Which major composer wrote the least solo piano music?

[MusicTurner]

Berlioz and Varese are certainly the winners.

For a major composer with a huge catalogue of works, Dvorak wrote a surprisingly small amount of piano music, none of which is essential.

Hm, the Naxos box is 5 CDs, almost 5 hours, but I agree, they aren't really essential works.

[MusicTurner]

There's more including the solo piano version of the Enigma Variations. Even Naxos has a dedicated disc of Elgar's solo piano music:

https://www.amazon.com/Piano-Music-ELGAR/dp/B000H4VZDK/ref=sr_1_3?crid=51KKETZUQ6MK&keywords=elgar+naxos+piano+music&qid=1660815433&sprefix=elgar+naxos+piano+music%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-3

Concert Allegro isn't even on that CD! Then there's David Owen Norris playing Elgar (Elgar Editions)

Obscure perhaps for others than us Elgarians, but Concert Allegro certainly is not all there is

True, but I think the Enigma Variations is originally thought of as a work for orchestra.

[MusicTurner]

Saariaho, apparently about 3 smaller works.

Lutoslawski, less than 1 CD.

Penderecki, very, very little.

[Biffo]

The Warner Berlioz complete edition contains 16 minutes of solo organ music, but not the "Albumleaf" for piano listed on Wikipedia. (Or the Toccata for organ, although it does contain two world-premiere recordings of fugues unlisted on Wiki.) Not sure if that piece has ever been recorded or if the music still exists.

Interestingly, Berlioz never wrote any chamber music whatsoever.

As a teenager Berlioz wrote two flute quintets. The cellist of the amateur quartet was unable to play his rather simple part in the first one. Berlioz was an accomplished flautist and wrote variations for solo flute. He was also a competent guitarist and wrote variations for that instrument. None of this music has survived.

[ritter]

Among the Darmstadt gang, AFAIK Luigi Nono composed only one piece for solo piano (with tape), the beautiful ...sofferte onde serene..., and Maderna only an early fantasia for two pianos, B.A.C.H Variationen (which seems never to have been recorded).

[Florestan]

Hm, the Naxos box is 5 CDs, almost 5 hours, but I agree, they aren't really essential works.

The Kvapil and Kahanek sets on Supraphon are both 4 CDs.

[Jo498]

And aren't these Dvorak collections incl. 4-hand music? (Here one could argue that the Slavonic dances and Legends are important pieces although at least the first superior in the orchestral versions).

I think the question is pretty moot, unless understood in the different sense, I suggested above, i.e. a composer who wrote one or very few piano pieces that are nevertheless considered "major". That's also rare but more interesting.

[Florestan]

a composer who wrote one or very few piano pieces that are nevertheless considered "major". That's also rare but more interesting.

Otomh I can't think of any composer who fits in. What I can think of, is a composer who published nothing but a piano suite: Abel Decaux - Clairs de lune.

[MusicTurner]

And aren't these Dvorak collections incl. 4-hand music? (Here one could argue that the Slavonic dances and Legends are important pieces although at least the first superior in the orchestral versions).

I think the question is pretty moot, unless understood in the different sense, I suggested above, i.e. a composer who wrote one or very few piano pieces that are nevertheless considered "major". That's also rare but more interesting.

No, not the Naxos one. The 4 hand works make another double CD.

[Florestan]

The Kvapil and Kahanek sets on Supraphon are both 4 CDs.

Now that I think of it, Faure's piano music fits in 4 CDs too and Ravel's on 2, but in their case almost any piece is essential.

[MusicTurner]

And aren't these Dvorak collections incl. 4-hand music? (Here one could argue that the Slavonic dances and Legends are important pieces although at least the first superior in the orchestral versions).

I think the question is pretty moot, unless understood in the different sense, I suggested above, i.e. a composer who wrote one or very few piano pieces that are nevertheless considered "major". That's also rare but more interesting.

Alban Berg's Sonata, if of short duration, is no doubt such a candidate, of course.

Mussorgsky's Pictures too (the complete piano works are 2 CDs).

I guess Webern's Variations have high status too.

Franck's Prelude, Choral & Fugue, but again, the complete works amount to more than one CD.

[Jo498]

Alban Berg's Sonata, if of short duration, is no doubt such a candidate, of course.

Mussorgsky's Pictures too (the complete piano works are 2 CDs).

I guess Webern's Variations have high status too.

yes, these are all good examples. (I thought of the Berg sonata when this thread appeared.) As are probably Barber, Boulez, Dukas, Barraqué mentioned on the first page. FWIW Schönberg's solo piano with opus numbers also fits on one disc.

[Brian]

Yeah, Dvorak doesn't belong - his recorded legacy for piano solo or duo totals up to double the output of Ravel for the instrument. It's just that it was not as memorable or important.

[Florestan]

Well, the OP question has already been definitively answered: Berlioz (for major major) and Varese (for relatively major) wrote / published no piano music at all. Since one can't get less than nothing, the thread can be safely closed. 

[Karl Henning]

Berlioz and Varese are certainly the winners.

For a major composer with a huge catalogue of works, Dvorak wrote a surprisingly small amount of piano music, none of which is essential.

Good to know I needn't feel guilt over my neglect of the Dvořák piano solo œuvre.

[Florestan]

Good to know I needn't feel guilt over my neglect of the Dvořák piano solo œuvre.

My favorite of them is a suite named Eclogues. Give it a stream if/when you feel like it.

Overall, though, most of his solo piano works are dances. This in itself is neither here nor there but I much prefer Smetana's polkas to Dvorak's furiants and dumkas. Actually, Smetana's piano music (7 CD worth) is very good, even the dances have a melancholy feeling which at times sounds downright Rachmaninovian.

[71 dB]

True, but I think the Enigma Variations is originally thought of as a work for orchestra.

Sure, but how original solo piano music has to be?

[MusicTurner]

Sure, but how original solo piano music has to be?

There's no doubt he felt that he had to work & adapt the work to the piano and its sound. But it wasn't conceived as a piano piece, I think.

[Florestan]

The reverse question's answer is indisputable: Liszt is the major composer who wrote the most amount of solo piano music: about 100 CDs worth. 

[71 dB]

There's no doubt he felt that he had to work & adapt the work to the piano and its sound. But it wasn't conceived as a piano piece, I think.

Even if we drop Enigma Variations, Elgar wrote a dozen works specifically for piano. While these are rather short works, it is enough (about 40 minutes of music) to disqualify Elgar from being THE major composer who wrote the least solo piano music. Especially the claim that Concert Allegro is his ONLY solo piano work doesn't hold water.