lisztfan

well, i do not have a piano but i go to my aunt's house everyday (and waste two hours' of travelling time :P ) to practise for about 2 hrs.

no offence....actually i do not think that mozarts piano pieces are rich and subtle enough (interpret that any way you want) to be comparable with most of the romantics' work.... maybe you could change my mind? :P

national music... well, if you have listened to chopin's polonaises and mazurkas (which im certain you have) you have heard national music (or something like that, please correct me) for folk tunes: why not liszt's gypsy tunes or hungarian rhapsodies? strange... i seem to be harping quite a lot about liszt and chopin lately... :P

in no particular order chopin: master of counterpoint... listen to the opening bars of his barcarolle or his berceuse!!! his melodies are also incredibly subtle ( "cello" and Tristesse etudes) liszt: has some very (weird) interesting stuff... have no name for it. many more not-so-influential influencers, too many to mention. :P

well, i would say that my favourite composer would have to be franz liszt ( as is obvious from my username). his compositions were very innovative (and unorthdox) at that time, and his piano music (or at least some of it) reqires a certiain degree of vituosity to play successfully. im not saying that that means he is a good composer, but it is something anyway. some people (like chopin, whom i also revere) think his pieces are flamboyant, but i would say that is a matter of personal opinion. some of his gypsy tunes are also fantastic. heres a liszt (forgive the lame pun!) of my favourite (piano) works by him (thought i like almost all of them): hungarian rhapsodies nos 2, 6 and 12 paganini etudes nos 1,3 and 5 ballade no 1 transcendental etudes "feux follets", "wilde jagd" and "mazeppa" all concert etudes ;)