What are the top 5 Mozart and Chopin piano pieces?

Question

That a young lady taking piano lessons would learn?

Answer 1

Mozart's solo piano music is generally not held in high esteem (compared to Schubert and Beethoven, anyway). Two pieces that any pianist should know are:

1) First movement of piano sonata in no.16 in C (K.545: 'Sonata Facile')

2) Third movement from piano sonata no.11 in A (K.331: 'Rondo Alla Turca')

Chopin, on the other hand, composed virtually nothing but piano music, which makes it hard to narrow the choice down. Five that you will probably have heard are:

1) Polonaise in A (op.40 No.1: 'Military Polonaise')

2) Waltz in D-flat (Op.64 No.1: 'Minute Waltz')

3) Third movement from piano sonata No.2 (Op.35: 'Funeral March')

4) Fantaisie impromptu in C-sharp minor (Op.66)

5) Mazurka in D (Op.33 No.2)

Answer 2

You have a great selection there, so there is little I can contribute to this discussion. However, I will make my list of top 5 piano concertos (its rather conventional): 1. Schumann Piano concerto in A minor. It is beautiful, I can't get enough of it, even if its overplayed. Richter, Perahia and Lupu versions are worth listening. And are coupled with Grieg Piano concerto, which is also great. 2. Brahms Piano concerto No.1 in D minor. I know the No.2 is far more popular. but I like this one better. I love the first movement. 3. Ravel Piano concerto in G. a 20th Century masterpiece. Sounds so modern, and the second movement must be one of the most beautiful adagios ever. Martha Argerich does an incredible job in this one. 4. Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.4 in G. I know this must be his weakest concerto, but while I love the other Rachmaninoff's concertos (including the Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini), this concerto's first movement its really touching. The classic interpretation is, obviously, Michelangeli. 5. Shostakovitch Piano concerto No.2 in F. Just listen to the middle movement. --------------- Honorable mentions: Tchaikovsky piano concerto No.2. The first is more popular, by far, but this one is great too, and it is also very innovative, specially in the second movement, where Tchaikovsky introduces notable solos by the violin and the cello (it sounds almost like a piano trio in the middle of a piano concerto). Dvorák Piano concerto in G minor. It is often overlooked. Admittedly, it is not a perfect piano concerto, but has great melodies and the last movement is great. Mozart late piano concertos. All of them are great. Prokofiev Piano concerto No.3.

Answer 3

Mozart wrote two easy minuets when he was 5 years old.
His C major sonata, K 545 is the easiest, and therefore the favorite in piano studios. The Turkish march from his sonata K 331 is also very popular.

I realize that's only four. Sorry I came up one short. The best way to find easy piano pieces by well-known composers is to order collections published by Alfred Publishing Co. I haven't seen this collection, but I'm betting that it's a good one:

http://www.amazon.com/Easiest-Piano-Pieces-Alfred-Masterwork/dp/0739014056/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196558501&sr=1-3

G. Schirmer collections are good, too, but their collections usually consist only of the composer's best-known easy piano compositions. Alfred Publishing Co., on the other hand, digs deep into the archives and finds some unjustifiably obscure compositions.

I'm crazy about Chopin, so I won't be able to narrow it down to five.

For short pieces, you couldn't do better than the A major prelude, op. 28 no. 7 and the c minor prelude, op. 28 no. 20.

op. 28 no. 2 is a wierd piece which one would expect from a twentieth-century composer. op. 28 no. no. 4 is as erotic as all get out. The "Raindrop" prelude, op. 28 no. 15, is a highly emotional piece.

One comment about the c minor prelude: You might make the mistake of playing an E-flat on the last chord of measure 3. According to the letter of the law, this is wrong because there is an E-natural earlier in the measure and no E-flat to cancel it. Most students, including me, forget about that E-natural and play an E-flat. In one piano instruction book, I have seen a note warning the student about this danger spot.

However, a student of Chopin's says that he played this piece for Chopin and played an E-natural like a good little boy. Chopin stopped him and wrote in an E-flat. So it seems that Chopin really wanted an E-flat but made a mistake.

The best-known of the nocturnes is the E-flat major nocturne, op. 9 no. 2. There are easier nocturnes, though. My favorite is the B-flat minor nocturne, op. 9 no. 1. Other yummy morsels are op. 15 no. 3, op. 37 no. 1, op. 37 no. 2, and op. 55 no. 1,

One comment about op. 15 no. 3: the tempo marking is "Lento," but the metronomic marking is insane. Ignore the metronomic markings on all of these pieces, because they were added later by someone else.

I don't know why Chopin entitled op. 34 no. 2 "Grande Valse Brillante." He must have done it as a joke. When I play that piece, I think of a person lying in a hammock and sipping lemonade. op. 64 no. 2, in C-sharp minor, is well-known. If I practiced the fast part for a few hours, I could play the piece. I hope you are more diligent than I am. op. 69 no. 2, in b minor, is one of my favorites. Another of my favorites is the E major waltz which was first published after his death.

Most of the mazurkas are easy enough, but my favorite is the b minor mazurka, op. 33 no. 4.

The E major etude, op. 10 no. 3, is the only one of the etudes I can play. This etude has been made into a popular song.

If you look in the collections for piano students, you might miss his celebrated funeral march. This piece is the third movement of his sonata in Bb minor, op. 35.

When Chopin was on his deathbed, he asked a music publisher to gather up all his unpublished works and burn them. And then what did the music publisher do? He gathered up all of Chopin's unpublished works and published them!

And I'm glad he did. Most of those works are still unjustifiably neglected, but most of them can be found in the last volume of the Paderewski edition of the complete works of Chopin. My favorite of all the nocturnes is a c minor nocturne which I found there, but is virtually unknown by anyone else.

However, I went through that last volume, and I think there are still some nuggets which I missed. At a piano recital, one student played a very nice Chopin waltz which I had never heard before. I asked here where she got it, and she showed me a book published by--you guessed it--Alfred Publishing Co. I don't remember the title of the book, but I bet it was either this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-His-Easiest-Piano-Selections/dp/0739047531/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196558813&sr=1-1

or this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Most-Popular-Piano-Selections/dp/0739047523/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196558813&sr=1-2

Answer 4

That depends on her skill level. Mozart has pieces from early intermediate to advanced. Chopins pieces are from intermediate to extremely advanced. How long has she been playing? Does she have a teacher?

Answer 5

BAA-HAA-HAA-HAA!!!!!!!!!! Wouldn't you like to KNOW!?!???