# Favorite pieces for solo instruments, excluding keyboards and Bach



## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

My favorite pieces by Bach are his Violin Partitas and Sonatas; I love them so much that I have been tired of them for awhile now, and so I am very happy to have discovered Telemann's wonderful music for solo violin. 

Excluding piano, I can't even name that many pieces for solo instruments. Bach, now the Telemann, something for flute by Debussy, and I think there are a couple others that I can't remember but no more than one or two. What pieces am I missing out on TC?

And the human voice counts as well, if anyone knows some.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Stravinsky's Elegy for solo viola is a wonderful piece:





Among modern pieces, Berio's set of Sequenzas for a variety of solo instruments (only the piano one is a keyboard piece) stands out.


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## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

You might enjoy Bartók's Sonata for Solo Violin.

This album contains pieces for solo cello by Kodály, Golijov, Cassadó, and Sheng.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Jacob Druckman's Reflections on the Nature of Water, for marimba.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Biber's solo violin sonatas.

Appel interstellaire from Messiaen's Des canyons aux etoiles (which I believe he originally wrote as a standalone piece).

I'm a big fan of Berio but I've never liked any of the Sequenzas too much, for some reason.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I'm not really into Classical *guitar* much, but I think there's a lot out there. E.g., Britten's Nocturnal.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Ysaÿe six sonatas for solo violin
Penderecki La Folia for solo violin
Pagannini 24 Caprices

As mentioned above 
Kodaly Sonata for solo cello is fabulous 

Villa Lobos wrote some wonderful music for solo guitar
12 Etudes
5 Preludes

And as mentioned above there's plenty of Spanish guitar music

Albéniz Asterias
Tárrega Recuerdos de la Alhambra 
Granados Spanish Dances
etc.


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## Guest (Jul 6, 2015)

I enjoy the Violin Partitas and Sonatas of Bach too. 

My suggestions would be for solo viola: those by Ligeti (Sonata) and Kurtag (Signs, Games and Messages).


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## Proms Fanatic (Nov 23, 2014)

To add to the solo guitar works, I can highly recommend Giuliani's Rossiniane, there are 6 of them.

Rachmaninov's "Vocalise" was written for the voice as a musical instrument and has been transcribed for other instruments.


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## leroy (Nov 23, 2014)

As mentioned above Biber should suite you well.


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## Guest (Jul 6, 2015)

Schnittke's A' Paganini is breath-taking in the right hands, e.g. Gidon Kremer.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

One you may or may not like ...

*Glass*: _Songs and Poems_, for solo cello


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

I enjoy *Zoltán Kodály's* Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8 a good deal. *Villa-Lobos'* Chôro No. 1 for guitar (1920) is likewise pretty neat.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

Mahlerian said:


> Stravinsky's Elegy for solo viola is a wonderful piece:
> _[video, etc.]_


Exactly the piece I was going to mention. Although I much prefer the version for viola. 

Also: Bach Cello Suites, Ysaye "Obsession", Biber Passacaglia

EDIT: Just realized Bach wasn't allowed, so ignore that.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Good to see the Kodaly op. 8 name-checked - the more I hear it the more I like it.

Some others which spring to mind...

Hindemith's three sonatas for solo violin (esp. nos. two and three from 1924) and four for solo viola (esp. nos. three and four from 1923 and 1937 respectively).

Schnittke's Madrigal (in Memoriam Oleg Kagan) - versions for solo 'cello and solo violin.

Britten's three 'Cello Suites.

Bartok's Sonata for Solo Violin.

Reger's Suites for Solo 'Cello and Solo Viola - three of each. He also wrote ELEVEN solo violin sonatas plus other solo works for the instrument but I have yet to get to know any of these.

Rorem's After Reading Shakespeare (for solo 'cello)

Also Berio's Sequenzas I-XIV for a variety of solo instruments (although the third one is for the voice).

Ernest Bloch also wrote some suites for solo violin and solo 'cello (plus an unfinished one for viola) which are worth looking into.


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## Musicophile (May 29, 2015)

Rachel Podger has a nice selection of baroque solo pieces on her album "Guardian Angel". OK, there's some Bach, but also Matteis, Tartini, Pisendel and Biber.

A really great album.









http://www.channelclassics.com/podger-35513.html


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Boulez: Dialogue de l'Ombre Double if that counts (because there are electornics involved too). Otherwise, Anthèmes (solo violin, no electronics) is wonderful. 

Otherwise I'll pick Shard by Elliott Carter, Ligeti's solo cello and solo viola sonatas, Berio's sequenzas (especially the ones for voice and viola, I don't know why but I'm not as fond of the guitar one actually), Leo Brouwer's Guitar Sonata, Antonio José's Guitar Sonata, Biber's Passacaglia (especially when played on viola by a friend of mine, superb!), Ysaÿe's solo violin sonatas, Sculthorpe's Requiem for Solo Cello, there are a few other lesser known 20th century cello works that I've heard which blew my socks off but I can't remember the names....one was by a Spanish composer I think but that's all I remember.

EDIT: Gaspar Cassadó


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Joaquin Rodrigo's works for solo guitar.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

I realized belatedly the Biber sonatas may not count for this thread because they have continuo. There is the G minor passacaglia, however, which is totally unaccompanied.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Just remembered that there are Six pièces for solo harp by Jacques Ibert - lovely stuff. Hindemith composed a nifty solo harp sonata, too.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I don't know much about these but I think Telemann wrote 12 Fantasias for solo flute, and 12 Fantasias for solo violin. I've got the sheet music for the solo violin pieces, I should dig them out and try a few.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Clairvoyance Enough said:


> My favorite pieces by Bach are his Violin Partitas and Sonatas; I love them so much that I have been tired of them for awhile now, and so I am very happy to have discovered Telemann's wonderful music for solo violin.
> 
> Excluding piano, I can't even name that many pieces for solo instruments. Bach, now the Telemann, something for flute by Debussy, and I think there are a couple others that I can't remember but no more than one or two. What pieces am I missing out on TC?
> 
> And the human voice counts as well, if anyone knows some.


Nomos alpha and Theraps (Xenakis) You may also like some of Hespos's music, there's a nice piece called Duma for flute.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Tons of wonderful solo piano pieces composed by Morton Feldman including For Bunita Marcus, one of my personal favorites.

However it was his work for solo electric guitar that caught my attention.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Clairvoyance Enough said:


> And the human voice counts as well, if anyone knows some.


There are nice solo voice works by John Cage.

John Cage: Eight Whiskus (1984) - Joan La Barbara





Joan La Barbara composed/performed pieces for solo voice, mostly in 1970s. They are fairly experimental.

Circular Song (1975) from Voice Is the Original Instrument


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