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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.