# Looking for solo piano, guitar, and cello music.



## Prozac (Jul 29, 2010)

Hi everyone, I have an unusual request, I think. I am a writer but I have Bipolar Disorder so I usually like music that is slow (or sometimes medium) tempo and very soothing. I enjoy listening to it while I write.

I specifically enjoy the sound of SOLO piano, classical guitar, and cello. I enjoy them in an orchestra setting as well, but not when I'm trying to be calm and relax. It seems that the solo tones of the instruments I mentioned above really speak to me, they soothe me.

To that end, I'm looking for suggestions of good solo piano, classical guitar, and cello to relax to while I write.

Any music come to mind? 

Thanks for any help, Prozac


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Debussy (preludes) or Ravel (Miroirs, Sonatina) would be good for writing. You can focus on writing with this music in the background and no matter at what point and how suddenly you will turn your attention to the music there will always be something to inspire you that is, of course, if you are kind of man that is able to find something inside of the music.


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## Roberto (Jul 17, 2010)

Try the Bach cello suites - wonderful

Try also his Goldberg variations and the 48 preludes and fugues

One of the great things about Bach, if you are doing something else such as writing, is that his pieces tend to be measured, and the rhythms and dynamics etc not subject to violent variation, as in some of the Romantics. So I find they actually help sometimes to get thoughts into order


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## Prozac (Jul 29, 2010)

Thanks for these suggestions. I'm looking forward to listening to them!


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

There´s a good chance you´ll like Reinbert de Leeuw´s Satie recordings,
especially the 6 Gnoisiennes and the 3 Gymnopedies.


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

For solo Piano you would probably like Chopin's Nocturnes and Mendelssohns Songs without works - both very pleasant and relaxing works .
I second the recommendation of Bach's Cello suites too.


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## JMJ (Jul 9, 2010)

For solo guitar try ... *Agustín Barrios*


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## Rasa (Apr 23, 2009)

Allegro Barbaro - Bartok (not barbarian, but barbary, the region, pretty relaxing)


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## Prozac (Jul 29, 2010)

*Thanks*

Thank for all the suggestions, everyone. Let me elaborate a bit on my original post.

I got the DeBussy preludes, and while the piano beautiful, there is still a lot of subtle dissonance.

I was hoping to get closer to George Winston - who I know is not a classical musician - but he does play beautiful solo piano, that is extremely mellow. This is the sound I'm hoping to find but in a classical player/piece of music. Maybe I'm asking to much, and this type of classical music just doesn't exist.

I am going to check out the other suggestions though: here are 3 CDs that represent what I'm looking for:

Christopher Parkening - Sacred Music For The Guitar

Yo Yo Ma - - J. S. Bach: The 6 Unaccompanied Cello Suites

George Winston - December

So this is what I'm shooting for. Thanks again, Prozac


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Surprised you didn't like the Chopin Nocturnes then?

If you like George Winston - then maybe Linford Detweiler:


























If you're after dissonant free music, then Scriabin's Preludes, as well as Myaskovsky's Sonatas and Satie's Gymnopedies as Joen has mentioned might be worth checking out.

Personally I can't stand piano music. It makes me feel all dissonant inside


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## Prozac (Jul 29, 2010)

.


> Surprised you didn't like the Chopin Nocturnes then?


Sorry. I hadn't listened to all of the recommendations when I last posted. But let me say for the record: I very much like Chopin's Nocturnes...this is the closest to meeting my suggestion ideas.

I'm listening to them as I write this. Very good suggestion.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

John Field wrote beautiful nocturnes as well. You also might listen to Chopin's Berceuse and his Barcarolle. Both very lovely, gentle pieces.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

P.S.
I hadn't even heard of George Winston, but I just listened to the piece of his you mentioned and it made me think-- are you already familiar with Bach's _Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring_? You'd probably like it; Winston quotes it extensively in _December_.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Here you go for Classical Guitar. http://www.amazon.com/Christopher-P...2506271&sr=1-4&keywords=christopher+parkening


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

For Solo Piano:

Dark Intervals. Keith Jarrett








Annotated Inside the CD above:

_'Touch is only possible at the edge of spaces
Light is only precious during dark intervals'_

G.I. Gurdjieff: Sacred Hymns. Keith Jarrett








Sacred Hymns is one of my favourites.

Köln Concert. Keith Jarrett








Köln is quite soft and with some 'pop' tunes but even though is a masterpiece for piano concert achievement.

Hope these can work with you, Prozac


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

I also like Philip Glass at the piano and most of his oeuvre:

This recording can be a good one so to taste some of his approaches:









or maybe this...


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

About Sacred Hymns:

_[...]

"Also in March 1980, almost as if he were putting his house in order and tidying up loose ends in preparation for something else, Keith Jarrett made a recording of the Sacred Hymns of G.I. Gurdjieff. Jarrett had been studing the work of the Armenian/Greek spiritual teacher since the late 1960's and had read virtually all his works. [...] Thomas D. Hartmann (1886-1956), became a Gurdjieff disciple from 1917 to 1929. Gurdjieff whistled or sang his hymns and De Hartmann transcribed, harmonized and helped to shape them -also made piano recordings of them.

Over a thousand pieces were composed this way. Jarrett know the De Hartmann recordings, admired them and made no attempt to vie with them, but his recordings of the Sacred Hymns for ECM was to make fifteen of Gurdjieff's shor pieces available to the general public for the first time.

Up to this point the music had kept a very low profile, had only very rarely been performed in public, and the recordings had been available only by mail order.

Jarrett's recording is yet again something primarily concerned with his inner development and compulsions, and there is little of himself in this quite exquisite performances."

[...]_

Ian Carr. 1991. 'Keith Jarrett. The man and His Music'. p. 128.


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