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But my favorite is Gute Nacht (from Winterreise). Some amazing piano writing from Liszt. Make sure to listen from 1.34.
I just "finished" Gretchen am Spinnrade. I fell in love with it after hearing a YouTube video. It is hard to believe Schubert was only 17 when he wrote the song. I think the Liszt transcription was the most difficult piece I've ever attempted.
This will be an obvious one to most, but I have only recently begun to understand Ravel's Gaspard.
Interesting - I think there's a distinction between hearing a piece for the first time, and really "getting" it, although I'm not sure if that's what you meant here. I've probably heard the Bartok piano sonata twenty times, but I only recently discovered it as a piece of music (and not as a bunch of noise, or an illustration of a concept in music theory).
First-time listens: Tchaikovsky's "other" piano concerti.
Beethoven - Piano Sonata, op. 101 Bartok - Piano Sonata
I share your interest in Fragoso. I discovered him about 10 years ago. A hermetic composer of quietly private thoughts and feelings. I always feel like I've burst into his private seclusion when I play his music.....if that makes any sense.
"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense." - Gertrude Stein
A few years ago I would have answered Federico Mompou and Manuel Blancafort (two Catalonian peas in a pod and lifelong friends). But their music has become almost second nature to me at this point. So I'm going to answer this in an opposite direction with a standard composer - Chopin. Over the past year and a half, I've come back to his Nocturnes (2 - op9#2, 8 - op27#2, 10 - op332#2, 14 -op48#2 and especially 15 - op55#2, 16&17 - Op62#1&2).
I like to play the last three as a set. They feel like swan songs, summations. But the discoveries come the more I keep playing, probably more due to my skill level and being a slow learner. I guess it's true of most any great or complex music, but I keep relearning that Chopin put so much into each note and notation. And learn to not only to take each notation detail seriously but to realize the musical reason why. So many things are easy to miss.
While playing playing Op62#2 at around 4 am (highly recommended) last night, two small profundities appeared for me. The first measure of the very last line - there is a series of notes ending in quiet Gsharp. There is pedaling for just the first five notes. Then a new pedal for the final run of 12. And then a rest but the pedal still held down! It's at that rest that you hear something extraordinary. These somewhat discontinuous, but harmonious notes finally blended all together. I'm now extending that rest a bit longer to bring out that ethereal ring and for it to last a little longer. And while its still ringing you add in the Bflats. And the other "new" discovery for me (mainly because I kept ignoring it because I didn't trust myself) was on the last measure. A very brief pedaling of the chord, but holding 3 notes as you lift the pedal as you add in an almost after thought, like closing a special book. I finally gained enough confidence to play those last notes without pedal in a way that works.
I'm sure such details come more quickly to more advance players, but its always so special for me to discover details like this in Chopin. It reminds me of the breath of life (and blood and pain) that he put into everything he noted down.
I recently found out how much I Mahler, especially the ninth symphony. I have several musical discoveries every day though. Small, but still discoveries.
