# Composers' Opus 1



## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Share your favorite composer's opus 1 (or [catalogue-name] 1) or your favorite work that is also the composer's first.

I'm listening to Beethoven's Op. 1 piano trios right now, and I'm quite impressed. They're far better than my own opus 1.  Unfortunately, I don't really know many composers' first work, so I don't have much to compare the piano trios to (which is why I'm starting this thread).


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

How 'bout that Chopin Rondo in C minor...pretty nice way to just come out and say 'this is me'


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

It's a tie:

Schumann's ABEGG Variations
Brahms Piano Sonata No 1

The Brahms is a very mature sounding work for an Opus 1, but the Schumann has a little more charm. I think that in both cases, all the earmarks of each one's future style are present.

One composer's Opus 1 I haven't heard yet that I'd really like to is Shostakovich's F# minor Schezo for Orchestra.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Szymanowski: wonderful set of piano preludes in post romantic character
Berg: famous Piano Sonata 
Berlioz: Waverley Overture
Mieczysław Karłowicz: first volume of songs for voice and piano


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 1 in F# minor. A damned impressive work for a young whippersnapper!


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

The Beethoven Op. 1 set is pretty impressive, but compared to his middle and later period works they are just above average. I'm impressed with Mendelssohn's Op. 1 Piano quartet composed at 13 or so. I haven't found a decent You Tube link of the 1st movement.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Ades - Five Eliot Lanscapes
Britten - Sinfonietta

Had he given it an opus number I'd also have chosen Mahler's Das Klagende Lied although I don't know if it would count as he disowned the first of its three parts.

The one I want to hear is Korngold's Piano Trio which he composed when he was 12 - I've read some good things about it.


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## Sofronitsky (Jun 12, 2011)

Ravellian said:


> Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 1 in F# minor. A damned impressive work for a young whippersnapper!


Seconded. Although you'd have to hear the first edition (CD of ashkenazy conducting some fresh sounding pianist somewhere)of the concerto to make this claim. The cadenza alone could make it #1


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## Pieck (Jan 12, 2011)

Grieg Four Piano Pieces are really beautiful. I really recommend them to anyone who hasnt heard them.
Berg's is also very nice indeed.


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## Vazgen (May 24, 2011)

Aramis said:


> Berg: famous Piano Sonata


That's my favorite too. So poignant, so eccentric.

-Vaz


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Let's add some balance to the Romantic comfort zone of TC.

I recommend these Baroque, often commercially assembled "Opus 1" for publication for anyone interested in Baroque chamber music.

Handel, Locatelli, Vivaldi and Johann Christian Bach.


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

of course Op.1 of all... Paganini's 24 Caprices

FYI,Haydn' Op.1 is a string quartets


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Webern* - _Passacaglia for orch._ is the only one I think I know well (though I do have a 2 disc set of Beethoven's piano trios, incl. his opus 1, but have tended to play the famous ones - the "Ghost" & "Archduke" trios)...


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I think Carmina Burana is Orff's op. 1. 

But I will go with Paganini.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Sofronitsky said:


> Seconded. Although you'd have to hear the first edition (CD of ashkenazy conducting some fresh sounding pianist somewhere)of the concerto to make this claim. The cadenza alone could make it #1


oooy, no...Earl Wild and the Royal Phil have this one down...it'll be hard to hear it played even close


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Stravinsky's Symphony #1 in E Flat was his op. 1. I like the 4th movement.


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## pjang23 (Oct 8, 2009)

Dohnanyi's Piano Quintet No.1 is pretty impressive


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## Whistler Fred (Feb 6, 2014)

Vincent Persichetti's Serenade No. 1, Opus 1 for ten wind instrument is quite an accomplished work, particularly considering that the composer was 14 when he wrote it! Here's a You Tube link to a live performance by the LU Wind Ensemble.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Remembering of course that Beethoven didn't actually grant an Opus number to a work until he had composed a significant number of otherworks his pre-Vienna years


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

GGluek said:


> Remembering of course that Beethoven didn't actually grant an Opus number to a work until he had composed a significant number of otherworks his pre-Vienna years


Actually Beethoven played and composed in Vienna for three years before granting his first opus number to his piano trios...a very cautious guy.


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## Animato (Dec 5, 2013)

Schubert's op.1 is the extraordinary song "Erlkoenig" - but, of course, it is not really his first composition.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

The Berg Sonata and Rachmaninov Concerto are my favorite op. 1's. Prokofiev's op. 1 is a post-romantic sonata, very different from his more well known works.


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