Wanted: Piano music that's upbeat + catchy + sad

One way to get lots of examples in each category is Chopin's Op. 28 preludes: 24 short pieces with a very wide emotional range!

Suite Bergamasque by Debussy.

"piano (upbeat + catchy + sad + romantic)" = Billy Joel?

For a great piano album I'd recommend Bebo & Cigala - "Lágrimas Negras". Cuban son meets spanish flamenco meets south-american boleros and tangos and so on. A great album.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=glance&n=5174

Also give Tori Amos a try - On her earlier albums like "Little Earthquakes" and "Under the Pink" it's mostly her singing while playing the piano. The songs range from very emotional (e.g. 'Winter', 'Silent All These Years') to catchy-upbeat like e.g. 'Cornflake Girl' or 'Happy Phantom'. The album after "Under the Pink" called "Boys For Pele" is also very nice, shows a broader musical range and also has her playing cembalo in a few songs. I highly recommended these three albums if you like emotional piano music accompanied by a beautiful and versatile voice.

I hear you-I look for the same thing...
One of my favorites is the soundtrack to "The Piano" by Michael Nyman.
Some gorgeous piano pieces that are dark, haunting, romantic and deeply emotional. An album to listend to on a rainy day...
I would also definitely buy the soundtrack to "Shine" which is a movie about the brilliant David Helfgot (i think thats how you spell his name) and is a kind of "greatest hits" of powerhouse piano players. Contains some Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Liszt and Chopin-all classical romantic classics.

EDIT:Be sure to buy the soundtrack that titled "The Complete Classics" which is a double CD. The original Movie Soundtrack cuts many of the songs short.

Upbeat and Catchy: Scott Joplin -- my preferred recording is Joshua Rifkin. You will also find wistful and romantic qualities here as well.


For complexity nothing beats Scarlatti who encompasses every single emotion with his music. Ofcourse, this is not Romantic music (actually Baroque), but it's really yummy -- definitely for connoisseurs who really love the piano. My preferred recordings are by Horowitz, Pletnev and especially the new Sudbin release which is spectacular.


For Romantic, sad, heartbreakingly beautiful piano there is the wonderful music of Chopin (try anything by Claudio Arrau on Philips), but if you want something just slightly off the beaten track and amazingly beautiful, try Schumann, expecially Pletnev's recording.


For fiery, deeply emotional piano music there is also Rachmaninov -- especially his Preludes by Alexis Weissenberg.



If you want an amazing concert that will give you an amazing taste of the power of the piano, then try and get some Vladimir Horowitz recordings. This one is a favorite of mine.



Edit: I could kick myself, but I just remembered another great piece of piano music (actually about a million other pieces -- we haven't even touched the Beethoven Sonatas which are the New Testament of music). Schubert's Piano Sonata in Bflat, D960 is probably one of the greatest pieces of piano music ever composed. There are dozens of brilliant recordings of it, but this new (2004) recording has risen to the top of my collection -- Leif Ove Andsnes on EMI. Schubert wrote intensely emotional, melody driven music. This one was composed in the last year of his life when he learned that he had contracted syphillis and was dying. This is music that will never leave you.

Note: The recording also contains three Schubert lieder sung by Ian Bostridge which are jewels of that genre. If you don't care for the lieder immediately, just give them some time. They will grow upon you and the accompaniment by Andsnes is one of amazing subtlety and control.

there are final fantasy piano albums that are pretty good, if you ever played final fantasy these are great

Satie's music is catchy and sad, but not upbeat.

As Meatloaf says: Two of out Three ain't bad.

Edit, sorry I missed the reference to Ben Folds in your initial post.

I second this.
I am listening to Idil Biret's Naoxs recording, and, yes, she is another great musician to trained by the "American Conservatory in Paris," AKA Nadia Boulanger's one-teacher class.

May I recommend the following:

Jean-Yves Thibaudet - Satie: The Complete Solo Piano Music

Keiko Matsui -- Walls of Akendora

If you can stomach a 2-hour piano cycle, then you must try Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues: there is an incredible variety of music in this set, although it is not particular "catchy".

If you want something more lyrical and catchy, then perhaps BTTB by Ryuichi Sakamoto.