My Favorite Pieces of 2026
Updated: Oct 5
My two favorite pieces of music are La Campanella by Franz Liszt and Moonlight Sonata, Third Movement by Ludwig van Beethoven.
La Campanella means “little bell.” This is represented through the high D# that is repeated throughout the piece, often requiring pianists to successfully pull off very far jumps across the piano in fractions of a second in order to reach the note. The reason why this is one of my favorite pieces is that the song starts out with a melody that is then expanded on, with different musical techniques being added on to this basic melody. This adds layers of complexity and never makes the piece feel old.
If you want to listen to the La Campanella piece played by the extraordinary Evgeny Kissin, you can watch it here.
My other favorite piece is Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, Third Movement. When most people hear Moonlight Sonata, they are most likely listening to his familiar First Movement. But I think his Third Movement truly highlights his compositional skills. I recently learned how to play this song too, and it is very difficult yet rewarding.
This Third Movement is a perfect example of presto agitato which is the Italian term to play it quick and agitated. So you have to play like you are powered by an engine because you need the endurance to keep up with the relentless fast arpeggios. An arpeggio is a technique where the notes of a chord are played one after another in an ascending or descending order. This is in contrast to a chord where multiple notes at played at the exact same time.
Beethoven’s use of specific dynamics and techniques in this movement makes it feel like a thunderous storm. For example, in the development part, there is a relentless build up of crescendos that makes the melody move like turbulent waves in the ocean. He also used a lot of sforzando dynamics which means to play it with a sudden strong accent.
The two challenging techniques include large jumps and playing chords. Jumping requires a lot of strength in your hands to bring greater dynamics in the melody. In addition to controlling the intensity, it is also a risk if you don’t land exactly on the right notes during the jumps. To play the chords in this piece, it has to sound strong and solid so the challenge is keeping up the strength in your upper and lower arms and the force generated by your palms. For example, when playing staccato chords with eighth notes, it has to sound clear and distinct. At the presto speed, any imbalance will sound cluttered and lack clarity.
Lastly, I really enjoy how he contrasts the slow First Movement with the fast Third Movement. In summation, the dangerous yet emotional anger Beethoven put into the Third Movement makes it my favorite.
If you want to listen to my working progress of the Third Movement, you can watch it here.
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