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I'm too lazy to count the number of works in this list, but it seems pretty diverse. Definitely not in the 800 range though:

http://vladimirhorowitz.hostzi.com/1_12_Repertoire.html

His recording repertoire is extremely large, but you only get bits and pieces of it in his performing repertoire, and understandably, he often plays his own compositions. I think the encyclopedic nature of his discography is kind of at odds with what he really wants to do as a musician.

This is quite interesting because my impression is that this list has a lot of works Horowitz played before 1940 or 1950 that he rarely played later in his career.

I don't know how much of his vast recording repertoire he actually performed, but Michael Ponti might be worth a mention.

I would like to nominate my teacher. He's performed or recorded over 100 concerti and recorded all the Beethoven sonatas and a huge chunk of chamber music.

Who is he? 100 concerti seems astronomical!

Are there "over 100" (piano) concerti that would have been performed and/or recorded? Would this not have to include some pretty obscure works? Where would one find the orchestra - or even the scores - for such obscure works?

What am I missing in this "over 100" list?

Regards,

Well, off the top of my head here is my guess as to what concertos are "commonly" played:

Mozart ~20 are commonly played
5 Beethoven
2 Chopin
2 Brahms
5 Prokofiev
3 Rachmaninov
2 Liszt
1 Grieg
1 Macdowell
1 Glazunov
1 Schumann
4 or so of the Haydn concertos
~10 J.S. Bach concertos of various sorts
3 C.P.E. Bach
2 Tchaikovsky
1 Lutoslawski
2 Ravel
1 Dvorak
Total: 66

Am I missing any?

You've left out quite a bit of common repertoire I can think of; Mendelssohn for one. There are easily orchestras for at least 100 concertos.

Maybe GeorgeB would like to ask his teacher and list them for us?

In that I used to call him every year on his birthday, I list the link to Earl Wild's website. Click on the the three page discography, if you want some idea of the amount of repertoire the man recorded.

It doesn't include a lot of pieces that he played in concert, such as the Schumann Concerto, which he didn't record. The man lived to be 93 years old and was concertizing from the age of 13.

He played it all! And, that includeds many of his own compositions/transcriptions.

Further, he played a wide spectrum of repertoire his entire career unlike others listed here who specialized in only certain composers late in life.

http://earlwild.com/

He's got them on his website. Very impressive though several of them are extremely obscure.

If I wanted to disclose who/where I study with I would have said it in my first post.

I think you are correct, at least from what I have read. (Sorry I didn't get on this last night, I had to play an Easter service on the organ at moment's notice.)

The one composer conspicuously missing from Arrau's repertoire is Rachmaninov. I'm sure he must have dabbled in his music at some point, yet in later life he could only say 'Rachmaninov writes for the public'.

Well that seems a bit unfair, if I may so so. I think Arrau could have given us the most noble recording of R's 2nd Concerto, he would have elevated it to Brahms territory, and made us hear it differently than anyone before or since.

That's what I'd be afraid of, if Arrau did play Rachmaninov.

His Chopin - especially the concertante works - are really something of an acquired taste. I think he forgot that Chopin lived most of his life in France, not Germany.......

I don't know how they dig up the scores, but Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series has already gone past the one hundred mark and shows no sign of stopping. And, it's a restricted subset of concertos. There are, I would imagine, at least as many written both before and, especially, after the Romantic era, and many of pretty decent quality.

By the way, another pianist with a vast repertoire is Garrick Ohlsson - he has played far more than just what has appeared on recordings. For example, I remember that he did a Busoni survey that stretched over three solo recitals, but I don't think any recordings of solo Busoni from him have been released.

Why do you say that, my friend?


Well, perhaps, he might have left Chopin well enough alone. I have never warmed to the concertos, nor anything else of Chopin. His Bb minor Prelude confronts the difficulties with a stoic resolve, no bluster and smear, but also no kinetic energy on the level of an Argerich.

Rachmaninov has his moments of grandeur but also lots of filigree writing, which I don't think suits Arrau (judging by his Feux follets and Chopin). So, on balance, the moments of appropriate gravitas that he might bring to Rach's Big Tunes, will likely not compensate for inappropriate heaviness elsewhere.

En fin, mes amis, all your top performers have to be able to play everything in the book. Not only that, they have to learn some things overnight. In fact, I believe that's part of the Cliburn competition - they give you something new and you have to set yourself down and read it cold...

In their prime/early years, I'd argue Rubinstein (Anton), Josef Hoffman, and Horowitz.
Recently, my insane friend Mei-ting has performed the complete works of Chopin, all the Beethoven sonatas (including the violin and cello), and complete Brahms (solo and chamber)

Ah yes, Auntie, did it this morning, played a church service with about 12 hours notice. Spent most of it practising, sorry to boast, but this was BIG for me and put me on the substitute circuit.

Sometimes you cannot look back, there is no time, and everything needs to be attacked as if your life depended upon it.

Yeah, I haven't looked at the list yet, but I would have guessed this straightaway. Many critics' accounts that I've read indicated that he chose to play the same composers and the same pieces far more frequently in his 'mature' career.