Best Romantic Piano Pieces to Play
Over the years, composers have plucked out the most stunning chords, melodies and rhythms and composed as whole variety of gorgeous romantic music.
We’ve picked out a selection of our favourites for you. Let’s start with some Brahms…
Brahms – Lullaby
Beginner
Most of you will recognise this gorgeous piece. We feature a simplified beginners arrangement inside issue 97. It’s an arrangement that rocks gently in triple time like a slow waltz.
A waltz, you say?
Perfect for a little after-dinner dance, then.
Borodin – Polovstian Dance No 17
Beginner
Lento e espressivo.
That is the marking which appears at the start of the piece, and it means ‘slow and expressive’. The perfect tempo for a dance, just like the Brahms piece above.
The Polovstian Dances were composed for an interlude in Borodin’s opera Prince Igor. Borodin doubled as a chemist when not composing music. He made some highly important contributions to organic chemistry. In his mind, he was a chemist first and a composer second.
His love of chemistry certainly spilled over into his compositional works; Polovstian Dance No 17 is full of it.
MacDowell – To a Wild Rose
Intermediate
Featured in issue 71 and in our Play Romantics digital special
This is the first piece in MacDowell’s piano suite Woodland Sketches, which dates from 1896. It’s a piece that masters simplicity and tenderness. Take a listen through and you’ll notice how MacDowell always seems to choose the perfect following note; there’s an aura of completeness and satisfaction about it.
Chopin – Prélude Op 28 No 15, ‘Raindrop’
Intermediate/Advanced
Featured in issue 100 and in our Play Romantics digital special
According to the not entirely reliable memoirs of Chopin’s lover George Sand, this Prélude was first imagined in a dream where the composer saw himself drown in a lake.
Romantic, eh?
Don’t let that put you off; put your own story behind the piece!
Debussy – Clair de lune
Intermediate/Advanced
An iconic piece from Debussy. Clair de lune translates to ‘moonlight’ in French, and what better way to serenade your loved one than to perform this piece in the evening moonlight. Debussy was inspired to compose the piece after reading a French poem written by Paul Verlaine.
The poem begins with the line, ‘Your soul is a chosen landscape, where charming masquerades and dancers are promenading.’
If you’re going to learn any piece from this list, Clair de lune must be your number one choice, without a doubt.
We LOVE Lang Lang’s performance of the piece below.
Liszt – Un sospiro
Advanced
Featured in issue 93 and in our Play Romantics digital special
A piece considered by many as one of the most beautiful ever composed.
It is characterised by an almost ever-present, continuous crossing of hands throughout which creates an uninterrupted flow of music. It begins to breathe towards the end, slowing down with some delightful extended chords.
Check out our 5 top tips for playing romantic piano music.
1. Debussy Clair de lune
Where else to start other than with the absolutely stunning Clair de lune. Pianist Khatia Buniatishvili plays the piece in the video above, silencing her audience with the beauty of the piece.
'Clair de lune' quite literally means 'moonlight' in French. Certainly a romantic setting for a piano piece.
2. Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 Op 18
This famous Rach concerto is a passionate piece full of power! Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova performs it above alongside the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie. You can deny its jaw-dropping beauty.
3. Beethoven 'Moonlight Sonata'
Beethoven reportedly wrote and dedicated this piece to his 16-year old lover and student, Giulietta Guicciardi, whom he had fallen in love with at around that time. So it's certainly a piece full of love and feeling.
Pianist Georgii Cherkin does a sensational job of portraying that feeling of love above.
4. Chopin Nocturne No 1 in B flat minor Op 9
Husband & wife Lang Lang and Gina Alice treat us to this gorgeous duo performance of Chopin's romantic Nocturne No 1 in B flat.
5. Liszt Liebestraum No 3
Translating to 'dream of love', this piece by Liszt is gorgeous enough to put you to sleep. One again, performed so effortlessly and beautifully by Khatia Buniatishvili.
6. Mozart Piano Concerto No 20 (II. Romance)
Pianist Magazine's first EVER cover artist, Leif Ove Andsnes, gifts us this gorgeous performance of the Romance movement from Mozart's Piano Concerto No 20. The piece certainly does justice to its name, with its lyrical, passionate, tender and romantic melody.
7. Einaudi I Giorni
You'll struggle to find a piano lover in the world who hasn't heard this iconic piece before. Einaudi takes the simplest of melodies and manages to create a piece loved and adored by so many. It's become a popular choice for bridal entrances at weddings!
8. Brahms Piano Intermezzo Op 118 No 2
Those first two chords are enough to put you in a trance. This meditative, reflective and highly expressive piece is the perfect accompaniment to a Valentine's Day dinner.