access to auido for selecting a piece

[sprinterpd]

I will be returning to playing after a long time away.  I intend to select one challenging piece and a few simplier ones to begin.  My problem is that as I look over the recommendations here, I don't have the depth of knowledge of specific pieces and would like to hear audio clips of some various ones to aid in my selection.  As a casual adult, I want to play pieces that I ENJOY, yet stretch my abilities.  So, for instance, I can play the Pathetique, but mostly because it was "mastered" before I quit, so it's mostly muscle memory.  
I have NO idea what "grade" level I was/am (my instructor never used that criteria) and thus find it hard to evaluate which pieces are appropriate.   "Intermediate" has different definitions.  
My idea would be to listen to pieces, and then thumb through some scores.  The later part is easy, but I'm not sure if there is an on-line site for samples or the library?  I am at a loss because I don't want to simply re-do my old works.
Thoughts?
Michael

[bernhard]

Your grade has no importance whatsoever.

Here is my suggestion:

Listen to pieces and decide the ones you would like to be able to play in a couple of years time. Ignore for the moment how difficult they might be. Once you have your list, ask your teacher to prepare a course that will eventually lead to you playing such pieces.

Here are a few sites with midifiles where you can listen to quite a lot of classical music (there are plenty more, just google on the composer/piece you are interested):

https://www.classicalmidiconnection.com/cmc/

https://www.classicalmidi.gothere.uk.com/page7.htm

https://www.emusic.com/pitch/pitch_16.html

https://www.classicalarchives.com/

https://www.serenata.netteyim.net/index.htm

https://www.kunstderfuge.com/

https://www.midiworld.com/scarlatti.htm

If you don’t have a teacher yet, bring us your list and ask how to progressively get there. If you want an example of how this sort of thing works (basically how I would do it), have a look here where I explained it in detail.

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=teac;action=display;num=1083060519

Finally, most of the piano repertory is actually not that difficult – and incredibly beautiful. If you once could play the Pathetique, you can master 90% of the piano repertory. Have a look here for some suggestions of amazing pieces that are not that hard:

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=repo;action=display;num=1093181180;start=0
(easy show-off pieces)

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=teac;action=display;num=1092594417;start=4
(beginners pieces)

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=repo;action=display;num=1092268957;start=6
(Liszt easy pieces)

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=repo;action=display;num=1073648526
(Shostakovitch preludes op. 34)

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=repo;action=display;num=1077145772
(Scarlatti sonatas)

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=repo;action=display;num=1094670252;start=1
(easy romantic pieces)

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=repo;action=display;num=1090200890;start=3
(Grade 6 dark moody pieces)

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=repo;action=display;num=1072700505
(Nocturnes – not too difficult)

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1083221471
(Sonatas)

This should keep you busy for a while.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bernhard

[mtmccarthy]

For actual recordings of music, try the following:

---https://www.naxos.com - $19.95 (US) a year, and more than worth every cent. It has tons of music, from well-known composers and lesser-known composers, as well. It's almost disgusting how much music they have for everyone to listen to... everything from Schnabel's complete Beethoven sonata recording to Rautavaara's concerto for birds and orchestra. I cannot recommend it enough! (Recordings are FM radio quality, so it's not bad, but not incredible. Very listenable, though. Also, it's for streaming audio, not normal download.)

---The Classical Archives which Bernhard mentioned(https://www.classicalarchives.com/) are good for both real recordings and midi (It has a nice, broad selection of both). Only drawback is that they have a download limit, unless you want to pay.

(Russian site removed...)