Here's something for you if you're in the mood for some good classical music. I could go on and on about great classical music, but I thought it would be best to limit this list to piano pieces that are short in length (~5 minutes or less), as I figured it would be a bit of a stretch to expect someone to listen to a one hour long symphony that I'd recommend (of which there are many!).
Anyway, I should point out that my classical music tastes, especially when it comes to piano music, lie almost entirely in 19th and 20th century music. Also note that some of the most well-known classical music pieces (e.g. Für Elise, Bach's Minuet in G, etc.) are not included, in favor of pieces that are famous among classical music fans but not necessarily the layman (and this is largely because they are more technically challenging, and so you don't have every piano-playing kid on the block playing these all the time - also because the melodies are a little less singable).
Thus, this list is definitely not representative of the classical music genre as a whole. The following list is in roughly chronological order, is limited to one work per composer, and represents some of my favorite music!
*****
Frédéric Chopin
Étude Op. 10, No. 4 in C# minor
Chopin is arguably the most prolific composer of truly great piano music, and his two sets of études, Opus 10 and 25, are not only 24 great short pieces, but also two "albums" that can each be played from beginning to end as a single unit. While études were traditionally meant to primarily be exercises to work on improving technique, Chopin took them to another level, composing études that not only worked on developing specific technical skills, but also were musically brilliant. These pieces were not all just strings of sixteenth notes played as fast as you can, but ranged anywhere from playing quick melodies using only the last three fingers of your right hand (Op. 10, No. 2) to obtaining perfect phrasing of a slow, sorrowful melody on the left hand (Op. 25, No. 7).
This short piece, from a technical standpoint, helps a pianist develop skills primarily in playing quick notes melodically over broad ranges of dynamics and articulation, and on both hands. But it is also a musical masterpiece, bringing up imagery of rain that picks up into a torrent, building up into a passionate, thunderous climax.
If you liked this, try Chopin: Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20
*****
Franz Liszt
Rigoletto Paraphrase
Franz Liszt was one of the most virtuosic pianists of his day, and loved to compose pieces for himself, to show off a little bit at his concerts. His technically difficult touches are far from gratuitous, however, and in many cases enhance his composition by adding musical layers to his music. His show pieces, like the famous Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, along with many of his études, are one case - where we can see that perhaps he might just be wanting to show off as much as possible (which is not to say the music is bad!). But many of his other pieces are more subdued, including this gem.
In this piece, Liszt takes some famous melodies from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto and puts them together into a medley that is both virtuosic and emotional. By listening to it, you can almost picture what is going on in the opera. It is in pieces like this where I come to appreciate Liszt's true genius - pieces that are difficult not for difficulty's sake, but for music's.
If you liked this, try Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor
*****
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Prelude Op. 23, No. 5 in G minor
Rachmaninoff was yet another composer who, as a pianist, "specialized' mostly in composing music that involved the piano in some way. His 2nd and 3rd piano concertos ("concerto" meaning a pianist is featured with an orchestra playing in the background) are two of my favorite works of all time, and his shorter piano works are great, too. Rachmaninoff's pieces - most of which are challenging - are almost uniformly filled with passion while having hints of influence from his Russian heritage.
This prelude is probably his second most famous, after his Prelude in C# minor (Op. 3, No. 2), which you have probably heard, even if you don't recognize it by name. The aforementioned prelude is filled with a gloom that builds into rage, and it's easy to see why it's so respected. But I include this prelude in my list instead particularly because of the way Vladimir Horowitz plays it, which I believe is the way it was meant to be played. It starts off like a light march before building up in force. Then after a passionate, melodic interlude, the original tune reappears with a newly-found fire. Nowadays it's almost painful to hear "ordinary people" playing this piece (the only other piece I can think of for which this is the case is the famous first movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata)!
If you liked this, try Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2 in Bb minor, Op. 36
*****
Alexander Scriabin
Étude Op. 42, No. 5 in A minor
Scriabin, who claimed to be able to see sounds (he famously ascribed a color to each note on the chromatic scale - well after all, the word "chromatic" has the root "chrom-" meaning "color"), had the interesting ability to pile a seemingly random jumble of notes together and create beautiful music with it. This piece comes before his later compositional period of complete atonality, but you can still see a transformation in progress between a romantic and atonal style.
This étude is for the most part an emotional melody played over an atmosphere of notes on the left hand (which are very difficult to play). Slow the piece down and it sounds like the composer had no idea what he was doing. But when all the parts are put together, we have a work filled with all kinds of longing (sorrowful longing, passionate longing, etc.). The first segment is more atmospheric than melodic, but the second segment features one of the most beautiful melodies I have ever heard. And then Scriabin builds on these two themes to create a fiery climax - one of angry desperation.
If you liked this, try Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 53
*****
Maurice Ravel
Gaspard de la Nuit, 1st mvt. "Ondine"
Ravel, one of the famous French musical impressionists, is most well known for his orchestral piece "Bolero," but his piano music is really where you find him at his best. His work, like Debussy's, is made more to create images rather than to represent emotions (like Beethoven) or tell stories (like Schumann). "Gaspard de la Nuit" - often called the most difficult piece in the standard piano repertoire - is a perfect example of this kind of imagery. I'm not sure how valid it is to call it the single most difficult piece in the standard repertoire, but regardless, it is an excellent piece of music. The piece is divided into three movements, or perhaps we can call them "images:" "Ondine" - a seductive water fairy, "Le Gibet" - the tolling of bells during a lynching, and "Scarbo" - a little goblin up to some antics.
My favorite movement is the first, which is kept driving by a constant string of notes and chords that flow like a river. The river flows high and low on the keyboard, and through it all plays a serene melody that builds up and settles down at the perfect times. About halfway through the piece comes a build up that leads into two of the most awesome measures of music ever written.
If you liked this, try Ravel: "Jeux d'eau"
*****
Vladimir Horowitz
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" Transcription
Vladimir Horowitz is my favorite pianist, period. His playing has an unrivaled romanticism to it, and while it is sometimes criticized as excessive, I have basically loved everything I have heard from him. Horowitz was famous not only for his playing, but also for his writing, which was almost entirely derived from melodies of famous pieces, but were also still original. His transcription of the famous "The Stars and Stripes Forever," an American favorite from John Philip Sousa, was for a long time Horowitz's signature piece. This piece, along with his rewriting of Liszt's famous Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 are incredibly difficult, so if you can play either of them, I have tons of respect for you!
After Horowitz's technical brilliance, the second most impressive thing about this piece is the way in which Horowitz gets a piece that was originally written for a band to sound like it was actually meant to be written for a piano. Some of the playing evokes band instruments - most notably the "piccolo part" - but for the most part, the transcription uses a ton of octaves and large chords using the entire keyboard to turn Sousa's cheerful march (which is in itself a great piece) into something fiery and downright crazy. At several points, it sounds like Horowitz has three hands! At others, he plays chords that are so far apart on the keyboard that we'd need a video of him to fully appreciate how fast and accurate his hands really are. Either way, this piece is brilliant both technically and musically - and it is tons of fun to listen to!
If you liked this, try Horowitz: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (Liszt)
*****
This post has run much, much, much longer than I anticipated, but it has been fun. Hopefully you enjoy these short but great pieces!
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