into each other - and yet remain distinct.  the purpose is going from human to superhuman (or signifying some spiritual leap).  you don't really even see this depth (because it is too obvious) in the last three sonatas.  this sonata eclipses them by a mile.  imo, this is beethoven's best work.  he wasn't trying to impress anyone - or be alienated at that point - by his own genius.

chopin's polonaise-fantasy - one of his last works and indicative of where he was going composition-wise.  combining forms and creating a unity out of seemingly nowhere.  who would thing 'polonaise' with 'fantasy.'  only chopin.  completely a polish extrapolation made into a daring do.

leroy anderson - a complete mastery of what makes people happy, jazzed, and a little more aware of the fun that music posesses.

poulenc - the mystery behind the madness.  takes it back to palestrina and pulls it forward into harmonies not yet explored.  understands the mysterious workings of chords and can use them to utmost advantage because of this understanding.  is willing to work with very wide chords and not afraid to stretch the pianistic boundaries to make some interesting sounds.

[soliloquy]

I'll just go with favorite.  And who knows what my favorites will be tomorrow.


Iannis Xenakis: "Herma"- Musique Symbolique
Pascal Dusapin: Seven Etudes pour Piano
Alexander Mosolov: Piano Sonata No. 2
Arthur Kampela: Nosturnos
Michael Finnissy: Solo Piano Concerto No. 6

Then a tossup between:

Karlheinz Stockhausen: Klavierstuck XIII "Luzifers Traum"

and

Tristan Murail: Territoires de l'Oubli

[imbetter]

my 6 favorite piano pieces are in no order are:

1. Chopin ballade in G minor
2. Liszt B minor sonata
3. Beethoven sonata op.111
4. Rachmaninoff second sonata
5. Bach partita no.3
6. Liszt reminiscences de Don Juan

[m]

Not always my favorites, but IMO, ARE the greatest 6 individual solo piano works:

1) Bach, Goldberg Variations
2) Beethoven, Diabelli Variations
3) Bach, Goldberg Variations
4) Beethoven, Diabelli Variations
5) Bach, Goldberg Variations
6) Beethoven, Diabelli Variations

In no particular order.

If you asked for 7th work, I'd add Hammerklavier.

[rach n bach]

Uhhhh.....

[Kassaa]

Not always my favorites, but IMO, ARE the greatest 6 individual solo piano works:

1) Bach, Goldberg Variations
2) Beethoven, Diabelli Variations
3) Bach, Goldberg Variations
4) Beethoven, Diabelli Variations
5) Bach, Goldberg Variations
6) Beethoven, Diabelli Variations

In no particular order.

If you asked for 7th work, I'd add Hammerklavier.

What's so great about the Diabelli variations? I can feel the quality of the Goldbergs, I feel so small when listening to it, something not from this planet, almost. I have the same thing with the Hammerklavier, last three beethoven sonatas, Liszt sonata, Schumann sonata etc, but not really with the Diabelli vars. What makes it so great?

[jericho]

Just wanted to reply:

a. Bach - The Goldberg Variations
b. Beethoven- Sonata no.32 op.111
c. Schubert- Wanderer Fantasy
d. Chopin- Ballade no.4 op.52
e. Liszt - Sonata in B minor
f.  Ravel- Gaspard de la Nuit

They are undeniably some of the greatest and most influential piano works...though runner ups would include...Prokofiev Sonata no.7 op.83, Beethoven Sonata no.29 op.106 "Hammerklavier", Barber Sonata op.23, Liszt Years from Pilgrimage, Chopin(a lot like the Barcarolle, Polonaise Fantasy, Preludes op.28, and the 1st Ballade), Schumann Carnival, Scriabin Sonatas...I have a lot of runner ups. LOL.

[m]

What's so great about the Diabelli variations? I can feel the quality of the Goldbergs, I feel so small when listening to it, something not from this planet, almost. I have the same thing with the Hammerklavier, last three beethoven sonatas, Liszt sonata, Schumann sonata etc, but not really with the Diabelli vars. What makes it so great?

Their enigma...
You know, in Hammerklavier, last Sonatas, Liszt Sonata, Schumann, etc... everything is quite straight forward, but Diabelli... there is something there what makes one wondering: "WHAT is so great there?" And then come back again and again, asking the same question and not finding answers...
Isn't it a sign of magnificient work?

[ronde_des_sylphes]

In no particular order (apart from "obvious" selections first):

Beethoven Sonata op. 110
Beethoven Sonata op. 111
Prokofiev Sonata no. 7
Liszt Sonata
Chopin Sonata no. 3

and lastly, I would like to include:

Alkan Symphonie for solo piano. I've always felt that the middle two movements are slightly inferior to the outer two - but in the outer two movements Alkan reaches a level of inspiration that is very rarely approached.

[burstroman]

Bach- Goldberg Variations
Beethoven- Sonata #32
Schumann- Fantasie
Chopin- Barcarolle
Liszt- Sonata
Ives- "Concord" Sonata

[jakev2.0]

Bach - Goldberg Variations
Chopin - Ballade no 4
Alkan - Symphony mvt 1
Schumann - Fantasy mvt 3
Liszt - Sonata
Schubert - Wanderer Fantasy
Beethoven - Sonata 32