Thread: Favourite Piano Sonatas

Another good topic Topaz. Very good choices there too. My list is rather capricious: although my first 10 are not subject to change, the final 10 are prone to being rearranged or even omitted depending on which composer I'm exploring. I haven't heard all of the piano sonatas from the old masters, so new ones may come along and dethrone some of these.

1. Alkan - Grand Sonata Op. 33 "Four Ages of Man"
2. Liszt - Sonata in B minor
3. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 29 'Hammerklavier'
4. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 31
5. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 32
6. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 14 'Moonlight'
7. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 8 'Pathetique'
8. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 23 'Appassionata'
9. Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 2
10. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 17 'Tempest'
11. Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 3
12. Schubert - Piano Sonata No. 20 D.959
13. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 3 'Dedicated to Josephn Haydn'
14. Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 1
15. Schubert - Piano Sonata No. 21 D.960
16. Tchaikovsky - Piano Sonata No. 3 'Grand Sonata'
17. Schumann - Piano Sonata No. 3
18. Brahms - Piano Sonata No. 3
19. Mendelssohn - Piano Sonata in E major Op. 6
20. Tchaikovsky - Piano Sonata No. 2 Op. 80

Beethoven 32
Liszt
Haydn 59

(I had the idea of creating a thread on piano sonatas, while I found this one).

My favs so far are (not in strict order of preference)

Chopin: 3rd sonata (on top of my preferences right now, and can't think of other beyond Lipatti).
Tchaikovsky: Grand Sonata
Beethoven: sonatas Nº 14, 17, 21, 23 and, of course, 29.
Rachmaninov: 2nd sonata. (I recently discovered Joseph Villa performing this work, in a recording I suggest everyone should have)
Schumann: 1st sonata. (Not really a cohesive work, but I can't do anything but surrender to the last movement).

Ives, Concord Sonata--there's a recording of Ives doing the Emerson movement of this
Boulez, Sonata no. 2 (though they're all nice)
Stockhausen, Klavierstueck no. 9--not a sonata, but who can resist an opening chord repeated 144 times?
Carter, Piano sonata
Schubert, D. 960--Brendel for this, I think
Beethoven, op. 111
Prokofiev, Piano sonata no. 7
Barber, Piano sonata
Bokanowski, Pour un pianiste--also not a sonata, but who's gonna sue me?

I should add Schubert's D845 and Prok's sixth.

Originally Posted by Lisztfreak

Schubert's Sonata in A-minor, Op. posthumus and Wanderfantasie (delightful)

* . . . flashback . . . *

Believe it or not, the fantasy D760 was one of the first works I tried to learn as soon as I got my keyboard... It was, as you suppose, nothing but a mess. I skipped the hard parts, arpeggios and scales were completely uneven, and I avoided the second movement because the scales in 32th notes frightened me.

Originally Posted by Lisztfreak

You tried to play it when you got your first keyboard?
Did you know how to read notes then?

Definitely. My music lessons at school were important and complete. I wasn't at all proficient when reading both clefs, but somehow I managed to run through some parts of the work.

Hi!

My favoured 20 Sonatas?
Well, I will think about it. The replies here show me that noone seems to hear Haydns and Mozarts beautiful sonatas - or even worse you don't like them.
And I will rethink my statement that the genre of piano sonata is more or less death after 1828.
@ Manuel & Lisztfreak: The "Wanderer"-fantasy is definitely no piano sonata.

Regards,
AVH.

Originally Posted by Amade Van Haydn

@ Manuel & Lisztfreak: The "Wanderer"-fantasy is definitely no piano sonata.

Are you sure? It's named Fantasy (Wanderer comes after a lied) but...

it has four movements: an opening allegro, the slow second movement, a scherzo, and a closing allegro.

The whole works is based in one single motive, developed and manipulated with great ability. (As in Liszt's B minor sonata).

The Wanderer Fantasy D 760 is not normally regarded as one of Schubert's piano sonatas. This is because it's not strictly a classical sonata as it contains 4 movements, not 3; and all 4 movements use a consistent theme instead of being independent. The best recording by far is widely regarded as being that by Sviatoslav Richter.

The Wanderer Fantasy D 760 is not normally regarded as one of Schubert's piano sonatas. This is because it's not strictly a classical sonata as it contains 4 movements, not 3;

I know what you mean. But last time I checked I found four movements in the Hammerklavier, four in Schubert's 894...