I've been following the discussion with some interest, so I thought I'd
weigh in with my own ideas on this very interesting topic.

I agree that the repeats are there for a reason, and certainly whenever my
duo records a piece, we leave them in, and adjust the repertoire so as to
fit any time limit.

Live performances, however, are a different thing.  I used to be a fanatic
about always doing all repeats as being the only historically accurate
way of doing things...  'till I heard no less than Malcolm Bilson point
out that Mozart himself was quite cavalier about the whole matter, and
left them in, or took them out according to how the piece would fit the
rest of the programme.

So...  in the spirit of HIP, when programme timing requires it, we do the
same.  This usually involves omitting repeats in sonata-allegro movements,
or those of longer sections, where the lack of the repeat, in the ephemeral
medium of live performance, will not be missed as much.

There are some pieces, though, where I will *never* omit the repeats; for
example, the Diabelli Variations, the Goldberg, or any of the late sonatas
of Beethoven.

There are others as well, and I admit that it is a judgement call, but as
I said above, apparently Mozart exercised this kind of judgement all the
time, and who am I to question good, mainstream HIP?:-)

Cordially,

Leslie Kinton
The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto.
Anagnoson and Kinton piano duo website: http://www.pianoduo.com