What is the most beautiful piano piece you've played or heard?

[rbhall123]

What is the most beautiful piano piece you've played or heard? I'd like to know your opinion.

[stoudemirestat]

I couldn't name just one, but some that immediately come to mind are...

Chopin Ballade No. 4.
Chopin Etude Op. 25 No. 7.
Chopin Nocturnes 27/2, 48/1, C# minor op posth.
Debussy Arabesque No.  1.
Debussy Reverie.
Liszt Les Cloches De Geneve.
Liszt Un Sospiro.

[fftransform]

The passage beginning at 7:28.

[jas_sorian]

I'd choose Chopin Nocturne Op 48/1

[jollisg]

Played: Chopin etude op 25 no 7
Heard: Beethoven sonata no 21 (Waldstein)

[symphonicdance]

So many, but Variation #18 of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini is my pick.

[fleetfingers]

Too many to pick one, but I've been loving this lately:

[redbaron]

I could never pick just one so...

Brahms - Intermezzo in C, Op 119, No 3
Chopin - Raindrop Prelude
Chopin - Nocturne in Ab, Op 32, No 2
Debussy - La fille aux cheveux de lin
John Cage - In a Landscape
Mendelssohn - Sonata in Bb, 2nd mvmt
Mendelssohn - Song Without Words Op 67, No 2
Rachmaninov - Etude-Tableau in D minor, Op 33, No 4
Ravel - Pavane pour une infante defunte
Schumann - Eintritt from Waldszenen
Sibelius - Finlandia (It's a piano piece as far as I'm concerned)

[chopinlover96]

Liszt-Sonetto del petrarca 104
Brahms-Rhapsody in G minor
Beethoven- First movement of Pastoral Sonata
Chopin-2nd piano sonata movement 1
Alkan-Barcarolle Op65 No 6

Just to name a few 

[korlock]

[j_menz]

Toss up between:
Beethoven Hammerklavier 2nd movement, Beethoven Emperor Concerto, 2nd movement and Chopin PC1 second movement.

[patrickd]

Beethoven sonata op 32 second movement.

[beebert]

Schubert D960 2nd mvt hands down.. But also Chopin's Nocturne op 48 no 1.

[thorn]

I think it's strange how pieces of music go in and out of fashion.

When I first joined these forums, I could have put money on over 2/3 of the replies saying Ravel Ondine. Now I think of it, that piece has completely fallen off the radar however many years later *forget when I joined*

[49410enrique]

my vote probably goes to the middle movemet of the beethoven piano concerto no 5
heard:

of my pieces i've performed, hmm tough but probably the second movement to the mozart piano sonata no 3 in f major. it was one of my first real jury pieces and i always loved this movement most of all out of the three

[danielekstrom]

Ever since I first heard this piece. It's been the number one played piece on my iPod for a long time.

I sight read this piece and immediately just felt a rush of emotion.

<3

[philb]

Perhaps the most beautiful piece of Scriabin, and certainly the hardest. This recordings kind of ehh, but I believe there's the Sofronitsky recording from the Scriabin museum somewhere on youtube...

[ahinton]

The passage beginning at 7:28.

Interesting indeed that you should mention this. Although in more recent times it's become a good deal easier to get hold of scores and recordings of Feinberg's music, he had until then suffered even more neglect than his compatriot and fellow pianist/composer Medtner, for equally impenetrable reasons; that said, even today, Medtner is still a good deal better known than Feinberg and, I suspect, his fine corpus of piano music is played by less pianists than is Medtner's. Like Medtner, however, he had a strikingly individual voice and, given the consistently high quality of his piano writing, it remains a wonder that more pianists haven't yet taken him up.

Best,

Alistair

[rachmaninoff_forever]

It's hard to say what's my favorite of all time, but I've been digging this for quite a while now.

My favorite Rachmaninoff prelude.  This piece is soooooo atmospheric!

[scherzo123]

Played: Liebestraum No. 3
Heard: Too many too list but off the top of my head...

Bach-Prelude and Fugue BWV848
Scarlatti-Keyboard Sonata K159 L104
Mozart-Piano Sonata No.10
Beethoven-"Waldstein" Piano Sonata Op.53
Schubert-Impromptu Op.90 No.2 D899
Chopin-EVERYTHING!!!
Liszt-"Un Sospiro" Concert Etude No.3 S144
Mussorgsky-Pictures at an Exhibition
Rachmaninoff-Prelude Op.23 No.5
Scriabin-Etude Op.42 No.5
Prokofiev-Piano Sonata No.7

[ktack]

second movement of Grieg's piano sonata

[davidjosepha]

second movement of Grieg's piano sonata

You know, I felt the same until I actually played it. Now I don't like it very much.

I don't know if I can pick a single most beautiful piece, but I heard this earlier and it made me feel inspired, yet also a little sad. I'd never listened to any Dvorak's piano music before this.

[liszt_forever]

Liszt - all pieces

[davidjosepha]

Liszt - all pieces

I think you might be missing the meaning of the word "most"

[philb]

Liszt - all pieces

Liszt was certainly capable of writing some of the worst music at times.

[ruvidoetostinato]

or

[bcoonen]

Played: Chopin etude op 25 no 7
Heard: Beethoven sonata no 21 (Waldstein)

Thank you for mentioning the Chopin étude. I've started studying the piece aswell, it has a beautiful melodic line the left hand indeed.

[pencilart3]

F. Chopin - Preludes 1, 3, 23 < These 3 aren't recognized enough     
C. Saint-Saens - Valse Nonchalante
F. Chopin - Barcarolle/Berceuse
F. Liszt - Liebestraum 3
F. Liszt - Gondoleria
F. Mendelssohn - Spring Song/Spinner's Song < THESE ARE NEVER MENTIONED           
P. L. Tchaikovsky - June - Barcarolle
F. Liszt - Consolation in d flat
F. Chopin - PC1 mov. 2

     Can't get enough of any of these

[michael_sayers]

What is the most beautiful piano piece you've played or heard? I'd like to know your opinion.

Hi rbhall123,

There are so many, and they are so beautiful and in so many different ways, I find it impossible to decide!


Mvh,
Michael