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I have some ideas about different kinds of recital programs and pianists who like these programs based on recitals I've attended or read about. Of course, I don't mean that the pianists I've listed always play programs like this.

1. The severe or very heavy program: consists of only 1-4 major works. Exs: the last 3 Beethoven Sonatas, the WTC Book 1, the Goldberg Variations, 4 random major works. Pianists include Rudolph Serkin, Pollini, Uchida.

2. The one composer program is quite popular among a variety of pianists. Many composers are possible with Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Schubert, and Liszt among the most popular. Pianists include deLarrocha, Schiff, Rubinstein, Pollini, Brendel, Mei-Ting Sun.

3. The monumentalprogram is played by pianists who like gigantically long and difficult pieces like The People United Will Never Be Defeated, Goldberg Variations, Iberia, etc. Pianists include Brendan Kinsella, John Ogden(his recordings..I don't know about his concerts).

4. The completist program includes complete sets of works like one or two books of the Chopin Etudes, all the Chopin Waltzes, the Debussy Preludes, the WTC. Pianists include Pollini, Rose, Barenboim.

5. The transcription program includes a large number of transcriptions. Pianists include, Wild, Katsaris, Hough, Koji Attwood, Biret, Fiorentino.

6. The don't bore the audience program consists of only 2-3 major works plus other shorter works and is IMO very common. Pianists include Horowitz, Cherkassky.

7. The cleverly arranged program. Exs. would be Chopin Op. 15-18 as one half, symmetric...Bach, Beethoven, Beethoven, Bach. Exs. include Morozova and others I can't think of them right now.

8. The I mostly play Romantic music program. Pianists include Trifonov, Lisitsa.

9. The I love contemporary music program. Exs. include Peter Serkin, Brendan Kinsella, Ursulla Oppens, and many others I'm not familiar with.

Please feel free to comment on any of the above. If you can think of other kinds of recital programs or pianists who favor any particular kind of program please comment on this.

win!
no, wait, "thrill and delight the audience" wins.

(Edit: All of your choices could become thrill-and-delight, or at least don't-bore, programs... if the pieces are very engaging and the performer plays them in a very engaging way.)

Anton Rubinstein gave a series of "History Lesson" recitals.

https://books.google.com/books?id=k...nton%20rubinstein%20recitals&f=false

I love this!

A guy I knew in school used to arrange his recitals around a theme. Death, for example (following Janacek's sonata with Schumann's Theme in E flat major (ghost theme) as a last movement), but sometimes the theme was more creative and less obvious. And then he would cleverly arrange his pieces according to key and go attacca between them, using relationships such as C minor/ E major à la Beethoven. It was very effective.

I believe Schiff has made quite a lot of "severe" recitals. His Diabeli/Goldberg (with the arietta from op.111 as an encore!!) was lovely, but still, it's not easy listening.

I'm a great fan of the "theme" recital. For example, when I participated in the Boston Amateur Competition in 2005, I programmed the three rounds entirely on composers based in New England. If the Chicago Amateur Competition is held in 2016, I plan to provide a similar program there -- composers who worked (or work) in the Chicago area. In Colorado Springs, I programmed pieces entirely from American compositions from 1930 - 50. I've got others for pieces evoking bells in varied ways, and variations by American composers. That's the type of programming I'd love to see more of.

I heard Kuerti plays a first Sonatas recital consisting of the first sonatas by Beethoven, Czerny, and Schumann. And I think I heard Bolet? playing an all Ballade recital which may have included the Grieg Ballade and the 4 Chopin Ballades.

On "Theme" recitals, there are endless possibilities. Pierre-Laurent Aimard did recitals consisting only of Etudes, by different composers. A pianist I know is currently putting together a program of music from the Soviet around WW2. Doing concerts with references to other art forms isn't unusual. Only the imagination is the limit - there's an endless amount of possible themes to choose from. Tonight, I'm heading to a lied concert titled 'Working class lieder', focusing on lieder with political and similar themes.

Oh, and seeing the mention of Schumann 1st sonata...I remember hearing a concert a while ago ending with Schumann 1st sonata, with all of the works preceding it having some sort of influence upon it - the Moscheles F# minor sonata, Clara Schumann Hexentanz, etc.

An extension of the one composer program is the two composer program. There are fascinating possibilities in picking the perfect pair.

I heard Kissin give a concert consisting of just Prokofiev and Chopin-- down to the encores.

And I heard Schiff give a concert of alternating Haydn and Bartok. Believe it or not, there was more than one moment when a piece began, and you didn't know at first which it was.


-J

A combination of a two composer recital and the cleverly arranged recital. I recently heard a recital where the first half consisted two alternating composers... Haydn Capriccio, Mozart Fantasy, Haydn Sonata, Mozart Duport Variations. Much better than if the two works by each composer had been played consecutively I think.