# Can someone recommend me some interesting early 20th century Piano Music



## Piwikiwi

I've been listening to a lot of piano music lately, especially by Debussy, Ravel and Prokofiev. 

Could you recommend me some more music that is slightly similar to those three composers? Or other interesting piano music from the early 20th century?


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## 38157

Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances (1915, I think) are nice (but short). There's more stuff he wrote for piano in the early 20th C which you can probably find quite easily with a search on Youtube. His piano concertos are also fantastic (especially no. 2), but these might not be what you're looking for; obviously, they aren't piano solos.


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## SalieriIsInnocent

Mahler and Barber have piano works that have touches of Debussy and Chopin to them. I've forgotten specific names, but I've heard them.


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## quack

Maybe not in quite the same era but a similar style:

Fauré - his nocturnes especially - 



Mompou - Silent Music - 



Hauer - Atonale Musik (don't be scared) - 



Massanet - not much on youtube - 



Koechlin - Paysages et marines & Les Heures persanes in both piano and orchestra versions


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## quack

I forgot to add Myaskovsky and Feinberg's piano sonata cycles. They are less impressionistic and more unhinged Scriabinists but highly recommended.


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## elgar's ghost

I recommend Ervin Schulhoff's piano works from the inter-war period - the three numbered Sonatas and the three lighter Suites. There is a good recording of these (bar the first Suite) on Supraphon by Tomas Visek. Below is a link for the third sonata played by Nikolai Petrov:






And check out Hindemith's '1922' Suite which incorporates his interpretation of contemporary jazz styles.


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## Alypius

Let me second two of Quack's recommendations. Koechlin's piano works are marvelous. The two works he cited (_Paysages et marines_ and _Les heures persanes_) are both masterful. Michael Korstick has recorded the complete piano work with Hanssler. The _Paysages et marines_ is on vol. 1; _Les heures persanes_ takes up all of vol. 2. Once you hear those, you'll be hooked and pick up vol. 3.










He also cited Faure's piano works, notably his _Nocturnes_. They span the length of his career. Each is a gem. Hyperion has recently reissued the masterful performance of the Faure's complete piano works by Kathryn Stott. For the _Nocturnes_ I especially enjoy the performance of Charles Owen on Avie. BTW, the YouTube versions that Quack linked to are OK, but the sound quality is often muffled. I've never found YouTube versions of Faure's Nocturnes that I've been happy with.










A third suggestion would be Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951). His style is late Romantic -- despite his 20th-century dates. He was friends with Rachmaninov and, like him, a Russian exile. Stylistically, he was in continuity with Scriabin. One of my favorite of his works is his Piano Sonata in B flat minor ("Sonata Romantica"), op. 53/1 (1932). Here's a YouTube of it:


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## Hmmbug

Nikolai Roslavets was an early 20th century Russian composer whose work was suppresed by the Soviet Union because of its harsh quality. (Marc-Andre Hamelin once described his music as "Scriabin on acid".) Nonetheless, he was a great composer. Check out his piano works like the etudes, as well as the violin and cello sonatas and concertos.


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## Mandryka

Piwikiwi said:


> I've been listening to a lot of piano music lately, especially by Debussy, Ravel and Prokofiev.
> 
> Could you recommend me some more music that is slightly similar to those three composers? Or other interesting piano music from the early 20th century?


When you say you like Debussy, have you heard his piano etudes? They're the best.

If you like Debussy then you should listen straight away to the Baraqué sonata, the Messiaen's Etudes and Boulez's structures 2 part 2 ), and then on to Xenakis (à r) and Jonathan Harvey (Tombeau de Messiaen)

When you say you like Prokofiev, if it's the sonatas 6, 7 and 8 which appeal, then I think the obvious place to go next is to Sciarrino's sonatas, and Ustvolskaya's preludes.


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## Il_Penseroso

De Falla: Fantasía Bética 

Albeniz: Iberia 

Granados: Goyescas

Séverac: Cerdaña

Stravinsky: Trois mouvements de Petrouchka and Sonata 1924

Szymanowski: Métopes

and if 1932 is still counted, listen to Khachaturian's Toccata!


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## Mahlerian

The middle movement of Schoenberg's Op. 11 has something of an impressionist feel to it. If you're not usually comfortable with his style, I suggest listening to it isolated from the other two.






Perhaps Scriabin might appeal, or Messiaen's Preludes, which are a relatively early work. Check out Takemitsu's piano works as well.


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## norman bates

Griffes wrote some beautiful pieces clearly influenced by Debussy





And sometimes also Ives wrote certain pieces that maybe surprisingly show the same influence


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## 38157

Another Ives piece in a similar vein as above:


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## joen_cph

*William Baines*: most of his works are interesting, including _The Lone Wreck_ 



 & _Preludes_ 



 &

*Nielsen*: quite varied piano works, such as the _Chaconne_ 



_Suite, Theme & Variations, Humoresque Bagatelles & 3 Piano Pieces_ also recommended.

*Gubaidulina*:_ Sonata_ & _Chaconne_, Rauchs recording recommended 




*Bridge*: _Sonata_ 




*Rangström*: _Legends from Lake Mälaren _




Must be a memory slip above concerning Mahler, no piano works by him are in existence.


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## Hmmbug

I don't believe Satie has been mentioned yet. He composed a rather substantial amount of music beyond the Gymnopedies and Gnossiennes, most notably dozens of other piano pieces, stage works, and of course his songs.


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## Aramis

If you like Ravel and Debussy, venture into mature piano music of Szymanowski, possibly the best choice would be cycle _Masques_ and late mazurkas which are unlike anything you ever heard. For something more alongside Scriabin, try 2nd piano sonata, perhaps the 3rd too, but that's already a hardcore.


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## Todias

piwikiw, where are you from? Early 20th century was a marvellous era of nationalism, I'm Portuguese and we have good piano music with a mix of "Portugal" and the French impressionism... My advice is to search for composers of your country! You will find a piece of your homeland with the sonorities of the impressionism you like!


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## Alypius

Aramis said:


> If you like Ravel and Debussy, venture into mature piano music of Szymanowski, possibly the best choice would be cycle _Masques_ and late mazurkas which are unlike anything you ever heard. For something more alongside Scriabin, try 2nd piano sonata, perhaps the 3rd too, but that's already a hardcore.


I agree. Try the recent release of Szymanowski's _Masques_, _Metopes_, and _Etudes_ by Cedric Tiberghien (Hyperion, 2013) and the somewhat older collection of Szymanowski's _Complete Mazurkas_ by Marc-Andre Hamelin (Hyperion, 2003).

















For Scriabin, there's a number of great performances. Besides Hamelin's collection of the complete Piano Sonatas, there's a fine performance of selected works by Yevgeny Sudbin (BIS, 2007) (and it's a fine choices) and an equally excellent performance of the Etudes (op. 8) and Preludes (op. 16) by Olli Mustonen (Ondine, 2012), who can be quirky, but this is really dazzling:


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## tdc

Try some of Rodrigo's pieces, personally I enjoy his works for solo piano more than any composer of the 20th century aside from Ravel.

_Three Spanish Dances_ - Alicia de Larrocha piano





_Sonada de Adios (Homenaje a Paul Dukas)_ - Artur Pizarro piano




_
Suite For Piano_ - Gregory Allen piano


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## Piwikiwi

Todias said:


> piwikiw, where are you from? Early 20th century was a marvellous era of nationalism, I'm Portuguese and we have good piano music with a mix of "Portugal" and the French impressionism... My advice is to search for composers of your country! You will find a piece of your homeland with the sonorities of the impressionism you like!


I'm dutch so I'm afraid that there aren't that many composers to choose from


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## joen_cph

Strange that we hear so little of Dutch composers, in spite of names like Keuris, Badings, Escher, Vermeulen & Pijper.

*Rudolf Escher* is a very fine composer, sometimes inspired by Ravel, I haven´t heard his _Piano Sonata no.1_ but discovered it due to the thread 



A _Toccata_ 




*Badings*: _Sonata 4_, a bit Prokofiev-like 




I hear a bit of Scriabin (say his Sonata 10) in *Keuris*´ _Piano Sonata_, but it is a good deal more modern


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## Aramis

Alypius said:


> Try the recent release of Szymanowski's _Masques_, _Metopes_, and _Etudes_ by Cedric Tiberghien (Hyperion, 2013) and the somewhat older collection of Szymanowski's _Complete Mazurkas_ by Marc-Andre Hamelin (Hyperion, 2003). [/IMG]


Nononnonoo, nonono, no. This:


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## hpowders

One of the greatest of all piano sonatas is the Ives Concord Sonata, completed around 1915.

Highly recommended!


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## GreenMamba

You might like Alfredo Casella:


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## Piwikiwi

hpowders said:


> One of the greatest of all piano sonatas is the Ives Concord Sonata, completed around 1915.
> 
> Highly recommended!


I already own a recording. I bought a great pierre-laurent aimart box set with recordings of ives, carter, messiaen, ravel, debussy and more


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## joen_cph

Post #21:
Link above to *Escher*´s Sonata 1, improved


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## SalieriIsInnocent

While it's not early 20th century, it is in the vain of composers like Debussy and Ravel. I was shocked when I heard this album. It explains just what Billy Joel has been doing for the past 20 years. I had my media library on shuffle, and one of the pieces on this started playing, I could've sworn a random Debussy piece was playing. Billy has always been a great artist and musician, but this is something else. You've got to hear it to believe it.


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## OlivierM

I would recommend:
- Marc-André Hamelin's recordings of Georgy L'vovich Catoire. The cd is about to be reedited. His Cinq Morceaux are absolutely wonderful, in my opinion (tracks 10 & 11 of the cd, especially).
- Christina Bjorkoe's recordings of Niels W. Gade.
- Konstanze Eickhorst recordings of Louise Farrenc (late 19th century)
- Martin Roscoe's recordings of Carl Nielsen.
- Laurent Martin or Marc-André Hamelin's recordings of Charles-Valentin Alkan (late 19th century)
- Xavier Bouchaud's recordings of Ernest Chausson.

Déodat de Séverac's Cerdana is quite interesting as well.

Have a look at the Hyperion label's website, it's a real gold mine.


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## PetrB

*Louis Durey*

Louis Durey:

_Deux Pièces pour piano à 4 mains_ Op. 7; I. _Carillons_, II. _Neige_
Each piece has enough traits of the style of the composer to whom they are dedicated, while neither are at all derivative or _à la manière de_ studies.
I. _Carillons_ (à Erik Satie) 0'00'' to 4'25''
II. _Neige_ (à Maurice Ravel) 4'27'' to 9'27''





_Romance sans paroles_ Op. 21





_Deux Études_ Op. 29





_Nocturne_ Op. 40





_Six Pièces de l'Automne 53_ Op. 75


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## hpowders

For those dipping their toes for the first time in the Ives Concord Sonata waters, I recommend Easley Blackwood's performance.

It is _Easley _superior to the competition.


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## Orfeo

quack said:


> I forgot to add Myaskovsky and Feinberg's piano sonata cycles. They are less impressionistic and more unhinged Scriabinists but highly recommended.


I agree. I would also _recommend_:

Glazunov: Sonatas I & II and Theme et Variations.
Rachmaninoff: Études-Tableaux ("study pictures"), Op. 33 & op. 39.
Scriabin: Sonatas V-IX.
Ignacy Jan Paderewski: Piano Sonata.
Sir Arnold Bax: Piano Sonatas I-IV.
Vladimir Rebikov: Esclavage et Liberte.
Martinu: Puppets Books I-III, Spring in the Garden, Eight Preludes, etc.
Granados: Goyescas (1911).
Cyrill Scott: Piano Sonatas (esp. his D major), and various pieces like Lotus Land.
Florent Schmitt: Le petit elfe Ferme-l'oeil.
John Ireland: The Almond Tree, Equinox, Soliloquy, etc.
Erkki Melartin: Fantasia Apocaliptica (1920), Six Pieces, op. 7, The Mysterious Forest, etc.
Federico Mompou: Dialogues (1923), Préludes (1927-1960), Suburbis (1916-1917).
Felix Blumenfeld: Sonata-Fantaisie (1913), Deux Moments Dramatiques, Trois Nocturnes (1925).
Sergey Protopopov: Sonata.
Soviet Avant-garde composers:
-Mossolov (Sonatas), Roslavets (Five Preludes, etc.), Alexandrov (Sonatas nos. III & IV, etc.), Lourie (Synthesis, etc.).

--> I think that should do it (for now at least). Enjoy.


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## Lovemylute

Another vote here for Granados. I love all of his solo piano music.


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## JACE

I'd recommend Charles Ives' Second Piano Sonata. Since it's based on New England Transcendentalist writers, the subtitle is "Concord, Mass., 1840-1860."

My favorite recording is Marc-Andre Hamelin's on New World records.










Hamelin's has recorded the "Concord" a second time for Hyperion. It's also excellent. But I think the New World disc has more fire & rhythmic vitality -- so the heroic, Beethovenian qualities of the work are more apparent.


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## Blake

Feldman's _Triadic Memories._ It doesn't suck. Late 20th, but so what.


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## Vaneyes

*Berg* Piano Sonata - GG
*Schoenberg* (various) - Pollini, Jacobs
*Bartok* (various) - Kocsis
*Enescu* Piano Suites 2 & 3 - Borac
*Janacek* (various) - Firkusny
*Myaskovsky* Piano Sonatas 1 & 2 - MacLachlan
*Rachmaninov *(various) - Richter, Kempf, Alexeev, Rodriguez, Gavrilov, Angelich, Sofronitsky, Demidenko, Sokolov
*Scriabin *(various) - Hamelin, Alexeev, Gavrilov, Horowitz, Pletnev, Richter, Melnikov, Amoyal, Le Van, Crossley, Sofronitsky, Sokolov, Gould, Sudbin, Ashkenazy, Korobeinikov, Mustonen, Feltsman
*Sibelius *(various) - GG
*Szymanowski* (various) - Hamelin, Anderszewski


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## Vaneyes

Aramis said:


> Nononnonoo, nonono, no. This:


But when's it gonna be released outside of Poland? Currently OOP. Released in 1998, reissued in 2009, only in Poland AFAIK.

Godziszewski has the credentials, studying with ABM for two years. But, if he's still alive, he needs a better agent.:tiphat:


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## PetrB

hpowders said:


> For those dipping their toes for the first time in the Ives Concord Sonata waters, I recommend Easley Blackwood's performance.
> 
> It is _Easley _superior to the competition.


The man pretty much _owned_ Ive's piano works, lol.


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## PetrB

--------------------------Francis Poulenc

Piano Solo:
_Nocturnes_









_Suite for piano_ 





_Trois Novelettes_





_Promenades_





_Trois Intermezzi_





_Improvisations_









Two piano; piano duo (four-hand)
_Sonata for 2 pianos_




_Elégie_ 





Piano duo:
_Sonata for piano four hands_


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## Guest

Messiaen's Vingt Regards . . .

There is a recording on Hyperion that I love - maybe Stephen Hough? Can't remember right now off the top of my head. It introduced me to Messiaen and got me hooked.


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## Guest

Just look up Marc-Andre Hamelin, and pick up any recording he did of 20th century composers. He is an excellent pianist, and it is hard to go wrong with him and his virtuosity. He even does one hell of a job with Haydn!


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## JACE

PetrB said:


> The man pretty much _owned_ Ive's piano works, lol.


Blackwood's "Concord" never made much of an impression on me. I need to go back and listen again.

But I don't think he can surpass Hamelin.


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## JACE

DrMike said:


> Just look up Marc-Andre Hamelin, and pick up any recording he did of 20th century composers. He is an excellent pianist, and it is hard to go wrong with him and his virtuosity. He even does one hell of a job with Haydn!


Good idea.

Jazz pianist Ethan Iverson is a friend and fan of Hamelin. When Hamelin arrived at one of Iverson's gigs recently, Iverson proclaimed, "God is in the house!" -- just like they used to do when Art Tatum showed up.

Another poster on the forum, Alypius, is a BIG fan of Hamelin. He can certainly tell us more about the pianist.


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## DeepR

Great topic, I'll be checking out a lot of this. I've already heard bits and pieces from a few of the more obscure composers mentioned, through Youtube. 

I second Georgy Catoire. Hamelin has a fine recording of his piano music. Some of that music is "turn of the century" stuff, also from just before 1900.

For the record, Scriabin is also 19th century up until Opus 25, but I'd recommend most of that anyway (the early sonatas, etudes and preludes). The two Horowitz collections are fantastic (RCA 1989, Sony Classical 2003).


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## PetrB

DrMike said:


> Messiaen's Vingt Regards . . .
> 
> There is a recording on Hyperion that I love - maybe Stephen Hough? Can't remember right now off the top of my head. It introduced me to Messiaen and got me hooked.


I very much like and appreciate the recording by Roger Muraro, the right balance of wild exhuberance with a fullness of tone I find lacking in many of the other 'famous pianist' recordings. He is quite at home with them.


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## PetrB

JACE said:


> Blackwood's "Concord" never made much of an impression on me. I need to go back and listen again.
> 
> But I don't think he can surpass Hamelin.


I'm pretty much deaf to Hamelin, hearing only a technical phenom who sounds like a typist at the piano. I can also identify 'that fingerprint' blindfolded, walking into a room where a recording of his is playing. I've heard he is "much better live," lol.

Ergo, just about any other 'formidable' concert pianist who can get their hands and ears around whatever the rep is... "surpasses Hamelin."


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## PetrB

*Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco & Gian Francesco Malipiero*

_____________ *Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco & Gian Francesco Malipiero*

*Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco*:

_Il raggio verde_ (1916) 





_I Naviganti_ (1919)





_Alghe_ (1919)





_Cipressi_ (1920) 





_Ricercare sul nome di Luigi Dallpiccola_ (1958) 





(One of the foremost composers of his generation for guitar music, the piano works are less in number than might ordinarily be expected)

He composed two piano concerti:
No. 1 (1927)




No. 2 (19__?)





*Gian Francesco Malipiero*: 
_Preludi autunnali_ (1914)





_Risonanze, per pianoforte_ (1918)





_5 Studi per domani_ (ca. 1959)





and a good number of other solo piano pieces written throughout his career (listed in wikipedia)

Composed six piano concerti:
No. 1 (1934) -- [No. 6 was written in 1964]


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## PetrB

Two others of the French group called "Les Six"

*Germaine Tailleferre*:

_Romance_ (1913)





_Pastorale_ (1919)





_Hommage à Debussy_ (1920) 





_Pastorale_ (1929)





_Sicilienne_ (1928)





_Pastorale Inca_ (1931)





_Larghetto_ (1946)





_Fugue du parapluie_ (1950) 





_Partita pour piano_ (1957)





_Rêverie_ (1964) 





_Hommage à Rameau_ (1964) for two pianos and percussion ~ A serious yet delightful piece, no Youtube links available :-(
There is also a _Toccata_ for two pianos.
_but a partial list of the solo piano music by this composer._

She wrote a lovely neoclassical _Piano Concerto_ both 'Bachian' while still very Gallic (named no. 1, I am unaware if another followed)









*Darius Milhaud*

Prolific, and therefore a very 'uneven' output, but here are a few of the imo better suites of shorter miniatures, salon-like pieces.

Printemps (1re cahier) op.25 (1915/1919) 




Printemps (2e cahier) op.66 (1920/1921) 





_L'Automne_ op.115 (1932)





_La muse ménagère_ Op.245 (1943)









Milhaud wrote at least five piano concerti, a two-piano concerto, numerous two piano works, and the very fun piano party bash and crash and play _Suite, Paris_, for four pianos....


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## aleazk

Irving Fine - Music for piano (really amazing, the most clever music I've heard lately)

Stravinsky - Tango

Ginastera - Danzas Argentinas; Suite de danzas criollas (played by a fellow forumer here!)


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## DeepR

Hmmbug said:


> Nikolai Roslavets was an early 20th century Russian composer whose work was suppresed by the Soviet Union because of its harsh quality. (Marc-Andre Hamelin once described his music as "Scriabin on acid".) Nonetheless, he was a great composer. Check out his piano works like the etudes, as well as the violin and cello sonatas and concertos.


I like the bits and pieces I've heard from this composer. It's not all "harsh". I particularly like Three Etudes Op. 14 no. 2 and the symphonic poem Komsomoliya.





Etude starts at 5:50. So strangely beautiful.


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## DeepR

Alypius said:


> For Scriabin, there's a number of great performances. Besides Hamelin's collection of the complete Piano Sonatas, there's a fine performance of selected works by Yevgeny Sudbin (BIS, 2007) (and it's a fine choices) and an equally excellent performance of the Etudes (op. 8) and Preludes (op. 16) by Olli Mustonen (Ondine, 2012), who can be quirky, but this is really dazzling:


All the early Etudes and Preludes etc. from Scriabin are wonderful, just as much as the later ones. From Op. 8 most people only know Etude No. 12 but they're all great. It's late 19th century, but whatever. 
Etude Op. 8 No.5




Etude Op. 8 No. 8




Impromptu Op. 14 No. 2




Prelude Op. 16 No. 1





The Fantasie Op. 28 is from 1900 and an amazing and very passionate work


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## Atoqsaykuchi

Since you mentioned Prokofiev, check out anything by Stanchinsky. For something in an Impressionist vein try Godowsky's Java Suite.


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## hpowders

One of the greatest piano sonatas ever written is the Charles Ives Concord Piano Sonata. It was completed in 1915.


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## Hmmbug

Leo Ornstein and Henry Cowell were some of the most inventive American composers of the early 20th century, trailblazers and daringly modern in their young years but both becoming conservative as they aged. Cowell and Ornstein were some of the first composers to use the tone cluster.

Ornstein's Piano Concerto and Piano Quintet are regarded as his finest works, but he has nice pieces otherwise:





Cowell's groundbreaking tone clusters:


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