What to add to my CD collection?

[stormx]

Hi !!!

i am slowly increasing my small collection of classical music. What i like the most is SOLO PIANO. I do not like MP3s, so i buy original CDs, according to my budget and the titles available where i live. For the moment, i prefer to expand it with new material than to buy additionnal recordings of what i already have a version.

I would like to know what do you consider a MUST for my actual collection:

I list what i have right now (SOLO PIANO)

1- Beethoven (all the sonatas, and some bagatelles)

2- Chopin (almost complete)

3- Mozart (k331-k332-k333)

4- Tchaicovsky (The seasons)

5- Mendhelsson (selections of his "songs without words")

6- Haydn (8 of his most popular sonatas)

7- Scarlatti (a double CD by Pletnev, with around 30 sonatas)

8- Liszt (complete Hungarian Rhapsodies, sonata in B minor, Gondoliera, Liebesträume)

9- Schumann (sonata n°1, carnaval, arabeske, Kinderszenen, Papillons, Fantasiestucke, Fantasie in C)

10- Brahms (selections of intermezzos op. 117, op.118, op.119, op.79)

11- Schubert (late sonatas 958,959,960, Moments Musicaux, Wanderer, Impromptus, Klavierstucke D946)

12- Bach (WTC, Partita N°2 in C Minor)

13- Ravel (Sonatine, Gaspard de la nuit)

14- Debussy (just his well known "Clair de Lune")

15- Stravinsky (Petrushka)

16- Mussorgsky (Pictures at an exhibition)

17- Grieg (just 2 pieces - "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen", "Homesickness")

Well, that is basically my collection of classical SOLO PIANO music. I am surely forgotting something 

So, allways inside the "solo piano" category, what do you suggest as a MUST to add to it?? Any unforgivable omission?? 

Thanks !!! 

PD: please, do not suggest atonal music...it is not for me 

[Skeptopotamus]

oh god.  this is going to be a madhouse.  you dont know what you are in for.  Normally i would just walk away from this, but i have to be productive so...

Tchaikovsky/Pletnev Concert Suite from the Ballet "Nutcracker"
Schumann Symphonic Etudes Op. 13
Schumann Fantasy Pieces Op. 12
Schumann Carvaval
Liszt Transcendental Etudes
Liszt Annes des Pelerinage <---for sure not spelled correctly
everything Ravel wrote
Debussy Etudes and Preludes
Scriabin Etudes, Preludes and Sonatas
Mozart Sonatas K280, K533

meh there's like a jillion trillion pieces.

[ralessi]

first off, i must say, if you are haveing trouble with either budget OR being able to find a cd, AMAZON....one more time AMAZON! BEST PLACE TO BUY CLASSICAL CD'S.  They're so cheap & mostly arrive shortly after order.  personally...i go for quality not quantity.  Although i do have a LOT of cd with bunches and bunches of rep i have so many people playing different things.  I have like 6 cds with the Rach concerti, 3 with Liszt, ect.  But might i suggest Cziffra's 2 cd's from the Great Pianists of the 20th century set.  they're AWESOME, or his recording of the Liszt Concerti.  After hearing Cziffra play them, i looked down upon Zimerman.  Thanks for posting this though! im looking foreward to seeing what everyone has to say .  Ill come to get ideas !   

Cheers!
Ricky

[bwv]

Bach French Suites
Bach English Suites
Godowski Studies based on Chopin's
Godowski Passacaglia
Alkan Grande Sonate
Albeniz Iberia
Some Bach/Busoni transcriptions

[rafant]

Nice collection! I prefer piano solos recordings too. Agreeing with suggestions above, I would add:

Complete John Field's Nocturnes.
Liszt's transcriptions of Wagner's operas and Beethoven's Symphonies

[Skeptopotamus]

OOOOH alkan!  my favorite.


Chemin De Fur
Grande Sonate
symphonie pour piano
etudes op. 39
etudes op. 33
Equisses
Preludes
Trois grandes etudes
le preux
saltarelle
toccatina

lots and lots.  actually, his etudes op. 39 house the solo concerto, the overture, comme le vent and the symphonie.  yeah try to get those.  sadly there has yet to be a REALLY good alkan interpreter.

[presto agitato]

Your collection is good however i own the following recordings and i suggest you to buy some of them:

1 - Beethoven : 32 Varations in C minor Woo 80 (Murray Perahia - SONY)
                        Diabelli Varations (Alfred Brendel)

2 - Chopin: OK

3 - Mozart: Complete Piano Variations (Daniel Barenboim - EMI)

4 - Tchaicovsky: Never into him

5 - Mendelssohn : Piano Works Vol 1-5 (Benjamin Frith - NAXOS)

6 - Haydn : Never into him

7 - Scarlatti: OK, however try Horowitz.

8 - Liszt: Annees de pelerinage Years 1 - 3 (Brendel and Zoltan Kocsis -  PHILIPS)
               Complete Etudes (Claudio Arrau and Nikita Magaloff - PHILIPS)
               Beethoven/Liszt: The Symphonies. (Cyprien Katsaris - ELEKTRA)


9 - Robert Schumann: Carnival Jest from Vienna Op 26 (Murray Perahia - SONY)
                        Symphonic Etudes Op 13 (Wilhelm Kempff - DEUTSCHE)

10 - Clara Schumann: Piano Works (Yoshiko Iwai - NAXOS)

11 - Brahms :  "The Late Piano Music" ( Kovacevich, Varsi and Harasiewicz - PHILIPS)

12 - Schubert: OK

13 - Bach: English Suites and Frech Suites  (Wolfgang Rubsam - NAXOS)

14 - Debussy: Never into him.

15 - Stravinsky: OK

16 - Mussorgsky: Ok

17 - Grieg: Lyric Pieces (Emil Gilels - DEUTSCHE)

18 - Alkan: Sonata "Les Quatre Ages" Op. 33 (Marc Hamelin - HYPERION)

19 - Thalberg: "Fantasias on Operas by Rossini" ( Francesco Nicolosi - NAXOS)

Hope this help you.

BTW I dont like Alkan so much.

[BoliverAllmon]

bach: goldberg variations by Gould
Shostakovich: Preludes and fugues by Ashkenazy.

[rlefebvr]

There is very little reason to add a list if you do not add the CD title and artist playing playing.

Even a CD of Beethoven Sonata's by a crap musician is a waste of money and time.

I would think the idea would be a list of classical pieces where the recordings are above and behond the norm.

An Example would be

Beethoven Sonatas by Horowitz (already mentioned)
Bach WTC by Daniel Barenboim

and so on

[apion]

With your current catalog in mind, my first purchases would be (I will limit this to the "3 B's"):

Brahms

Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel
Paganini Variations

Bach

Goldberg Variations

Beethoven

Diabelli and Eroica variations

[stormx]

Many of your sugestions are now part of my CD collection 

Thanks you all !!

[quantum]

Scriabin Sonatas (Laredo or Hamelin)

Brahms (two CD's by Kubalek)

[Rach3]

If you have almost exclusively solo piano recordings, by far the most enjoyable way to expand would be to go into non-piano music. For example:

Beethoven: symphonies 5-7; Karajan, Walter
* violin sonatas, Stern
Mahler: everything (listen to Bernstein's first)
Rachmaninoff: op. 45 symphonic dances, Slatkin/St. Louis
Bach: Brandenberg concerti
Shostakovich: concerti; symphony no. 5

For solo piano, my first suggestions are

Prokofiev (sonatas)
Rachmaninoff: 2nd sonata; Horowitz
* preludes
Brahms: sonatas, concerti (Stephen Hough for 3rd sonata; Richter for 1st; see recent thread for concerto performers)

[ronald]

Scriabin Sonatas (Laredo or Hamelin)

Brahms (two CD's by Kubalek)

This Kubalek's performances of Brahms are the best, which I ever heard. Strongly recommended.

[musicsdarkangel]

All I have to say, is get the Rachmaninoff preludes done by Dmitri Alexeyev (the cd is called - Dmitri Alexeyev plays Rachmaninoff Scriabin), get Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody On A Theme by Pagannini done also by Alexeyev, or Ashkenazy (incredible).

Get the concertos 1-3 played by Van Cliburn or Rafael Orozco (spelling?) 

Despite the name of this cd, the samples sound great! https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005KCGZ/qid=1117322282/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-8296965-2256030?v=glance&s=classical

[chelsey]

I'm in love with modern music, I'd recommend Prokofiev sonatas, scriabin (his preludes are lovely, less intense to listen to than his sonatas), or maybe some shostakovich (his music strikes me as playful but with a lot of depth) and then Ligetti! (His music gets me excited to listen to, it's certainly interesting)

Why limit your cd collection to solo piano..? what about concertos, chamber music? There is great pianism in this music that you are missing out on if you limit yourself to SOLO music.

Also, I would fully recommend amazon/hmv as your CD source, they have been very reliable in my experience (even when dealing with imports) and have a very large selection.

[stormx]

Also, I would fully recommend amazon/hmv as your CD source, they have been very reliable in my experience (even when dealing with imports) and have a very large selection.

Thanks Chelsey.

My problem with Amazon is that i live very far away from USA, and CD prices + shipping costs are considerable for me (the devaluation our currency has undergone has made our salaries very low IN DOLLARS). That is why i buy in local stores, and many titles from NAXOS or other budget level series (like Eloquence).

On the other hand, i do not limit myself to solo piano music. I have recordings of many of the most famous piano concertos (Beethoven, Schumann, Grieg, Rachmaninov, Bartok, Brahms...) and also a little of chamber music and symphonies. However, my main interest is currently solo piano music, that is why my original post was referred to it.

 

[Barbosa-piano]

          I would say some Recordings of Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and a wider collection of Bach.

[JPRitchie]

You might try something from Scott Joplin. I've made some recordings of a computer-controlled keyboard (available at https://www.cdbaby.com/ritchie, it also includes supplementary material). You might also give the traditional piano Cd's of Joshua Rifkin or Scott Kirby a listen. Big Tiny Little recorded some interesting pieces. You also have no Gershwin.
Regards,
Jim Ritchie

[Daevren]

There aren't any musts.