# Most memorable pieces



## Ravndal

What has been your most memorable pieces to play trough the years?

So far, I want to nominate two pieces:

Grieg _Notturno_

Bach _Prelude & Fugue C minor (WTC Book 1)_

I don't know why, but they have been the most fun and enjoyable. It took a looong time to grow tired of them 

(This thread is for keyboard players. Not for those who press play on their cd player)


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## hreichgott

So many. Suzuki training predisposed me to love old repertoire. I always feel that the point at which a piece is fully learned/performable is only the beginning of my time with it. Some of the most beloved:

The two Beethoven pieces my mother played on a regular basis as I danced around the living room at age 3: Six Ecossaises, and the second movement of the Pathetique sonata.

The Suzuki piano repertoire. It is my piano Bible. I perform the Bach Partita in B flat excerpts and the Mozart sonata K. 330 most frequently, but I never get tired of any of it.

Two Chopin C sharp minor pieces from different stages of learning: the Waltz Op. 64 no. 2, and Scherzo no. 3.

Mozart Concerto no. 9. (Too bad I don't have an orchestra at my beck and call.)

Bartok, Six Roumanian Dances.

Handel, Air and Variations from Partita in B flat.

Bernstein, "For Felicia Montealegre" from Four Anniversaries.

I think the Debussy preludes (book 1) are going to be in this category before long. I keep learning another prelude, and then another, and then another. It's early in the relationship but I think it will be a good one


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## Ravndal

Wow. I certainly don't love everything I have played equally. Somethings i actually _dislike._ But, a fine list none the less


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## hreichgott

Did you want me to make you a list of pieces I've played that I never intend to play again? There are a few! I just am not sure the internet cares about that sort of list...


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## PetrB

hreichgott said:


> Did you want me to make you a list of pieces I've played that I never intend to play again? There are a few! I just am not sure the internet cares about that sort of list...


The dean of the conservatory I attended told me he had done the Poulenc Piano trio with some colleagues (pleasant sounding piece.) The man was a more than competent pianist, having done a.o. the _Messiaen Quatuor pour la fin du temps_ He did say of the Poulenc that the piece in no way seemed to warrant the work it took to learn it 

I think, opinions varying, a number of us have a list of pieces like that.


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## hreichgott

PetrB said:


> I think, opinions varying, a number of us have a list of pieces like that.


There's definitely a sort of fall-off with highly difficult pieces. If a piece is going to be more difficult than, say, the more difficult Beethoven sonatas, it had better be giving me something a Beethoven sonata can't. Otherwise it just isn't worth the time and effort to learn. I find this is especially true of new music. There are composers who seem to have confused difficulty with originality. (There are also composers who flatteringly assume that if a pianist is capable of playing advanced music, she is capable of absolutely anything in a short period of time: false.)

I don't know if I've ever actually learned something fully to performance stage if I felt it was too difficult to be worth it. Certainly I've half-learned a few things 

Anyone have other memorable pieces to share?? Didn't mean to hijack this thread...


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## Novelette

hreichgott said:


> So many. Suzuki training predisposed me to love old repertoire. I always feel that the point at which a piece is fully learned/performable is only the beginning of my time with it. Some of the most beloved:
> 
> The two Beethoven pieces my mother played on a regular basis as I danced around the living room at age 3: Six Ecossaises, and the second movement of the Pathetique sonata.
> 
> The Suzuki piano repertoire. It is my piano Bible. I perform the Bach Partita in B flat excerpts and the Mozart sonata K. 330 most frequently, but I never get tired of any of it.
> 
> Two Chopin C sharp minor pieces from different stages of learning: the Waltz Op. 64 no. 2, and Scherzo no. 3.
> 
> Mozart Concerto no. 9. (Too bad I don't have an orchestra at my beck and call.)
> 
> Bartok, Six Roumanian Dances.
> 
> *Handel, Air and Variations from Partita in B flat.*
> 
> Bernstein, "For Felicia Montealegre" from Four Anniversaries.
> 
> I think the Debussy preludes (book 1) are going to be in this category before long. I keep learning another prelude, and then another, and then another. It's early in the relationship but I think it will be a good one


You play that beautifully, Hreichgott! 

I have avoided learning it because I have to improve my accuracy in playing quick runs in B Flat Major: for some reason, proper fingering notwithstanding, I can't seem to accept the A-natural. In fact, I shall start working on this improvement tonight.


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## Novelette

One of the pieces I most enjoy having played over the years is the first movement of Beethoven's "Tempest" Sonata--so much fun to play! I find it more enjoyable than the third movement, which I have played little in the past two years.

Also the prelude of Mendelssohn's sixth prelude and fugue, in B Flat Major. It exudes a kind of sure contentedness, an evocation that I find quite appealing.


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## Ravndal

hreichgott said:


> Did you want me to make you a list of pieces I've played that I never intend to play again? There are a few! I just am not sure the internet cares about that sort of list...


No  Or if you want to. But the pieces that have been the most fun to play in your career!


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## hreichgott

Post deleted. Removing thread drift to a private message


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## Phistachio

Vers la Flamme. Shows the height of intelligence and intellectuality of Scriabin's world. So many emotions in a rather "simple" form. Although completely unreachable by some and deemed "chaotic and a mess", to people that love and understand Scriabin very well, Vers la Flamme is a big delight.


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## Stephanie Martin

Chopin's waltzes, particularly in A Minor and B Minor; also his Prelude in B Minor, and Nocturne in C# Minor. Magical pieces.


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## bombino

Stephanie Martin said:


> Chopin's waltzes, particularly in A Minor and B Minor; also his Prelude in B Minor, and Nocturne in C# Minor. Magical pieces.


Woohoo, a Chopin person 

I am very moved by his Nocturnes as well. Fantasie Impromptu and the Polonaise Op.40 No.1 are also really special to me, I had played those back with my favorite/last piano teacher years ago.


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## Il_Penseroso

From what I've learned when I was quite young and still play more or less: 

Bach/Kempff: Choral-Prelude Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland 

Mozart: Sonata in C major K.330

Schubert: Impromptu Op.90 No.4 

Chopin: Mazurkas almost all, my favorite genre! The most beautiful numbers in my opinion: Op.7 No.3, Op.24 No.2, Op.24 No.4, Op.30 No.3, Op.30 No.4, Op.33 No.4, Op.41 No.2, Op.50 No.3, Op.67 No.4 and Op.68 No.2.

Chopin: Waltz in A minor Op.34 No.2 

Chopin: Polonaise in E flat minor Op.26 No.2 

Liszt: Consolation No.3

Wagner/Liszt: Isoldes Liebestod (Tristan und Isolde) 

Granados: Spanish Dance No.5 

De Falla: Ritual fire dance (El amor brujo) and Miller's dance (El sombrero de tres picos)


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## Volve

Lisztz's Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este takes the prize for me, just thinking about its name is enough to keep it alive in my mind for days!


Il_Penseroso said:


> Chopin: Mazurkas almost all, my favorite genre! The most beautiful numbers in my opinion: Op.7 No.3, Op.24 No.2, Op.24 No.4, Op.30 No.3, Op.30 No.4, Op.33 No.4, Op.41 No.2, Op.50 No.3, Op.67 No.4 and Op.68 No.2.


No Op. 17 no.4? :O
His mazurkas really are one of his best works! Whenever I need to cheer myself up or lighten the mood in the house, I just start playing some of them and the day suddenly seems brighter, I love his mazurkas with all my heart!


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## Il_Penseroso

Volve said:


> No Op. 17 no.4? :O


Of course! Extremely dark and melancholic, and those beginning chords occasionally used by other composers as 'Motto'. Try Lyapunov's symphonic poem Zelazowa Wola and Gorecki Symphony No.3 (3rd movement).


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## Volve

I lost myself in Lyapunov's poem! The chords work very well as a motto. And that third movement is really depressing in a beautiful way. Thanks for the recommendations, I'll be keeping those in my regular listening repertoire!


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## Knut Lurasens Halling

The second piece I learned when I started teaching myself as an adult was Contrapunctus I from the Art of the Fugue. I could barely read music at the time. It took me six months. I literally had to figure out which note was indicated, which key it corresponded to, and then memorize which keys to press in what order.

It's been fifteen years since and I still play it. I always feel like I can play it better.


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