# Favorite Soloist Instruments



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Be it a cadenza or a sonata, what instruments do you enjoy hearing by themselves?


So far:

Piano


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Piano, harpsichord, organ, oboe, saxophone, and trumpet.


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## N Fowleri (5 mo ago)

claves, triangle


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Synthesizer w/ library, and Bulldog and N Fowleri's avatars.

The first instrument is a serious answer.


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## Dreadful_Engines (5 mo ago)

Ethereality said:


> The first instrument is a serious answer.


Theremin or microkorg?


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Cello, flute, bass clarinet, harp, crotales


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Piano , cello, violin.


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## Georgieva (7 mo ago)

Piano and violin for me.


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

Violin and piano as well


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

guitar and piano


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Rogerx said:


> Piano , cello, violin.


This for me.

Oboe is pretty close, though.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Rogerx said:


> Piano , cello, violin.


I love the sound of the cello, I just haven't found any works I really love for it as a solo instrument.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I love the sound of the cello, I just haven't found any works I really love for it as a solo instrument.


Joseph-Marie-Clément Dall'Abaco - Kristin Von der Goltz - YouTube

6 Figures: III. Lento - YouTube

songlines V - YouTube


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## PathfinderCS (11 mo ago)

The organ is the ultimate solo instrument for me; probably due to it being an orchestra unto itself!

That said; also add the piano and violin to that, but as a personal preference, gotta go english horn!


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

Cello, piano and violin as a first line. I also find the clarinet and oboe quite moving.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I love the sound of the cello, I just haven't found any works I really love for it as a solo instrument.


What are your thoughts on the Bach Cello Suites? Who have you heard? 

Also Kodaly and Britten.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

jegreenwood said:


> What are your thoughts on the Bach Cello Suites? Who have you heard?
> 
> Also Kodaly and Britten.



I don't love the suites much.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I don't love the suites much.


Have you listened to the Beethoven and Brahms sonatas for cello and piano?


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Roger Knox said:


> Cello, flute, bass clarinet, harp, crotales


Yes, there is music for solo crotales:


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Toilet flush


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I love the sound of the cello, I just haven't found any works I really love for it as a solo instrument.



You don't like the Bach solo suites


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## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

Piano, Cello, Organ, Guitar. Violin if it is in a concerto or accompanied. Straight solo violin gets tiresome for me quickly. Piano is my favorite. All the others fall far below it.

V


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

How about this?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

jegreenwood said:


> How about this?



Is this music for a soloist?


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## Montarsolo (5 mo ago)

Piano of course. And cello. As a teenager, just getting to know classical music, my mother gave me sometimes a cassette tape with classical music. She bought them at a market where she also bought the vegetables. One of these was this tape with Bach cello suites 3 and. Only years later (when I already knew more about classical music and found the tape back) I found the tape again, I found out that there was only one instrument. In my memory I had heard a whole ensemble!


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Mandryka said:


> Is this music for a soloist?


The original question was, "Be it a cadenza or a sonata, what instruments do you enjoy hearing by themselves?"

I would say that in a sonata for two instruments, which feature both instruments in turn as well as together, qualifies. I could also have listed any number of cello concertos where the cellist is defined as a soloist.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Sticking to instruments played solo (not with other instruments or a complete orchestra):

1. Organ
2. Marimba
3. Guitar or Cello


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## wormcycle (Oct 14, 2020)

cello, viola da gamba, piano


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## Doublestring (Sep 3, 2014)

Guitar
Piano
Violin
Lute
Harp
Harpsichord
Flute
Marimba
Vibraphone
French horn


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Dreadful_Engines said:


> Theremin or microkorg?


I'm used to Korg as a keyboard but what's a microkorg? A microkeyboard? Must be more to it than that.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Prodromides said:


> Toilet flush


Aw, c'mon. Anyway, it can be spiced up by pairing it with a water gong.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

What a timid lot! No one's yet mentioned the roto-toms.


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## Wigmar (8 mo ago)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Be it a cadenza or a sonata, what instruments do you enjoy hearing by themselves?
> 
> 
> So far:
> ...


Piano, cello, guitar


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Piano

Cello
Violin

Clarinet

(harpsichords should be all wiped from the face of the Earth)


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I feel voice is underrated. My favorite singer is Tom Waits. Swordfishtrombones forward.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I love the sound of the cello, I just haven't found any works I really love for it as a solo instrument.


Give these a try:


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## Dreadful_Engines (5 mo ago)

I don't know, I never learnt how to use Google either.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

I don't understand how anybody could list an instrument as a "favorite solo instrument" if it can play only one note at a time.


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## MusicInTheAir (Apr 21, 2007)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Be it a cadenza or a sonata, what instruments do you enjoy hearing by themselves?
> 
> 
> So far:
> ...


The piano, harpsichord and violin.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

NoCoPilot said:


> I don't understand how anybody could list an instrument as a "favorite solo instrument" if it can play only one note at a time.


You misquote the title of the thread. ”Favorite Soloist Instrument.” What do you call the clarinet player in the Mozart concerto?


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

jegreenwood said:


> What do you call the clarinet player in the Mozart concerto?


Reed my lips


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## Patrick Murtha (Aug 1, 2016)

The right, great player can make virtually any instrument shine solo. If you asked who are your favorite INSTRUMENTALISTS, Dennis Brain is the very first name that comes to me, and yet French horn is hardly the most common solo instument.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Patrick Murtha said:


> The right, great player can make virtually any instrument shine solo. If you asked who are your favorite INSTRUMENTALISTS, Dennis Brain is the very first name that comes to me, and yet French horn is hardly the most common solo instument.


I wouldn't know how to begin to answer that.  

Although . . . arguably my favorite instrument purely with respect to the quality of its sound is/are vibes. So maybe Milt Jackson.


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## Yabetz (Sep 6, 2021)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I don't love the suites much.


If that's the case then I don't think there's much solo cello music that you're going to like.

Instruments: cello, clavichord, harpsichord, pipe organ, piano, violin, viola


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

Yabetz said:


> Instruments: cello, clavichord, harpsichord, pipe organ, piano, violin, viola


Precisely my choices (in alphabetical order ).


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Prodromides said:


> Toilet flush


Toilet paper


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