If you want a solo, challenging, outstanding performance, try Byron Janis’ recording of Moussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition
Out of curiosity, do you have a preference between his 1955 and 1981 versions? When I bought one, I got the 1981 version, just figuring that he’d recorded it with 36 more years of learning under his belt, so it must be better, right? I’ve heard both, but haven’t listened to them close enough together to really compare. What’s the general consensus on this? Or is there one?
Some of my favorite music is Schubert’s solo piano pieces.
This would be a reasonably priced introduction; there’s a lot more.
Ashkenazy playing ANY Chopin, but especially the Nocturnes (dreamy, romantic stuff) or the Mazurkas (really, really fiery pieces). And if you can find a recording of him playing the Barcarolle and/or the Berceuse, take it and run to the register.
I second the recommendation of the piano version of Pictures at an Exhibition.
Do NOT fail to have a good set of Beethoven Sonatas on hand. Yeah, they are over-played, especially the Moonlight, but there is a reason. 
I highly recommend A Window in Time which is Rachmaninoff playing his own piano music. I can’t figure out how to explain the technology the producers used to remaster the CD, which involved music rolls and a specially designed reproducing piano, but trust me it is very high quality, not the typical remastered sound at all.
Another composer I love is Federico Mompou. He began writing during WWI, so he has a more modern sound, but I think his music is beautiful. I have this
CD, which includes most of his Preludes and the “Cancion y Danza” series.
More great recs – thanks!
Kilvert’s Pagan: Seems like the first half of that album is what I’m after. Sometimes I’m glad that classical music tends to be cheap. 
Metacom: I listened to some of the samples from that collection … I’d forgotten how beautiful some of Schubert’s music is.
DSYoungEsq: Funny you mentioning Ashkenazy and Beethoven in the same post, because earlier today I added this CD to my “buy soon” list. 
And yes, I completely agree that there’s a reason the Moonlight sonata is overplayed – it’s a favorite of mine to play, too.
Dervish Jones: Rachmaninoff! Of course! :smack: The piano roll thing is interesting: when I found the Gershwin-plays-Gershwin CD I mentioned in the OP, I saw listings for two albums of his piano roll music. Also, I listened to some of the Mompou, and it’s now been added to the list. For some reason, the sample of the first track (“Canzion y Danza 7”) reminded me of the theme to the old Christopher Reeve movie Somewhere In Time. I have that sheet music, and love that melody. So while I listened to some of the other samples, too, I think I was hooked from that very first one.
I apologize; I didn’t think I was being condescending, and I certainly didn’t mean to be, but now that I look back, I can see how it might have come accross that way. Though I figured you probably knew better, the OP left me with the idea that just possibly the reason you were insisting on solo piano music was because of the bad experience you’d had with “Starlight Piano,” and you were afraid of getting more of the same.
I’ll suggest Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas. These are some extremely complex and challenging works.
Well, I was going to respond last night but I was feeling lazy, so I lied down and listened to 1955, and then 1981 back to back. I may start to think of these two recordings listened to in this way as one large piece.
They are quite different approaches to the same piece, yet both are incredible. 1955 is played with the youthful exhuberence of a young virtuoso about to take the world by storm. It’s played at a quicker tempo in a more straight forward, unromantic style.
1981 is played with the patience, wisdom, and experience of an older master a few days away from the end of his life. It’s taken much slower and many of the variations are repeated making it about 20 min. longer than 1955.
I’m running late, but I’ll add a little more detail later.
Just to echo, Beethoven’s piano sonatas.
One of my all-time favourite jazz piano recordings:
Just to briefly add a few other things that crossed my mind:
As you may know one of Gould’s eccentricities is the way he hums along sometimes while playing or taps the beat. Some find this annoying but I found it often added an eery beauty, though I’ll admit I found it more annoying on the 1981 version for some reason.
Also, the 1981 version isn’t recorded evenly. There are a couple of dramatic shifts in recording levels from one variation to the next.
Despite those annoyances though, I think if I had to choose one I’d go with 1981. It’s strange, but last night after listening, and this morning when I wrote what I did, I don’t think I could’ve decided. Yet, now, it’s the 1981 version playing in my head. There’s something about the emotionally dramatic romantic phrasing and sensitivity that lasts in your mind (or maybe I’m just in a mood and will change my mind tomorrow, I dunno).
'Course, Oscar has a bass and a drum with him.
You shouldn’t as much listen to but watch Keith Jarrett play. He’s a renowned jazz improviser and really feels, breathes and interacts with his piano music.
Other than that, I would recommend Satie (one of my all-time favorites) as well as any Rachmaninoff concert featuring Russian pianist Olga Kern.
If the excellence of playing quality is more important than the genre being performed, and if the techniques of Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum are things you appreciate, try to hear some Michel Petrucciani who, sad to say, left the scene too soon in 1999. I don’t own any of his recordings but have heard him often enough on the radio to feel his mastery of the instrument is on par with other greats like Jarrett, Evans, Shearing, Garner, and others already mentioned in the jazz vein.
No worries: I knew there was a chance you hadn’t meant it the way it came across, but it was a pretty big conclusion to jump to and I felt that I needed to say something, but didn’t want to overreact. For future conclusions, I’m a “her.”
I am afraid of getting anything like the Starlight Piano album. However, it wasn’t the mere presence of other instruments that made it unlistenable (to me), it was the arrangements. I don’t use the term “Muzak-y” lightly, and it surprised me that anyone could interpret a dislike of piano elevator music to mean a dislike of all piano concerto music.
The reason I’m insisting on solo piano music is because that’s the kind of piano music I prefer, and is also the kind of piano music that is most lacking in my collection. I have several classical CDs and compilations, I love orchestras, and can appreciate a nice piano concerto with the best of them. But I happen to think that the piano is the most beautiful-sounding instrument there is, especially classical piano, and I was having trouble finding solo piano recordings. (I’m also having trouble finding solo pipe organ recordings, but that’s a topic for a different thread.) So it’s not that I dislike jazz or any of the other non-solo music that has been recommended; quite the contrary. They’re just not what I’m after right now.
His Blue Note recordings aren’t what I’m looking for, but I looked him up on Amazon and it seems that his Solo Live album is just the ticket. Thanks!