Piano Music

The pieces I enjoy are those that have good contrast and seemingly tell a story.

Chopin's Ballades are an example of what I'm saying. They have huge contrast and you can imagine stories behind the music. For instance, in Ballade II, even someone who doesn't know anything about music can tell that the first section is painting a peaceful scene, as though a farmer were out in his meadows. Then the second part describes a storm that comes with rain, and then everything's peaceful again. But I digress.

Many romantic composers like Liszt also wrote quite a few pieces that tell stories, but it's not just romantic composers. Composers from other eras, such as Debussy (Modern, thinking of Claire De Lune), have also written such pieces.

So, can anyone think of any good pieces?
[spoiler=]And does anyone even share the same taste for music?[/spoiler]

I don't know really ANYTHING about piano pieces, but I could listen to a good piano piece any day.
You should link to some good ones for me to listen to now.

I know someone here shares your tastes...maybe a bit more seriously, too. I dunno his name. ALastReprise was/is his character name.

I know Jack plays the piano and likes piano music, but IDK if he shares the same taste. I know for sure Rick (RDal) doesn't share the same taste though.

Edit:
Here's a good playlist to start with:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=...D10480EDD9
IDK if you'd like the Etudes. I like some of them but not all of them.

Here's a good one near the end of the playlist which is why I brought it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A799HrP3POM

I REALLY like Chopin. Going to a piano school, and now being in the faculty of music, I have the honor of listening to a lot of music. My friend played that Chopin Scherzo last year. There's an elegance and showyness to Chopin's music that I love. For the same reason, I love Beethoven.

Currently, I'm learning this. It's a rather famous etude and you hear it in movies, films, dramas, etc. quite often.

I played I leap through the sky with stars by Alexina Louie last month, and it's an abstract 20th century piece, but the more you listen to it, the better it sounds. You kind of grow into it, and you can imagine the stars flying about and stuff.

Rachmaninoff is pretty good too. I'm learning this prelude later on in the school year (meaning early next year), though this is probably the most famous one.

For Beethoven, I like the Appasionata, the Waldstein, the Tempest and The Pathetique. I only played the last two, and want to learn the first two one day.

You meantioned Claire De Lune by Debussy and I've come to like it (at first I didnt like it for whatever reason) but do you know of the whole suite? Claire de Lune is the 3rd of a suite called the Suite Bergamasque (sp?) and the rest of it is equally amazing...in fact, I like the first and the 4th better than Claire De Lune (the 3rd). The deux arabesques are pretty cool too (I played the first one).

I've put a lot of stuff there, so I'll stop. I'll finish off with some of the stuff that I've written myself:

Cat's Song

Think, just think

Wings of the Angel

They're nothing special compared to Chopin and all the other guys, but it's stuff I've written for fun. Oh, and disregard the poor quality, lol.

First off, I want to say that I've heard most of your compositions (the ones you listed already), as I've watched most of your videos. I don't mean to be rude, but they're not exactly... what I am asking for. Of course, I can't expect you to be another musical genius, but your music, without the images in your videos to accompany them, wouldn't tell much. Sorry. :\

[spoiler=Chopin's Etude 10 No 3]I prefer this interpretation. :f6:
It seems to ease in and out of the faster part more smoothly and evenly, but still achieves a good speed in the middle of the fast part, as though something is dropped, gains speed, and then is gently cradled as it approaches landing.[/spoiler]

 I leap through the sky with stars

I'm not sure what this one is trying to describe... unfortunately, to me this is just many layers upon layers of notes. :\

[spoiler=Rach's prelude 23 no 2]I prefer this version better, but overall, I don't really like it that much because the music is very marchlike, very rigid. I like music that flows.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Rach's prelude 23 no 5]I prefer this version better cuz it gives more clarity to the notes. I like this piece. It's very lively, like a dance.
[spoiler=]omg this one is horrible [/spoiler][/spoiler]

 the Appasionata

I like the version you gave me.
I like how the music slowly climaxes and then solves itself.

As for the other pieces you mentioned but didn't link me to:

I like the Pathetique. Pretty ironic how it was named "pathetic" but considered a masterpiece. xD
I've heard Debussy's Suite, but the only one I seem to remember is the Claire De Lune (cuz I played it before). >_>
On Beethoven's work, I like the Moonlight Sonata (you left this out in your post xD) and several other sonatas, but overall, his work doesn't give me a lasting impression because it doesn't evoke much emotion.

Now I'm done listening to everything you linked me to. I'll try to get around to listening to the rest of the pieces you mentioned. Thank you Jack.

First off, I want to say that I've heard most of your compositions (the ones you listed already), as I've watched most of your videos. I don't mean to be rude, but they're not exactly... what I am asking for. Of course, I can't expect you to be another musical genius, but your music, without the images in your videos to accompany them, wouldn't tell much. Sorry. :\

[spoiler=Chopin's Etude 10 No 3]I prefer this interpretation. :f6:
It seems to ease in and out of the faster part more smoothly and evenly, but still achieves a good speed in the middle of the fast part, as though something is dropped, gains speed, and then is gently cradled as it approaches landing.[/spoiler]

 I leap through the sky with stars

I'm not sure what this one is trying to describe... unfortunately, to me this is just many layers upon layers of notes. :\

[spoiler=Rach's prelude 23 no 2]I prefer this version better, but overall, I don't really like it that much because the music is very marchlike, very rigid. I like music that flows.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Rach's prelude 23 no 5]I prefer this version better cuz it gives more clarity to the notes. I like this piece. It's very lively, like a dance.
[spoiler=]omg this one is horrible [/spoiler][/spoiler]

 the Appasionata

I like the version you gave me.
I like how the music slowly climaxes and then solves itself.

As for the other pieces you mentioned but didn't link me to:

I like the Pathetique. Pretty ironic how it was named "pathetic" but considered a masterpiece. xD
I've heard Debussy's Suite, but the only one I seem to remember is the Claire De Lune (cuz I played it before). >_>
On Beethoven's work, I like the Moonlight Sonata (you left this out in your post xD) and several other sonatas, but overall, his work doesn't give me a lasting impression because it doesn't evoke much emotion.

Now I'm done listening to everything you linked me to. I'll try to get around to listening to the rest of the pieces you mentioned. Thank you Jack.

Pathetique doesnt actually mean pathetic, it means to appeal to the pathos, which means to evoke great emotion (or osmething along those lines). I find the moonlight overplayed so I didnt mention it out of assumption, lol.

Debussy's suite has a Prelude (I played it last year), a Minuet (very little known, and the composing in it is...a bit strange) and finally, the Passipeid, which I love. One of these days, I'll get around to playing it.

As for my music, I wrote those for uses in videos...they create an atmosphere as a whole, so they storyline isnt quite there. To each their own however. I've never been very good at plot building (though Im working on it) so we'll see. If I WAS a musical genius, I'd be famous somewhere already, haha.

Maybe you could base the images your next video (assuming you're ever going to make one) around a composition which has a storyline rather than base the music off of the images like you did before.

I like to think of music as a type of language, and having it talking to you would make it curiously more interesting than having a Wall-E typed video.

If I WAS a musical genius, I'd be famous somewhere already, haha.

Not necessarily. You'd have to be in the right circumstances. But I guess it depends on your interpretation of what a genius is.

try some eluvium. it's like, calm/repetitive and nice to sleep to.