Piano Solos

[DonSolare]

I am curious to know if there are here a few (or tons) of fans of piano music in the broadest possible sense:

- hard core classical music like Mozart, Haydn, Schubert

- contemporary classical like Debussy or Satie

- hard core avantgarde like Schönberg or Stockhausen

- so-called modern / minimal piano light ballades like Einaudi, Nyman, Glass

- Pop instrumentals (for piano...)

- Latin (salsa, tango, bossa nova...)

or any other category I am forgetting now

For instance, is there any K-pop for solo piano?

[fduniho]

I listen to a lot piano music, including piano transcriptions of Bach, piano sonatas of Haydn, Beethoven, and Mozart, the piano work of the impressionists, Debussy, Ravel, and Satie, minimalists such as Michael Nyman, and lots of new age and other solo piano, such as George Winston, Wim Mertens, Valerie Mih, Suzanne Ciani, and others. I have listened to lots of piano music on Spotify without keeping track of who the musician was.

A few decades ago, I would record episodes of Hearts of Space onto cassette tape, and one evening when it failed to air, VPR filled in the gap with some new age music that included this haunting piece that made me a fan of Wim Mertens.

spotify:track:3WbMJts5ALAsDLd0MKCN8D

Another favorite is Valerie Mih, whose albums I picked up for free from the now defunct site Amie Street. Unfortunately, she is not on Spotify, and her YouTube videos have poor audio quality, but you can find her on CDBaby or Amazon.

Suzanne Ciani is an electronic musician who has recorded piano versions of her music in her Pianissimo series of albums. Here's an example:

spotify:track:75fIcgx2Ky8fqQXwVdBL7z

I also listen so k-pop. And since you asked, here is some k-pop piano music:

In case you need a reference, here is the original video:

[fduniho]

I just listened to some piano covers of my favorite k-pop song from 2016, and this is the one that sounded most faithful to the original:

For reference, here is the original:

Although it's an older song, I discovered Guilty by Han Seung Yeon in 2016, and I was watching that video as much as Taeyeon's Why. Here's the cover I've found with the best sound quality. Some of the others had the mike too close to the piano.

And for reference, the original video:

[fduniho]

Besides solo piano music, there are also singer/songwriters who play the piano, such as Tori Amos, Agnes Milewski, and Vienna Teng. And before them, there were the Carpenters, a brother/sister duo in which the brother played the piano and the sister sang.

And there is also piano jazz. I'm particularly a fan of Keiko Matsui and Hiromi Uehara, though I also listen to Bill Evans, Vince Guaraldi, Bob James, Chick Corea, and others. 

[DonSolare]

@fduniho thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge, I have for several hours listening now! As a pianist myself, this is particularly important, since everybody wants to dive deeper in the instruments we play.

Juan María

[fduniho]

Classical piano music can be divided into music written for the piano and transcriptions of other music for the piano. I mentioned Bach transcriptions and piano sonatas last night. Besides the obvious transcriptions of organ or harpsichord music and other music for solo instruments are transcriptions of symphonies and other orchestral music.

Franz Liszt wrote piano transcriptions of all of Beethoven's symphonies. Here is the complete set in five albums:

spotify:album:6kXJQKdxVXhVkPOqOpzdm3

spotify:album:1l1vrugteerQ7WW3CI7gEw

spotify:album:34j3Bv7mLWZ4JiaF36i0cS

spotify:album:5OvTuPR2kpGM7YDQzTvqVr

spotify:album:4jvIxIeySPXMAr1ZW0z8eZ

The one drawback to Liszt's transcription of the 9th Symphony is the lack of the chorus, which is an integral part of that symphony. Fortunately, Richard Wagner included the chorus in his piano transcription of Beethoven's 9th:

spotify:album:4rpZmgbVn55f5t3XrLfI3O

One of my favorite orchestral works is Holst's Planets. Here is a transcription for it on one piano:

spotify:album:6cqQo5zaMpjz2ki9E1kNOE

And here is a transcription of it for two pianos:

spotify:album:2JF4pUl4ztxINTWjVt4mIE

A couple more favorites of mine are Stravinsky's Firebird and Rite of Spring. Here are piano transcriptions of both on one album:

spotify:album:00yvrj70vQyEyPPHDoh06s

[michelenobler]

Hi, my favourite classics are Bach (transcription) and I love Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli performance, Beethoven, Saint Saens, Liszt, Schumann, Chopin... My modern preferences are Michael Nyman, Yann Tiersen, Philip Glass, Chad Lawson, Nils Frahm and many others discovered in Spotify and youtube. They influence me in my compositions, expecially the most emotional music that is near my feeligs. I recently recorded my first piano album "Suspended Souls" and I think it's about modern/minimalist genre. Look to my album, I really appreciate feedbacks forma future releases! Thanks https://open.spotify.com/album/79Jfcw7PNWmq87SsWSV2T1

[wpratt]

This song by The Town Hall has a crazy piano solo towards the end of it.

https://open.spotify.com/track/7eb9hp2lAifP6JfCOLMeSC

[user-removed]

I'd like to share two pieces from the famous Korean pianist:

spotify:track:3xr8COed4nPPn6XWZ0iCGr

spotify:track:4qto2kJITIHyE086P4WtkU

[idpiano]

hi, this is a new one of mine

tx 😉https://open.spotify.com/track/2zhohhQTrpbeSpIlfAe2KK?si=gjF2V6SUTO6DcWZqgUKTTw

[RobertovNL]

I quite like this artist as well. Carly Commando. Whats she also plays in a band. So multi talented i quess 🙂

<iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/29iKxQUYzQZ6OihOsX7zlz" width="300" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>

spotify:track:29iKxQUYzQZ6OihOsX7zlz

<iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/4Db43Mi7jE60wp799xvZej" width="300" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7otEnuPUUfrDT1iYHUo7KP?si=X6hL5Y-aTN6sJKbenVNVfQ

[Wertyo]

Check out my new solo piano album 😄 Its comprised of romantic era classical and transitions into jazz

https://open.spotify.com/album/3MbZSqj3xaXVSylwadgzIA?si=YdgaxF8sRZy8eeMDEbzjKw

[JacksonLove]

Hey Juan, 

I am a big fan of the following pianists:

Piano Novel (Modern)

Dustin O'Halloran (Minimal)

Ludovico Einaudi (Modern)

Tristan Eckerson (Modern)

Maurice Ravel (Hardcore Classical), one of my favorite pianists.

I am also an upcoming minimal pianist! I would be honored to receive any feedback or be placed on a playlist!

Thanks,

Jackson Love

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1UgWMZAdp3B83W5kgT6QEC?si=5qXzVZQ_T3SYe8e3LWh-Lg

[Koyubi]

Hey DonSolare,

I've played the piano for over 15 years myself, so I am quite adept in the classical world of piano. I personally have loved the pieces composed by Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin. The romantic era ones are just so lovely and dramatic. 

If you are looking for specific piece names, look these up when you have the time~~

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

La Campanella 

Un Sospiro

[carterbriggs]

looking for songs with panio try going to coldplay like clocks or o. greay album, great panio. https://open.spotify.com/track/77yuzxCS3csrgTPSW0pvykhttps://open.spotify.com/track/0BCPKOYdS2jbQ8iyB56Zns

[TrulyGordin]

while im not a piano music enthuaist in the sense that i have a favorite piano artist, i do really enjoy piano music! Any song i may know done in piano is really good!

[f1q2ff-6qf_cg]

https://open.spotify.com/track/3YYKrn3iGOAel605Znt3ai?si=IhQ5ISXmSvOLJMZHaEUd3w

[klaudiapianist]

Hi, I'm KLAUDIA, an Italian artist.
I would like you to listen to my music.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1enfPN3sTg7KIUAgVAzRab?si=Ysj-r36ASempgYLMOUrQfg

[ZacharyBruno]

Yep. Big fan of Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, and Chad Lawson. z

[LlukKas]

Enjoy:

https://open.spotify.com/track/0vqNv43ZdOMGwq6ZZiRBEH?si=c4lhbhdLTCyvmKDCtZ-j_w