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I'm looking for new pieces to play, and I would like to play some unknown works that are worth to be played. Like - unknown pieces from well-known composers (for example, 3rd piano concerto of Tschaikowsky or some unknown Sonata of Haydn) or pieces of composers of the "2nd row", like sonatas of Clementi, Suites of Rameau or Couperin or a Sonata of Medtner. Or interesting compositions of composers that aren't really known, like the piano studies of Dohnanyi (especially no. 5 and 6 are really beautiful pieces, no. 6, capriccio, is sometimes played).
I'm interested in your favorite pieces that are underrated!
Lyapunov's Études d'exécution transcendante deserve to be better known (not to mention giving poor old Liszt a break ).
Tchaikovsky's piano music is often regarded as a poor relation to Rach's and Prok's, but his 'The Seasons' are not his best - for that, look at his Op.72 Piano Pieces, which contain some lovely stuff.
And Martinu's Polkas & Études, and his Fantasie & Toccata are folk- and jazz-inflected - fun to play as well as to listen to.
Lots of the lesser known Haydn sonatas are treasures of wit, humor, and good composition- they're worth checking out! I would also suggest the piano works of Enescu. Haunting music. A selection from op.18 Sonata no.1 in F sharp minor, Op.24 Both performed by Romanian pianist Cristian Petrescu.
"Love has to be the starting point- love of music. It is one of my firmest convictions that love always produces some knowledge, while knowledge only rarely produces something similar to love." Arthur Schnabel
Ooh, I was noodling through that Paderewski nocturne a little while back. It has some nice application for ballet accompaniment. It's very pretty.
Here's me playing parts of it (I squared it off in order to make it possibly useful for an adagio ballet combination--ignore the repeated phrase at the beginning--it's a placeholder for a preparatory lead-in.)
"Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get, only what you are expecting to give, which is everything. You give because you love and cannot help giving." Katharine Hepburn
You can find many unjustly-neglected works by women composers. The prejudices against women composers made it much harder for a woman to get her works played and published than it was for a man, even if she had great talent.
Have a look at the works of Mel Bonis. There's a selection on IMSLP:
I like the Romance from the Tuin van Eros (Garden of Eros) by Jurriaan Andriessen. The sheet music is quite hard to find, though...
Manuel Blancafort is perhaps a better known, but I really like his Cants íntims (Intimate Chants) and Nocturns (Nocturnes). Similar to Frederic Mompou (in fact they were close friends), but more organic and earthy imho.
Variations and Fugue, op. 23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OChN9gZxwds (I'm listening to this right now - what an excellent performance from a pianist who is completely unfamiliar to me!)
Wow, thank you so much for all the suggestions! I will need some time to have a look (an ear...) to all of them, but I will. Another of my ideas is that I look for a Sonata of Haydn that is rarely played (not b minor or e flat major and so on), and Miroirs of Ravel. I know that they are well known, but at least not played as often as Gaspard de la nuit or the Sonatine. By the way, there are some almost ignored small pieces of Ravel (maybe because they are not all really impressionistic), like "A la manière de Borodine", but it is a perfect encore after a concert and a really good piece.
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