Lowell Herbrandson writes:

>Could we make a simple list of various piano repertoire and get a consensus
>of the best interpreters?

Given the independent thinking of folks on the List, nothing of this
magnitude is simple or results in a consensus.  However, I'm game for
the task.

>Could we start with the following composers: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
>Chopin, Schubert, Liszt.

Let's add Bach, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin,
Poulenc, Satie, and Prokofiev.  My choices are only based on solo piano
works:

   Bach - Gould, Richter, Tureck, and Gulda.
   Beethoven...Richter, Solomon, Schnabel, Brendel, and Pollini.
   Brahms......Moiseiwitsch and Katchen.
   Chopin......Rubinstein and Cortot.
   Debussy.....Gieseking.
   Haydn.......Brendel.
   Liszt.......Jando and Bolet.
   Mozart......Kraus and Uchida.
   Poulenc.....Tacchino.
   Prokofiev...Richter.
   Rachmaninov.Ashkenazy.
   Ravel.......Casadesus and Nijoma(sp?)
   Satie.......Ciccolini.
   Schubert....Brendel and Richter.
   Schumann....Moiseiwitsch, Gieseking, and Kempff.
   Scriabin....Sofronitsky, Scriabin, and Richter.

I assume that I'm leaving out a few pianists, and my preferences are
subject to daily change; only family members retain constant affection.
Of course, we could break all this down by specific compositions; that
would be time-consuming.

A quick persual of the above list leaves me feeling that the absolute
best pianists are Richter, Pollini, Solomon, Moiseiwitsch, Sofronitsky,
Brendel, Cortot, Gieseking, Gould, and Tureck.  That's about it for my
*objective* conclusions.

Don Satz