Bach. I've certainly been living on only his scores for 6 months, more or less.

None!

If I were castaway on an island with a piano, I'd finally have the time to compose music - I'd be awed with inspiration from the sea around me, the poetic sunsets, and the heavenly night skies above. Not a bad idea for the dawn of an early retirement!

Bach, absolutely. I am actually thinking about playing only Bach even now

Oh, don't do that. There is so much else to enjoy, and variety is the spice of life.
But do let Bach be your daily friend and mentor, like many famous musicians and composers from present and past.

In the end I had to go with Beethoven. I love Bach, but, as someone above indicated, after a while my brain would hurt. Also I would want something written more specifically for the piano.

Also with Beethoven I get a great marriage between the classical and romantic spirits. Beethoven's formal structures are in the classical mold. He follows the classical ideals of balance and restraint (there are no notes or harmonies that do not belong in his structures). On the other hand he took those ideals to the limit infusing that classical mold with romantic expression.

Scott

Dvorak not even on the list

The survey will only hold ten (10) items. Sorry. Plus, he's thought of more as a symphonist than an exponent of piano literature.

Yeah his solo piano works were complete junk, but the piano parts in his later chamber works are some of the most beautiful I've ever heard.

That is as crude and stupid a statement as I have ever heard. I've played a good deal of his piano output and, while it may not be in the Brahms or Chopin class, and it does not always lie well under the fingers, there is a wealth of beauty there. And if anybody says that Dvorak had no affinity with the piano I dare them to listen to the piano concerto and the 4-hand slavonic dances.