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 The greatest piano piece ever?
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Joined: Apr 2007
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While working from home, I've been listening to my new favorite Chopin Preludes set: that of Eric Lu, released on Warner just a few months ago (contending that of Marta Argerich for the first place in my heart already). And the Em prelude started, I looked at my wife and said "Isn't that the single greatest piano piece ever written!". She replied "absolutely, and so simple at the same time." What do you think? Which one do you consider worthy for the crown? Can you take just one? Or that would be silly? 
Last edited by CyberGene; 05/27/20 08:34 AM.
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 349
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Beethoven WoO 59.
No, just trolling.
For me it's impossible to pick any one as the greatest.
Maybe a selection wich includes the most commonly accepted greatest works. But just one piece, impossible to choose.
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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Kreisler's Easy Piece is the greatest in terms of its simple beauty.
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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Kreisler's Easy Piece is the greatest in terms of its simple beauty. Hmm, is this a tongue in cheek or you're being serious?  I did a search, couldn't find anything. Wasn't he a violin composer?
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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Joined: Aug 2007
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Kreisler's Easy Piece is the greatest in terms of its simple beauty. Hmm, is this a tongue in cheek or you're being serious?  I did a search, couldn't find anything. Wasn't he a violin composer? It's an old joke on PW. It consists of a single note.
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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Joined: Apr 2007
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Kreisler's Easy Piece is the greatest in terms of its simple beauty. Hmm, is this a tongue in cheek or you're being serious?  I did a search, couldn't find anything. Wasn't he a violin composer? It's an old joke on PW. It consists of a single note. I see, thanks 🤣
My YouTube, My SoundcloudCurrently: Yamaha N1X, DIY hybrid controller -> Garritan CFX Previously: NU1X, ES7, MP6, CA63, RD-700SX, CDP-100, FP-5, P90, SP-200
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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[...] Or that would be silly?  Yes.
BruceD - - - - - Estonia 190
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[...] Or that would be silly?  Yes. Is it sillier than composer ranking threads?
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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[...] Or that would be silly?  Yes. Is it sillier than composer ranking threads? No, not sillier; just as silly. That said, perhaps "silly" isn't the word I might use, but it will do. Regards,
BruceD - - - - - Estonia 190
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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OK, how about this. You’re hired by NASA to make the music selection for the next Voyager Golden Record. There will be a few like yourself, so you’re responsible for choosing only piano music. And you need to select 10 pieces and order them because it’s a record after all and will play in sequence. Write your list and I’ll only check the first track you put 
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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OK, how about this. You’re hired by NASA to make the music selection for the next Voyager Golden Record. There will be a few like yourself, so you’re responsible for choosing only piano music. And you need to select 10 pieces and order them because it’s a record after all and will play in sequence. Write your list and I’ll only check the first track you put  I pass as being unqualified to meet NASA's hiring requirements!  Cheers!
BruceD - - - - - Estonia 190
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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Well, the earth is dying from Covid-21 and you’re the only survivor that knows something about piano music, so NASA hires you 
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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Well, the earth is dying from Covid-21 and you’re the only survivor that knows something about piano music, so NASA hires you  I didn't think that barrel-scraping was NASA's modus operandi! When is lift-off? How much time do I have? 
BruceD - - - - - Estonia 190
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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COVID-21 has devastating psychological effects on people which is why NASA take desperate measures. Lift-off is in a few hours, as we all know 😁
(Thanks for at least bumping the thread 🤣)
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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Kreisler's Easy Piece is the greatest in terms of its simple beauty. Hmm, is this a tongue in cheek or you're being serious?  I did a search, couldn't find anything. Wasn't he a violin composer? It's an old joke on PW. It consists of a single note. I see, thanks 🤣 Kreisler the name used by PW member and bonafide terrific composer Jason Sifford. Unfortunately, I can't find a link to the score of this of clever little joke piece. The cleverness is related to the extensive markings the piece.
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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It depends what's the goal. Stephen Hawking was terrified at the idea that the 1977 record could be found by an extraterrestrial civilization, since obviously if they could then visit us they would be so advanced technologically that they could easily annihilate humans and colonize Earth. So I would actually choose a very scary piece from Prokofiev or Ligeti so that they never dare come here.
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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I find that it occasionally happens that a piece of music strikes me as the 'perfect (insert piano, violin, pop-music) piece' and the feeling at the time is genuine enough; but it does usually pass. At one time I thought a Scriabin prelude was, another a simple piece by Alkan (not many simple pieces by him I'd imagine) and of course Chopin, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven have been in there too (as has Blondie, btw) - oh, and the César Franck symphony, some Delius and so on. I mention the Franck symphony because it's often short works that evoke that feeling - perfect within themselves, they say what they want to say succinctly and yet manage to give that feeling or perfection, but the Franck symphony (which I haven't listened to for ages) appealed in that way at that time, as have other longer pieces ( a dose of Sibelius works wonders!). Interesting that both you and your wife thought so all the same time, though.
regards Pete
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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Joined: Oct 2010
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It depends what's the goal. Stephen Hawking was terrified at the idea that the 1977 record could be found by an extraterrestrial civilization, since obviously if they could then visit us they would be so advanced technologically that they could easily annihilate humans and colonize Earth. So I would actually choose a very scary piece from Prokofiev or Ligeti so that they never dare come here. I don't think that will be a problem, because humans are far more capable of self-annihilation (and will self-annihilate) than any alien invasion, long before they invade us. But the nearest planet outside the Solar System is over four light years away, so unless those aliens have discovered Star Trek's warp speed, we're safe from their invasion for now. (But they don't have access to Star Trek's technology anyway.  ) By the time the green aliens with four eyes and three noses and two suckers (- they only ingest slimy food) arrive on Earth, we'll be back in the era of primeval slime and legless insects. And, of course, coronaviruses. (I say "we", but of course Homo sapiens will long have extincted itself). Oh, I forgot: those green aliens will find, buried beneath ten feet of slime, a pristine copy of Opus Clavicembalisticum, the only survivor of human's musical history. A fitting survivor, because it's the greatest piano work known to man or beast  . And the copy will be pristine, because nobody could play the beast, so it had remained in its non-biodegradable plastic wrapper, waiting for its eventual discovery by green aliens.........
"I don't play accurately - anyone can play accurately - but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life."
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 Re: The greatest piano piece ever?
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Bennevis Jonathon Powell has performed the opus at least three times and I believe just issued a recording of it.
"Music, rich, full of feeling, not soulless, is like a crystal on which the sun falls and brings forth from it a whole rainbow" - F. Chopin "I never dreamt with my own two hands I could touch the sky" - Sappho
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