Re first question: if you measure it as % of actual output, almost certainly those who wrote prolifically will score lowly (otoh I’m thinking Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Liszt) - do they really have more than 50 works in ‘canonical’ rep? Whereas Beethoven obviously has the bulk of the sonatas plus his concerti and some chamber music.
Yeah thing is that, when I was around at least, no one had actually seen those! Our team was in touch with virtually every significant library in Europe and several in Russia and the US as well, but we only ever found the Strauss, the Octave, and I think a set of variations.
Not really. Of the 600 odd Zart pieces, only maybe 100 are general rep. But quite a lot is not on the same level as his best stuff.
Someone like Duparc would be the later - he only published something like 13 songs which are bog standard French rep.
Pozz Mahler and Beethoven would fit both.
No…? Maybe a little hackneyed though. It wears on me that whenever pianists decide to play a Strauss paraphrase they land on this one 80% of the time. I think my favourites are Friedman’s Frühlingstimmen and the ones by Rosenthal.
Yes Kunstlerleben and Fledermaurs are among the best there is in my book too btw. They’re a bit thick though, I think Friedman’s and Rosenthal’s have just the right delicacy and elegance to them - and I also haven’t heard them as much.