OliverSmith Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 Hello everybody! As a pianist, I usually hear to performances of the piece I am preparing to have some references.Although my favourite pianist is Martha Argerich with no doubts, I try to keep open-minded to other pianists (famous or not) to have a bigger vision of the piece. Also, when I'm going to compose something, in particular, a sonata, for example, I listen to a lot of Mozart and Haydn sonatas so that I can encompass better the style. I'm curious to know if you have any musician as a reference or if you listen to several musicians when preparing a piece or when you want to compose in a particular style? Here I attach a delightful article about some of the greatest pianists and composers along with the history. I enjoyed it and found some fantastic inspirations. Hope you find it useful too! https://www.piano-composer-teacher-london.co.uk/post/the-31-greatest-pianists-of-all-time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Left Unexplained Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 WWDD (what would debussy do) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinn Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Like many, I suppose, I have my preferred composers, a pretty eclectic bunch too but mostly from the impressionists. Some Romantics. No doubt influences creep in during composing so I have to take care to avoid them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis Hernández Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Ives, Debussy, Schönberg, Messiaen, John Cage, P. Glass, Rautavaara, P. Vasks, etc...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maestrowick Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 Debussy, Ravel, Strauss, Beethoven 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkho Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 Beethoven and Bach are my go to "teachers" when writing music regardless of the genre or style. If I'm actively trying to write in the classical style, Mozart of course. That pianist list is missing a few younger pianists who in my mind are or will certainly end up being among the all time greats. Yuja Wang, (who I think is the reincarnation of Horowitz), and Daniil Trifonov are exceptional pianists. Charles-Valentin Alkan, a contemporary of Liszt and Chopin, was considered every much their equal, perhaps more so in regards to technique, and his music is notoriously fiendishly difficult which reflects this. I don't think Schubert was ever considered a great pianist (though certainly a great composer for piano) and Lang Lang being on the list... I just rolled my eyes a little. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelCityOutlaw Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 Only if I'm writing something that is deliberately seeking to replicate a particular style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camfrtt Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 As for me, Mozart and Mendelssohn are my biggest inspirations, Rachmaninoff is a reference too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caters Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 For me, Beethoven's influence always shows(with maybe a few exceptions). It has even showed up when I was trying to emulate someone else. I remember once trying to write a Scherzo that sounded Haydnesque, you know with all the rhythmic and dynamic humor that Haydn does. And I was given this suggestion to have a sudden loud chord across the keyboard, and I've seen Haydn do that in perhaps his most famous symphony of all time so I went with it. And can you guess what kind of comment I got from that sudden forte? Well I got something along the lines of this: Quote This sounds more like Beethoven than Haydn even though I knew Haydn has pulled off a similar trick. Then again, Beethoven took that sudden forte trick a step further than Haydn did. Instead of just using it for surprise moments like Haydn did, Beethoven used this as the dynamic backbone of a lot of his pieces, from solo piano to full orchestra. So I'm not too surprised, but still, that just shows that I never really escape Beethoven's grasp, probably because he is my favorite composer of all time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.