Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Chopin preludes ranked by greatness

Tier 1: 8, 13, 19, 21, 24

Tier 2: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23

Tier 3: 2, 7, 9, 10

Tier 4: 14

Well.

Assuming you're serious, which I have a feeling you aren't really (more like just trying to start a little innocent trouble) .....if we even want to consider that there are 4 tiers, I think we'd have to ask, out of what?
It maybe almost makes sense if it's out of like about 1000.
Yeah, that's it -- these preludes are all in the top 4 tiers out of 1000.

So......
For starters:
I'd put #14 in some tier better than just #4.

Anyway.....Even though I conscientiously object to anything like this when the pieces are all (in their own ways) so wonderful, if we must you didn't do a bad job singling out some of the 'best.' If I were forced to pick my 5 top ones, with the criterion involving some combination of "greatness" and just how much I like them, I'd pick at least 2 of your top 5, maybe 3.

I do think you're underrating all of the ones you have in Tier 3 by putting them in Tier 3.

Other people have said the same thing about #14. I think it's bad.


I felt it was necessary to distinguish them from group 2, as they don't quite measure up in my opinion.

Actually, now that I look at my list again it might be that some of 2 belongs in 3, or maybe there should be a 2a and a 2b, maybe just 5 groups.

I'm glad someone took the time to engage in this crucial exercise.

It depends on which shoes one is wearing.

Best composer for shoes is Joplin.
Best composers for not wearing shoes are Chopin, Mozart, and Bach.

I know that's probably a thing from the other thread, which I haven't looked at, and I don't need to in order to know that the best composer for shoes is Joplin, and the best composers for not wearing shoes are Chopin, Mozart, and Bach.

Shouldn't Debussy's and Rach's Préludes be afforded the same scrutiny? After all, they're (arguably) greater pieces of music , are often programmed individually (unlike Freddy's) and each is far more substantial.

And then, of course, we should (in the interest of fairness, which PW is renowned for) also put Alkan's, Shostakovich's, Scriabin's and many other composers' sets under the same microscopic assessment......

STOMP!

Thank you for such a fine FIIIIINE suggestion!

It might be more interesting to take two different composers, say Chopin and Bach, and rank all their Preludes together in one list.

Or take all the piano music ever written and rank it. Then we would not need any more of these lists.

Better yet, why not a ranking of rankings? Would the ranking of Debussy preludes rank higher or lower than a ranking of Rachmaninoff.... Dude, a top-ten list of top-ten lists!

An easier, related question might be: "Which of the 24 do you like the best?"

And... "Which interpretations or "sets" do you like the best?"

Listening to some over the last week, I like Kissin's account of the (technically) difficult No. 8 (F-sharp Minor) on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us8q8wi_Pk0

Actually, while of course the performance is fabulous, I wouldn't say I think the "interpretation" is so great.

Because: I think he somewhat ruins it by making the short melody notes so 'not-short.'

I didn't measure or calculate whether the durations are exactly the literal lengths of those notes in the score. I'm just judging it according to what I think the music IS, which I've gathered from other performances (not from my own study of the piece, which I haven't really done).

Compare it to just about any other recording by a well-known pianist (I just went and listened to Argerich and Rubinstein), and it'll be clear what I mean.
I'll be surprised if very many of you will still like what Kissin does on that after hearing the 'other' way.