Who are your favourite composers?

[ryder]

And whose works do you enjoy playing the most?

My favourite contemporary music composer is David Benoit and I love to play his works most of the time. I can spend up to two straight hours on weekends playing his music.

I used to play Richard Clayderman's but not as often these days after I discovered D. Benoit. On classical, I play Mozart's pieces the most followed by Chopin. Very little Bach(regretfully I find his music to be not engaging).

Any other recommendations on contemporary music would be most appreciated. Anybody here who play David Benoit's pieces? I really can't believe it nobody seems to know of this renowned pianist seeing the failure of my other thread.

[Gill the Piano]

I've never heard of Benoit; is it new-agey stuff? If so, I like David Lanz compositions; unchallenging but nice to play and to listen to in a 'mood' sort of way...Beethoven sonatas for the desert island (a piano as my luxury), and Rachmaninov for PMT!

[ryder]

Hi Gill,

Thanks for chiming in. Well, David Benoit is a renowned American pianist and composer mainly in contemporary jazz. He has also been a conductor with a few philharmonics and has won a few Grammy nominations which include "Dad's Room" for best instrumental composition to name a few. However, I liked "Kei's Song" the best, followed by "Looking Back" and "As If I Could Reach Rainbows".

I don't really play classical too much these days but more towards contemporary jazz. I guess you can say it's new age stuff. I'll check out David Lanz to see if his music suits my cup of tea. I'm currently running out of tunes to play now. Can't wait to dump my Kawai upright for a lighter touch of a Yamaha grand.

I would really appreciate if anybody on this site knows where on earth I can purchase Yukie Nishimura's song books apart from the idea of flying to Japan to get one

[Gill the Piano]

sheetmusichound.com have a book of Nishimura's piano works for 18.95 quid. Now tell me I'm wonderful...

[Gill the Piano]

...and if you like jazz, Lanz won't be for you - too saccharine, I'd have thought.

[ryder]

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, potential buyers cannot get to see the cover of the book and also the list of songs featured in the book which I deem to be imperative for an imminent purchase. I do not know if the composer is really Yukie Nishimura as the link shows two Nishimura's, "Nishimura A" and "Nishimura Y".

Guess I'll have to contact them and check it out.

Thanks.

[Gill the Piano]

Yukiko Nishimura. Sheetmusicplus.com only have concert band arrangements, as far as I can see.

[ryder]

Thanks for the help.

[cothse]

I like a good juicy Brahms.

[honeyfunk]

hi, do you know where i can hold off david benoit's "life is like a samba"... i love music, play a lot of chopin, bach and jazz but man... this is my favourite track ever.... i just love it, yet cant find the music.... any ideas?

thanks

[markymark]

And whose works do you enjoy playing the most?

I used to play Richard Clayderman's but not as often these days after I discovered D. Benoit. On classical, I play Mozart's pieces the most followed by Chopin. Very little Bach(regretfully I find his music to be not engaging).

I used to play a lot of Paul DeSenneville's material which you can also get among Richard Claydermann. Having said that, I have come to appreciate Robert Schumann's material. I love the way in which you can emotionally engage with his music - almost as if he's telling you a story.

It's funny you mention Bach because I find his music very engaging although that's mainly because playing his pieces can feel like a super-intense work-out. The fingerings needed to cope with those long, flowing and at time, rather dense harmonic phrases get to me after a while, especially when sight-reading the piece for the first time

[Gill the Piano]

Re Benoit's music; try sheetmusicplus.com. They're american, but delivery is very quick and if you're in GB then the exchange rate is very favourable at the mo!