Enjoyable Classical Piano Music

A friend recently asked me for some classical piano recommendations. He doesn’t particularly care for purely “academic sounding” exercises, meaning he wants something with emotion and melody. Nor is he interested in easy-listening renditions of classical music replete with fake strings and horns.

I hear a lot of music via the Naxos Music Library, much more than I can consciously remember, which is why I make notes (see my Naxos List tab, above). From those notes, I compiled the following recommendations…

7 Enjoyable Classical Piano Discs

ELGAR: Piano Music (8.570166) - Edward Elgar was quite famous in the “British Light Music” circles for the kind of music akin to movie themes. He wrote “Pomp and Circumstance” - and was about as famous an English composer as you can get. This disc features quite a few slow, reflective pieces capped off by a series of variations on a theme.

SCHUMANN, R.: Works for Oboe and Piano (8.550599) - Robert Schumann is one of my top 3 favorite composers. Nice pieces…tragic life…everything you want in a composer Not everyone one of these pieces are relaxing, but the piano & oboe combo is captivating!

RODRIGO: Piano Music, Vol. 1 (8.557272) - Joaquin (Hoe-ah-keen) Rodrigo is another of my top 3 favorite composers. Blind from age 3, probably the most famous 20th century Spanish composer, who arguably brought back the guitar to the orchestral concert stage…just died in 1999. Not all of this is relaxing music, but it is passionate.

SCHUMANN, R.: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 3 (8.554275) - This disc offers mostly fast pieces, AND it’s SCHUMANN

DEBUSSY: Works for Two Pianos, Four Hands (BIS-CD-526) - Of the opening 3 tracks, the middle piece is quick but the other two are quite slow. The music on this disc is really quite pretty…

BRAHMS: Four-Hand Piano Music, Vol. 16 (8.55584 - Brahms arranged some Schumann and Schubert pieces to be played on 1 piano, 4 hands (2 people, obviously <grin>). While enjoyable, sometimes the technical aspects seem to override compelling melody…

CLEMENTI: Early Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2 (8.557695) - A contemporary of Mozart, these works date from the 1780s forward. Though played on piano, you can hear the Baroque harpsichord influences. If you don’t like jaunty harpsichord music, you probably won’t like this disc…

“And now for something you’ll really enjoy…” (apologies to Rocky the Squirrel):

As an afterthought, I suggested two unrelated discs. If you’ve not enjoyed much Asian music, particularly the combination of European orchestra with Asian sound, check these out…

• REN: Colourful Clouds (8.223614)
• CHEN / HE: Butterfly Lovers Erhu Concerto (The) / CHU: The Yellow River Piano Concerto (8.225952HDCD)

What are your favorite classical piano discs?

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