Recommend some piano music

[2square4u]

I usually listen to different types of rock music, with some blues thrown in for good measure. But sometimes I feel for something less "intrusive", simpler, lighter stuff. On such occasions I've been listening to classical piano, more specifically Bach's Goldberg variations played by Glenn Gould or Eric Satie's Gymnopedies. Just the piano, no other instruments, no arrangements. Simple, unobtrusive and infintely beautiful

However, I'd like to have some more alternatives. What would the Dopers recommend?

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Beethoven piano sonatas. I like the last three. For some reason I always hear the last one called the 111th or Opus 111. I also really like the Appassionata and the Tempest. There are a lot of recordings where you get three together, like Les Adieux, Waldstein (Wald-something), Appassionata. They're all good.

Rachmaninoff has some nice preludes and things, too. See if you like this one, Prelude in G Sharp Minor (youtube), maybe it can lead you to more.

Oh, another Rachmaninoff, prelude in G minor

[Promethea]

I suggest the works of Chopin. Couple of examples:

Nocturne In E-Flat, Op. 9, No. 2

Etude Op. 10 No. 3

[2square4u]

Chopin's Nocturne was a great suggestion, gotta see if I can find that recording. Thanks! Do you know anything by Debussy which could fit?

BTW, jazz pieces would also be great. Regarding music, I'm rather omnivorous WRT genre

[Panurge]

Bach's solo works are hauntingly beautiful. I can also recommend Domenico Scarlatti from the same period. Mozart's piano sonatas are stunning, Shubert is way up there too, IMO, as is Schumann. Look for any of these guys on youtube or even wikipedia and poke around a bit. I'm sure you will find something you like.

As for non-classical, one of my latest solo piano passions is the work of the wonderful Ethiopian pianist Tsegué-Maryam Guébrou.

There are great jazz pianists out there with beautiful solo stuff, too. Thelonious Monk is my personal favorite, but Bill Evans, Bud Powell, Art Tatum, Keith Jarrett etc. have all made wonderful music. Some of it might be labelled "intrusive", but it is still worth it, though.

[Le Ministre de l'au-delà]

Originally Posted by 2square4u

Chopin's Nocturne was a great suggestion, gotta see if I can find that recording. Thanks! Do you know anything by Debussy which could fit?

BTW, jazz pieces would also be great. Regarding music, I'm rather omnivorous WRT genre

Debussy? He wrote a lot of beautiful, evocative piano music. Try the Preludes; I especially recommend the playing of Arturo Benedetti Michaelangeli.

La Fille aux cheveux de lin - The Girl with the Flaxen Hair. Preludes, book 1, #8

La Cathédral engloutie - The Sunken Cathedral Preludes, book 1, #10

I'm also a big fan of Brahms, especially the short piano works. There's a great recording of Radu Lupu - it was the middle disc of this three disc set. I'm not sure if it's available separately anymore.

Opus 117, #1
Opus 118, #2


Jazz - I'd second all the recommendations above. May I just throw in a few more? Earl Hines' solo piano work is fantastic. I'll keep having a troll on the YouTubes, but so far all I can find is his ensemble work. The solo albums are outstanding.

George Shearing is another you might enjoy. Concord had an album, simply called 'Piano' that was great.

Nat King Cole - I don't know if he ever recorded just solo, but the trio recordings were beautiful. He's an interesting artist - we now think of him as 'just' a singer, but his piano playing was top-notch.

George Essihos - Victoria, BC's best kept secret. I feel honour bound to mention him because only a handful of people seem to know about him. Solo Journeys is a superb album.

[Zeldar]

Jazz piano is often best heard in a trio environment. Bill Evans excels in that area and may be the most imitated jazz piano these days.

Other jazz piano to investigate:

Art Tatum
Oscar Peterson
Keith Jarrett
Herbie Hancock
Ahmad Jamal
Chick Corea

YouTube has some good clips by those guys, but if this doesn't blow you away, I have no advice for you:

Caravan - MICHEL PETRUCCIANI solo live

Another one I particularly like: The Conversation - Music by David Shire

[WordMan]

Bill Evans, Live at the Village Vanguard. Sublime.

ETA: simul-post with Zeldar

[Zeldar]

You might find some help from Your Favorite Bill Evans YouTube Clip which I started 09-14-2010 and which has had 12 posts as of my latest check. The thread is too young to be a zombie and I would love to see more input there.

I would add Eliane Elias to the list but her better music is with a combo and is mostly Brazilian flavored.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

YouTube has some good clips by those guys, but if this doesn't blow you away, I have no advice for you:

Caravan - MICHEL PETRUCCIANI solo live

Thank you for that.

Incredible.


mmm

[Zeldar]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

Thank you for that.

Incredible.


mmm

Quite welcome! His other YouTube things are also worthy work. Amazing human being. RIP.

[Eonwe]

I'm a fan of Busoni's transcriptions of a number of Bach's works.

[Thudlow Boink]

In addition to the other great suggestions, you might want to look for some of Grieg's Lyric Pieces.

Originally Posted by Panurge

Bach's solo works are hauntingly beautiful. I can also recommend Domenico Scarlatti from the same period.

A caution: when it comes to the keyboard works of Bach, Scarlatti, and others of that era, sometimes they're played on a piano, sometimes on some other instrument, like a harpsichord. If it matters to you, watch out for this when looking for recordings.

(The earliest pianos were just being built during Bach's day, and he never wrote anything specifically for the piano as such.)

[Panurge]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

In addition to the other great suggestions, you might want to look for some of Grieg's Lyric Pieces.A caution: when it comes to the keyboard works of Bach, Scarlatti, and others of that era, sometimes they're played on a piano, sometimes on some other instrument, like a harpsichord. If it matters to you, watch out for this when looking for recordings.

(The earliest pianos were just being built during Bach's day, and he never wrote anything specifically for the piano as such.)

Absolutely true. I kind of like the harpsichord versions, but I find that I need to be more focused on the music. My wife just finds it stressful.

[drastic_quench]

Debussy, Clair de Lune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlvUepMa31o

It's popularity has resurged recently after being featured in one of the Twilight flicks apparently, but it's timeless.

[panache45]

I would start with Chopin, then for sheer brilliance, listen to some Rachmaninoff.

[MeanOldLady]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

In addition to the other great suggestions, you might want to look for some of Grieg's Lyric Pieces.

Yes. My favorite of the Lyric Pieces is Homesickness.

[KarlGauss]

"Simple, unobtrusive, and beautiful". And, "just piano". Why, you're asking for Metamorphosis by Philip Glass. It can be found on this album among others. I hope you'll check out the samples.

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by KarlGauss

"Simple, unobtrusive, and beautiful". And, "just piano". Why, you're asking for Metamorphosis by Philip Glass. It can be found on this album among others. I hope you'll check out the samples.

(Speaking of sampling Philip Glass, were you aware that Amazon has a free Philip Glass sampler album?)

[rowrrbazzle]

Bach wrote a LOT of stuff for keyboard (well, he wrote a lot of stuff, period). The Well-Tempered Clavier (preludes and fugues in every key), his Italian Concerto, English suites, French suites, fantasias, partitas, and much, much more.

I like the piano music of Maurice Ravel (probably best-known for Bolero). His Mother Goose Suite (Ma Mere l'Oye) was originally written for piano four hands and intended for younger performers, so it's relatively simple. Also try his Miroirs and Valses Nobles et Sentimentales.

Debussy's Children's Corner Suite was also written with younger pianists in mind, so again, it'll be simpler. But do follow up on the recommendations already given. Also try his Images, 2 Arabesques, and Pour Le Piano.

YouTube will have a lot of these.

One of my special occasional pleasures is, late at night when everything else is quiet, listening to Ravel or Debussy late at night.

[I-VI-ii-V]

Originally Posted by WordMan

Bill Evans, Live at the Village Vanguard. Sublime.

ETA: simul-post with Zeldar

Yes. And you get the added bonus of Scott LaFaro's bass playing.

[2square4u]

Originally Posted by Le Ministre de l'au-delà

La Fille aux cheveux de lin - The Girl with the Flaxen Hair. Preludes, book 1, #8

Wow. That's about the most beautiful solo piano work I've heard in quite a while. Wonderful!

And to all you others: Thanks for a lot of great suggestions. I've already ordered Chopin's Nocturnes and some Debussy from the CD store, and tonight I'm going Youtube trawling for a bunch of the other suggestions.

Ignorance has been fought once again

[Jeff Lichtman]

Tom McDermott is my favorite New Orleans pianist. He plays in a lot of styles, including jazz, ragtime, Brazilian choro and even some Chopin. My favorite CD of his is Live in Paris, which happens to be all solo piano (which is what you're looking for). Another interesting CD of his is All the Keys and Then Some which has short pieces in each major and minor key.

Monk Alone is a collection of solo piano pieces played by Thelonius Monk.

[Promethea]

It's kind of the exact opposite of 'simple, unobtrusive' but you might find you like some of the ragtime music anyway.
This is my favourite, Black and White Rag, as played by the amazing Winnifred Atwell. Possibly the jauntiest piece of music ever written. If you are a fan of ragtime, it's very much worth tracking down Joshua Rifkin's CD of the works of Scott Joplin. Fantastic piano playing throughout.

Also, you mentioned liking Satie's Gymnopedies. Just on the off chance that this isn't a piece you know, I give you Satie'sGnossiene No 1, which I think is his most haunting piece and sounds like it might be up your street.

I can't believe I forgot Schubert! Here's a lovely piece played by Alfred Brendel, an astonishingly wonderful piano player wringing every last bit of emotion from it. Brendel's got lots of Schubert CDs. all are worth listening to.

[KarlGauss]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

(Speaking of sampling Philip Glass, were you aware that Amazon has a free Philip Glass sampler album?)

No, I wasn't.Thank you!

[jjimm]

One of the most mindblowing piano pieces I've heard is Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert. I don't normally like improv jazz, but this is a universe above anything I've ever heard before.

[Alka Seltzer]

Here's a couple I like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vDG8MghMdQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sdb3...eature=related

Renditions of "Auto-Tune the News" on piano. Suprisingly good.

[Mustardseed]

In the spirit of Satie: Pleiades Dance from the japanese composer Yoshimatsu Takashi (this is only one of many Dances, quite a few links on youtube)
very simple, but hauntingly beautiful music

[don't ask]

Philip Glass has quite a generous supply of stuff streaming at his site.

The piano music I most listen to is the 8 volumes of The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces.

The other thing is Hélène Grimaud's 2001 Rachmaninoff with Piano Concerto No. 2, Prelude Op. 32/12, Etudes-Tableaux Op. 33/1, 2 and 9, Variations on a Theme of Corelli. I heard the Prelude and the Etudes-Tableaux in Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 I thought they were the best music in it. And she is great.

[Zeldar]

I just ran across this and had to post it here: Oscar Peterson - Nica's Dream

[StusBlues]

Bill Evans' Conversations with Myself. It's debatable whether or not it satisfies the conditions of the OP, since there are three instruments on it. However, since all three are Bill Evans playing piano, it might squeeze by

[Lute Skywatcher]

It's almost the right time of year for this: "Winter Wonderland" done boogie-woogie style by Harry Connick, Jr.

[Zeldar]

Originally Posted by Lute Skywatcher

It's almost the right time of year for this: "Winter Wonderland" done boogie-woogie style by Harry Connick, Jr.

Perfectly righteous! We need us a thread for more of the "Christmas with a twist" sorts of things. Want to start it up, Lute Skywatcher?

[Lute Skywatcher]

There are a couple of similar threads already but, since all seem to require lyrics, done.

[Dervorin]

Are you only looking for classical? George Winston has a beautiful line in what he describes as "rural folk piano"; it's delicate, hypnotic, restful music, often inspired by natural landscapes.

I was given a tape of his by a friend many, many years ago, which had this piece on it, and I've never looked back since. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-mLkzFUzTA