Tim Mahon writes:

>It makes it difficult to combat the accusation from young people I have
>tried to drag into classical music from time to time that there is a
>limited amount of music available.

Just show them a copy of the latest Schwann Opus.  It's as thick as any
major metropolitan area's yellow pages.

>I was recently chatting with a musicologist who specialises in the
>piano concerto, who told me he has catalogued over 10,000 of the species!

Is his database/catalog available? There is a book on the subject, part of
a series by an author whose name escapes me at the moment, which include
listings and brief descriptions of works for piano solo, multiple pianos,
chamber music with piano, ...

>Now, how many of those are even recorded -- let alone played live?

Last time I checked (a few years back), I had over two hundred different
piano concertos on CD (not counting alternate performances).  My guess is
that the number routinely performed in concert (i.e., more than once at
their premiere) is an order of magnitude less.

len.