Fruit probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about piano music – except maybe the advice of the piano teacher who recommends playing the piano with hands curved as if holding an orange. Nevertheless, piano composers have been inspired by fruit, as evidenced in the following pieces.
Speaking of oranges, Prokofiev wrote the farcical fairy tale opera For the Love of Three Oranges. In this story, the cursed prince has to search for three oranges and finds love in the process. In one production, the audience received “scratch'n'sniff” cards to get more engaged. Piano arrangements are available, but not while sniffing....
It's a bit of a stretch, but Tchaikovsky's “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from his Nutcracker Suite does have a sweet sound. In this case, plums have been “dressed up” for the holidays as was the suite itself.
Plums, especially within the context of cooking, also inspired Bernstein. His work La Bonne Cuisine (Four Recipes) has as its fist “Plum Pudding,” which was composed for voice and piano. The lyrics were adapted from Emile Dumont's 1899 cookbook
Satie took a tongue-in-cheek approach to incorporating fruit in his piano suite Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear. There are actually seven pieces, and they have surprising features. As for the pear, the suite was compased for a piano duet: a pair of performers. So not really about fruit – but maybe he sounds a bit fruity.
Obviously, grapes consitute the basis for wine, which then led to several other music, but we'll let that vein age for now...
