Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Top 25 songs from each classical artist

Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture

Liszt: Dante Sonata

Hey! I didn't write the song!

Mozart's Top 25 songs:

Rondo alla Turca (from Sonata in A major)
The rest of that sonata
Queen of the Night aria (preferably sung by Florence Foster Jenkins)
(Queen of the Night)
(but this is a serious list nevertheless)
Whatever other opera stuff we should put on, I don't know
Sonata in C major, K. 545 (based on 'popularity')
Jupiter Symphony (#40)
Symphony 41 (G minor)
Slow movement of Piano Concerto in C major (K. 467)
The rest of that concerto
Piano Concerto in D minor
Piano Concerto in A major (K. 488)
Piano Concerto in B-flat major (K. 595)
Piano Concerto in G major (K. 453)
Sonata in A minor
Sonata in C major, K. 330
Sonata in F major, K. 332
Requiem (forgive me for putting it way down here)
Symphony in E-flat major (#39)
Piano Concerto in E-flat major (#9, K. 271)
Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola, K. 364 (needs big-time to be heard by everybody)
Concerto for 2 Pianos, K. 365
Sonata for 2 Pianos, K. 448 (a personal choice)
Violin Concerto #5 ("Turkish")
Sonata for Piano and Violin in B-flat major (K. 454)
Sonata for Piano and Violin in E minor
Clarinet Quintet
Clarinet Concerto
String Quintet ("viola quintet") in G minor

Sorry that it's a little more than 25.

On the contrary, it is quite fun. You have given the opportunity for people to occupy some of their time. In the space of 5 hours there is already 42 replies.

Good job !

I bet if we thought about it, we could each easily come up with the most popular work by each composer (not the top 25 for each - just the single most popular work).

I'll think about it later.

You do that.

I'll take the easy ones:

Beethoven: Für Elise
Chopin: dunno, Minute Waltz? Funeral March?
Mozart: Rondo all Turca
Bach: either Prelude in C (WTC Book 1) or Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Brahms: Lullaby
Schubert: Ave Maria?
Debussy: one of the easiest picks: Clair de lune
Liszt: Liebestraum, or Hungarian Rhapsody #2 (if you watch cartoons)

I wasn’t being literal when I said 25 most popular.

All I know when I listen to play lists on Spotify, I have no clue if they are obscure music from composers or what they are.

I guess what I was trying to say is, I would like to know good compositions from the main composers that would be fun to listen and eventually learn when I am more advanced pianist? Like the main compositions ? I’m not even sure how to phrase it but I think you get the general idea.

I thought it would also be a good reference point for future beginners.

Thanks everyone !!

Edit: I think I got it now, the classic classical compositions. ;-)

Not sure if you saw my response earlier, but those 'This Is Brahms" "This Is Beethoven" "This Is Chopin" playlists on Spotify are the "main" pieces of each composer. These include almost all the music these composers are mainly known for, on the whole.

You can then branch out, if, say, you like a Chopin Mazurka, then you would look up "Chopin Mazurka" in the search bar and listen to the myriad of recordings of the complete set, etc etc. These playlists are perfect in that sense if you are curious or new to the genre.

Unless you mean you'd like to see it listed in the form of a list that can be archived on PW, then never you mind

Yes I saw it actually and thank you.

The problem is many of those songs are with violins or orchestra? But better than nothing.

Thank you.

Pretty funny, I guess not on purpose.

Y'know, peeps with violins and orchestras diss our music, saying our 'songs' are only piano!
And sometimes maybe they wouldn't say it's better than nothing.

OK - so you'd appreciate it if we would focus on PIANO works only. Got it.

Ah I see.. You didn't specify just piano works.. Come to think of it, there are only a handful of composers who have 25 'top' piano pieces haha. It's mostly a collection of works that could be seen as a whole, like sonatas or preludes or bagatelles etc.

I would just suggest putting the word 'piano' after the composers name in Spotify, or search 'Classical Piano' and you'll see a playlist under that name. Most of the main 'hits' will be there, and you can use it as a jumping off point ✌️

Without looking at Mark's earlier list, here are the "most popular" piano works that immediately come to (my) mind from each composer......with difficulty ranging from intermediate to advanced

Robert Schumann: Traumerei

Franz Liszt: Liebestraum No. 3

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Turkish March

Frédéric Chopin: Fantasy Impromptu Opus 66

Johann Sebastian Bach: Prelude in C Major from WTC I

Franz Schubert: Moment Musical in f minor Opus 94 No. 3

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: "March" from The Seasons

Johannes Brahms: Waltz in A Flat Opus 39 No. 15

Claude Debussy: Clair de Lune

Sergei Rachmaninov: Prelude in C Sharp Minor Opus 3 No. 2

Franz Joseph Haydn: Allegro in F Major No. 2

Ludwig van Beethoven Pathetique Sonata Opus 13

Richard Wagner: Didn't write much for solo piano. Find a piano arrangement of the Wedding March from Lohengrin and be done with it.

Non Classical

Church Hymns: A Mighty Fortress

Scott Joplin: The Entertainer

Ragtime: The Entertainer

Really?

Never heard of it in my life!

I went to check it out on youtube.
I never heard it either! (totally unfamiliar)

Wagner and piano - I do have a Richard Wagner piano piece! In my book (ABRSM, 'More Romantic Pieces for Piano') it's called a Song without words but no 'opus' number of any kind and the title is possibly not right either. Still, it's Wagnerish and not too difficult (intermediate level) although, as usual, I play it more slowly than the linked performance.

Sorry, folks - this is more to my taste, speedwise Song without words, Richard Wagner

Well let's see here.... I play the PIANO, I am on www.PIANOWORLD.COM, why would I want to listen to violins only? :-)

No worries, I will figure it out on my own.

Even though this is a site about pianos it is not unusual for us to discuss other types of classical compositions.

It was hard to find something "popular" from Haydn. Even you avoided him in your first pass. I realize it was a stretch, but I picked the Allegro because it is found in several anthologies of "easy" teaching pieces - which is how I discovered it back when I taught. I could have picked the well known Gypsy Rondo - but that would be a transcription from a string trio. The Variations in f minor is frequently played, but I don't know how popular it is. Then there are a handful of better known piano sonatas that frequently appear in anthologies, but their "popularity" is up for grabs.

For those here who have never heard of it - here's the Allegro in F Major.

https://youtu.be/4ZYa6QrDwvs

Quite cute.
I'm probably 'wandering off topic' and chuntering to myself again, but I'm quite keen on his Adagio in F so think it should be more popular.
Haydn - Adagio in F
Found in a similar resource to the Wagner piece.