Great pianist with NO Chopin?

[stormx]

Just curious...

Do you know any FAMOUS pianist that has NEVER recorded a Chopin piece?
Or, more radically, any FAMOUS pianist that has NEVER made a public performance of a Chopin piece?

I have no idea, but my guess is that it should be extremely rare. 

PD: pre recording-era pianist are NOT allowed 

[pianonut]

no.  but there's this guy from russia that ONLY wanted to play chopin and asked his prof's at the conservatory if he could specialize.  they let him, and it gave him a good career.  i can't remember his name, unfortunately.

i tend to like the ballades better than the showier pieces (etudes) because they tell a story and have a little more repetition.  unfortunately, the repetitions are NEVER the same.  chopin is a very difficult composer to sightread, play, and memorize.  if you can play chopin well, you can do anything probably.  in the past, i felt his music was too emotional for me, and it made me not feel any emotion (because all i heard was somebody crying too much).  now, after reading his life story in more detail, and sort of taking in the expressions of many things in his music (not just poland, crying) i see it is much more than what i thought.  a sort of nationalistic expression, too, with mazurkas in particular.

[BoliverAllmon]

no.  but there's this guy from russia that ONLY wanted to play chopin and asked his prof's at the conservatory if he could specialize.  they let him, and it gave him a good career.  i can't remember his name, unfortunately.

sounds famous indeed. LOL

[pianonut]

ok  bolliver.  it was a european artist and he didn't play much over here.  i think it was ivan moravec.  i vaguely remember the name ivan.  anyway, ivan means john in russian.  i know that much because my husband's name is john (ivan) and he is russian.

i heard this guy on public radio.  he was very straight forward - and said that he really didn't play much else.

[hazypurple21]

Leon Fleisher and his teacher, Artur Schnabel didn't play much outside of German music, especially Schnabel. One of the few Chopin pieces Fleisher plays is the nocturne in Db major.

[dbrainiak914]

Hamelin?  I never heard any by him.

Good point, though.

[Dazzer]

looks like i'll have to prove to the world that playing chopin doesn't make you great!!!! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- deletes Chopin and Liszt from list of To-Play composers -

- 20 years pass -

- rotting in a gutter -

[Waldszenen]

Jeno Jando

Alfred Brendel (but he's done the Polonaises so he doesn't really count)

[the_ts]

Gould only recorded one piece of Chopin, the third Sonata, and I don't think he ever performed any live. He referred to Chopin's music as childs play.   

[presto agitato]

Keith Jarrett and Radu Lupu

[pita bread]

I want to see how long I can get away without playing any Chopin. They'll probably try to force me to in college though...

[bernhard]

Wilhelm Kempff, Rudolf Serkin and Rosalyn Tureck didn't play much Chopin (if at all).

[stormx]

Wilhelm Kempff, Rudolf Serkin and Rosalyn Tureck didn't play much Chopin (if at all).

Bernhard, there are 2 CDs at Amazon titled "Wilhelm Kempff plays Chopin Masterpieces, vol. 1, 2"
So, unless it is a tricky title, i assume that he did record some Chopin 

And Serkin, also according to Amazon, has recorded the Preludes.

Perhaps Tureck is a candidate? 

[mlsmithz]

Tureck certainly performed Chopin, but whether or not she recorded his work I'm not quite sure.  I suspect there are a number of Baroque specialists in the Tureck mould and/or performers who are at least as well-known, if not more so, as harpsichordists who have never recorded a Chopin piece, but I think harpsichordists don't really qualify for this list since it specifies pianists. (So, for example, Leonhardt, Kirkpatrick, Koopman, Pinnock, possibly Landowska, etc.)

[pita bread]

I don't think the Baroque specialists (Tureck, Schiff, Gould) played much Chopin.

According to my amazon.com search, Andras Schiff has recorded no Chopin.

[Waldszenen]

Gould only recorded one piece of Chopin, the third Sonata, and I don't think he ever performed any live. He referred to Chopin's music as childs play.   

Gould had a strange opinion, hating Schumann, Schubert, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky....


Pretty much everyone besides Bach and Beethoven. Even Mozart to some extent.