Chalks wrote:
Actually, along the lines of Classical...I've been looking for some good piano pieces. I'm not really sure what composer to look at, because I always listen to the radio and they rarely (if ever) mention the composer. So, who's a good composer that does/did a lot of piano music?
If you want a massive challenge, "
Funerailles"
by Franz Liszt is AMAZING, if you are into heavy romantic-era music. Franz Liszt is EASILY my favorite composer of piano music, even though it is crazy-hard to learn. I just finished a piece that took me a year and a half to learn, and it is my favorite thing to play now, and I will continue to prepare it for college auditions. ("
St. Francois de Paule Marchant sur les Flots"
from Liszt's "
2 Legendes,"
if you want to give that a look at) I love playing pretty much anything written in the Romantic and Modern eras. If you are into more rhythm-centered pieces as opposed to melody-centered pieces, check out Bela Bartok's "
Allegro Barbaro,"
or book 6 of his "
Mikrokosmos."
Really fun to play, if you don't mind some lack of tonality. Whcih I don't. I love not-quite-tonal music.
And if you want impressionism, I would start with the Debussy preludes, and for a real challenge, pick up "
Jeux D'eau"
by Ravel. I am currently learing that, and it is amazing. And for minimalism, pretty much anything by John Adams. I am learning "
China Gates"
by him, and it isn't easy at all, despite being 'minimalist.' Hope this helps. I can't really help you if you were looking for something along the lines of Mozart or Bach, because I don't have the patience to learn something 'boring' to play and boring to listen to, when I could learn some Liszt or Bartok instead. But you are into Tchaikovsky, so I assume you're more into the Romantic/Modern classical.
And to answer the question, I will listen to anything that requires some thought to listen to. Mostly Progressive rock, and Romantic/Modern classical, Like Liszt (best piano composer ever.) , Shostakovich (best orchestral composer ever.), Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Debussy, Adams, Bartok, Cage, Mahler, and Copland. I also love Drum Corps, and any TALENTED musical artist that can be deemed 'original.' Queen, ELP, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush, Dream Theater, Coldplay, older Genesis, David Gray, Nobuo Uematsu, and the Motoi Sakuraba Trio. And some random indie artists.
Disclaimer: I'm Welsh, left-handed, and stupid. 
