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Any ideas?

It depends on what you mean by accomplished, but by my interpretation one would have had to have experience of a variety of different periods and musical idioms.

Every accomplished pianist should know how to play Happy Birthday and at least one Christmas song

Bah! Humbug!

I'll bite.
Stranded on a desert island together with an accomplished pianist and a toptuned grand I would of course expect her (!) to be able to pull of the entire standard repertoire in between her search for food and keeping the wild animals at distance.

While I am a forgiving person, these are nevertheless the pieces I would definitely let her swim back after if she didn't know:

Bach, complete works for keyboard.
Beethoven, most sonatas.
Chopin, etudes
Haydn, sonatas
Schubert, sonatas, impromptus, moment musicaux, lieder (she sings too, of course)

I'm a reasonable man.

Ahem? Isn't that a bit of a tall order, even for a concert pianist? I'd go into a coma before the WTC was finished.

buxtehude [/QUOTE] Stranded on a desert island together with an accomplished pianist and a toptuned grand I would of course expect her (!) to be able to pull of the entire standard repertoire in between her search for food and keeping the wild animals at distance.

While I am a forgiving person, these are nevertheless the pieces I would definitely let her swim back after if she didn't know:[QUOTE]

I believe I'm even more resonable: Depending on how good -looking she is, I'd be more interested in her improvisational skills. Perhaps a 4-handed duet?

-----I may be old, but I'm not dead-----or stupid.

Linus and Lucy?

Seconded.

But seriously, I'll try my hand here with individual pieces:

Bach:
Italian Concerto

Liszt:La Campanella
Mazeppa
Feux Follets
Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 (of course)

Rachmaninoff:
Prelude in C# Minor
Prelude in Bb Major
Piano Concertos two and three

My personal opinion: Corelli Variations. Learn this one! It's underplayed.

Chopin:
Winter Wind Etude
Revolutionary Etude
Heroic Polonaise
Ballade no. 1
Sonata no. 2
Nocture no. 2 in Eb major
Nocturne in C# minor op. posthumous

Scriabin:
Etude in C# minor op. 2 no. 1
Etude in D# minor op. 8 no. 12

Beethoven (ahahaha...):
Fur Elise
Moonlight
Appassionata
Waldstein
Pathetique
(For the really good ones): Hammerklavier

Tchaikovsky:
First Piano Concerto

Grieg:
A minor Concerto

Ultimately:
What the pianist deems is important music!

This is all that comes to me offhand.

Stranded on a desert island with a piano?

I'd figure out how to make it watertight so I might sail back to civilization!

That, or I'd use it for shelter.

Or eat it.

Ok, maybe I've watched too many survivalist TV series!

Back to topic: I'll just say Clair de lune seems to fit the bill, at least for what people always ask for, and for what I like to play.

I don't think any accomplished pianist should know any particular work, but he or she should be able to pull off wonderfully and immediately upon request, with or without the sheet music, a number of Beethoven sonatas, at least two Mozart sonatas, about half an hour of Chopin, as much Liszt as Chopin, a couple of J. S. Bach preludes & fugas, and hours of sensible improvisation in the Classical style, as well as in the Romantic or Baroque style.

I don't know. An accomplished pianist doesn't have a 'standard' except to have as much piano repertoire as he or she possible could. And have as big a memorized repertoire so that when asked, she or he could give a mini recital.

That's my opinion. But as for what, I'm not good enough to know yet.

Is there an emphasis in Baroque, Classical, and Romantic style improvisation in European training that's absent in the U.S.? I don't know any pianists that can do that.

Anyway, I don't think there are any definite pieces any accomplished player should know. Several years ago, I along with many other musicians played at a wedding of two musician friends. I had planned to play Brahms Op. 118 No. 2, among other things, but got called back and was informed that another pianist would be playing that (an experienced and reknowned collaborative pianist). At the ceremony, he played it beautifully as one would have expected. I found out later that he had never played it before and had learned it for this particular wedding ceremony. That stunned me, as I thought this was one of those pieces that every high school or college student learned.

There are so many paths one can take towards becoming an accomplished pianist, that the only similarity in rep probably happens in the elementary to intermediate baroque, classical, and romantic rep. After that I think paths diverge wildly.

I do that! But I've studied theory, composition, and improvisation. I am also an organist. Many top-notch church organists easily improvise in any style.

Ah yes, I know plenty of excellent organists who improvise splendidly in any style. Doesn't that go with the territory? How important is improvisation to keyboard artists who play piano exclusively?

And, no no no, I don't count jazz improvisation. Jazz pianists are a dime a dozen. :p

whippen boy,

I couldn't agree with you more!

Are you familiar with Brad Mehldau? He's among the very best current, younger jazz pianists. I mention him because he's very indebted to the great Romantic composers, and even though he's classified as "jazz," his improvisations often sound more like Bach inventions or Brahms intermezzos.

That reminds me of Nina Simone, whose jazz piano playing revealed her classical training - lots of contrapuntal material...very interesting.

Clair de lune ?

All,

An interesting proposition, to be sure. I would second the nominations for Claire de lune (and add "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair"), Happy Birthday, a Christmas song or two, and Fur Elise. I would add Bach-Hess "Jesu-Joy of Man's Desiring," a Chopin waltz and nocturne, "The Entertainer" and one other rag, and perhaps a song or two by Gershwin and Cole Porter, as well as "Unchained Melody." I also have had good response to "Je te veux" by Satie, though that is hardly in the public domain. I realize it all depends on what one means by "accomplished." Ceratainly, the WTC should be first on any pianist's list, but who among your public is going to request a prelude and fugue?

Cheers.

I've been taking formal piano lessons for about 2 years now. I am learning the standard pieces, also. Having attended a few PianoWorld parties, it seems to me, there's value in learning pieces that every accomplished piano player should NOT know. Then we wouldn't be hearing the same pieces we know how to play - over and over again - played by others.

It *is interesting* and enjoyable hearing other pianists interpretations of the pieces you know, though.

My theory is learning those standard pieces teaches you a variety of different techniques. And your piano teacher is, of course, going to teach you the music he/she knows. And guess what they know?: THE STANDARD PIANO PIECES.

Jeanne W

Serious pianists or students of piano music should have much of this in their library:

Handel's Suites
Scarlatti's Sonatas
Bach's Keyboard Works
Bach's sons' works

Haydn's Sonatas, D, G, and F major Concertos, Trios
Mozart's Concertos, Sonatas (including violin sonatas), Fantasies, Rondos, Variations, Quartets, Quintet
Beethoven's Sonatas (including violin and cello), Bagatelles, Variations, Concertos, Choral Fantasy, Trios
Shubert's Sonatas (including violin and arpeggione), Songs, Trios

Mendelssohn's Piano Works, Cello Sonatas, Trios, Concertos, including the violin concerto
Chopin's complete works
Schumann's complete piano works, concert works, including the Concerto, Quintet, songs

Brahms' complete works, especially the chamber music
Dvorak's chamber music

Debussy's piano works
Ravel's piano works
Rachmaninoff's piano works
Prokofiev's piano works
Stravinsky's piano works
Bartok's piano works

and a good selection from this list in their repertoire.

The so called "Overplayed Beethoven pieces"

- Fur Elise
- Sonata Pathetique
- Moonlight Sonata
- Waldstein Sonata
- Sonata Appassionata
- Sonata Hammerklavier <--- This isn't so overplayed XD in fact, it's very underplayed.

That's in my opinion..

Couldn't say... I added that improvisation bit as something I personally would expect a truly accomplished pianist to be able to do, even though, and partly because, I know it's rather rare these days...

I know this is off-topic, but thanks for bring that name up. I've heard several of his recordings and have been very impressed. Another current jazz pianist I have admired is Fred Hersh. A recent CD of him playing Thelonious Monk gave me much pleasure!

I'd agree with BDB's list above. My sheet music collection[1] and playing/listening preferences seems to correspond pretty much to that post. Though I'd also add a sprinkling of Liszt, Fauré, Albéniz, Granados, Scriabin, Poulenc, Messiaen and Hindemith, just for good measure

-Michael B.
[1] Although Scarlatti and Haydn seem quite badly represented. Any suggestions for good editions?

RE: the long lists, having those in your rep would certainly be impressive, but how many accomplished pianists do you know who can really boast this? Sure, they might rattle something off upon request, but mastering a work of music, let alone mastering a certain composer, is a daunting time-consuming task that few people have proper time to accomplish. If mastering one of these long lists is a requirement for becoming "accomplished", then this world has a severe shortage of accomplished pianists.

Oh, and I wanted to add to the tangent on jazz improvisation, I didn't mean to belittle jazz pianists at all. What I meant is, if you blindfold yourself and threw a stone into a crowd, you'd hit an accomplished jazz improvisor every single time, never someone who improvised strictly within the confines of baroque, classical, or romantic styles. Is improvisation in this manner really a requirement for an accomplished pianist? If so, this country, if not the world, has a severe shortage of accomplished pianists.

Nadia Boulanger memorized both books of the WTC before she was 10 years old.

She is said to have memorized every piece of music that she came across-piano music, symphonies, operas, cantatas, everything.

Mel

The Kirkpatrick edition of 60 Scarlatti sonatas from Schirmers is a must for every pianist. Vienna Urtext and Henle are good for Haydn. Plus Doblinger for the trios, although that can get pricy.

Good Scarlatti editions are Gilbert (probably out of print), Ricordi (Fadini, not Longo, and unfortunately not yet complete even after decades, and with a weird numbering system), Kirkpatrick (60 sonatas, Schirmer) and Hashimoto (100 sonatas, Schirmer). Editio Musica Budapest has an edition of 200 of the sonatas in 4 volumes, edited by one György Balla, which looks free of additions.

Editio Musica Budapest is what I use for Scarlatti.

I also have some of the Ricordi edition, but for some odd reason it seem harder to read.

Accomplished pianists should have studied (not necessarily have memorized):

1. Chopin Etudes- These are critical for forming excellent technique.

2. Beethoven Sonatas- These are very good for developing expression.

3. Bach Preludes/Fugues- From the WTC, these are important for forming fine finger and other skills.

Thanks to all who contributed to the info regarding Scarlatti and Haydn editions. I will sit down forthwith and compose my letter to Santa...

-Michael B.

If you are not a Glenn Gould, you should have studied some of these pieces:

-Bach: Two-part and Three-part Inventions
-Bach: WTC
-Scarlatti: Sonatas
-Haydn/Mozart: Sonatas
-Beethoven: Sonatas
-Schubert: Sonatas
-Chopin: Etudes and other pieces
-Liszt: any work

The rest is your own choice.

I don't think the modern rep is to be ignored. It developes your sense of musicianship and rhythm.

There are two haydn editions I use, the könemann and some strange carisch edition which actually seems very good.

I don't think that knowing a bunch of pieces necessarily makes someone accomplished.

I once knew a guy who played a lot of stuff and none of it was that good. It all sounded muddled with too much pedal to cover up sloppy technique.

J.S Bach- a few preludes&fugues and 1 partita
Mozart- A few sonatas, 1/2 fantasy's and 1 or 2 concerto's
Beethoven&Haydn- A few sonatas and other pieces
Chopin- A few of any of his nocturnes,ballads,waltzs',preludes and a few etudes
Mendelssohn/Liszt/Schumann/Brahms:a few pieces
Rachmaninoff:a few preludes/etudes