Whilst the question 'What are the greatest piano pieces ever composed?' is innocent enough, as I'm sure many of you know already, it has its limitations, all ultimately stemming from the subjective nature of the question.
In my opinion the biggest problem with the sort of discussion that follows the question above is that the amount of musical exposure people have differs too much. Someone whose only experience of classical piano was a typical 'best of' album might honestly claim that, to the best of their knowledge, Fur Elise is the best piece ever written. And yet I know that for a lot of people, just reading the name Fur Elise is enough to make their blood boil.
To this end, I pose a new question: What, in your opinion, are the standout passages in classical piano music?
Of course, this is also too subjective to be able to produce a definitive list. In fact, it's likely to be even more open-ended than the question at the top of the post, seeing as there are far more passages than pieces

But I think it has its advantages. Firstly, it is incredibly rare for every passage in every piece to be outstanding. This is not to say that we should all be creating playlists of 10 second extracts from various pieces - a piece is a piece; it is polished and complete. Nevertheless there are some passages that move you more than others, that send shivers down your spine, or that cause you marvel in glorious splendour, asking yourself how a mere mortal could come up with something so perfect.
Secondly, this question should filter out a lot of the stock responses. It requires you to focus on what you are listening to, as opposed to letting it glaze over you, so it should result in more thought-out responses.
I expect some people will dismiss this question as stupid outright; others will realise they can't think of any standout passages, or not take it seriously. I'm hoping that enough people will think about it - after scouring the internet it appears this is a pretty good place to ask this sort of question.
As an example, I think the fff Dflat section of Liszt's Harmonies du soir is stunning
Discuss...