If you could only have one...

[amw]

Neither "Marc-André Hamelin: The Hyperion Recordings" nor "András Schiff: The ECM Recordings" exists yet, but if they did, I'd pick one of them.

[Parsifal]

Pollini is my first choice. After that, hard to pick second place. Kempff is a great favorite, although his repertoire was not the widest, Brendel is another possibility, maybe Argerich, but Pollini first.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Man tough choices. Mine would either be the Perahia, Gould or Argerich big boxes, all three ALWAYS have something interesting to say about the music.

[springrite]

This happens to be the one that I do have.

[mc ukrneal]

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far (keep them coming! ). Any thoughts on this one:
[asin]B002SV3KOM[/asin]

[The new erato]

I think I would go for the Perahia. Big, comprehensive, little duplication and mostly very fine sound. And all round great performances, With few missteps. For a novice, this would be a fine introduction to the piano repertoire.

[The new erato]

Man tough choices. Mine would either be the Perahia, Gould or Argerich big boxes, all three ALWAYS have something interesting to say about the music.

I have them all. And the Rubinstein. And the Richter. And several more. Still, as a broad allround collection with consistent quality both soundwise and performancewise, Perahia. Not always as exciting as Gould or Richter, but still.

[vandermolen]

My choice:
[asin]B01LE2FM96[/asin]

[Ghost Sonata]

This is the thread with the good stuff, lordy!  It hurt my head to think about, but will join Brian and Todd in their endorsement of Rubinstein.  Transcendence is the word I'm looking for.  (though it does feel as if I'm, like, cheating on Glenn).    Curiously, and seriously, not a thought for Horowitz?

[George]

[Todd]

Curiously, and seriously, not a thought for Horowitz?

I have several.  None of them involve keeping his long box in this scenario.

[Holden]

Ditto

Alternatives:

[ritter]

Possibly this one:

[asin]B000KRMWLS[/asin]

...or maybe this one:

[asin]B00M16B51O[/asin]

[PerfectWagnerite]

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far (keep them coming! ). Any thoughts on this one:
[asin]B002SV3KOM[/asin]

I am torn between this one and the Cortot box. I am not a big piano buff but would like to get to know some of the music in those boxes. Any thoughts?

[Jo498]

The Rosen box is the only one where I am angry with myself that I missed it waiting for lower prices until it was out of print. Another reason for my hesitation was that I already had the late Beethoven, Goldbergs and a Schumann disc, already the core of what interested me most in there.

[Todd]

I am torn between this one and the Cortot box. I am not a big piano buff but would like to get to know some of the music in those boxes. Any thoughts?

I don't have the Ciccolini box, but I have a healthy dollop of his recordings (eg, Debussy, Liszt).  I do have the Cortot box.  Buy the Cortot.

[ritter]

The Rosen box is the only one where I am angry with myself that I missed it waiting for lower prices until it was out of print. Another reason for my hesitation was that I already had the late Beethoven, Goldbergs and a Schumann disc, already the core of what interested me most in there.

I also had the Beethoven and the Goldbergs, but the prospect of having the Debussy, the Ravel, the Boulez, the Carter made this set a must for me...

I am torn between this one and the Cortot box. I am not a big piano buff but would like to get to know some of the music in those boxes. Any thoughts?

The Debussy is superb (I mean really superb), the Liszt only so-so IMHO, and then you have the rarities (Sévérac, for instance)...but it seemed to me that too many of the CDs were devoted to Satie, and in the end that's what led me to pass on this one...

[PerfectWagnerite]

I don't have the Ciccolini box, but I have a healthy dollop of his recordings (eg, Debussy, Liszt).  I do have the Cortot box.  Buy the Cortot.

Thanks. Looking at the Cortot track listing there appears to be a good deal of repeated recordings. Any Cortot box that has his essence but no repeats?

[Todd]

Thanks. Looking at the Cortot track listing there appears to be a good deal of repeated recordings. Any Cortot box that has his essence but no repeats?

Not that I am aware of.  There is an older EMI six disc Chopin set that is fine on its own, and there are Naxos transfers of his trio recordings with Thibaut and Casals (one of the gems of the Cortot discography), but the big box uses the better remasterings - plus it has almost everything.  The late recordings from the 50s find the already less than wizardly Cortot past his prime, but his 20s and 30s recordings are fabulous pretty much without exception.

This would be third on my list of big boxes to keep, after Rubinstein and Casadesus.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Not that I am aware of.  There is an older EMI six disc Chopin set that is fine on its own, and there are Naxos transfers of his trio recordings with Thibaut and Casals (one of the gems of the Cortot discography), but the big box uses the better remasterings - plus it has almost everything.  The late recordings from the 50s find the already less than wizardly Cortot past his prime, but his 20s and 30s recordings are fabulous pretty much without exception.

This would be third on my list of big boxes to keep, after Rubinstein and Casadesus.

Which Casadeus box is that? I only have this one and yes it is fabulous as I can't stop listening to it, probably as much for Casadeus as for Szell and his magnificent Clevelanders: