UKC

Does anyone have any recommendations for large scale tragic classical piano or keyboard pieces?

Something along the lines of the following:

Dussek Piano Sonata in F# minor - 'Elegie Harmonique'
youtube.com/watch?v=gLzl-xhstBM&

CPE Bach Fantasia in F# minor
youtube.com/watch?v=njKKW8w_cPg&

Liszt B Minor piano sonata
youtube.com/watch?v=FR9EWioJq6s&

For some reason I'm in the mood to listen to this kind of thing, and wondered what other pieces are out there.

Guess some of the Chopin pieces also spring to mind, eg Ballade no 1, Fantasy in F minor, Scherzo no 2, but I am interested more in contemplative pieces here.

A climbing forum probably doesn't seem like the best place to ask this, but I know there are a few people with good music knowledge on here!

Cheers,

Chris

In reply to Chris Sansum:

My first thought? Brahms Piano Concerto no 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83. I have the Gilels recording; it makes me weep.

In reply to felt:

I think Chris is wanting solo pieces.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Actually, having read the OP rather more closely and not just the thread title, what he wants is Rachmaninoff's Preludes, Op. 23.

In reply to Chris Sansum:

Try Schubert Piano Sonata in G Op 78 D894. I only know the Radu Lupu recording, but I love it.

Or Beethoven Sonata 32, last movement. How he wrote this when he was deaf is even more mystifying than how that guy ran down the Matterhorn so quickly.

In reply to Chris Sansum:

how about something a little differant like Uno by Ludovico Einaudi

In reply to mbh:

it seems strange but hearing loss and deafness are not uncommon amongst musicians, i feel vibrations when i play and use it in a similar way i use lip reading to provide more information about the sound

In reply to Chris Sansum:

As a life-long lover of Schubert's music, I like some of his less well-known works such as the op. postuhumous sonatas. A personal favorite of mine is the A major D.959. The slow movement (Andantino) is one of the saddest pieces of music ever penned, and it is certainly not in the major key, but hauntingly minor, almost a definition of A minor, I would say.

In reply to mbh:

Agreed. I think it's a masterpiece virtually in a class of its own, and really unlike any other piece of music that's ever been written (that I've heard). But ... big but, re. this thread ... it is not tragic, and ends in a condition of 'Elysian bliss'.

In reply to Chris Sansum:

The CPE B piece is lovely, isn't it? If you like it, it's the first track on a compilation, 'Der Bote', performed by Alexei Lubimov, ECM records. All of the tracks are in a fairly similar emotional register, so it might fit your bill.

In reply to Chris Sansum:

You've certainly raised the tone from the usual scatology and sniping!

Sorry I can't help, for piano I'm more of a Bach Goldberg Variations type myself.

In reply to Chris Sansum:

Thanks all. Will have a listen to these on YouTube when I get a spare second.

Incidentally I bought an amazing recording of the Liszt B Minor sonata yesterday - it is on Martha Argerich's debut recital for Deutsche Grammophon CD. Absolutely electrifying playing! Well worth buying.

And yes, the CPE Bach Fantasia is an amazing piece. I first heard it played on clavichord, which is probably the ideal instrument for it. I have ordered a recording of it by Andreas Staier on clavichord, so will let you know if it is any good.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

OK, perhaps it is not tragic. But contemplative, certainly.

In reply to mbh:

But that's very far from saying it's tragic. The Arietta seems to be an expression of utter contentment and joy, certainly after its huge, crazy Scott Joplin type climax in Var. 4. After that it's as if it's gone into another realm of otherworldly bliss, followed by an almost overwhelming outpouring of warmth and good feeling at the conclusion.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:For contemplative and large scale piano you might try messaien's catalogue des oiseaux - though I suspect the pieces are decidedly different to those mentioned above - works for me though

In reply to andrew ogilvie:

Well, it's always great to have recommendations, so I'll follow you up on that.

Meanwhile for those who haven't heard it, are the passages of Beethoven Op.111 that I was referring to above (better than simply pasting the whole very long sonata) Thanks to YouTube:

The 'Scott Joplin'-like variation 4:

youtube.com/watch?v=uQMCfqFr4XA&
(needs to be played with volume very loud)

which makes the serene, peaceful beauty of what follows all the more astonishing:

youtube.com/watch?v=TGbkUcjs_pM&

I think I could listen to this piece of music a million times and not get tired of it (I've probably heard it a thousand times already!)

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

What I meant is that contemplative was another mood the OP asked for in suggested pieces, and the Op 132 delivers that.

In the right mood, it can bring me to tears. Yes, there is peace, but when I listen to it, in my own personal way, it reminds me of my father, at whose funeral twenty years ago I had played the Schubert D894 piece I suggested. So, for me, the piece does evoke tragedy, in that he died, but also joy in that I think of him and our times together. It is, truly, a beautiful, restful piece of music.

In reply to mbh:

Yes, the Schubert piece you mention is so deep. Re. the Beethoven, I see on YouTube someone has made a rather wonderful comment about the second clip I put up:

'Do you agree that something ends with the end of that piece ?
Nobody, nowhere since op.111 did compose any music to compare with.
A kind of musical UFO, descending from the sky and leading us to it.
Even the french word "chef-d'oeuvre" is no more usefull, it's something else... I don't know what.... And never will.'

In reply to mbh:

A point I didn't answer. Yes, I missed the bit near the bottom of the OP's post re 'contemplative'. Another minor point: you mean the 32nd sonata. The string quartet, Op. 132, is another virtually equal masterpiece, including that uncanny, beautiful, ethereal 'Heilige Dankesang'.

In reply to Chris Sansum:

Another tragic masterpiece (although slightly off my own topic, as it isn't a keyboard solo work)is Smetena's piano trio in G minor:

youtube.com/watch?v=6QF4OQIOiF4&

Another tragically expressive and maybe not particularly well-known piece.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Yes, getting my numbers in a muddle. I do mean piano sonata 32. The string quartets are harder to warm to, I find, harder work.

In reply to mbh:

Agreed. It was as if that that point, at the end of his life, LVB felt no need to make any concessions whatever to taste etc., but just to push his powers of expression to their limit. But the slow movement of Op.132 is very accessible, with a truly sublime melody and wonderful harmonics. As is the much shorter beautiful slow movement of Op. 130, the Cavatina, which B thought was the greatest piece of music he ever wrote. It's certainly very deep and personal - someone laying their soul bare, yet in a universal language.