My Favorite Composers
Alexander Scriabin
I stumbled upon a collection of Scriabin's late works last winter. If I remember, the first piece I listened to was his Sonata No. 7 - "White Mass". I was completely blown away by the dizzying polyrhythms and the unique, lyrical & idiosyncratic atonal system of Scriabin. As I began delving further into Scriabin's repertoire, I noticed his early works were characterized by a highly tonal idiom - possessing a Chopinesque resonance. The structure of Scriabin's musical system (both tonal and atonal) in his pieces never fail to give me a sense of ecstasy and sublimity when I listen to him.
Personal Favorite Pieces:
Nikolai Kapustin
It is really unfortunate that Kapustin's repertoire is unknown among many pianists - his works focus on the fusion of classical virtuoso pianism and improvisational jazz, molding together as one to create "jazzical" pleasure to the ears. I'd especially recommend Kapustin to classically trained pianists - his music is really refreshing to listen to and play if you are in the mood to spice things up.
Personal Favorite Pieces:
Leopold Godowsky
Godowsky's works for piano are presented with phenomenal difficulties, which is how I was hooked into listening to him. His 53 Studies of Chopin Etudes are so difficult that only a few pianists have ventured to perform them, like Hamelin and Berezovsky. Aside from his transcendentally difficult paraphrases and transcriptions, Godowsky's original works are beautiful and genius. His "Passacaglia in B Minor" is a grandiose, colossal masterpiece that showcases his virtuosity in counterpoint, and his "Java Suite" is an exquisite, exotic, interpretation of Indonesian gamelan music.
Personal Favorite Pieces: