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on the up side. At least I'm not the only one who is Completely and Utterly wrong.
I know what #5 is now. Had to pay a lot of money, but you know it was worth it.

Just had a flash of inspiration. Is #2 Tchaikovsky? I'm on a Russian theme at least. feel this is my best guess so far and it fits with your clue of "best known for orchestral, but popular"

Since one guess on 1 is correct, I won't guess on it.

#2 Sounds like Clementi to me, but no idea what piece.

#3 I'll guess either Liszt or Chopin here.

#4 Could be Liszt again. Might be early Scriabin.

#5 I'd guess either later Scriabin or Shostakovich.

1: Dvorak
2: Schumann
3: Schubert
4: Liszt
5: Chopin

Remember that according to the original post, these samples were chosen specifically because they don't sound like their respective composers. So the question isn't "who would have written that", but "who would have written that if they were trying to write like someone else."

Accordingly, Sam, this is pretty hard stuff. Maybe post some longer excerpts, and hints?

I'll start with a hint for #5 (the only one I know). According to Wikipedia, this piece was written in 1912 or 1913, and the composer made it very clear that he's trying to emulate Alexander Borodin.

-Jason

Here are the pianists:

1. Annette Servadei
2. Sergei Rachmaninov
3. Frederic Chiu
4. Dmitri Shostakovich
5. Walter Gieseking

And a few hints:
-- No. 1 is part of a 10-movement set, including (among others) a valse, a mazurka, a couplet, a "joueur de harpe", and a danse pastorale.
-- No. 2 is a waltz
-- No. 3 is a childhood work (aka juvenilia)
-- No. 4 is part of a film score; the film was based on a novel about Italian/Austrian politics by Ethel Lilian Voynich (novel published in 1897, film published in 1955)
-- No. 5 -- Jason's hint is pretty good!

I'll post the answers tonight.

Some random guesses:

1.Sibelius
2.Tchaikovsky
3.Prokofiev
4.Shostakovich
5.Ravel

If only I could learn to count to 5. My Shostakovich guess pertains to no. 4, not no. 5. Sorry I didn't discover the typo sooner.

*glances at watch*

..............*drums fingers on table (rhythmically!)*

C'mon pya-know-Jerome

thank you for this interesting post

just some guess
1. Sibelius
2. Tchaikovsky
3. Mendelssohn???
4. Dmitri Shostakovich
5. Ravel's A la manière de Borodine?

RogerW wins!

1. Sibelius - Bagatelle, Op. 34 No. 3 ("Mazurka")
-- from Annette Servadei's complete recording of Sibelius's piano music

2. Tchaikovsky - Waltz, Op. 40 No. 8
-- from Rachmaninov's recording "A Window in Time 2"

3. Prokofiev - Juvenilia, Melody
-- from Frederic Chiu's complete recording of Prokofiev's piano music

4. Shostakovich - Piano Music from the Film "Oved" (The Gadfly), Op. 97
-- from Shostakovich's recording "Shostakovich Plays Shostakovich, Volume 2"

5. Ravel - A la maniere de... Borodine
-- from Walter Gieseking's complete recording of Ravel's piano music

That was great fun Sam

Thanks for making me waste a lot of time find some interesting new music, while hunting for answers. Top quiz

canonie

Thanks for sharing some interesting nooks and crannies with your quiz, Sam.


It seemed to me that the laconic, almost-jazzy chromaticism of the last few seconds of Mystery #5 could have been written in the 1860s. But something about the mood struck me as vaguely familiar, and today I've finally realized what it reminded me of: the opening of Fauré's Valse-Caprice No. 4 (composed 1894). That might have led me to "probably late Romantic, possibly French", which turned out to be on the right path.

Confession time: I don't know any Borodin solo piano music, and barely any Tchaikovsky either.