vladimir ashkenazy has had an extremely successful career as a pianist. he became famous for his playing of romantic music and music by russian composers. he recorded a very large amount of music including the 24 preludes and fugues of dmitri shostakovich, alexander scriabin's piano sonatas, rachmaninoff's, frédéric chopin's and robert schumann's complete piano works, beethoven's piano sonatas, and the piano concertos of mozart (conducting from the keyboard with the philharmonia orchestra). he recorded concertos with many of the world's most famous orchestras. he still records and performs all over the world, often playing piano concertos and conducting from the piano keyboard.