Music to Feed the Soul - Part 2, Piano Music

I would feel like a dope if I wasted this unique opportunity to rid my home of clutter and unfinished projects.  We have been empty nesters for over 10 years, and have done some of the home improvements that were on our list while Stephen was working full time.  But I find, especially since my recent 65th birthday, that I'm compelled to travel lighter into the future.  I'm prone to "what if I need this in the future" or "what if I return to this hobby" thinking.  But by this time, I know how I want to spend my time and energy.  More time at the barn, more time with daughters and grandchildren, more time at the cabin, more time to read, more time to sew, more time for yoga, meditation, and prayer.  Less time spent cleaning, sorting, shopping.  And my least favorite household task - dusting!! 😝

My version of  "A Spoonful of Sugar..." is "A nice background of music...".  I listen to lots of piano music.  I took lessons as a child, as I figure some of you did.  The piano is unique among instruments. I'm married to a cellist, and there is basically one collection of solo cello music, J.S. Bach's wonderful 6 Suites for solo cello.  Obviously, the piano stands alone beautifully, and there is a wealth of music in every style for solo piano.  Also, my favorite musical form ever is the piano concerto (don't tell my husband!).  A concerto features a solo instrument along with an orchestra, and there are concertos for virtually all instruments - piano, violin, cello, clarinet, trumpet, and on and on.  But, the piano is not normally itself an instrument of an orchestra.  That makes it stand out as a solo instrument in a magnificent way.  I've been blessed to hear some of my favorite artists in live performance: Richard Goode and Menahem Pressler (Boston Symphony) and Elisabeth Leonskaja (Vienna Symphony).

Below is a list of favorites, beginning with piano alone and working up to concertos.  I'm saving chamber music (compositions where each instrument has a unique part), which depends heavily on piano, for its own post. Again, this is not exhaustive.  Just some that I enjoy.  Add yours to the comments if you'd like!

Piano Music for the Soul

Solo Piano Music:

• Bach (J.S.):  Partitas (6), French Suites (6), The Well-Tempered Clavier, The Goldberg    Variations, numerous preludes and fugues

• Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (32), Bagatelles

• Chopin:  Prolific composer for piano, including Preludes, Impromptus, Nocturnes, Polonaises, Mazurkas, Sonatas and others

• Brahms:  Intermezzos, Capriccios, Ballades

• Haydn:  Piano Sonatas (lots)

• Mozart:   Piano Sonatas (again, lots)

• Satie (Erik): Lots of short pieces, "Gymnopedies" are famous 

• Scarlatti:  Piano Sonatas

• Schubert:  Impromptus (11), Sonata in B-flat (posthumous)

• Schumann: Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood)

Also, two of my very favorite CD's are collections of solo piano music:  Leon Fleisher "Two       Hands", and a solo CD by Mieczyslaw Horszowski (spell that without looking!)

Piano Concertos:

• Bach:  Italian Concerto, other Keyboard/Clavier Concertos (we have 1-7)

• Beethoven:  Piano Concertos (5), esp. #5, "The Emperor"

• Brahms: Piano Concertos (2)

• Chopin: Piano Concertos (2)

• Mozart: Piano Concertos (27), esp. #20, #21, and #24

• Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos (4),  #2 is most famous

• Schumann: Piano Concerto

• Tschaikovsky:  Piano Concertos (4), #1 is most famous

Favorite performers of classical piano works:  Richard Goode, Rudolph Serkin, Glenn Gould, Geza Anda. Artur Rubenstein, Murray Perahia, Emanuel Ax, Leon Fleisher

Et cetera:  Aside from the classical music listed above, the piano is totally enjoyable as a casual instrument.  You can find everything from Ragtime to show tunes recorded on piano. We especially enjoy a jazz ensemble called the BeeGee Adair Trio that has recorded a number of jazz and easy listening pieces.

Happy Listening!  Hope you are all staying safe and are tolerating isolation.  Here's hoping some music will lift your spirits.