I just played a song called The Luckiest by Ben Folds, and I thought it sounded kind of sad, and I was wondering what are some others that people like.

Chopin Nocturne No 21 in C minor, Op Poth. (Not Op 48 No 1).

I think the original poster "z", is referring to music other than classical in his post. I don't know the music of Ben Folds.

As beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder, so are emotional reactions in the mind of the listener. Someone (idiot?) added the label "Tristesse" to the Chopin Etude Op 10, No 3 ("Sadness), but it's not necessarily sadness to me, just an exquisitely beautiful melody. I can't think of any particular piano piece that I would label as "sad" although others may find many that strike them that way.

It seems to be a purely subjective reaction.

Regards,

true it's all subjective, but still there's some universal agreement on it too. for example, if you listen to Beethoven's piano sonata op.10.3 and op.106 slow movement, everyone would agree they're pretty sad and not happy at all.

Try Chopin Prelude OP28 No.4 in E Minor. It is a largo, one page only. I find it sad because it sounds like someone is sobbing.
Any opinions?

Mozart's Adagio in b minor. I was just in Vienna last week and played this in the Haus of Musik.

Brahms intermezzo op 118 no2 A major.

(Yes I know major is not supposed to be sad but this one is ....)

Ragnhild

LvB's Moonlight sonata 1st mvt, kind of an overplayed piece in the "sad" section

I find most of Chopin's music very melancholic, and deeply sad, although to my friend's ear, it sounds like a resignated revolt

Chopin Nocturne, op. 48, No. 1 in C Minor.

Schubert Piano Sonata No.20 in A major second movement.

A lot of Chopin's piano music is sad sounding, but not overtly sad. It could also be contemplative or even heroic in some cases. But to me something that describes Chopin's music is a 'return'. If you've seen The Art of the Piano video you probably know what I'm talking about. Of course, in the video they're talking about Rachmaninov, but when I heard that and then played Chopin, I thought about a return.
As far as sad is concerned, I like Glinka's The Lark. Very nice piece played by Evgeny Kissin.

I would say to check into yoko shimomura's music. absolutely beautiful. the second movement from shostakovich 2nd piano concerto. ravel string quartet in f major. neptune from the planets. and there must be tons of others.lol.

Last act of Wozzeck
Albinoni Adagio
Adagio for Strings

Hmm...I dunno.

Classical:
MacDowell - To a Wild Rose
Gillock - Winter Scene
Debussy - Reverie
Gillock - Legend (more angry)
Rachmaninoff - Etude-Tableux No. 9
Mendelssohn - Agitation

Non-Classical:
"Misty"
"Wonderful Tonight"
"If I Ain't Got You"
"My Heart Will Go On"

The Minute Waltz by Chopin.

If you really listen to it, it's about a butterfly looking for love. In the beginning it's just fluttering around frantically looking for love, in the middle section it's trying to be beautiful and it's singing and saying 'please look at me, please pay attention to me and love me!' and in the end it's fluttering around again in search for love when suddenly, when the piece hits the high F at the very end, that's like a bullet hitting the butterfly, and the passage going down right after that is the butterfly falling to its death. And then the piece ends. So it's all about a butterfly looking for love, who doesn't find it, then gets shot down ruthlessly in the end for no reason.

It makes me so sad every time I listen to it, but I love the piece and I'm learning it right now.

Aerith's Theme by Nobuo Uematsu

Get's me every time

You've really got [/b] to be kidding! A butterfly looking for love and which gets shot??

After reading that, I'll never play it again without bursting out laughing!

Definately Rachmaninoff's B minor Prelude (op.32 no.10). It's also my favorite piece!

And I'll never go butterfly hunting (rifle in hand) without thinking of Chopin.

A butterfly's life has to be very sad. They taste with their feet, for example. How would our lives be if we did that?

Oh, and to answer the question - the slow movement of the Mozart 23rd piano concerto. Second place, Sibelius' Valse Triste.

I like Mozarts Rondo in A minor k.511, and Rachs Prelude in G sharp minor. Just to name two.

Let's not forget that poignant piano improvisation in the "rockumentary" "Spinal Tap" performed by lead guitarist Nigel. (He said it was in the saddest of all keys, D minor.) To avoid possible moderator discipline, I will refrain from mentioning the name of his sponataneous composition.

I can agree that it is a very sad piece. When I hear it, I imagine Chopin wheezing and gasping on his side, then turning over in agony, when it all starts again.

I can't think of "the saddest piece ever", but much of what comes to mind is Chopin, Beethoven, and Mozart.

Schubert sonata 959, 2nd movement.

Tomasino

Schubert sonata 959, 2nd movement, and the slow movement of the Mozart 23rd piano concerto. And the slow movements from Beethoven's piano sonatas op.10.3 in D major and op.106 in B flat major...

These pieces have, of course, already been mentioned, but they are the pieces I also would have mentioned (and did) after thinking about it hard...

This movement also has a very strong "demonic" element (I think that was Brendel's term).

does anyone find Liszt's Trancendental etude no.10 sad? i find it sound as the passion with simply no hope or in desperation, which seems incredibly sad.

I think Schubert is episodical enough in this movement to justify calling the demonic element a demonic episode (there is nothing demonic in the utterly sad beginning)...

I see it somewhere along those lines also. I had a past personal experience where, for some reason, the piece was playing in the background( i think it was my car stereo) and it touched me in a melancholic way.

Some measures and beginning of hungarian rhapsody No. 8 sound really really sad. The 2nd half just goes into a gleeful dance?

I think I perceive it like that too. Perhaps the music itself isn't sad, but rather passionate and desperate, which is sad to witness, as it were.

Besides some of the pieces already mentioned I find Schubert's Moment musicaux op. 94/2 extremely sad. When I hear (not when I play it) it really brings me to tears. The resignation that goes through the a flat major parts turns to pure desperation when it moves to f sharp minor.
Also very sad in my opinion is Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte.