10 Piano Classics You Should Learn as a Pianist

There are many piano compositions that agree with each other, even though they are from different composers and from different musical eras as well. If you are a piano student and study music academically, your piano teacher must have given you several piano works to prepare for the exam.

It must be noted here that an experienced and good piano teacher will give you piano pieces that are different from each other but compatible in terms of enhancing your skill in playing the piano and expanding your understanding of classical or non-classical music.

Let us then give a clear example of pieces compatible with each other to refine technique and skill and enhance the student’s musical ear.

All experienced and experienced piano teachers assign their students to play classical piano pieces from all eras of music. Here, I will present an example from my personal experience:

In the eighth-year piano exam at the conservatory where I studied, I was asked to perform several pieces on the piano for this exam. The tracks were from easy to difficult.

The first piece is Bach’s Prelude and Fugue No. 19 in A major, the second is Six Variations by Beethoven in G major, and the third is Moszkowski’s Etude Op. 72 no. 2 in G minor, and the fourth is Chopin’s Prelude Op.28 no.18 in F minor. The fifth was by contemporary Swiss composer Arthur Honegger, his famous piece Souvenir de Chopin in E flat major.

In this process, the agreement in these pieces was that they are all from different eras in music, first the Baroque era for Bach, then the classical romantic era for Beethoven, then the romantic era for Chopin, and then Moszkowski comes with the era Late Romanticism or Late Classicism.

Then Souvenir de Chopin, which is contemporary classical music (1892–1955).

Here we notice that these pieces are also three on the major scale and two on the minor scale. How often the minor and major were used for the same musical scale, namely Sole or G.

All of these pieces have their own mechanism, skill, technique, and harmony, as they start from the easiest to the most difficult, that is: first Beethoven’s six variations, then Bach, then Moszkowski, and then Chopin.

Knowing that most piano students in the advanced stages of playing the piano are asked to perform Moszkowski’s famous etudes because they are educational and skilful etudes par excellence, and the word etude originally meant training.

Likewise, when I passed the graduation exam (diploma), I was then proficient in playing the most important pieces of classical music. Which are: the famous Bach Prelude and Fugue No. 16, Tempered Clavier book 1, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 11 in F major, Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique, second and third movements, Chopin’s Nocturne No. 1, and Debussy’s Prelude No. 1.

With these compositions, I took the graduation exam (diploma) at the Lebanese National Conservatory and passed it with a very good grade. I certainly worked very hard and put in a lot of effort until I mastered these pieces and achieved excellent success in the final exam for the diploma.

Conclusion

With this topic, I have presented to you ten romantic classical pieces that are considered among the most important musical works throughout the ages and have a lot of benefit when they are mastered and performed correctly and systematically.

Always remember to play a variety of pieces from different musical eras so that your musical abilities expand, your talent is honed, and you become familiar with all musical sciences across different eras.

This will definitely give you a broad understanding and great performing technique.

» To discover: Moritz Moszkowski – Piano Concerto in E major, Op 59