Opus 1

[Alison]

Webern's Op. 1 'Passacaglia'. I played this as a teenager and, in my naivety, expected to hate it but ended up loving it.

And quite regular outings at the Proms.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Brahms 1st Piano Sonata

I do rather like this one, but it's typical of Brahms in having far too many notes for the pianist to manage, while still not sounding particularly difficult.

[pastoralguy]

And quite regular outings at the Proms.

I might dig out my cd of Herbie and his band playing it.

[EdgeleyRob]

I do rather like this one, but it's typical of Brahms in having far too many notes for the pianist to manage, while still not sounding particularly difficult.

Julius Katchen plays it wonderfully IMV.

[Petrushka]

Webern's Op. 1 'Passacaglia'. I played this as a teenager and, in my naivety, expected to hate it but ended up loving it.

Oh yes, this! First heard it many years ago (almost certainly a BBCSO/Boulez broadcast performance circa 1974) and I had a similar experience. Strangely, though, I've not heard it live in concert as far as I can remember.

Johann Strauss's opus 1 is a waltz called Sinngedichte and while it's not the greatest one from his pen it certainly shows the talent he had for the other 478 that followed.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Johann Strauss's opus 1 is a waltz called Sinngedichte and while it's not the greatest one from his pen it certainly shows the talent he had for the other[s] that followed.

But - with the exceptions of Handel (and other Baroque composers) and Alpie's nomination of Erlkonig - isn't this (and shouldn't it be) the case in all composers' Op1s?

[Petrushka]

But - with the exceptions of Handel (and other Baroque composers) and Alpie's nomination of Erlkonig - isn't this (and shouldn't it be) the case in all composers' Op1s?

Indeed so but I wonder if there are any composers for whom their opus 1 turned to be the best they ever did. Just playing Sinngedichte now and it's pretty good, definitely giving notice of a major talent!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajnDEWuqZSU

[Richard Barrett]

Stockhausen, Nr.1 Kontra-Punkte (to give it its full title - although it's preceded by a few other early pieces, some of which weren't performed until the 1970s, that's its designated number), which is something of a watershed in chamber ensemble composition I think.

[gurnemanz]

Fauré: Le papillon et la fleur Op 1 No 1 (Nathalie Stutzmann)

[Pianorak]

I think the Prokofiev piano sonata no. 1, Op 1 and the 24 Caprices by Paganini Op. 1 deserve a mention.

[BBMmk2]

Has to be Webern's.

[Alison]

I think the Prokofiev piano sonata no. 1, Op 1 and the 24 Caprices by Paganini Op. 1 deserve a mention.

I see Boulez's earliest pieces were for solo piano. Would like to hear the Nocturne (1944-45)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I see Boulez's earliest pieces were for solo piano.

But do student works / juvenilia count as "Opus 1"s? Doesn't the Opus designation suggest that a work was one that the composer deemed suitable for publication?

[rauschwerk]

But do student works / juvenilia count as "Opus 1"s? Doesn't the Opus designation suggest that a work was one that the composer deemed suitable for publication?

Yes, or a work which it would be worth a publisher's while to commit to print (Haydn wrote a good few 'non-commercial' symphonies before his Op. 1 quartets).

[Hornspieler]

Opus 1.

For me, it has to be that famous recording by the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

(Probably arranged by the band's pianist Mel Powell)

HS

(Sorry, back to the topic)