# Greatest 20th Century Piano Works



## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Inspired by the poll on the greatest Romantic piano works, what do you believe are the greatest works for solo piano of the 20th century? It’s a genre that I am personally very interested in, and we are very fortunate to have many masterpieces for the instrument within the last hundred or so years. I’ve listed, to my knowledge, most of the obvious candidates, but I’d love to hear what you think regardless of whether your preference is for a work that is on the poll or not.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

I've noticed that Scriabin Op.8 No.12 and Op.42 No.5 (7:05) are popular with piano players. I once practiced both. For Op.42 No.5, The section in 7:28 is so hard to play in pianississimo.










When listened through complete cycles of Rachmaninoff Op.33, Op.39, the only ones that stood out to me were still the ones I had been already familiar with. Op.33 No.4 and Op.39 No.6. I guess there is a reason for them being well-known.


----------



## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

There are just too many possibilities to narrow it down to just one. Personal favorites: Rachmaninoff's Corelli Variations, Prokofiev's seventh piano sonata and Shostakovich's 24 preludes and fugues (if you want to consider them a unit. I dunno). I've never been a big Scriabin fan, and I know that many would rank Ives' Concord Sonata up there. I know the Concord is extremely difficult, but I don't know if the thing is worth the effort for the performer or listener, sorry. Just my tastes. Debussy ranks up there but I don't know if the Preludes can be considered as a unit. I'd go with Estampes.


----------



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

consuono said:


> There are just too many possibilities to narrow it down to just one. Personal favorites: Rachmaninoff's Corelli Variations, Prokofiev's seventh piano sonata and Shostakovich's 24 preludes and fugues (if you want to consider them a unit. I dunno).


That's two of my favorites. I've always loved the Corelli Variations; the theme tells me there's something special going on and Rachmaninov doesn't disappoint as he takes me on a captivating journey.

The Shosty is another special experience. I think of it as a unit with sub-units, sort of like TC.


----------



## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

What a great poll! I think this is an amazingly incisive list of candidates. To keep things moving along, I voted for two: Debussy's Preludes and Hindemith's Ludus Tonalis. Although Debussy also has the earlier Images, I think the Preludes really break new ground and define Debussy's tone world. I love them. As for Hindemith, I am very pro-Hindemith, love listening to this work, especially the often playful interludes between the fugal parts, and think that the work is a great summary of Hindemith's most productive period in the 1940s.

Not among the candidates are the solo piano works of Samuel Barber, which I really love. My personal favorite is Excursions, Op. 20, but I've become shy about advocating for it after a few friends said things like that it's kindergarten music and recycled Americana. OK, but I really do like it. But for the most terse example of Barber's work, I'd put forward Ballade, Op. 46. I don't play piano, but if I did, this is what I would play. I once had a dream I was playing this. As for the other prominent American, Ives, his orchestral music really works for me but I'm not into the Concord pieces so much.


----------



## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Debussy’s preludes are some of my favorite things ever written for the piano, amazingly evocative little sketches that don’t require the programmatic titles to be convincing. Certainly my favorite thing to come from the short-lived Impressionist period of the arts. Ravel is a top-10 composer for me and I take Le Tombeau by a hair over Gaspard. Ives is real hit-or-miss for me but the “Concord” is an entertaining listening experience and certainly a giant of the piano repertoire; besides, how can you not love a piano sonata with a flute, a viola, and a wooden block? I can’t leave out Messiaen with his cosmic harmonies and Prokofiev with his strange but brilliant brand of post-romantic expression, so I ended up voting for five works 

In terms of works left out of the poll, Webern’s Variations for Piano, Medtner’s sonatas (the “Night Wind” and the B-flat minor come to mind) and Barber’s sonata are the main “honorable mentions” that come to mind.


----------



## Owen David (May 15, 2020)

Make it an open poll! I think I'd have Satie up there.


----------



## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Barber piano sonata is up there


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

A tough question, there are a ton of great keyboard works in the 20th century, that is why I think this poll needs an 'other' option.

On _reflections_ my vote is for 'other':

Ravel - _Miroirs_


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Add Crumb's Makrocosmos (any volume).

and Stefan Wolpe'a Passacaglia


----------



## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

This is tough. There are so many great sets which make them very hard to compare.

Objectively, Debussy's Preludes is probably the greatest set of piano works of the 20th century.

Ligeti's Etudes, Messiaen's Vingt Regards, and Shostakovich's Preludes & Fugues are all up there as well. Prokofiev's War Sonatas are a real treat and each of them is as good as any part of the aforementioned sets -- the final movement of the 6th sonata was the most fun I've ever had playing a piano piece, probably because I haven't played the final movement of the 7th sonata! The 8th sonata is incredibly underrated for a masterpiece. I also love Ives' Concord Sonata for the very different flavor of "20th century" it offers. Playing 'The Alcotts' made me feel some incredible emotions, American and otherwise.

This is a pretty comprehensive poll and I can't think of any work that should definitely replace one of these options. I echo the recommendations for Medtner's Sonatas (Romantica and Reminiscenza) though I usually forget that they were written in the 20th century. I also second Ravel's Miroirs as incredibly high quality music but you could really say that about every piano piece written by Debussy and Ravel.

I honestly would really have to scratch my head to think of other "honorable mentions". I really like Scriabin's Fantaisie which is as good as his best Sonatas. Berg's Sonata has a beautiful lyric quality to it for the Second Viennese School. I really love Barber's Excursions and Ginastera's Danzas Argentinas but I've always thought of them more as "super enjoyable" than "great". In terms of atonal compositions, Boulez's 2nd Piano Sonata and Schoenberg's Op. 11 / Op. 23 probably belong somewhere near this list. Rachmaninoff seems to deserve more representation here too - I played his 2nd Piano Sonata awhile ago and it is a slightly imperfect kind of great, but still one of his greatest standalone piano compositions.


----------



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

tdc said:


> A tough question, there are a ton of great keyboard works in the 20th century, that is why I think this poll needs an 'other' option.
> 
> On _reflections_ my vote is for 'other':
> 
> Ravel - _Miroirs_


I'm glad the 'other' option was absent - allows the author to list a 15th real work instead of the generic option. Besides, the folks who prefer different works will tell us without the option being available.


----------



## The3Bs (Apr 1, 2020)

A difficult one!!!!

I voted for Scriabin as I could for Shostakovich, Ravel or Prokofiev...


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I voted for Shosty, but had Cage's Sonatas and interludes for prepared piano been included, I might have voted for that one.


----------



## Shosty (Mar 16, 2020)

I voted for Shostakovich and Ligeti, and forgot to pick Debussy.
I also like these:
Busoni - Elegies BV 249
Debussy - Children's Corner
Janacek - In the Mists
Scriabin - Vers la flamme


----------



## Beebert (Jan 3, 2019)

hammeredklavier said:


> I've noticed that Scriabin Op.8 No.12 and Op.42 No.5 (7:05) are popular with piano players. I once practiced both. For Op.42 No.5, The section in 7:28 is so hard to play in pianississimo.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You are a pianist? And you dislike Chopin and Schubert? That is hard for me to understand...

Anyway... Debussy is the greatest on the list... But Gaspard de la suit by Ravel is up there too. Scriabin is too much one and the same thing, but certainly very interesting. Prokofiev is great too, but there is something "evil" and "ugly" about his music too that is not in tune with my musical temperament.


----------



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

I’m so glad you have the Prokofiev Sonatas as well as the Rzewski. Both are some of my all time favorites. 

And Debussy’s piano music is something to be revered.


----------



## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Great choices. I might also add Schoenberg Op. 19 and Webern's Variations.


----------



## Beebert (Jan 3, 2019)

isorhythm said:


> Great choices. I might also add Schoenberg Op. 19 and Webern's Variations.


They are masterpieces, but very short and difficult to compare with 3(!) big sonatas by Prokofiev and 2(!) big books of preludes by Debussy, for example... But absolutely, they are amazing works. Especially Webern.


----------



## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

There are many candidates worthy of consideration:


Bax: any of the four piano sonatas
Glazunov: Piano Sonata I and Theme et Variations
Melartin: The Melancholy Garden
Myaskovsky: Piano Sonata IV & Prelude et Rondo-Sonata op. 58
Bortkiewicz: Lamentations and Consolations
Prokofiev: Any of the wartime sonatas
Feinberg: Any of his sonatas
Roslavets: Three Etudes
Mompou: Impresiones intimas, Dialogues, Trois Variations


----------



## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

I am surprised that Iberia only has one vote. It is so beautiful.


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Bulldog said:


> I'm glad the 'other' option was absent - allows the author to list a 15th real work instead of the generic option. Besides, the folks who prefer different works will tell us without the option being available.


I suppose, but I think there is not much difference between listing 14 or 15 works, either way some things will get left out. If there is an 'other' option on the poll, a person can just glance at the poll results to see how many people are voting and if they are voting for a work not listed, rather than reading through the whole thread to get that information.


----------



## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

^It was hard enough for me to stick to 15 works for the poll, so the thought of adding an “other” option never occurred to me

Wow, Debussy appears to be winning a surprisingly large chunk of the vote. Very worthy. My “wild card” or “under the radar” inclusion was the Janacek, which I think is very interesting and distinctive music even if it does sound a little too much like “elevator music” to me in parts. That slot could easily have been filled with Satie, Barber, Medtner, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg...


----------



## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

I don't think it matters that much. "Greatest" polls like this seem to be a springboard to discussing favorite pieces anyway, and that's OK.


----------



## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Bulldog said:


> I'm glad the 'other' option was absent - allows the author to list a 15th real work instead of the generic option. Besides, the folks who prefer different works will tell us without the option being available.


Want 'real' instead of 'other'?

Here are 5 others, … for real:

Charles Koechlin's _Les Heures persanes_
Karol Szymanowski's _Métopes_
Andre Jolivet's _Cinq danses rituelles_
Giacinto Scelsi's _Suite N° 8 "Bot-Ba"_
Pehr Henrik Nordgren's _Nine Kwaidan Ballads_


----------



## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

Another late nomination would be for Debussy's Etudes.


----------



## Agamenon (Apr 22, 2019)

Iberia is underrated. Debussy is the champion, a giant that will shine for centuries.


----------



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

The fact that _Música callada_, *Mompou*, was omitted from the list is unfortunate.

Also, also MIA on the list, any mention of the solo piano music of three of the greatest composers from the 20th century.

*Elliott Carter *
Piano Sonata (1945-46)
Night Fantasies (1980)
90+ (1994)
Two Diversions (1999)
Retrouvailles (2000)
Two Thoughts about the Piano (2005-06)
"Intermittences"
"Caténaires"
Tri-Tribute (2007-08)
"Sistribute"
"Fratribute"
"Matribute"

*Charles Wuroinen*
Four piano sonatas
Capriccio
Doubletake
Intrada
Adagio
The Haroun Piano Book
Oros
The Blue Bamboula
Piano Variations

*Pierre Boulez*
Deuxième Sonate
Douze Notations
Incises
Première Sonate
Une page d'éphéméride
Troisième Sonate


----------



## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

I am going to abstain from this one. I don't even know most of these works. Look at what you did!  I now feel obligated to go listen to them! I tend to be focused more on orchestral works, and my initial reaction was where are the Rachmaninoff concertos?!? Those I can conveniently place as 20th or 19th century works depending on my mood. I think of Rachmaninoff as a late 19th century composer who just wrote some of his best works in the 20th century.

Now I have to go listen to a whole bunch of new (to me) works!


----------



## Skakner (Oct 8, 2020)

Great selections to choose from.

My top-5 would be:
Shostakovich - 24 Preludes and Fugues
Debussy - Preludes, Books I and II
Prokofiev - Piano Sonatas Nos. 6-8 
Messiaen - Vingt Regards pour l'Enfant Jesus
Ligeti - Etudes

I voted for *Shostakovich*.


----------



## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

SanAntone said:


> *Charles Wuroinen*


Charles Wu_OR_inen is even better.


----------



## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I voted Debussy and not surprisingly, it is leading the poll.


----------



## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

I suggest Antoine Mariotte’s Impressions Urbaines.


----------

