10 Great Pieces for Piano

The internet loves lists, but this isn't the only reason for little projects like this. It is actually a good thing to focus on what might be the most prominent, outstanding works for a particular instrument. It makes you think about it and, who knows, you might just stumble across some music you didn't previously know.

First of all, some restrictions: no pieces originally intended for harpsichord, virginals, clavichord, organ or other non-pianos. So, no Bach or Scarlatti. Perhaps I will do another list. Second, no chamber music or concertos, just works for solo piano.

Hey, this is going to be easy. But I don't need to do ten. I'm only going to need two. Here they are:

1. All the piano sonatas of Beethoven except for the two his brother slipped to the publisher when he wasn't looking (op. 49 nos. 1 and 2).

I choose Friedrich Gulda because I love his Beethoven. One of my favorite boxes of vinyl, purchased in the early 70s, was his complete piano concertos of Beethoven with the Vienna Philharmonic. The only player I might prefer in the Beethoven sonatas would be Grigory Sokolov, but, alas, he has only recorded a few of them. The Beethoven sonatas for piano are, in my view, the single greatest contribution to a genre for any solo instrument. And yes, I am considering the Scarlatti sonatas.

2. The Diabelli Variations.

And the Diabelli Variations are the greatest single piece of music for piano and luckily, the performance by Grigory Sokolov is available.

And there you have it, not only the ten greatest pieces for piano, but the thirty-one greatest pieces (subtracting those two sub-standard op 49 sonatas and adding in the Diabelli Variations).

What's that you say? What about Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninoff and all those other guys. Mere finger-virtuosos. It's better just to listen to the Beethoven, if you ask me! Ok, ok, here you go (in no particular order) some other great pieces not by Beethoven:

3. Chopin, Ballades

Chopin was a great pianist and wrote truly great piano music. The only reason he is not counted among the great composers is that he wrote only for piano. You could argue for other pieces by him, the sonatas, for example, or the preludes. But for me, the Ballades are the summit of his art.

4. Debussy, Preludes

Krystian Zimerman also does a superb job with the Debussy Preludes. Debussy wrote other great piano music, but these two books, especially Book I, are really extraordinary music that had a huge influence on later composers.

5. Liszt, Sonata in B minor

Martha Argerich does a very fine job with this, one of the few post-Beethoven sonatas to come even close to measuring up to the standard he set. As an alternate to this choice, I offer the Brahms Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor:

6. Prokofiev, Sonata No. 7

For a 20th century take on the piano sonata you probably can't do better than one of the Prokofiev "war" sonatas.

7. Shostakovich, Preludes and Fugues

To make up for no Bach as he didn't write for the piano as such, I offer the 24 Preludes and Fugues in all the keys by Shostakovich inspired, obviously, by Bach. Tatiana Nokolaeyeva was the pianist they were written for.

8. Ravel, Gaspard de la Nuit

This is one of the great 20th century masterpieces of piano virtuosity and I doubt anyone plays it better than Ivo Pogorelich.

9. Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition

Sviatoslav Richter's classic live recording of this remarkably original piece by Mussorgsky.

10. Schubert, Sonata in A major

The middle of the three late sonatas by the last great Classical master. These sonatas were not even published until ten years after Schubert died and it took a long time for their genius to be recognized. Alfred Brendel is a great Schubert player.

Enjoy!

If these choices seem a bit eccentric, you could attribute it to the fact that I am not a pianist, but rather a classical guitarist.