# Your Favourite Pieces Under 3 Minutes



## Polednice

Preferably stand alone works. Individual movements accepted if you must. No sets of multiple works shorter than 3 minutes, choose _one_ from the set. Stay away from songs/lieder. YouTube videos appreciated.

GO!


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## jalex

Webern's _Three Little Pieces for Cello and Piano_:





Mvm 2: 



Mvm 3: 




Hardly more than 2:00 in total.


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## starthrower

Lutoslawski-Dance Preludes






Ligeti-Six Bagatelles For Wind Quintet






Bartok-Allegro Barbaro
Famously ripped off by Emerson Lake & Palmer


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## Polednice

No, no, no! That's cheating! You have to pick _one_ prelude and _one_ bagatelle from each of those sets!


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## starthrower

I'll go with no. 3 by Ligeti, and no. 2 for Luto. I have some old favorites that are a little over 3 minutes so I had to leave out Bach, and Debussy.


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## starthrower

Here's one of my all time favorite Zappa melodies scored for harpsichord, percussion, woodwinds, and some tape effects.


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## Eviticus

How about under 2 minutes?


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## DavidMahler

Darn it, John Cage just missed out!


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## Oskaar

This piece deserves bether than a bad youtube clip, but ok.


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## Oskaar

ok, it was a bit ower...


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## Eviticus

oskaar said:


> This piece deserves bether than a bad youtube clip, but ok.


FOUL! You have breached the limit by 38 seconds! Tut tut Oskaar - come on now - play by the rules. :lol:

This piece reminds me of the type of pieces that accompany 1960's programmes or animations. Quite trippy.


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## Oskaar

sinding...rustles of spring


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## Oskaar

Ok, from no on I will consentrate to follow the rules


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## Eviticus

oskaar said:


> sinding...rustles of spring


<Blows whistle> FOUL!! 9 second breach! Is it 3 strikes then you're out Polednice??


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## Oskaar




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## Oskaar

I need to adapt.... Now i am in..


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## Oskaar




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## Oskaar




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## Oskaar

Well. It is a great way of discovering on you tube, but I am cheating then If i say those searching results is my favourites


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## Oskaar

Is this about finding works under 3 minutes, or *works that you like under 3 minutes?*


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## Oskaar

I can find a lot of pieces that i like under 3 minutes....Favourite pieces is much more difficult


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## Polednice

Hahahah, favourite pieces obviously (see the title!) - I'm not looking to build a catalogue of random crap.


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## quack




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## Oskaar

My computer is 10 years old, and gooes a bit nuts with youtube


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## Oskaar

What is your favourite piece, Eviticus


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## Oskaar

Polednice said:


> Hahahah, favourite pieces obviously (see the title!) - I'm not looking to build a catalogue of random crap. [/QUOTE
> I dont listrn to random crap...
> 
> But i listen to more or less good musid.... OK poulenc you want the best within 3 minutes...


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## Huilunsoittaja

The 5 Melodies Op. 35 of Prokofiev. Most are just over 3 minutes unfortunately, but this one isn't:






Also this:






Shostakovich's Ballet Suites are packed with short, high energy pieces, like this one:






The 8 Nocturnes by Poulenc are generally over 3 minutes, but this one isn't. It's my favorite:


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## Manxfeeder

If you cut out the lead-in and the dead space at the end, this video just squeaks in.


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## starthrower

How about an historic Brahms performance for Poley's thread? The tempo here is a bit brisk, but what the hey!


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## Oskaar

difficult... no to find, but to love


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## Huilunsoittaja

^^ Why is he playing that dance in A minor??? To be easier? BAH! He's a professional violinist, he should be doing that in the original G minor! The wrong key messes with my head.


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## Oskaar

I will post as I find.... I am searching now, and that is not right....


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## starthrower

I have an old recording of that one by Elmar Oliveira. It's better than the Menuhin. I don't care for the orchestral versions, and I can't find another duo version on YouTube.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

John Cage: 4'33" _second movement._


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## Oskaar

I have a short musical memory....so I have to remember this thread when i listen....


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## starthrower

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> John Cage: 4'33" _second movement._


That's the one some of the audience performs in the rest room during the performance!


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## Llyranor

Contrapunctus VII (my favorite one aside from XIV) from Bach's Art of Fugue:





Brahms' 1st Hungarian Dance:





Glière's Prelude for violin and cello (Op39):


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## Lisztian

It has to be the Prelude Op 28 No. 4 by Chopin.


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## Eviticus

oskaar said:


> What is your favourite piece, Eviticus


I'll go for this...






Or... (as its easier to quote film music)


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## Couchie

**** it. You can't sneeze in 3 minutes.


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## peeyaj

Here:

*
Moments Musicaux no. 3 in F minor *






Horowitz' version is a little slower at over 2 minutes. I heard versions played faster than this.


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## Sid James

*Peter Sculthorpe *- _Left Bank Waltz_ - About one and a half minutes. Originally a stand-alone piece, later reworked into other things. Two performances by children on youtube, I can't listen now to check them, but there they are -

First performance
SEcond performance

*Prokofiev* - the famous wrong-note_ March _from_ The Love for Three Oranges_ -

Played by Heifetz

*Alkan's* _Toccatina_ which sounds bloody hard to play -

Played by Ronald Smith

*Elena Kats-Chernin's* _Russian Rag _- I'm "cheating" here, this is an abridged version -

Played by unnamed performer


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## ProudSquire

I Recently discovered this piece by Scriabin and immediately fell in love with it. 

Prelude Op.11 no 11






Edit:

Thought I'd add another favorite of mine. 

Schumann Kinderszenen


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## clavichorder

Polednice did you read my mind? That's really weird, since I've been thinking about short pieces lately. I would have specified to piano pieces for the thread I was about to make.

This piece is just over three minutes, but oh how it moves me! I must call special attention to this Medtner skazki.


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## clavichorder

Two more high density, high cholesterol episodes of music


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## quack

I was just thinking about getting the complete Skazki performed by Hamish Milne, not sure if they are all good


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## clavichorder

quack said:


> I was just thinking about getting the complete Skazki performed by Hamish Milne, not sure if they are all good


At first you will only be sold on a few. Then you'll come to like them all. Not all of them have great melodies, but all have great construction and riddled to the bone with thick harmonies. They are far superior to the more popular Mendelssohn songs without words, which is a set of a comparable number of pieces.


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## norman bates

great topic, i'm discovering a lot of great music.





Charles Tomlinson Griffes - vale of dreams





Alec Wilder - Seldom the sun
(ok, this one is few seconds longer than three minutes, but i hope it's not a problem)





Alec Wilder - Her old man was suspicious





Britten - Romance (from the variations on a theme of Frank Bridge)





Olivier Messiaen - Les yeux dans les reues





Scriabin - Five preludes op.74 1&2

by the way, popular and overplayed as those piece are but i love too the first Gymnopedie of Satie and Schubert's Halleluja


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## norman bates

one more





Otto Luening - Moonflight


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## LordBlackudder




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## kv466

Most of my favorite pieces are under three minutes, dude! I love Bach and Bad Religion! Let's see:


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## Polednice

quack said:


>


How much of the pianist's unsettling weirdness is in the piece's directions?


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## Vaneyes

Polednice said:


> Preferably stand alone works. Individual movements accepted if you must. No sets of multiple works shorter than 3 minutes, choose _one_ from the set. Stay away from songs/lieder. YouTube videos appreciated.
> 
> GO!


I like the directions and the final command. "A sharp crack accompanying instantaneous velocity." Makes competition so much easier.


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## Kalervonpoika

Although it lasts more than three minutes, there are 30 seconds of applauses. The first time I heard this piece was last year when Matsuev played it as an encore after Tchaikovsky's Second Piano Concerto. I can't think of a favourite piece, but I like this one now.


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## norman bates

quack said:


>


This Insektarium is mind blowing, thank you. Incredibly ahead of his time.


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## Sid James

George Antheil's Jazz Sonata (under 2 minutes!)

Leo Ornstein's Wild Men's Danse (Danse Sauvage)

& one of Turkish composer A. A. Saygun's piano etudes...


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## Oskaar




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## clavichorder

This Clementi sonata finale


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## Llyranor

I've just been introduced to this piece, and it certainly fits the criteria for this thread!

Debussy: Children's Corner - 4. The Snow is Dancing


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## norman bates

how about another classic?


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## itywltmt

Adams' _Short Ride in a Fast Machine_ ain't short enough... Rats!

I think the good ones have already been used.

In the 1950's, the CBC had a show on the radio called _Opportunity Knocks_, showcasing original works that had to be around 3 minutes in length, so probably some interesting ones in that lot. Howard Cable and Symphony Nova Scotia issued a dosc on CBC records of some of these - out of print?


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## SottoVoce

Sorry if someone already posted this, but Debussy's Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum!


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## Il_Penseroso

If I have to choose only one, that would be Brahms Intermezzo Op.119 No.3


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## Taneyev

Joan Scarlatescu's Bagatelle, Ginette&Jean Neveu


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## SottoVoce

Wow.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

John Adams: "Toot Nipple" from the string quartet "John's Book of Alleged Dances" (1994)


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## quack

Think I prefer the Perahia version but he broke the rules by 3 seconds so this will have to do


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## kmhrm

not a fan of avant-garde, but this piece made sense.






let's apologize for the extra 50 seconds!


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## violadude

kmhrm said:


> not a fan of avant-garde, but this piece made sense.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> let's apologize for the extra 50 seconds!


Is Schoenberg Avant-Garde now? I must be behind the times.


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## violadude




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## norman bates

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> John Adams: "Toot Nipple" from the string quartet "John's Book of Alleged Dances" (1994)


this is very interesting, thank you


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

norman bates said:


> this is very interesting, thank you


That's a nice piece, but I like "Toot Nipple" better.


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## PetrB

The wonderful Webern Sonata for 'Cello and Piano





Schoenberg Five Pieces for Orchestra (the five clock in ca. 10')

Stravinsky ~ Double Canon in memoriam Raoul Dufy





Prokofiev ~ Visions fugitives, Op. 22, a collection of 20 BRIEF miniatures for piano (Pianists take note... delightful and fun to read through, learn, play!) - maybe a good source, too, for that orchestration assignment of arranging a piano piece....
Here are Nos. 1 - 15





Darius Milhaud ~ La muse ménagère, Op.245, 15 miniatures for piano -- Ditto "Pianists take note..." (later orchestrated by the composer.)
1.La mienne - dédicace
2. Le réveil
3.Les soins du ménage
4. La poésie
5.La cuisine
6. Les fleurs dans la maison
7. La lessive
8. Musique ensemble
9. Le fils peintre




1.La mienne - dédicace
2. Le réveil
3.Les soins du ménage
4. La poésie
5.La cuisine
6. Les fleurs dans la maison
7. La lessive
8. Musique ensemble
9. Le fils peintre





Milhaud's remarkable six Chamber Symphonies are models of brevity: each -- in three movements -- does not meet your exact "Three minutes or under" criterion, but... One could hope part of the drift here is to list complete works of remarkable and compact brevity. Here is No. 1, all three movements lasting a bit over three minutes...





Bon appetite....


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## norman bates

Ned Rorem - Early in the morning


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## kv466

So I know the piece is not under two minutes but the clip is!


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## PetrB

oskaar said:


>


God, is it the massive overexposure that makes this SEEM far longer?


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## PetrB

Huilunsoittaja said:


> ^^ Why is he playing that dance in A minor??? To be easier? BAH! He's a professional violinist, he should be doing that in the original G minor! The wrong key messes with my head.


Don't EVER time travel. A was different, all over the place different, LOL.


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## kv466

Born from this, one of my absolute favorite solo piano works:

Rachmaninov's Variations on this theme by the Wildman.


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## PetrB

Oops, forgot the Couperin!

Couperin ~ Le Tic Toc Choc


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## Dimboukas




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## xuantu

PetrB said:


> Oops, forgot the Couperin!
> 
> Couperin ~ Le Tic Toc Choc


'Auch kleine Dinge können uns entzücken'
This cute little piece reminded me why I like music so much! And I just loved watching how the pianist's hands move on the keyboard. It was as playful as the music itself.


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## science

PetrB said:


> God, is it the massive overexposure that makes this SEEM far longer?


Don't listen to it.


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## PetrB

Llyranor said:


> I've just been introduced to this piece, and it certainly fits the criteria for this thread!
> 
> Debussy: Children's Corner - 4. The Snow is Dancing


Please run, do not walk, and hear this and the rest of Children's corner in the original as written for piano. Please.


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## PetrB

science said:


> Don't listen to it.


I didn't -- Mere mention & cumulative memory is more than enough


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## PetrB

xuantu said:


> 'Auch kleine Dinge können uns entzücken'
> This cute little piece reminded me why I like music so much! And I just loved watching how the pianist's hands move on the keyboard. It was as playful as the music itself.


Great piece, originally for a double-manual harpsichord, making it that much more fiendishly difficult to negotiate. Sokolov just blows Hamelin and Cziffra out of the water, imo, because he has the same pyrotechnic, but all that tone and deeply musical, really shapes the piece, not just 'plays it.' Wizard musicianship...


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## joen_cph

I´d perhaps chosse a combination of

*Strauss: Arabischer Tanz * f. piano quartet, a simple piece getting a dedicated and very illustrative performance here: (1:40) 





and *Webern*´s wonderful, more abstract *"Klavierstück im Tempo eines Minuetts*" (1:20)
(where the you-tube doesn´t do the work justice; the one and only version to have is Cascioli on DG.


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## poconoron

Mozart Dies Irae from Requiem:






and Confutatis Maledictus:


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## kv466

Hey,...I didn't know they could be movements! Here we go:


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## science

PetrB said:


> I didn't -- Mere mention & cumulative memory is more than enough


Wow. So we can't even mention it.

Your superiority is simply awesome to me.


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## brianwalker

It's 2:57 in the Takacs recording.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Legnani: Caprice no. 5






I'm working on it at the moment. Such a great piece!  (although the part at 0:52 to 1:02 is the most annoying thing that my left hand has ever had to do in its entire life)


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## Dimboukas

Two waltzes!


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## kv466




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## Dimboukas

Well, since you started posting opera parts,






Pure German Folklore!


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## Jeremy Marchant

This extraordinary song by Schumann:
_Auf einer Burg_ from op39
(I chose this version because it has the text and because it is just the tiniest bit too brisk, thereby bringing it in under three minutes)


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## tdc

Ravel - Piece en forme de Habanera (a good recording but not my favorite)


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Michael Nyman: "Bird Anthem"






*Amazing*


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## Webernite

I've always thought that Op. 126 is better than many of the sonatas.


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## norman bates




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## Miaou




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## kv466




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## Lisztian

Three Liszt favourites...


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## Lisztian

Oh and I just have to add two more - both slightly above three minutes. Both of these little-known pieces are among the most beautiful miniatures i've heard.


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## jalex




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## jalex




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## Igneous01

Sorabji's Organ Symphony...

o wait, you said under 3 *minutes*


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## Polednice

This piece, but absolutely NOT this recording - possibly one of Gilels' absolute worst performances!


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## Ellyll

How about Telemann, Dvořák, and the Shakers. Sounds good to me.


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## Operadowney

I've spent the better part of three days listening to the clips everyone has posted and can only include that there is some pretty great music in short doses out there. Please keep posting more! I'm inspired to search for some of my favorites! Hopefully I can find music that is not vocal...although for me that'll be hard!


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## FrankieP

Of Kurtág's _Játékok_, not many are over 3 minutes. This is one of my favourites:





Also, Kurtág's Bach transcriptions are amongst the most beautiful little pieces I've ever heard - here's a video of him and his wife Márta playing the Sonatina from Bach's _Actus Tragicus_ Cantata (BWV 106):


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## kv466

So I cheated,...but only by 14 seconds!


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## sah

Candombe en Mi - Máximo Pujol


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