The W.F. Buckley article made me think of this. Suppose you are going to be deposited on a desert island for a year and you have the option of bringing the entire collected works of one and only one composer with you. You may bring the recordings and you may bring the printed music. There will be a CD player and a beautiful piano but no contact with the outside world.

(For myself, I would have to decide between Bach, Beethoven or Chopin and I think I would choose to take Bach.)

What if you had to make this choice but knew it was going to be permanent, i.e. for the rest of your life?

(I might then decide to take Beethoven.)

Definitely Chopin for me.

I guess if I brought Bach or Beethoven, I'd feel lost without orchestral instruments or players, even with the CDs.

I'd just like to play as much as I could of the works, rather than being limited by instruments. Since Chopin's work was so weighted toward the piano, I could play a higher percentage of his work (after a great deal of practice!). However, desert islands are great for no interruptions!

Also, the CD player would eventually run out of power, and I'd much rather learn to tune the piano than build a 60Hz 118V power station. That again means I'd have to play the works to hear them.

Also, there's that personal preference stuff; I just feel that I can get more out of Chopin than Bach or Beethoven.

Hmmmmm Beethoven !!!!! or possibly Chopin

No doubt for me, it would be Chopin! If Chopin wasn't an option, I would then go for my second choice, Beethoven.

Stravinsky or Shostakovich, or maybe Webern.

Since I'd have so much time to practice, I guess it would have to be Sorabji.

JSB. As Beethoven said, "He should not be called Bach (brook), but rather Meer (ocean)."

You'd be done in twenty minutes!

I'd have to go for Messiaen.

Very easy....
I would memorize as much Beethoven as I could before hitting the island. On the island I would of course choose Mozart. You said complete works, which must include scores or piano transcriptions of non piano compositions. In the case of Mozart that would occupy me with about 850 pieces. Even if I just get the Sonatas and Concertos and Fantasy's for piano I would be a very busy/happy camper.

Is this a damp desert island ? Will I get a tuner ?
Steve

With Beethoven there would be a lot to explore within the pieces, but after they are mastered, they wouldn't have much else to offer.
Bach would be like a prison, a beautiful prison, but I would never escape to new horizons. Plus, baroque music would not sound good on an island :p
SO I WOULD GO WITH CHOPIN. Even when all mastered, I am convinced Chopin's piano works would provide the basis for a more profound understanding of this instrument and the inspiration for more creativity, than with any other composer.

Would you settle for a tuner fish?
:p

I think the Beethoven Sonatas alone would keep me quite busy (and content) for a year.
I could live with only this!----ONLY!!! ha

This island is hell and what you get is an accordian. Can you say Lady of Spain? :p

Bach.

Actually, I'd go with Debussy.
But then, I'd need to have extra lives in order to learn how to play a couple of his etudes.

For one year: Chopin.

For a lifetime: if I get CDs of all compositions, not just piano works, then I want Mozart. If I'm limited to piano compositions, then I'll take Chopin again.

Haydn.

Bach.

PDQ Bach

Rachmaninoff, definitely!

Either Janáček or Smetana, I can't decide. Janáček has a vast array of really cool stuff to listen to. However, I really love Smetana's piano music, absolutely none of which I can play. Wouldn't that be a great thing to spend a year with?

HAHA! That's got to be one of the funniest things I've read.

I can't settle for one composer. Rather than practicing, I'd try to find a way off the island. Maybe I'll use the top of the piano (it's a grand, right?) as a floatation device.

Mike

Definitely would have to be Bach, especially since now I've just got my hands on his complete Keyboard (non-organ) works on CD-ROM. That'll be enough to keep me occupied for at least a year or more!

It's actually not too bad - you'd have everything that's already in your head and you'd be able to improvise - that's the main thing for me. My first thought was to take Scott Joplin. My second thought was to take somebody who would keep on making me think for a year - Charles Ives or Frank Bridge. I'm so eclectic that it's really difficult.

All right, I'll go with Charlie and use memory and improvisation for contrast.

Brahms. Everything he wrote was good so I'd be happy.

Oh, but if I had a whole year by myself with all that time to practice maybe I should work on Bach, then when I got back to civilization I'd be a better pianist. I wouldn't be as happy but it would certainly keep me busy. :rolleyes:

Um, or maybe Debussy instead. For some mood music while I look out across the ocean.

Oh, never mind, just surprise me. As long as there is an ample supply of chocolate, I don't care what I play. :p

I can't believe someone else picked PDQ Bach. I thought that I was the only one uncouth enough to mention that name on these forums (fora?). Simply transcribing his work for hardart to the piano would take most of my life.

But think of the rewards.
And no one would ever play the Bach-Busoni Chaconne(sp?) anymore! JS Bach can't compare to PDQ!

bach

For a year, Shostakovich.
For good, Beethoven or Schubert.

Cummon......... It's gotta be liszt, he has an amazing knowlege of all of the previous composers works (a huge amount by heart) and his own works, though realatively sparse (compare to mozart, beethoven etc). I would have an amazing teacher of all music not just one who wishes to play his own music.

What a brutal idea that was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A whole year with one of the greatest pianists in the world and you wanna pass that up for a one in a million chance of getting to civilization. Im sorry but thats stupid!!!!!!!!!!