A brief disclaimer: I promise I tried to make this a top three. I tried to make it a top five. However, narrowing down the thousands of songs that I love, and mean something to me made this actually the hardest blog post we have done thus far, so I chose to make it a top three categories with a couple of pieces in each. I also originally felt a little guilty that so much of this is piano music. I really do love orchestral music, vocal music, and music for other solo instruments, but what can I say? I'm a pianist, and piano music speaks to me in a powerful way.

Antiquity Through The Classical Era

1. Hymn To Nikkal

Hey, This looks familiar! Hymn to Nikkal is the oldest existing written piece of music, and the first time I heard it was in Music History class not too long ago. Every time I hear this piece I can't help but wonder who wrote this. Who thought this was so beautiful, so significant, so important that they chose to write it down in a time when that was an honor reserved for only the most important of texts? To me, this piece is a gift from Ancient man that illustrates some very significant things about the nature of music. Though this piece is thousands of years old it has a tonal center, cadences, and harmony that makes sense to our modern ears which is so indicative of the timeless and universal nature of music.

2. Piano Sonata No 29 B♭ major Op 106 Hammerklavier- Ludwig Van Beethoven

This list could have been entirely Beethoven. He is my absolute favorite composer, and one of the greatest and most influential in all of history. This is one of my favorite of his pieces; it is an incredible display of the capabilities of the the piano as an instrument, and puts even modern pianists through their technical paces. Beethoven often demonstrates his abilities as a composer and pianist in the first movement of his sonatas, but it is in the second movements, often, that he bares his soul and this one has one of the most hauntingly beautiful "Adagio Sostenuto" movements in his entire repertoire. 

The Romantic Era Through Impressionism

3.Berceuse in D flat major Op. 57- Frederic Chopin

Chopin's music is a love-letter to the piano, and this piece is one of the first pieces of music that I ever really fell in love with. This particular performance inspires me as a pianist, because of the level of subtlety, grace, and delicacy with which Rubinstein (who I think is the greatest performer of Chopin who has ever lived excluding only Chopin himself) plays. This piece, so tranquil and peaceful, is exemplary of Chopin's great skill as a composer. 

4. Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2- Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt did for the piano what no other performer or composer before him had done for a single instrument (except perhaps Paganini for the Violin, but, though Liszt was inspired by Paganini, he went far beyond him in making the piano the most important instrument in the world of classical music). What I love most about Liszt's music is that, much like Chopin, his music is about the piano. Every note has the purpose of showing the instrument in its very best light, and this piece displays the piano as an instrument of bold power, capable of encompassing the entire scope of an orchestra. 

5. String Quartet in G major, Op. 106 -Antonín Dvořák

While it was the music of Chopin that first taught me to love the piano, it was Dvorak's music that opened my mind to the beauty in the music of other instruments. The second movement of this (I really have a thing for second movements) never fails to bring me to tears. The piece so beautifully blends the textures of the Violin, Viola, and Cello, and it was a wonderful treat to hear this work performed live by the Jerusalem String Quartet here at Converse a few weeks ago. 

6. Symphony No. 5 in C Sharp Minor- Gustav Mahler

Mahler is another of my favorite composers and he is a master of the symphony. Collectively, his body of work paints a picture of who he was as a man and the many struggles he encountered throughout his life, but also the incredible depth with which he understood music and the way that instruments work together. I included one of his most famous and most beautiful pieces, though this is only one of so many that continually touch me as a person and musician. 

7. Ondine (Gaspard de la Nuit)- Maurice Ravel

This is my "Bucket List" piece. Before I die (and preferably before I graduate) I would love to learn to play this piece, though I am so committed to Ivo Pogorelich's performance that I don't think I will ever be 100% happy with my own rendition of this piece. At times this piece seems as though it must be being played by more than one pianist and the technical mastery necessary to play this piece is so immense, but results in an incredible pay-off in terms of the sound produced. 

Bonus: 20th Century and Beyond... 

8. "I Love You For Sentimental Reasons"- Nat King Cole 

I think this is the most romantic song ever. I absolutely adore it, and though it's not exactly a Christmas Song it just makes me so happy I love to listen to it around Christmas time. 

9. "Across The Universe"- The Beatles

The Beatles are my favorite band of all time (would you look at them, they're adorable!) . "Let It Be" is one of my favorite albums, and the lyrics to this song are so beautiful. 

10. "Eyes Without A Face"- Billy Idol 

Don't ask me why I love this song as much as a do, but it's one of my favorites. Billy Idol is awesome, and very underrated as a singer and songwriter.