What classical piece would you like to learn together? (Jan PIYW)

rsl12

The next Play It Your Way is due to be announced on November 16, so let's vote on what we should play together! The selections below came from the suggestion box:

The Happy Farmer (Op. 68 No. 10) (Schubert, RCM Piano Grade 4)

Sonata in G major, Hob. XVI:8 mvt 1 - Hob. XVI:8 (Haydn, Grade 3)

Sonata Hob XVI:15, Mvt 3 (Haydn, Grade 1)

The Benevolent Cuckoos (Couperin, Grade 3)

Melodie op 4, no 2 (Fanny Hensel, Grade 7)

Salut d'Amour (Elgar, Available in various difficulty levels)

Arabesque No. 1 (Debussy, Available in various difficulty levels)

Vote below. You are not limited to just these suggestions, but if you add a new one, please be prepared to help me find links to sheet music if your selection wins!

PS. Feel free to submit ideas to the suggestion box for future PIYWs. Here's the tentative schedule for the next few months:

Announcement/Publication date:
(Feb 2026: Recital)
Jan/Mar 2026: Popular
Feb/Apr 2026: TV, Movie, or Showtune
(May 2026: Recital)
Apr/Jun 2026: Blues or Traditional
May/Jul 2026: Classical

To vote, please copy & paste this message and add your votes. For upvoting, increase the number in front of the line. For a new suggestion, add a new line and start with 1. Multiple votes allowed.

1 - The Happy Farmer (Op. 68 No. 10) (Schubert)
1 - Sonata in G major, Hob. XVI:8 mvt 1 - Hob. XVI:8 (Haydn)
1 - Sonata Hob XVI:15, Mvt 3 (Haydn)
1 - The Benevolent Cuckoos (Couperin)
1 - Melodie op 4, no 2 (Fanny Hensel)
1 - Salut d'Amour (Elgar)
1 - Arabesque No. 1 (Debussy)

Simonb

To vote, please copy & paste this message and add your votes. For upvoting, increase the number in front of the line. For a new suggestion, add a new line and start with 1. Multiple votes allowed.

1 - The Happy Farmer (Op. 68 No. 10) (Schubert)
1 - Sonata in G major, Hob. XVI:8 mvt 1 - Hob. XVI:8 (Haydn)
1 - Sonata Hob XVI:15, Mvt 3 (Haydn)
1 - The Benevolent Cuckoos (Couperin)
2 - Melodie op 4, no 2 (Fanny Hensel)
1 - Salut d'Amour (Elgin)
1 - Arabesque No. 1 (Debussy)

The likelihood of me finding time to learn this is fairly remote, but I like the sound of the piece.

rsl12

Simonb The likelihood of me finding time to learn this is fairly remote, but I like the sound of the piece.

I like it too! I think @Josephine has it on her list of pieces to learn.

I'm very curious how this classical PIYW will turn out. It's a little different from the others since, unless we pick a famous piece with simplified versions or variations, the difficulty level chosen may not be a good match to all players. Also, since everyone will be playing pretty much the same notes, there will be less variation between submissions, and therefore it will be harder for people to write comments on submissions. But on the plus side, there may be more participation since more people here play classical than any other genre. While the similarity between submissions may make commenting harder, I think it will make the discussion about learning the piece more fun, as we can commiserate and celebrate about very specific shared experiences. Finally, I think it's okay if a PIYW piece's difficulty is very occasionally beyond some players' abilities, since there are so many PIYWs in a year.

twocats

rsl12 Also, since everyone will be playing pretty much the same notes, there will be less variation between submissions

I'm curious to know how it'll turn out, too! Part of me thinks that everyone playing the same piece won't be interesting but we'll see. I might participate if it's a piece I can easily read 🙂

Josephine

rsl12

Yes, I tried it a while ago, but it was more difficult for me than I thought. But I think that's because my sight reading is really terrible so I have to memorize. And for some reason it was difficult to memorize, so after a few measures I quit.

rsl12

At reddit, the easiest classical pieces always had the most the most participation. Right now, the Grade 7 piece is winning, but the other person voting for it sounded unlikely to participate. Even though I'd be happy to play any of the listed pieces, for the sake of improving participation, I'm going to take back my votes on anything above advanced beginner. If there's groundswell of votes for a harder piece though, I'm happy to go along.

To vote, please copy & paste this message and add your votes. For upvoting, increase the number in front of the line. For a new suggestion, add a new line and start with 1. Multiple votes allowed.

keff

1 - The Happy Farmer (Op. 68 No. 10) (Schubert)
2 - Sonata in G major, Hob. XVI:8 mvt 1 - Hob. XVI:8 (Haydn)
1 - Sonata Hob XVI:15, Mvt 3 (Haydn)
1 - The Benevolent Cuckoos (Couperin)
1 - Melodie op 4, no 2 (Fanny Hensel)
1 - Salut d'Amour (Elgin)
0 - Arabesque No. 1 (Debussy)

May I suggest allowing the option of playing any movement from Haydn XVI:8 to enable more choice in length and level of difficulty? The third movement is quite short and hopefully relatively quick to learn.

rsl12

keff May I suggest allowing the option of playing any movement from Haydn XVI:8 to enable more choice in length and level of difficulty?

There was a conversation a while back where several people agreed that playing the same piece is what made PIYW a uniquely fun experience. I'd at least like to try it as a single-piece event a few times before trying to open it up to a wider range, because that will turn PIYW into something more similar to the themed recitals at pianoworld. Those are also fun, but in a different way.

EDIT: ah, you mean any of the four movements of Hob XVI:8! Yes, I think that's reasonable. I misunderstood, thinking you wanted to open it up to all of Hob XVI!

For reference, here is the whole sonata. Grades for movements 1-4 are 3, 3, 4, 5 respectively.

keff

rsl12 Thanks for your reply and my apologies for not making it clearer that I was just referring to Haydn XVI nos. 8. The reason I made the suggestion was that I remember learning the fourth movement as a child with just two years of experience when preparing for UK ABRSM grade 2. ABRSM grades for mvt 1 is 4 and for mvt 3 it is 3. The second movement has seemingly not appeared in a ABRSM graded exam. Just shows how grades can vary.

rsl12

And while were at it, here is the entirety of the other Haydn sonata on the list, Hob XVI:15. I couldn't find grade estimates for each movement, but pianosyllabus.com estimates movement 2 as grade 1, and the sonata as a whole as grade 6.

rsl12

keff Thanks for your reply and my apologies for not making it clearer that I was just referring to Haydn XVI nos. 8.

You were very clear. I was just muddle-headed. As muddled as the grades for classical pieces!

thepianoplayer416

Slow movement from Mozart piano concerto no. 21 in c major K.467.

rsl12

1 - The Happy Farmer (Op. 68 No. 10) (Schubert)
2 - Sonata in G major, Hob. XVI:8 (all movements) (Haydn)
1 - Sonata Hob XVI:15 (all movements) (Haydn)
1 - The Benevolent Cuckoos (Couperin)
1 - Melodie op 4, no 2 (Fanny Hensel)
1 - Salut d'Amour (Elgin)
1 - Piano Concerto in C Major, K.467 2nd mvt (Mozart)
0 - Arabesque No. 1 (Debussy)

If no other votes come in the next day or two, I'll declare Haydn the winner. I think it's a good choice--pretty easy, but there's a slightly challenging option if anyone wants to take it.