What do you people think about Beethoven`s 8th sonata Op.13?

yeah I love chopin`s ballades, and I`m gonna do his first concerto as well, though it will be a challenge. I think rachmaninov is a bit out of reach, technically and musically, for me right now.

Yeah, when you`re choosing performance pieces, you want to choose pieces that are not overplayed, and to try to lean to not that well known pieces. My picks would be

Chopin:
Ballad in Gm
Heroic Polonaise (Both famous but with good reason)
Etudes Op12 #`s 10,11 & 12

Prokofiev:
Suggestion Diabolique

Rachmaninoff:
Prelude in Gminor
2nd Concerto first movment (Haven`t heard any other parts of any other of his concertos yet, but I bought a cd of 2nd and 4th. I just really love how the piano is always flowing but it comes in and out of the haunting strings` section)

Liszt:
I know it`s kind of famous but La Campanella, just becuase it sounds so damn good
-That`s it because that`s probably over or at the time limit of the audiences` attention

Ballad in Gm requires and therefore showcases many abilities on the piano (Fast finger movement, fast chord movement/hand position, combo chord/finger movment, octave, ff, pp, and good pedaling.) As well as sounding absolutely amazing, so I really recommend that. If you really want to show off do Liszt`s Transcendental Etudes or Godowsky`s Etudes. Godowsky`s Etudes are Chopin`s etudes made even harder, so Godowksy`s are is the hardest stuff in the world, as voted on by many many music officials. The most famous and most difficult of them is the Badinage etude. That`s a genius mashing together of the Butterfly and Black Key Etude. It`s simply unbelievable.

I love the Rach 2! It almost brought me to tears! It sounds even better when you`re playing it than listening to it.
Also you might like Rach 3, Mvt. 2.

Badinage...someone else can do it lol.

Beethoven`s 8th op.13, the famous pathetique, is very famous, and a good sonata. I learned the thing when i was like 13,(third movement when I was 14), and its a good sonata to play as well as listen to. However, of beethoven`s probably 4 most famous sonatas for piano (pathetique, moonlight, appasionata, and waldstein), and the the appasionata and waldstein are my favorite.

a RELATIVELY easy rachmaninov piece - Polichinelle op 3 no.4. Actually, there`s other pieces from op.3 by Rachmaninov that are relatively easy. Ravel is nice. And if you want something quite short but challenging - some of Chopin`s preludes have some virtuosity.

L`isle joyeuse by Debussy - that`s not hackneyed, and it`s a great piece, I think.

i played the rach 2...its pretty hard...not as hard as rach 3 of course..but its way more beautiful in my opinion...and if u wanna play a hard concerto..try busonis concerto...the rach3...prokofievs second..and chopin`s second which is one of my favorites

oh yea..and to the person who hasnt heard the other 2 movements of the rach 2...trust me...u need to hear it...it is such a great great great concerto as a whole

is rimsky korsakov`s piano concerto difficult?

Why is there no Bach here? Do we have to stick to romantic composers? I think that Bach`s First Keyboard Concerto (First Movement in Particular) is a perfect piece for a budding performer. It is, of course extremely difficult and methodical, but I think it showcases a lot of skills you don`t see in romantic work. It`s also quite uncommon to hear it, and examiners hate hearing the same piece twice...

Beethovens waldstein is my fave piece such a great piece to play