Whose solo piano music floats your boat?

[Barbirollians]

At the moment Schubert .

[Serial_Apologist]

For some reason I've never got on with 7. Or Scriabin's sonatas in general, although when I want to listen to one of them, No. 10 usually hits the spot.

I am mildly obsessed with piano music—Beethoven, Schubert (period instruments close to essential though), Schumann (not bothered by most of the notes being in the middle of the keyboard as some are), Chopin, Fauré, Debussy from about 1905 on, Roslavets, Szymanowski (thinking particularly of Masques, Métopes, Sonata No. 3 and the Op. 50 Mazurkas), Stockhausen, Finnissy (English Country-Tunes is still a masterpiece but almost everything repays attention), Sciarrino, obviously Cage (Sonatas and Interludes, Etudes Boreales in particular). Also mentions for the Barraqué Sonata, the Well-Tuned Piano, Alvin Curran's Inner Cities, and Brahms Op. 118, when I'm in the mood for them.

And some for the guilty pleasures column: Scarlatti played on piano, Godowsky's studies on Chopin etudes, Bach/Busoni arrangements in general, the Dutilleux Piano Sonata, Robert Fuchs's first piano sonata, Grieg's Lyric Pieces, and the Berlioz/Liszt Symphonie Fantastique

Nobody seems to have mentioned Messiaen's Catalogues d'oiseaux, which for me are some of the most beautiful and evocative piano pieces ever composed, certainly of the 20th century. I think of them as Messiaen's closest tribute to Debussy's most radical impressionism, eg in the second book of Préludes, and by their source of inspiration as having "rescued" the composer's melodic inventiveness after the brief period of high abstraction represented by the Modes de valeurs et d'intensités and the Livre d'orgue, magificent and influential in their monumental austerity as those works had been.

[Richard Barrett]

Nobody seems to have mentioned Messiaen's Catalogues d'oiseaux, which for me are some of the most beautiful and evocative piano pieces ever composed, certainly of the 20th century. I think of them as Messiaen's closest tribute to Debussy's most radical impressionism, eg in the second book of Préludes, and by their source of inspiration as having "rescued" the composer's melodic inventiveness after the brief period of high abstraction represented by the Mode de valeurs et d'intensités and the Livre d'orgue, magificent and influential in their monumental austerity as those works had been.

The Catalogue was mentioned right back near the beginning of the thread, but I agree with you about those pieces. They constitute what I think is the most beautiful exploration of piano timbre in the second half of the 20th century. Although I don't think Messiaen's melodic inventiveness needed "rescuing" from anything; and indeed the Catalogue itself contains some fairly systematic passages. Every development in Messiaen's music was an addition to his "repertoire" rather than something he moved on from.

[EdgeleyRob]

Right now - Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller.

Only because I can play (after a fashion)a couple of his 25 Easy and Progressive Studies, Op 100 after having a dabble at them today

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

My Bunita Marcus is Stephane Ginsburgh. This music requires sooo much concentration!

I co-recommend the double CD that Bryn mentions, BeefO: shorter pieces [than For Bunita Marcus] for two - four pianos, beautifully recorded (and a reminder to me of the Live performance of the work at the HCMF a couple of years ago to mark the release of the recording). About time I listened to them again.

[gurnemanz]

Bach JS, CPE, Beethoven (eg late Sonatas), Chopin (eg Valses, Mazurkas), Brahms (eg Fantasien), Debussy eg Uchida 12 Études), Fauré (eg Collard Nocturnes) Messiaen (Birds), Dutilleux, Grieg, Mozart, Granados, Albeniz, Haydn, Liszt, Busoni, Mendelssohn (eg Lieder ohne Worte), Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Schubert, Satie, Ravel, Scarlatti, Schumann - all, Scriabin, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Alkan, Mompou

[Bryn]

My Bunita Marcus is Stephane Ginsburgh. This music requires sooo much concentration!

I don't feel Stephane Ginsburgh has quite the subtlety of touch the work demands. However, if one is prepared to make do with Amazon mp3 quality, they have it for the knock down price of 99p.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't feel Stephane Ginsburgh has quite the subtlety of touch the work demands. However, if one is prepared to make do with Amazon mp3 quality, they have it for the knock down price of 99p.

Blimey! That's a whopping price increase from the 69p I paid for it in 2011!

But, in the spirit of BaL, you're absolutely right that Ginsburgh doesn't match Tilbury's astonishing variety of timbres. Sadly, Tilbury's 4 CD set of the Feldman piano works isn't easily available - so (also in the spirit of many a recent BaL) the "top recommendation" isn't available in the shops. I like Ginsburgh; for four years, his was the only version of the work that I knew, and it drew me ever closer into Feldman's miraculous soundworld. And even with the 45% price hike, it's still an inexpensive way of hearing For Bunita Marcus.

I don't know any of the other five recordings currently listed on Amazon - I'm intrigued by Sabine Liebner's recording: all 1hr 28mins of it!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oops! For some reason I posted #128 in the belief that I was on the "Let's Have a Few Recordings BaL" Thread, Apollogetes!

[Bryn]

Oops! For some reason I posted #127 in the belief that I was on the "Let's Have a Few Recordings BaL" Thread, Apollogetes!

But you did not post #127, I did. Shocked to find that "All Piano" now commands £120 on discogs. I was fortunate enough not to have paid for my set, though I did previously purchase the earlier separate disc of just For Bunita Marcus. I also have a faulty pre-release copy of the Piano/Palais de Mari disc from the set. That was sent to me to see if I could rescue a faulty edit. Unfortunately, though I was able to identify the problem, there was insufficient material on the disc to resolve it. It seems the producer had temporarily fallen out with the recording engineer. They had to resolve their differences to get it re-edited for release.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But you did not post #127, I did.

Oops x2.



(One of those mornings when I should just have stayed in bed and hidden under the duvet.)

[Rosie55]

I think I'll check that out, it looks interesting. I had my usual leaf through the month's digital Gramophone, but overlooked this. Need to pay more attention!

Some decent 1 min samples of each track on this site: https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/cl...usic-for-piano

[Beef Oven!]

Some decent 1 min samples of each track on this site: https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/cl...usic-for-piano

Thanks!

[BBMmk2]

I heard one pf List's Transcendental Studies today, amd I am reminded that these are quite extraordinary, and his Anee de Pelerinage

[Serial_Apologist]

I heard one pf List's Transcendental Studies today, amd I am reminded that these are quite extraordinary, and his Anee de Pelerinage

Is there any truth in the story that Liszt named his pieces "Transcendental" because they were so technically demanding he was the only one able to perform them?