Spectacular sounding piano pieces, that aren't difficult to play.

[StickWaver]

When I was years younger and I was trying to impress people I could throw off a Khachaturian . These days (minimal practice in the intervening years) I can just about manage his !

Can anyone suggest pieces that sound suitably brilliant, but that actually aren't very difficult to play?

When you say "spectacular sounding", do you mean that will impress other people when you play for them? In that case, I would go for pieces that most people would actually want to listen to, unlike Khachaturian's.

How about Rameau's ? It gets pretty impressive in the last 3 variations and it's easier to play than you think.

also looks very impressive but isn't that hard to play.

Fur Elise, it’s so easy, and everyone knows it.

Ooh, that's a bit judgy Cote. I think Khachaturian is fantastic. If I found Rameau a bit dull I wouldn't come on to your thread and tell you so.

I was thinking more spectacular in the fireworks sort of sense, hence the Toccata above.

What level of "easy" do you mean ? I learnt Debussy's The Little Negro around grade 5 and that certainly is impressive to the non-pianist with the chromatic chord sequence. And it's a joy to play

Yiruma - River flows in you

Great thread idea!
I got nothing - I only play pieces I learned a loong time ago, but I'm going to check out these suggestions.

I love Khachaturian's Toccata.

Difficult to suggest because it's such a personal choice. But I always found Reverie by Debussy or Gymnopedie by Satie pretty good value for effort in vs emotion out.

Otherwise there's a few pieces by Gerschwin that sound a lot harder than they are.

Maybe not the fireworks you're after though!

I'd also recommend Burgmuller's 25 easy and progressive pieces - I'd say they go from around grade 2 to 5. I play them a lot, they are a very nice little book with a variety of styles
practisingthepiano.com/burgmullers-25-easy-progressive-studies-op-100/

*Gershwin! Silly autocorrect

A second for Satie. I love playing the gymnopedies and gnossiennes. I have a small book with three of each, all short. No bar separations, and French comments instead of the usual notation. Love it

Personally I like learning Einaudi pieces at the moment, not too complex but sound pretty. 😊

I was going to say Einaudi too. I’m not that keen but they are popular and relatively easy to play.

Admittedly I don't know much by Einaudi, but anything less 'spectacular' sounding is hard to imagine!

.

I'm afraid that I find Einaudi the very worst kind of musak.

I've played several of the Satie pieces before, and enjoy them, but not quite the vibe I'm looking for at the moment.

I haven't played any Gershwin for a while, so maybe I'll take another look at some of that.

Yiruma - better than Einaudi, but not what I'm after.

I don't know Burgmuller, but I'll have a look.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata?

I know it's sacrilege, but I've never really enjoyed playing Beethoven!

If you like Khachaturian (who I adore btw!) you may enjoy playing some Bartok - I love playing his Suite Op. 14, especially the first movement. Alternatively, there's some great pieces in the Mikrokosmos collection - I believe these books are meant to get progressively harder so you can have a bash through and improve along the way!

If you're into jazz, I love a bit of Joplin - Maple Leaf Rag is a personal favourite.

If you're looking for something more classical, I'd have a search through Debussy's preludes and see if there's anything you like?

Even more classical still, I'm currently enjoying playing Brahms Op 118 No. 3 which I think sounds pretty grand!

You probably know this already, but most of the above will be available for free on IMSLP completely legally - so you can download, test them out, and then decide if you want to commit to buying a copy!

Have fun!

I’ve been teaching myself to play since first lockdown so not very knowledgeable about these things but the Burgmuller are really nice to play and very pleasing to listen to - as in they’re the ones other people in the house will say “ooh, you’re good, I like that” even if it’s a really simple piece of music. I hate Einaudi!

I like this series of books: Grade 4 Piano Solos (Graded Piano Solos) www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1783059753/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_6E2TRG6X87HTCA6HVDYQ?psc=1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnetforu03-21 - I have from Grade 2 to 5 (although that one’s aspirational for me) and there’s a nice mix of familiar stuff that’s fun to play but with a nice range of challenge.

Debussy's Dr Gradus ad Parnassum prelude is grade 7/8, sits naturally under the hands, and sounds very showy.

Thanks CaribouCarafe. I haven't played any Bartok for years, so I might have to have a look at that.

I've got a large album of Debussy hidden around somewhere, so I'll have to take a look through that too.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

@StickWaver Nils Frahm, Alexander Chapman Campbell, Yann Tiersen, Chopin’s easier pieces, Satie, Knight Rupert...

I also am not a fan of Einaudi but can’t explain why I don’t like him - but like Tiersen and Campbell Chapman.

I spent a holiday season learning Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu once and it was surprisingly manageable. Plus has the nice slow bit in the middle for a rest.

@eepeep - I tried Raindrop Prelude recently, and was not too bad!