Ask HN: Recommendations for emotive piano music?

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2 points by samh748 1262 days ago

I've only recently started to appreciate piano music and would love to increase my repertoire.

I'm open to anything, from classical to contemporary, pop to metal, doesn't have to be purely instrumentals either.

Look forward to hearing any and all of your recommendations!

8 comments

tornadofart 1262 days ago

Erik Satie for "modern and intellectual, but also highly digestible".

Arvo Pärt's "Alina" for "full of sadness, but also breathtakingly beautiful".

Glenn Gould's interpretation of Bach's "das wohltemperierte Klavier". A titan (in the Newtonian sense) of piano interpreting the compositions of the perhaps, along with Mozart, greatest composer of western baroque music. Piano was never the same again.

Anything played by Martha Argerich. Also highly recommendable on video. She is one with the instrument to a degree that is absolutely staggering. No technical prowess resists her, and is always played with intuitive grace and light-handedness, because she never practices. She doesn't have to, she just plays.

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defrost 1262 days ago

Wim Mertens has some great piano compositions, although they also tend to sneak in a few strings and voices.

eg:

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o77R2TuScWU

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pybqjwf8w8s

and then there's improv; The Köln Concert is superb - but not available on youtube w/out subscription.

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_K%C3%B6ln_Concert

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_spduchamp 1261 days ago

Check out Jean-Michel Blais. I love his very stripped down intimate recordings.

Also I highly recommend diving into some Oscar Peterson.