Recommend Me Some Quiet/Contemplative/Sad Instrumental Solo PIANO music...Mussorgsky?

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I'm a sucker for pianos. I don't mean in the Elton John sense, or Coldplay, I mean quiet solo piano kinds of things, such as some of the stuff on the first two Eluvium releases. Can someone please point me in the direction of some solo piano music? I don't care if it's classical...I tried some Satie once but it was a bit too whimsical or playful what I heard, and I'd rather hoped it'd be like Felt's piano instrumental b-sides for the Ballad of The Band 12".

I was also rather amused to learn recently that Mussorgsky originally composed Pictures At An Exhibition for solo piano. Are there solo piano versions available now of Mussorgsky's work? I read one of his pieces was called "Songs & Dances of Death" and thought "Wow! Now that's a title!"

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Saturday, 11 June 2005 01:35 (twenty years ago)

The obv. is Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
I think all the major composers have piano sonatas.

― Orbit (Orbit), Saturday, 11 June 2005 01:38 (twenty years ago)

Which Satie did you hear? Because the thread tile immediately made me think of Gymnopedie #1.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Saturday, 11 June 2005 01:40 (twenty years ago)

do you think the eluvium dude is a big harold budd fan? i'll bet he is. (i, too, love the eluvium dude.)

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 11 June 2005 01:49 (twenty years ago)

Hmm. Harold Budd. Yeah I bet he is. I wouldn't have thought of Budd.

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Saturday, 11 June 2005 01:51 (twenty years ago)

Which Satie did you hear? Because the thread tile immediately made me think of Gymnopedie #1.

Sadly I think those Gymnopedies were what I heard.

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Saturday, 11 June 2005 01:54 (twenty years ago)

The Durutti Column - "The Sweet Cheat Gone"

― Ian Riese-Moraine. Exposing ambitious careerists as charlatans since 1986. (East, Saturday, 11 June 2005 02:09 (twenty years ago)

i Mingus Plays Piano

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Saturday, 11 June 2005 02:13 (twenty years ago)

Hmm. That Durutti Column song title doesn't ring a bell. I'll look into it.

I just found this piece of news on the Eluvium site:

As well i am working on a split album between myself and Sylvain Chauveau---work on my side should be mostly for violin and piano----this will be released by Temporary Residence on limited pressings of vinyl and also available through Human Highway records in Japan for the cd format.

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Saturday, 11 June 2005 02:14 (twenty years ago)

Bill Evans . . .

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 11 June 2005 08:28 (twenty years ago)

If you like Satie, you might want to check out Stockhausen's Mantras, which is a set of pieces for treated piano. It's more abstract, but it's, well, Zen.

― Taste the Blood of Scrovula (noodle vague), Saturday, 11 June 2005 09:15 (twenty years ago)

angelo badalamenti? (sp?)

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Saturday, 11 June 2005 09:16 (twenty years ago)

jermaine stewart "brilliance".
cure "trust"

― dameron ciaz, Saturday, 11 June 2005 09:39 (twenty years ago)

seriously, check the Keith Kenniff/Goldmund record called Corduroy Road. a couple of Civil War era ballads, or originals that harken back to that time. i kept thinking of Satie, very still, accompanying some Matthew Brady plates.

― Beta (abeta), Saturday, 11 June 2005 13:27 (twenty years ago)

Hmm. That Durutti Column song title doesn't ring a bell. I'll look into it.

It's the last track on the LP proper of LC.

― Ian Riese-Moraine. Exposing ambitious careerists as charlatans since 1986. (East, Saturday, 11 June 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

Debussy's "Claire de Lune"
Chopin's Nocturnes
Schumann's "Fantasiestücke Op.12; 1. Des Abends" and "Scenes From Childhood - Traumerei"
Beethoven's "Pathetique Sonata"
Thelonious Monk's "Pannonica"

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

Harold Budd's La Bella Vista is pretty much exactly what you want, I think.

Also try Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, especially the middle movement ("Le Gibet"), and Debussy's two books of Images for piano (get this disc). You might want to try Scriabin, too.

― christmas lights (christmaslights), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

goldmund 'corduroy road' seconded, its a CD of rare beauty

― zappi (joni), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

Howard Skempton

http://www.cnvill.demon.co.uk/mfskmpt2.htm

John Cage's "In a Landscape" and maybe some of his prepared piano things.

for extremely minimal Piano music try Morton Feldman's Piano works esp. "for Bunita Marcus" and "Triadic Memories".

― jed_ (jed), Saturday, 11 June 2005 19:04 (twenty years ago)

fist link should have been this

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000066AJF/qid=1118520441/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-7183710-9185418

― jed_ (jed), Saturday, 11 June 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

You might like the David Grubs piano record -- what is it called? Apple Grapefruit Mango or something?

― Hurting (Hurting), Saturday, 11 June 2005 19:08 (twenty years ago)

I've been listening to Terry Riley's The Harp of New Albion lately. It's a double CD of well-tuned piano; quite beautiful. You might want to check that out.

― Salvador Saca (Mr. Xolotl), Saturday, 11 June 2005 20:23 (twenty years ago)

I was also rather amused to learn recently that Mussorgsky originally composed Pictures At An Exhibition for solo piano. Are there solo piano versions available now of Mussorgsky's work?

In fact, the orchestral arrangement was done by Ravel more than 40 years after Mussorgsky's death.

I've heard a piano version by Alfred Brendel that's pretty good, but I doubt that any piano version can compare to the majesty of the fully orchestrated piece.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 11 June 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)

If you like Satie, you might want to check out Stockhausen's Mantras, which is a set of pieces for treated piano.

Yes! Actually last night Stockhausen had occured to me...I even wrote down his name. I haven't heard much of his work but when I did hear some about a year ago I was really impressed. Didn't delve any further just because I wasn't in the mood for that kind of thing at the time. Always meant to go back eventually.

Hmm. That Durutti Column song title doesn't ring a bell. I'll look into it.

It's the last track on the LP proper of LC.

Yes, I figured the answer to that question would probably embarass me! ;) I do have LC, but as far as Durutti albums go I always found it a letdown. Something about the production or instrumentation, I can't remember now. "The Missing Boy" is great, though. And I will dig out the track you mentioned in a minute here. I also like that CD bonus track "Belgian Friends" a lot.

Last night I listened to the French Impressionists on the LTM label and there are some piano instrumentals at the end of the CD (3 I think) and although they captured the general mood I'm after, they sure as hell paled in comparison to Eluvium. So I wrote Mr. Eluvium via email and he wrote back and said that he is actually working on some piano stuff at the moment but it might take awhile to surface because he wants to add horns, something like that. Anyway he said he is considering doing some piano-only shows in Seattle soon, though, so anyone who cares, stay tuned. He's finished his next album, too, but there's no piano on it, he said.

Anyway thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread, I really appreciate the suggestions.

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Sunday, 12 June 2005 02:04 (twenty years ago)

if you want something new, i really really recommend gonzales - "solo piano"

also chopin ballades always do it for me

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 12 June 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

Andras Schiff - Leos Janacek, A Recollection
some very, very lovely parts to this. The whole thing has a lilting, uplifting sadness to it.

― p.j. (Henry), Sunday, 12 June 2005 18:35 (twenty years ago)

At this very moment I'm listening to Chopin's Prelude #17 in A flat, op. 28.

It'll work.

― L'Histoire d'Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 12 June 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

was just listening to john cage's "dream" piece, it sure fits.

― jermaine (jnoble), Sunday, 12 June 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

also, don't forget about *Sending Lady Load*, the 12 minute track that takes up most of the second side of Felt's The Pictorial Jackson Review album. And for that matter, the second side of Felt's all-instrumental Train Above The City album might hit the spot. (though it also has some vibes along with the piano.)

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 12 June 2005 20:55 (twenty years ago)

Hey Scott - is that Felt DVD worth it? I came so close in the store just now...

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Sunday, 12 June 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

Mal Waldron Blues for Lady Day is lovely melancholy solo piano.

― o. nate (onate), Sunday, 12 June 2005 21:13 (twenty years ago)

I recommend Gonzales' SOLO PIANO LP.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 12 June 2005 22:41 (twenty years ago)

"Hey Scott - is that Felt DVD worth it? I came so close in the store just now..."

if you are a sad fanboy like me, you have to have it, but it looks and sounds HORRIBLE. dude had a stationary camera at the very back of the room for the whole show. very frustrating to watch. you would have thought that a band in love with myth like felt coulda paid someone to capture them gloriously. guess it didn't happen.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 13 June 2005 00:16 (twenty years ago)

(thanks for the heads up.. that DVD has been staring at me at the neighborhood store for months.)

― donut e-goon (donut), Monday, 13 June 2005 00:50 (twenty years ago)

Saint-Saens, dude.

― The Mad Puffin, Monday, 13 June 2005 11:46 (twenty years ago)

Leos Janacek: On the Overgrown Path

Sorry for the lack of accents.

I've got this version, but I'm sure others are just as good.

Gaze in amazement at the beautiful titles, then listen to track 8 - 'Good Night!'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001GXO/qid=1118667526/sr=1-11/ref=sr_1_2_11/202-0277011-8464624

― Peter Stringbender (PJ Miller), Monday, 13 June 2005 12:01 (twenty years ago)

Pictures at an Exhibition for solo joanna is very nice, but I've never found it. It was on the radio once.

― Peter Stringbender (PJ Miller), Monday, 13 June 2005 12:02 (twenty years ago)

Yep, that Janacek is great. I've got the one on Supraphon, can't remember right now who plays on it though.

How about Max Richter's The Blue Notebooks? Sylvain Chaveneau's Un Autre Decembre is a beauty too.

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 13 June 2005 12:08 (twenty years ago)

George Winston, Ballads and other blues, apparently he's big in new age circles but don't let that put you off, rather more playful and vigorous than most new age.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 13 June 2005 12:28 (twenty years ago)

Steven Brown (of Tuxedomoon fame) - Music for Solo Piano.
It's been recently re-issued on LTM. Very 'old Europe in ruins'. Great stuff.

― Die Emanzipation von Baaderonixx (redukt) (Fabfunk), Monday, 13 June 2005 15:26 (twenty years ago)

As well i am working on a split album between myself and Sylvain Chauveau

this is kind of exciting; the Sylvain Chauveau album I have (un autre decembre) is definitely receommended

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 13 June 2005 18:18 (twenty years ago)

eighteen years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2mb8PJ6ByU

― your mom goes to limgrave (dog latin), Tuesday, 26 March 2024 12:32 (two years ago)

https://www.discogs.com/release/2077101-Mannheim-Steamroller-Fresh-Aire-Interludes

― brimstead, Tuesday, 26 March 2024 14:40 (two years ago)

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