10 ESSENTIAL PIANO SONATAS for BEGINNERS

Here you go! 200 years' worth of piano sonatas in ten delightful examples. Enjoy!
C.P.E. Bach: Sonata in G minor, Wq 65/17 (H 47)
Mozart: Sonata in C major, K. 545
Haydn: Sonata in E-flat major (Hob. XVI/52 [L. 62]
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor “Pathétique”
Beethoven: Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53 “Waldstein”
Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35
Alkan: Grande Sonate, Op. 33 “Les Quatre Ages” (“The Four Ages of Man”)
Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor
Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 5
Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7

[@stephenmarmer543]

These “essential” lists for beginners are a tour de force for you. I’ve been listening for more than 6 decades but still find these talks informative. Your channel has brought me a lot of insight and much joy. Thanks.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thank you.

[@MofosOfMetal]

I'm delighted to see Alkan here in another list! I love the Grande Sonate - but a piece I actually love even more is his Sonatine in A minor Op.61. It's called 'Sonatine' but is longer than most Sonatas at near 20 minutes! To be honest he was a bit of a joker, so maybe that's the reason, but another reason may be the great expectations of an even 'grander' sequel - hence giving it that modest title. My favourite 20th century Piano Sonata is Medtner's Night Wind Op25no2. I think that's THE greatest 'lesser known' Sonata in the literature.....so for those looking to be adventurous beyond standard repertoire - that would be my pick! (maybe not for an essential list but had to mention it! I'm obsessed with Medtner).

[@jules153]

All Beethoven's 32 would be good... But seriously Pathetique and Waldstein are brilliant choices 👍🏻

[@JG_1998]

This is a great list, I was particularly thrilled to see the 5th Scriabin sonata included. It may be considered challenging for beginners, but I have an anecdote about my mom (who doesn't normally listen to classical music) hearing it for the first time: We were at the Van Cliburn this year, and one of the contestants played the Schumann symphonic etudes, Scriabin 5th sonata, and Ligeti's "devil's staircase" etude. I was really worried she would hate the last 2 pieces, but after the show she said that the Schumann almost put her to sleep, but the Scriabin sonata was her new favorite piece of piano music. She even liked the Ligeti etude, but said she wouldn't listen to it again for a while.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thank you. I don't see why anyone finds it difficult. It's instantly compelling.

[@loganfruchtman953]

I know Mozart’s K.545 from Baby Einstein and I learned to play it when I studied piano in my childhood. So I know this sonata very well. Thanks for mentioning it.

[@henryoliver2833]

I'm about 9 months into my classical music journey and am loving this series. Thank you!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@joshuafruend3348]

I'm very glad the Waldstein and the Funeral March made the list- two of my favorites. As a pianist, I think this list is very good and diverse. It covers the gamut pretty well!

[@markmiller3713]

Thank you, David for this survey!

[@gyulahunyor8267]

Thanks for this eye-opener lis again! When I started to think about the topic myself I just realized that how greater the challenge is compared to other genres. I'd add another favourite of mine to your list, Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Sonata though.

[@ericleiter6179]

Another great list...if you are a beginner, for the CPE Bach work, I suggest listening to it played on a piano before hearing it on the harpsichord. I say this, first because you will understand what Dave means about the Early Classical Jazz improv better, and second, because a harpsichord makes ANYTHING sound a hundred years older than it actually is!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Good point. Try the Pletnev recording on DG--the first three tracks on the disc, I think.

[@dennischiapello3879]

THAT's what I'm hearing when I listen to a harpsichord: it's RUST! Thanks for making me realize that.

[@bigg2988]

@@dennischiapello3879 Oh, BUT it is extremely historically informed! (Joking here! :))) Of course, the harpsichord has its charm and place in the musical library, especially considering performance of works signed in the Baroque period. But seriously, if everyone in their historic circumstances of 18th Century were satisfied with the sound and range of a harpsichord (mostly an accompanying instrument par excellence), then a clavichord and all the other variations thereof, much less the grand piano, would not have taken hold. The truth was, that whenever the musicians / composers had the means (like Clementi, for instance), they would not only acquire superior instruments, but INVEST into making them.

[@ericleiter6179]

@@dennischiapello3879 Yeah, you could play an Adele song on a harpsichord and people will think it's from the Renaissance!!!

[@ignacioclerici5341]

@@ericleiter6179 lol

[@dennischiapello3879]

Thank you so much for picking Prokofiev's SEVENTH sonata, which I never tire of. I used to attend a very good piano recital series years ago, but for some reason the pianists would always choose the EIGHTH. Perhaps it's more interesting or fun for them to play, but I've never warmed to it. The quiet, haunting tune that appears a few minutes into the first movement of the Seventh is Prokofiev at his melodic best. And go with Pollini; don't mess around.

[@robertcurry7664]

This is really a great list and, as always, a delight to hear your descriptions and thoughts of them. The Prokofiev 7, is a work that I especially cherish (possibly the greatest piano sonata of the 20th century?)…might we dare to hope for a survey of the Prokofiev sonatas, as a future post????

[@NateSassoonMusic]

with regards to the famous beautiful tune from the second movement of Beethoven's Pathetique: there is a suspiciously similar melody hiding in the slow movement of Mozart's sonata number 14 in C minor....also beautiful

[@NateSassoonMusic]

also despite the unique and more modern harmonic language, Scriabin's 5 I think really does seem to follow a sonata form...

[@quandaviousjingledaquavion2692]

I keep just learning the really complicated pieces and I don't know any easy ones. I could play maple leaf rag 2x speed but not baa baa black sheep 🤣 this video helped lots thanks 🙏

[@The_PorkchopExpress]

I'd like to know your thoughts on multi-channel SACDs. There are a few from Chandos I'm interested in picking up.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I have no interest in them.

[@Billblom]

Great collection of "listenables" --- I fought the piano, and the music lost.. however, Alkan had some other strange things made for a pedal piano of sorts.. (I seem to remember "Pedagie" or something like that... 4 part fugues for the feet. But the sonata is wonderful...

[@masahiromihara1481]

I used to play Mozart’s K.545 sonata when I was young. I remember that the third movement was too difficult for me to play although it is very simple. Just a few days ago, I happened to start re-learning this piece. Although Mozart said that it is an easy sonata, I don't think it is much easier than his other piano sonatas. (Actually, I play a couple of his other C Major piano sonatas. (No.1 and No.10)) As it is often said, Mozart is simple but hard to get right.

[@morrigambist]

I had the same experience. My mother used to call K.545 "An 18th Century Drawing Room".

[@dennischiapello3879]

​@@morrigambist Composer Raymond Scott wrote a jazzy piece based on the Mozart tune and titled it "In an 18th Century Drawing Room." You can find various recordings on KZbin.

[@bigg2988]

P. S.: The pick of Beethoven's "Waldstein" sonata was also very satisfying for me personally, as I adore that piece and feel it is still not recognized enough among its more famous brethren... but with Beethoven, none of the canon is threatened with obscurity, so it is just a point of preference.

[@EntelSidious_gamzeylmz]

really loved this list (and tbh this is the first one where I got the idea of what essential in this context means)

[@MofosOfMetal]

I'm sure the man in your image would be happy with this list!

[@eddihaskell]

Can someone help me with recommendations? In my years of collecting music I am just starting to purchase non-symphonic or operatic music. I love Mitsuko Uchida's Mozart Sonatas KV 533/494 in F, and 545 in C major (and Rondo 511) which I just picked up on a Philips CD. Can anyone recommend more of Mozart's piano composition? Mozart is "clicking" more than any other composer right now (no surprise really)

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Please have a look at reviews at ClassicsToday.com. That's why it's there!

[@eddihaskell]

Thanks Dave! I am taking your advice and buying her complete Mozart Piano Sonatas set which you recommend as one of three reference complete recordings. I might as well continue with her " sparkling symmetry and ultra-precision of Uchida’s fingerwork" as you so elegantly put it!

[@fulltongrace7899]

I have CDs of her Mozart and Beethoven complete Piano Concertos and Debussy Etudes.

[@EntelSidious_gamzeylmz]

I just thought of a question, why did you go for a middle sonata rather than a late one after the pathetique?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Sorry. I don't answer questions about these lists. They are what they are.

[@fred6904]

Hello Dave. Are you going to continue this series whith vocal works? Best wishes Fred.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Of course.

[@johnenock7939]

No Schubert?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Nope.

[@rhonda8900]

I finished listening to the piano sonatas. To my beginner ears, most of these sounded to "showy" with way to many notes that seemed to have trampled on the melody and even sometimes just broke down into noise and banging. Listening to these selections took me back to childhood when I was subjected to my years of listening to my best friend's sister's bad attempts at learning to play piano. The two Beethoven sonatas were the standouts and showed that a player can showcase technique without loosing the thread of the piece and are probably the only piano sonatas I will listen to again.

[@johnenock7939]

Many of Schubert's piano sonatas are a lot more 'intimate', less showy and certainly not noisy and banging.