Bach, played by Glenn Gould: The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations are both fantastic.

I think the piano pieces of Eric Satie are perhaps some of the most sublime music ever created, check out 3 Gymnopedies and 3 Gnossiennes. If you are up for a more mind bending journey check out Gyorgi Ligeti's "Continuum" for 2 player pianos.

I would recommend checking out the Masterworks recordings of Vladimir Horowitz. He was arguably the best pianist of the 20th Century and his recordings encompass some of the best classical works written for piano. I especially love his interpretations of Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. He also has an album of preludes composed by Scriabin that I love.

Anything Franz Liszt especially the Mephisto Waltz which is one of the most bad ass pieces of music ever.

And Glen Gould doing the Goldberg Variations is as perfect a thing as God could have ever of done on the best of his seven days...

Oh and Fats Domino

Go to the library and check out one of those "best of jazz piano" CDs, and see what you like. Monk is a great choice. The great Art Tatum if you like lots and lots of notes (Tatum had six hands). Oscar Peterson too. Keith Jarrett if you're New Agey. Fats Waller was a god (though he sings, which makes it even better for me but maybe not for you). Mary Lou Williams. Dave Brubeck. Bud Powell is a bop giant.

Bear in mind that the best jazz pianists often worked in groups where they were not the star, like McCoy Tyner with Coltrane (I'm a much bigger fan of Tyner than I am Coltrane). Or Earl Hines. so if it's just solo piano you want your choices are more limited.

Check out Benjamin Bear. Myspace.com/BenjaminBearMusic. It does not suck.

I am listening to Moravec playing Chopin's Nocturnes right now. I also like the Well-Tempered Clavier (Schiff, in my case.)

"Elite Syncopations" is an album full of Scott Joplin piano rags - it takes a few minutes to get my mind right to listen to them, but once they settle in, they can keep me going for hours.

I used to really like Frontispiece, by Ravel (Piano music for 5 hands)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw1RHoQtsyE

Someone, sometime is going to tell you to try George Winston. He sounds nice the first time through, but please don't pay for it until you have listened to it at least three times. The better your ear gets at listening to piano music, the less interesting George Winston will become.

Finally, if you trend towards a jazz sound, you MUST check out http://www.redhotjazz.com/ Search for "piano" and you'll get a list of a few dozen New Orleans performers from back in the day - you can listen to dozens of full tracks and read biographies of each of them. Thousands of recordings, all free.

p.s. Edit - I just remembered that I currently have an all-piano lullaby cover album featuring Metallica's greatest hits, redone for the nursery. Weird, but sort of fun.

George Shearing, Earl Hines, Alan Toussaint, Albert Ammons, Thelonious Monk, James Booker, Dave Brubeck, and Fats Waller are all great listening.

- Bill Evans, Sunday at the Village Vanguard
- Brad Mehldau, Elegiac Cycle
- Bud Powell, Jazz Giant
- Phineas Newborn Jr. - A World Of Piano!

I like Beethoven a lot. Debussy and Bach come to mind. But there is a whole lot more besides classical of course. Maybe you'd like jazz piano? showtunes? something more modern?

I agree...the piano is a great instrument. I wish I could play it better.

I would suggest going to Everyday Music or something and just listen to some stuff. See what you find and what you like. Get some recommendations here or from the staff at EM and wander around the nearby area for awhile.

Pokerface transcription

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5lL0qwgzUo

Jazz/Improv: Thelonious Monk (esp. solo), Art Tatum, Keith Jarrett, Cecil Taylor, Marilyn Crispell, Wayne Horvitz & Robin Holcomb "Solos" (local), Shirley Horn, Myra Melford, Matthew Shipp, Gust Burns (local)

Classical: JS Bach "Goldberg Variations" (Glenn Gould), Erik Satie (Reinbert de Leeuw), John Cage "Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared Piano" (Joshua Pierce), George Crumb "Makrokosmos", Frederic Rzewski "The People United", Aki Takahashi, Margaret Leng Tan, Cristina Valdes (local), Tiffany Lin (local)

New Orleans R&B: Dr. John, Professor Longhair, Marcia Ball, Allen Toussaint, Nellie Lutcher

Other: Robin Holcomb "Little Three" (local), Rachel Grimes "Book of Leaves", Tom Johnson "An Hour for Piano", Stephen Scott "Music for Bowed Piano", Veda Hille

Plenty more where that came from - explore! take chances! Library is great for this.

Chopin, Satie and Liszt, to start.

I would pick up all four of Rachmaninov's piano concertos w/ Vladimir Ashkenazy as the soloist:

http://www.amazon.com/Rachmaninov-Piano-Concertos-Nos-Sergey/dp/B00000427L

Seriously.

Thelonious Monk. Pure pleasure.

Any Errol Garner, Art Tatum sound superb.

Debussy's Clair de Lune is always a winner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlvUepMa31o

Try the songbook that was published in about 1971 that features all of Cat Steven's most popular music of the time from Teaser and the Firecat, and Tea for the Tillerman. Etc.

Rufus Wainwright