Favorite solo piano pieces

Okay, so what are your favorite pieces of solo piano music? I must confess that I love solo piano music. So much so that I’ve accumulated about 400 or so solo discs, and an unknown number of mixed discs containing at least one solo piece. My favorites more or less fall into the standard repertory category, with heavy does of ol’ Ludwig and trusty Frederic. This is about the only area in my collection where more modern works take a back seat to more standard pieces. My list is below. There are some omissions. For instance, though I prefer Bach’s keyboard works on piano, I prefer my Scarlatti on the harpsichord. Brahms is missing. I’m slowly growing to like some of his works, but I still prefer his symphonies and chamber music. Haydn is not on the list, either. That’s not because I don’t like his piano music – I do – it’s just that I have not really identified any favorites, per se. Rachmaninov, too, is absent. Rach the pianist surpasses Rach the composer to my ears, and while I may spin his Preludes or Etudes Tableaux from time to time, I’m not a big fan. Anyway, here goes. (For Beethoven, references to Annie Fischer are for her Hungaroton recordings and for Gieseking, in Beethoven, I refer to his 1949 Saarbrucken recordings on Tahra unless otherwise noted.) I’ll include my favorite interpreter(s) for most works.


Bach

Golberg Variations – Perhia, Gould (1981), Tureck
English Suites – Gould, Perahia, Schiff
French Suites – Schiff, Gould
Italian Concerto – Schiff (Omega, 1978)
Well-Tempered Clavier – Tureck, Edwin Fischer, Hewitt


Bartok

Sonata, Sonatine, 14 Bagatelles, 4 Dirges, Allegro Barbaro, Out of Doors – Sandor
15 Hungarian Peasant Songs – Annie Fischer
Dance Suite – Schiff (Denon)


Beethoven

Op 2/1 – Annie Fischer, Perahia, Schnabel
2/2 – Schnabel, Fischer, Perahia
2/3 – Perahia, Fischer, Schnabel
7 – Fischer, John O’Conor, Kempff
10/1 – Fischer, O’Conor, Kempff
10/2 – Fischer, Gieseking, Kovacevich
10/3 – Kovacevich, Fischer, Schnabel
13 – Serkin, Moravec, Schnabel
14/1 – Gieseking, Gieseking (EMI), Kempff
14/2 – Gieseking, Gieseking (EMI), Kempff
22 – Kempff, O’Conor, Gieseking
26 – Kempff, Schnabel, O’Conor
27/1 – Kempff, Serkin, Gieseking (EMI)
27/2 – Fischer (EMI), Gieseking (EMI), Fischer
28 – Kempff, Pollini, Kovacevich
31/1 – Gieseking, Fischer, Kovacevich
31/2 – Backhaus, Gieseking, Kovacevich
31/3 – Gieseking, Fischer, Kovacevich
49/1,2 – O’Conor, Kempff, Fischer
53 – O’Conor, Pollini (1997), Serkin
54 – Fischer, Kempff, O’Conor
57 – Fischer
78/79 – Backhaus, O’Conor, Kempff
81a – Serkin, Backhaus, Kempff
90 – Fischer, Moravec, Brendel (Vox)
101 – Schnabel, Brendel (Vox), Kempff
106 – Pollini, Serkin, Fischer
109 - Serkin, Gieseking (EMI), Kempff
110 - Gieseking (EMI), Fischer, Kempff
111 - Pollini, Serkin, Fischer
Diabelli Variations - Serkin


Berg

Sonata – Pollini, Gould, Peter Hill


Boulez

Sonata No 1 – Helffer
Sonata No 2 – Pollini


Chopin

Ballades – Cortot (1933), Moravec, Ashkenazy
Scherzos – Pogorelich, Ashkenazy, Pollini
Sonata No 2 – Rubinstein (stereo - why bother with anyone else?)
Nocturnes – Moravec, Rubinstein, Lympany
Polonaises – Pollini
Etudes – Pollini, Gavrilov, Cortot (1933)
Mazurkas – Rubinstein (stereo)
Waltzes – Lipatti


Debussy

Preludes – Michelangeli
Images – Moravec
Suite Bergamesque – Gieseking
Etudes – Gieseking
Pour le Piano – Moravec
Estampes – Moravec


Dvorak

Humoresques – Firkusny


Janacek

Sonata – Palenicek, Firkusny, Schiff
In the Mists – Palenicek, Firkusny, Schiff
Along an Overgrown Path – Schiff (ECM), Firkusny, Palenicek


Ligeti

Etudes – Aimard


Liszt

Sonata – Bolet (Decca), Pollini, Richter (late Philips recording)
Annes de Pelerinage – Berman, Bolet (Deuxieme anne only)
Transcendental Etudes
Consolations
Nuages Gris


Mozart

Piano Sonatas – Walter Klien


Mussorgsky

Pictures at an Exhibition – Janis, Pogorelich, Moiseiwitsch (1945)


Prokofiev

Sarcasms – Sandor
Visions Fugitives – Prokofiev
Sonatas 1-5, 9 – Sandor
Sonata 7 – Pollini
Sonatas 6, 8 – Richter


Ravel

Gaspard de le Nuit – Pogorelich
Miroirs, Sonatine, Le Tombeau de Couperin – Casadesus
Valses et sentimentales – Gieseking


Schoenberg

All – Pollini


Schubert

Sonata D960 – Kempff, Kovacevich (Hyperion), Klien
D537, D845 – Klien
D157 – Volodos
All other sonatas – Kempff
Wanderer Fantasy – Kempff


Schumann

Fantaisie, Symphonic Etudes, Davidsbundlertanze – Pollini
Carnaval – Cortot (1928)
Kreisleriana – Cortot (1935)
Bunte Blatter – Volodos
Papillons – Kempff
Kinderszenen – Moiseiwitsch (1930)


Scriabin

Sonatas 4, 9 – Sofronitsky
Sonatas 5-8, 10 – Ogdon
Sonatas 1-3 – Ashkenazy
Preludes – Zarafiants


Stravinsky

Petrushka Movements - Pollini


Szymanowski

Sonatas 2,3
Metopes
Masques
Mazurkas
Variations on a Polish Folk Theme

[This message was edited by Todd Arola on MONDAY 23 September 2002 at 18:45.]