your favorite 10 composers for solo keyboard

[Gurn Blanston]

I knew I forgot a few names: CM von Weber, John Field, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Granados, Albert Roussel, Reynaldo Hahn. 

Yeah, but you are just cheating. I could name every piano writer I enjoy, but they wouldn't ALL qualify for my 10 Favorites. (Don't forget Hummel while you are naming everyone. He wrote at least 6 excellent sonatas... )

[Florestan]

Yeah, but you are just cheating. I could name every piano writer I enjoy, but they wouldn't ALL qualify for my 10 Favorites. (Don't forget Hummel while you are naming everyone. He wrote at least 6 excellent sonatas... )

You know only too well that any specified number is actually quite variable on GMG...

Seriously now, it is impossible for me to pick only 10. Solo piano music is my favorite genre and it is blessed with a long list of very fine composers. I am not exaggerating: I have at least 30 firm favorites and every new discovery expands the list a little more. 

[Gurn Blanston]

Since most composers wrote something for solo piano, I took this thread to mean composers who made it somewhat of a specialty of writing solo piano music.  Similar to songs/lieder, some composers wrote reams of songs while others only a small amount.

Me too.



PS - Florestan: Don't forget Antonio Soler while you're naming everyone. He was the reincarnation of Scarlatti...

[Mahlerian]

Bach
Mozart
Beethoven
Schumann
Chopin
Debussy
Schoenberg
Messiaen
Takemitsu
Ligeti

Subject to change without notice.

[Crudblud]

I think it would go a little something like this...

D. Scarlatti
Frescobaldi
Messiaen
Ravel
Ives
Ligeti
Fauré
Nancarrow
F. Couperin
George Crumb

But you know, I actually struggled to think of ten off the top of my head so I had to go a-huntin' through the ol' shelves. The first four at least are definitive if not in order, but beyond that it's a bit of a mess.

[Florestan]

composers who made it somewhat of a specialty of writing solo piano music. 

Okay then, here is my top 10 list, composers known mainly / exclusively for their solo piano music.

Scarlatti
Clementi
Chopin
Liszt
Thalberg
Tellefsen
Gottschalk
Rachmaninoff
Bortkiewicz
Medtner

[Daverz]

Scarlatti
Bach
Schubert
Haydn
Prokofiev
Debussy
Ravel
Shostakovich
Messiaen
Rzewski

[Spineur]

3 pages down this thread and the name of Felix Mendelssohn hasnt been mentionned once.
Besides his 3 sonatas and Fantaisie ecossaise he wrote 7 books of songs without words, his beautiful variation serieuses, preludes & fugues, cappricios.  And his organ sonatas are also pretty unique.

[Gurn Blanston]

Okay then, here is my top 10 list, composers known mainly / exclusively for their solo piano music.

Scarlatti
Clementi
Chopin
Liszt
Thalberg
Tellefsen
Gottschalk
Rachmaninoff
Bortkiewicz
Medtner

Nice. Only 2 in common with me (Scarlatti & Clementi), but that gives some variety, dunnit? 

It really was kinda hard, I agree. 

[Gurn Blanston]

3 pages down this thread and the name of Felix Mendelssohn hasnt been mentionned once.
Besides his 3 sonatas and Fantaisie ecossaise he wrote 7 books of songs without words, his beautiful variation serieuses, preludes & fugues, cappricios.  And his organ sonatas are also pretty unique.

I can second that. He was the one on the cut line for me.

[milk]

You know only too well that any specified number is actually quite variable on GMG...

Seriously now, it is impossible for me to pick only 10. Solo piano music is my favorite genre and it is blessed with a long list of very fine composers. I am not exaggerating: I have at least 30 firm favorites and every new discovery expands the list a little more.

I should have said "top 20"; top 10 is a bit boring for an area encompassing so much music. And many names are predictable in such a short list. But is it too late to change the subject?

[Gurn Blanston]

I should have said "top 20"; top 10 is a bit boring for an area encompassing so much music. And the many names are predictable in a short list. But is it too late to change the subject?

Not at all: no rules, just right....

[André]

Well, instead of expanding to 20, I'd be tempted to narrow down to just 4:

C.P.E. Bach
Mozart
Clementi
Chopin

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, instead of expanding to 20, I'd be tempted to narrow down to just 4:

C.P.E. Bach
Mozart
Clementi
Chopin

Keep Chopin and give me Scarlatti and I think we can work out a deal...

[André]

Could have added Scarlatti  So that's 5, not 4. Yes, 5 is a good number, I'll keep it that way.

[milk]

3 pages down this thread and the name of Felix Mendelssohn hasnt been mentionned once.
Besides his 3 sonatas and Fantaisie ecossaise he wrote 7 books of songs without words, his beautiful variation serieuses, preludes & fugues, cappricios.  And his organ sonatas are also pretty unique.

I love the Songs Without Words.

[springrite]

Bach
Medtner
Liszt
Busoni
Alkan
Beethoven
Sorabji
Schubert
Schumann
Rzewski

[Wanderer]

Bach
Mozart
Beethoven
Brahms
Schubert
Schumann
Alkan
Medtner
Ravel
Debussy
Liszt
Scriabin
Skalkottas
Chopin
Janáček

[The One]

- Bach
- Beethoven
- Chopin
- Schumann
- Schubert
- Hummel
- Field
- Scarlatti D.
- Handel
- Satie

[some guy]

Walter Marchetti
John Cage
Sergei Prokofiev
Bartók Béla
Andrea Neumann
Frederic Rzewski
Leoš Janáček
Franz Schubert
Johannes Brahms
Ross Bolleter
Tom Johnson (because of that whole "how GMG counts to ten" thing)