I think composers should study Chopin’s Op. 59 Mazurkas carefully. There are places in which the harmony blows my mind every time.
What are some other works that you can return to over and over again and still find surprising? Other genres are open for discussion too – film, theatre, art…
The first few seconds of Dvorak’s F minor piano trio (op. 65? – not the Dumky, the one before) always blows my mind. The strings are repeating an ascending interval and when the piano comes in it sounds like it is in another freakin’ time zone. Turns out the strings are playing triplets but articulating them like duples. I point this out to everyone I meet.
Jim Millar says:
Chopin’s harmony makes Wagner look old-fashioned.