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Martha Argerich plays La Leggereza, one of Franz Liszt's Three Concert Etudes for piano

Liszt – La Leggierezza – Martha Argerich, Piano

La Leggierezza (meaning “lightness”) is the second from Franz Liszt’s Three Concert Etudes. It is a monothematic piece with a very simple melodic line for each hand under an unusual Quasi allegretto tempo marking, usually ignored in favour of something slightly more frenetic.

Chopin - Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor - Yuja Wang, Piano

ROMANTIC MUSIC / Impromptu / Piano

Chopin – Fantaisie-Impromptu – Wang, Piano

Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor, Op. posth. 66, is a solo piano composition. It was composed in 1834 and dedicated to Julian Fontana, who published the piece despite Frédéric Chopin’s request not to do so.

Prokofiev - Sonata No 7 - Khatia Buniatishvili, Piano

20th-CENTURY MUSIC / Piano / Sonata

Prokofiev – Piano Sonata No. 7 – Khatia Buniatishvili

Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83 (1942) (occasionally called the “Stalingrad”) is the second of the three “War Sonatas” written by Sergei Prokofiev. The sonata was first performed on 18 January 1943 in Moscow by Sviatoslav Richter.

Chopin - Waltz No 3 in A Minor - Grimaud, Piano

ROMANTIC MUSIC / Piano / Waltz

Chopin – Waltz No. 3 – Grimaud, Piano

Chopin’s Waltz No 3 in A minor was written in 1834 and published in 1838. Frédéric Chopin’s waltzes are pieces of moderate length adhering to the traditional 3/4 waltz time, but are remarkably different from the earlier Viennese waltzes in that they were not designed for dancing but for concert performance.

Ravel - Piano Concerto in G Major - Argerich, Piano

20th-CENTURY MUSIC / Concerto / Piano

Ravel – Concerto in G Major – Martha Argerich, Piano

Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major was composed between 1929 and 1931. The concerto is in three movements and was deeply infused with jazz idioms and harmonies, which, at the time, were highly popular in Paris as well as the United States, where Ravel was traveling on a piano tour.

The Chinese pianist Yuja Wang performs Sergei Rachmaninov's Vocalise in an arrangement for piano solo

ROMANTIC MUSIC / Piano

Rachmaninoff – Vocalise – Yuja Wang, Piano

Vocalise is a song by Sergei Rachmaninoff, composed and published in 1915 as the last of his 14 Songs or 14 Romances, Op. 34. Written for high voice (soprano or tenor) with piano accompaniment, it contains no words, but is sung using any one vowel of the singer’s choosing.

Chopin - Sonata No 2 in B-Flat Minor - Yuja Wang, Piano

ROMANTIC MUSIC / Piano / Sonata

Piano Sonata No. 2 (Chopin) – Yuja Wang

Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35, is a piano sonata in four movements. Frédéric Chopin completed the work while living in George Sand’s manor in Nohant, some 250 km (160 mi) south of Paris, a year before it was published in 1840. The third movement of the Piano Sonata No 2 is Chopin’s famous funeral march.