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recital should be devoted to.

Of course, each person's list of great composers can be different. Composers that quite frequently have an entire recital devoted to them include Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin and Liszt. Others that I think would work include Brahms, Schumann, Prokofiev, Debussy, and maybe Ravel.

Great composers who I don't think would work are Scarlatti(half a recital is fine and I've heard that done but an entire recital would be around 24 Sonatas which is too much for me), Rachmaninov(I did hear one all Rachmaninov recital devoted to all 24 Preludes but I don't think Rach is quite great enough for an entire recital), and Scriabin(his music is too intense for me for an entire recital although half a recital would be fine and I've heard that done. I think Garrick Ohlsson did actually play an all Scriabin recital)

I don't think an entire recital of Albéniz is a good idea (too much Spanishness and too many strenuous notes), but Alicia de Larrocha proved me wrong, playing the complete Iberia in one sitting (though she did get up once ). I'm sure she had been working out in the gym for months beforehand.

The complete Goyescas is slightly less Spanish and less strenuous, but again, I don't think a whole recital of Granados is a good idea (though I'm sure someone will tell me that Larrocha has done that too, and proved me wrong......).

So, I'll stick my neck out and say that Debussy doesn't work - and I know, because even Zimerman couldn't fill a hall in London with the complete Préludes (when he normally sells out every concert here, even when he plays Szymanowski). Too much impressionism is detrimental to one's health........

Live performance of Goyescas performance by de Larrocha

For Rachmaninoff, I think there should be enough material for an entire recital. There are the elegie and prelude from op 3, one could take varied selections from the op 23 and 32 preludes and etudes-tableaux, then there are the Corelli variations, the second sonata, and even some transcriptions, like the Kreisler transcriptions or the Mendelssohn scherzo.

I think Mendelssohn would only merit half a recital.

I agree - Rachmaninov's piano oeuvre has plenty of variety as well as quality, and can easily fill a complete recital.

The problem is that Mendelssohn's best piano music are short pieces - his piano sonatas aren't among his best.

I expected that Scriabin would be said for this!

I think that considering the variety of style from early to late, all-Scriabin could give great programs.

Here's one (maybe I'll do it someday):


Some early-ish Preludes

Sonata #2 (about 13 minutes)

Sonata #5 (12 minutes)

Vers la flamme (6 minutes)

---intermission---

Sonata #10 (12 minutes)

Sonata #9 (10 minutes)

Two or three Etudes

---------------------------

encore: Impromptu a la Mazur, Op. 2 no. 3
and whatever else the crowd demands

The Fantasy in F# minor is a pretty large work, and I think it's, well, fantastic.

I'm not sure it enables an all-Mendelssohn program, but it could.

I agree about its quality, but it's only ten minutes long (when I play it ).

Thinking about devising an all-Mendelssohn program is interesting, but eventually, one is going to have to put in a fair number of Lieder ohne Worte, after the Variations sérieuses, the Scottish Fantasy, Rondo capriccioso, Prelude & Fugue in E minor, maybe the Fantasy on The Last Rose of Summer, maybe the Sonata in E.......

I almost forgot this fabulous all-Rach recital which I attended in Edinburgh a few years ago:

Thanks for that.

I'll let you know whether she has proved me wrong after I've listened to the whole concert in one sitting.......

Agreed. While one might not have a preference for Rachmaninoff’s work, I definitely think enough people do and that his work is varied enough that there’s enough to select for a recital.

Soft & sweet or reflective & meditative works:
Prelude Op. 32, No. 12
Elegie, Op 3, No. 1
Prelude, Opus 32, No. 5
Etude Tableau, Opus 39, No. 2
Etude Tableau, Opus 39, No. 8

Beautiful, but dramatic & emotional:
Prelude Op. 32, No. 10
Etude Tableau, Opus 39, No. 5
Prelude Op 23, No 5.

Large scale closer:
Sonata No. 2

Encore
Prelude, Op. 3, No. 2

Most of these pieces have been championed by Horowitz, Ashkenazy, and many others, so I think it could work.

There's clearly more than enough material but I don't think that's the only criterion. For me, an entire recital devoted to Rachmaninov would get a bit tedious although recognize others will feel differently. Similarly, there's enough Grieg and Mendelssohn for many full length recitals but I wouldn't want to hear an entire recital of their music although I would probably rank them among the top 20 composers for piano.

Has anyone every been to or heard of an all Rachmaninov recital other than the one I mentioned(a performance by Vladimir Shakin of all 24 Preludes at the Mannes Keyboard Festival 10+ years ago)?

Er......yes.

This is my post again from yesterday:
BTW, he took the same program around the world.

Google searches for...

pianist plays "all-Rachmaninov recital"
pianist plays "all-Rachmaninoff recital"

yield several findings, including names such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Olga Kern, the aforementioned Pletnev, among others. It's not the most common thing, but I don't think anyone here said it is.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Tchaikovsky yet. guess the poor guy's solo piano music gets so little love, people don't even think of him.

I think the list of composers to not built a solo recital on would be quite long, it might be easier to ask which ones one can.

I think many of those (sometimes very skilled and in some ways highly respected) Russian composers such as Arensky, Liadov etc. comes to mind in the first category as well.
Also Poulenc, Kapustin (I can only listen to Jazz in small doses). But then again, I don't think it would even occur to someone to do that...

I will make all the Medtner fanboys and -girls happy by saying I think one can have a Medtner only recital. Also I think Stravinsky (if a pianist feels up to it).

Guess it has to do with personal taste, but some sounds do get tiresome after a certain period of time.

Tchaikovsky's The Seasons never lost their popularity in Russia (Richter and Ashkenazy recorded them, among others), but Westerners tended to be rather sniffy about them as 'salon music' for amateurs.

Though they are starting to gain more popularity in recent years, and have been performed in their entirety by several pianists, though not as all-Tchaikovsky recitals, as far as I know. His Op.72 contains very fine piano music, but very few pianists play it. As for his Piano Sonata No.2 in G (again recorded by Richter, and - even more impressively - by Pletnev), most non-Russians still don't think much of it.

Incidentally, I once attended an all-Alkan concert by Hamelin (which was sold out)......but I can't think of anyone else who would play such a program - at least, not in a major concert hall.

I dont know what else she played after that. All Alkan ?

I could like a 1/2 (but not an entire)recital devoted to Tchaikovsky although I would not rank as a great composer for piano as per my original question. I think a complete performance of The Seasons is reasonably common.

I agree. I quite like the six pieces Op. 21 and the variations from Op. 19. And I can live with The Seasons.

Personally if I have to talk about the great composers that you've mentioned I would like a program dedicated to any one of them including Rachmaninov, but for me the program would have include at least one major set of variations/sonata.

I tend to like extended forms over short pieces, although I like both. But I need the drama, structure, unity and whatever else comes with something like a Sonata. With Brahms for example a recital which includes either of the first two Sonatas (I'm not such a fan of the third) would be great with whatever other Brahms fillers, but a whole recital with for instance Op. 117, 118 and 119 would drive me mad.

Couperin, Haydn, Grieg, Webern