Virtually Unlimited Repertoire

[pianodaria]

Who has the most extensive, diverse and challenging repertoire among living classical pianists?

I guess it would be Marc-Andre Hamelin (his concerto collection is here: https://www.giamanagement.com/repertoire.asp?MusicianID=2), although I couldn't find his solo repertoire anywhere...

Sincerely,
Da

[stevie]

candidates-

biret, libetta, pace, hamelin

[rimv2]

Sviatoslav

[Alde]

You could also include Pollini and Barenboim.

[piazzo23]

living pianist? Ashkenazy I think

[sevencircles]

living pianist? Ashkenazy I think

I would vote for him.

Pollini used to have the biggest memorized and technically perfected repertoire.

Hamelin´s repertoire is huge but he is often surprisingly sloppy when he performs standard virtuoso works instead of the rare ones.

Some people said that John Ogdon´s repertoire was  unlimited in the sixties, since he could learn anything even the hardest (short) modern works  from sight within a few hours.

[dmk]

living pianist? Ashkenazy I think

making no comment on quality surely Ashkenhazy must have one of the largest recorded repertoire.

There are probably others who have a larger repertoire but not recorded???

[pianodaria]

How about more simple, less-known names? The reason why, is because I was wondering, if you should count any work you've memorized at some point as your repertoire, or only those pieces that were performed in public. In this case, there are many good performers without a consistent opportunity to perform, but they accumulate the number of works (since there is nothing else they can do )

Sincerely,
Da

[zheer]

Svitoslav died 9 years ago and yes he had a huge repertoir.

[Alde]

living pianist? Ashkenazy I think

I would have to disagree.  Ashkenazy's repertoire primarily consists of Beethoven and romantic composers.  I am not aware of Ashkenazy performing Bach or contemporary repertoire.

[cz4p32]

Have you ever seen Leslie Howards repertoire!  Besides the complete music of Liszt and Beethoven, he has many many concertos.

[stormx]

Jeno Jando has a huge recorded repertoire.

[thierry13]

what? I'm horrendously horrified nobody mentioned Horowitz.

[rohansahai]

what? I'm horrendously horrified nobody mentioned Horowitz.

That's because he did not have a big repertoire, simple !

[stevie]

That's because he did not have a big repertoire, simple !

horowitz had a huge one!

[mrchops10]

I read once that Richter had 40 concerti memorized that he could play at a moment's notice. He had a HUGE reportoire, and he is just about the only pianist who recorded the Rimsky-Korsakov Piano Concerto. I played this as an oddity, but when a major pianist like Richter plays it, you know he must really be running out of reportoire. 

[mig]

According to a book I have, Richter had 651 solo works in his repertoie, 70 vocal, 118 chamber and 64 concertos, for a total of 903 works. That should be around 200 hours, a bit less maybe. And BTW, Richter played the Rimsky-Korsakov concerto 9 times, the first time being in 49, when he had about 400 work in his repertoire, so he wasn't "running out" of repertoire yet.

[sevencircles]

Did Richter had all these works memorized?

I am not talking about the old Richter that had some memory breakdowns live.

Horowitz didn´t have very big repertoire.

It was actually only a few works that he really played with that amazing musicallity that we want to remember him for today.

[mig]

Well, most of it, I guess. Chamber music is played with the score, but that doesn't mean it's not memorized.

[rohansahai]

horowitz had a huge one!

Considering that he performed from his teens to his 80s, he had a very small repertoire. True, it was varied...bits and pieces of lots of composers, but still a small one compared to the other greats.

[practicingnow]

Even though he already died, Fiorentino had a huge repertoire - really huge, even for pianists with huge repertoires.
Living - Carlo Grante
Ashkenazie
Sgouros
...etc.  too many to list

[perfect_pitch]

When it comes to perfected Memory work.. I think the winner is Perahia... Not once have I ever heard him make a single Note slip or mistake on the piano...

Something odd about it...   Maybe he's a robot?? 

[spirithorn]

When it comes to perfected Memory work.. I think the winner is Perahia... Not once have I ever heard him make a single Note slip or mistake on the piano...

I certainly share your admiration of Perahia.  However, I attended a recital of his in which he had a slight memory lapse.  It was in the Chopin Op.40, No.2 Polonaise.  In the final reprise of the main theme, he entered one measure early.  It was covered very well, and only someone who was very familiar with the piece would have noticed.
The recital was still spendid.

[sevencircles]

Pollini in his prime had an awesome memory.

He could play tons of works from memory. Including  modern music like Boulez, Webern etc.

[BoliverAllmon]

i agree with the jeno jando nomination.

[BoliverAllmon]

According to a book I have, Richter had 651 solo works in his repertoie, 70 vocal, 118 chamber and 64 concertos, for a total of 903 works. That should be around 200 hours, a bit less maybe. And BTW, Richter played the Rimsky-Korsakov concerto 9 times, the first time being in 49, when he had about 400 work in his repertoire, so he wasn't "running out" of repertoire yet.

I just counted and MA hamelin has 67 concerti in his repertoire and I am sure it will increase.

[practicingnow]

I forgot about Michael Ponti - he must have the biggest repertoire of all living pianists today - his recordings seem innumerable, and including very obscure and difficult repertoire - do any members know about him?

[thierry13]

I forgot about Michael Ponti - he must have the biggest repertoire of all living pianists today - his recordings seem innumerable, and including very obscure and difficult repertoire - do any members know about him?

Who cares for hard pieces. Any concert pianist can play the "hard" pieces.

[piazzo23]

I would have to disagree.  Ashkenazy's repertoire primarily consists of Beethoven and romantic composers.  I am not aware of Ashkenazy performing Bach or contemporary repertoire.

Prokofiev concertos? Scriabin sonatas? (not that romantic after the fifth)

[Dazzer]

Who cares for hard pieces. Any concert pianist can play the "hard" pieces.

but not everyone is a concert pianist.

[practicingnow]

Who cares for hard pieces. Any concert pianist can play the "hard" pieces.

Even if most concert pianists can play the more technically challenging works, I think many of them view certain works as "more trouble than they are worth", in other words, the Alkan Symphony for example may be a cool piece, but that means enormous time and work invested. Same with Godowsky Etudes, etc.  So most limit their repertoire to pieces that they feel have something to say, rather than to show how fast their little fingers can move, like Chopin Ballades or Beethoven Sonatas or Debussy Preludes.  Of course, then there are those pianists who make their careers playing difficult obscure music, because they can't play Beethoven, Schubert, or Chopin very well - isn't it strange?

In the end it's like Richter said: "Difficult is what you can't do" - - so what's considered "hard" is different for every pianist, I guess...

[pita bread]

Who cares for hard pieces. Any concert pianist can play the "hard" pieces.

This is coming from someone who touts his ability to play the Mazeppa?

[thierry13]

but not everyone is a concert pianist.

We are speaking about concert pianists.

[thierry13]

This is coming from someone who touts his ability to play the Mazeppa?

Yes, and it is NOT the point of the playing of that person.

[prometheus]

Prokofiev concertos? Scriabin sonatas? (not that romantic after the fifth)

And he also is a conductor.