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Topic: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.  (Read 173642 times)

Offline ghchopin

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #100 on: December 16, 2009, 02:39:02 PM
Arcady Volodos
Evgeny Kissin
Yundi --
Martha Argerich(born same city I was)
Valentina Lisista.

Offline mike_lang

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #101 on: December 16, 2009, 03:44:44 PM
.

Offline jbmorel78

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #102 on: December 31, 2009, 04:40:31 PM
Has anyone heard the pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger?  I purchased a recording of his live from Suntory Hall which had one of the most artistic and dramatic Liszt sonatas I have ever heard...  Really stellar young pianist.

Yes!

Offline teccomin

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #103 on: February 15, 2010, 05:45:37 AM
My #1:
Krystian Zimerman
He stop recording solo pieces some 2 decades ago because he thinks that recording is lame... But whatever he touched seemed to turn gold. Most of his recordings can be considered as best of all time, such has the Chopin Piano Concertos, Ballads, Schubert Impromptus, Debussy Preludes and Liszt Sonata in B.

The rest of the list (in no particular order)
Hamelin
Argerich
Ashkenazy
Barenboim
Pollini
Kissin
Perahia
Pletnev
Yundi Li(not quite there yet but has potential)

Honorary Mention: Helene Grimaud (Unique style and so damn hot!)

My hate list:
Volodos
Lang Lang

Offline jbmorel78

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #104 on: February 18, 2010, 01:43:44 AM
Liszt Sonata in B.

Really?  I would put several Liszt sonatas before Zimerman's, several live....

And what of Volodos?

Offline orangesodaking

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #105 on: February 25, 2010, 06:14:36 PM
Hmm. Some of MY favorite top-notch pianists are:

-Marc-André Hamelin (obviously)
-Kemal Gekic
-Martha Argerich (although she has a good number of interpretations of pieces I'm not the biggest fan of...)
-Ivo Pogorelich (same with him... but when he gets it, he GETS it!)
-André Laplante

Sorry I only listed five. Too bad David Smith and Ronald Smith (not related) are no longer alive. They were absolutely stellar pianists.

Offline prongated

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #106 on: February 26, 2010, 03:24:44 PM
-André Laplante

I've seen his name rather often in similar posts...I never realised he's THAT good...

Offline orangesodaking

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #107 on: February 26, 2010, 06:04:20 PM
I've seen his name rather often in similar posts...I never realised he's THAT good...

On Youtube, I uploaded his performance of "Une Barque sur l'Ocean" and "Alborada del Gracioso" from Miroirs. I recommend buying that CD (also has the Pavane, Jeux d'Eau and other Ravel pieces)... it's one of the BEST uses of your money if you're a Ravel fan. He also made another Ravel CD with Gaspard de la Nuit, Sonatine, and other pieces.

And I'm not sure about other composers he plays, but I've heard he's just as good with anything he plays. I heard him play Mozart Concerto 21 in C Major live, and it was impeccable!

Offline liordavid

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #108 on: February 28, 2010, 09:52:34 PM
My top ten are Lang Lang
                     Yundi Li 
                     Peter Serkin
                     Alexander Ghindin
                     Radu Lupu
                     Leon Fleischer
                     Martha Agerich
                     Alfred Brendel
                     Gary Graffman   
                  and Ingrid Fliter   

Offline gyzzzmo

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #109 on: April 23, 2010, 08:46:58 PM
Hmm.... Sokolov.
1+1=11

Offline hssb

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #110 on: September 03, 2011, 04:41:17 AM
who do you think are the top ten pianists in the world.
Gutierrez
Zimerman
Brendel
Argerich
Kissin
Gutierrez
Pollini

Offline mozartk365

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #111 on: December 08, 2011, 02:02:07 AM
in no particular order:

Maurizio Pollini
Krystian Zimerman
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Marc-Andre Hamelin
Martha Argerich
Mitsuko Uchida
Stephen Hough
Valentina Lisitsa
Evgeny Kissin
Zoltan Kocsis

Offline pianoplayjl

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #112 on: January 08, 2012, 09:55:47 AM
Ashkenazy
Pollini
Hamelin
Scherbakov
Kissin
Argerich
Gavrilov
Yundi li
Byron janis
Barenboim
Lang Lang (just kidding)

JL
Funny? How? How am I funny?

Offline megadodd

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #113 on: January 08, 2012, 10:18:53 AM
Kissin
Pletnev
Argerich
Ashkenazy
Repertoire.
2011/2012

Brahms op 118
Chopin Preludes op 28
Grieg Holberg Suite
Mendelssohn Piano trio D minor op 49
Rachmaninoff Etude Tabelaux op 33 no 3 & 4 op 39 no 2
Scriabin Preludes op 1

Offline sevencircles

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #114 on: January 08, 2012, 10:51:52 AM
why Finnissy? all he has proven is that he can play his own disproportional, nonsensical monstrosities

May I ask what is so special about Ian Pace? he is 95% technical.

Also, Jonathan Powell is great but I don't think he is quite about to par with people like Pollini, Aimard, Zimmerman et al.

Jonathan Powell and even more Pace can play pieces extremely few people can. I haven´t heard much  of Pace but if he can play all the pieces listed on his site uptempo without making any significant mistakes, then he is for sure one of the greatest pianists in the world and the greatest technical pianist ever.

I have heard more from Powell then Pace and he is without any doubt one of he most underrated pianists out there.

Offline dream_pianist1999

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #115 on: April 27, 2012, 02:12:46 PM
I think the top 3 should be:

1)Martha Argerich :)
2) Evgeny Kissin :D
3) Albert Tiu :)

Offline milkshake95

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #116 on: May 26, 2012, 04:40:00 AM
Albert Tiu??

Offline angierc

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #117 on: June 11, 2012, 03:59:29 PM

3) Albert Tiu :)


Isn't that someone from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore?
Are you REALLY REALLY SURE?  :o I don't think he can be parred with pianists like Yundi Li, or Berezovsky, or Argerich, or Zimmerman...  ::) I think I still prefer Lang Lang..
Music is the expression of the movement of the waters, the play of curves described by changing breezes. ~Claude Debussy<br /><br />Music is the silence between the notes. ~Claude Debussy

Offline momoji

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #118 on: July 20, 2012, 02:17:24 PM
not sure about top ten but Stephen Hough is one of the best pianists that i've watched perform
He played Rachmaninoff 3rd concerto and I cried. Just beautiful

Offline ruvidoetostinato

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #119 on: July 24, 2012, 09:02:19 AM
in no order

Vladimir Ashkenazy
Martha Argerich
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Evgeny Kissin
Krystian Zimerman
Ivo Pogorelic
Yuja Wang
"Practice makes not so imperfect."
Surviving
Collaborating, Accompanying, Soloing, Teaching, Surviving.

Offline aaren

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #120 on: September 14, 2012, 08:04:37 AM
Difficult to say.. but i really like how Stanislav Stanchev plays. I saw him yesterday at youtube.

Offline thesuineg

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #121 on: December 14, 2012, 03:47:11 PM
who said it
claire huangci
claire huangci
kills self

Offline the89thkey

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #122 on: December 15, 2012, 02:13:24 AM
Nikolai Lugansky
maybe Martha Argerich, I like her playing as well.

Offline berman

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #123 on: April 16, 2013, 04:37:05 PM
1. Ivo Pogorelich
2. Alfred Brendel
3. Vladimir Ashkenazy
4. Grigory Sokolov
5. Yefim Bronfman
6. Evgeny Kissin
7. Mikhail Pletnev
8. Piotr Anderszewski
9. Radu Lupu
10. Pierre-Laurent Aimard
11. Mats Widlund

Offline matthew from florida

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #124 on: April 23, 2013, 05:18:19 PM
I'm just going to throw out some names...

Berezovsky
Hamelin
Yundi Li
Pollini
Zimerman
Argerich
Lisitsa
Kissin
Paul Barton (I know, he is a bit out of place in this list, but he is a decent player and makes wonderful tutorials and answers my questions ;D)

Offline chopianologue

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #125 on: April 23, 2013, 06:04:06 PM
Argerich
Pogorelich
Biret

Offline knguru

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #126 on: September 14, 2013, 01:15:46 AM
Radu Lupu is like a magician. And it`s not because he`s a Romanian and I am one as well, he just seems to be „hypnotizing” the piano without even really touching the keys. He is well beyond technically playing the piano, the piano seems somehow to belong to his body, to be an extension of his hands. All he focuses on are the feelings, the mood, everything connected to the soul, even if that something is only one note, and brings them to life in a really unique matter. I just saw him last week at the Romanian Atheneum during the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest playing Schubert and it was unbelievable. A man was saying after the concert that he had heard the Schubert sonatas a lot of times before but the way Lupu played them made him think that he was listening to a totally different melody. And that`s exactly what Radu Lupu is all about.
He also played in another night of the festival the no.10 Mozart two pianos concert with Barenboim and they both were like angels singing. Absolutely incredible.

Offline cybermat

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #127 on: October 07, 2013, 05:05:56 PM
David helfgott is the most unique and musical pianist ive ever seen.he has extraordinary gift despite his mental illness and plays with so much expression he is a extremely wonderful muscian and is near genius

Offline chopinfrederic

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Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #128 on: December 07, 2013, 03:30:29 PM
1. Lang Lang
2. Evgeny Kissin
3. Valentina Lisitsa
4. Paul Barton
5. And, of course, me! :p

Offline sonicbass

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #129 on: February 16, 2014, 09:41:09 PM
Lang Lang is the best living pianist in the world!!

Offline jlskiles

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #130 on: November 07, 2014, 04:16:40 AM
Marc Andre Hamelin
Martha Argerich
Krystian Zimerman
Evgeny Kissin
Valentina Lisitsa
Daniel Barenboim

Offline syek88

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #131 on: January 30, 2015, 06:58:02 AM
My list is of Top 10 active pianists as of 2015.

It excludes the retired (Brendel) the semi-retired/conductors (Ashkenazy, Pletnev), and the once-great but no longer (Pollini). It also excludes Zimerman and Sokolov: I have never seen them live, and given that they barely record, I therefore can't assess them.

1. Leif Ove Andsnes.  Having completed his "Beethoven Journey", he is at the peak of his career and the peak of the profession.

2. Maria Joao Pires.

3. Martha Argerich. Would be even higher but for the fact that she's not really extending herself as a soloist at present. Still, couldn't put her out of the top three. Recent live recordings with Abbado and Barenboim were exceptional.

4. Daniel Barenboim. Like Ashkenazy and Pletnev, very much a part-timer. Except that with his extraordinary work ethic and prolific production, he gets to make the list.  His recent multi-disc recording of Schubert sonatas - where does he get the time? - illustrate that he still belongs here.

5. Nikolai Lugansky. The top Russian, in my view. Recent recording of Grieg/Prok 3 was superb.

6. Marc-Andre Hamelin

7. Nelson Freire

8. Stephen Hough

9. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

10. Arcadi Volodos

Tough to leave out Perahia and Anderszewski.  Lang Lang would also be in my Top 20 - he, his facial expressions and his PR machine all annoy me but you have to respect his ability.  Only one Brit in the top 10: Hough. Full respect for Uchida, Lewis, Cooper, Hewitt, Osborne, but I reckon their careers get aided by their nationality (not their fault) and aren't Top 10 material.

Levit, Fliter and Yuja Wang would hopefully have strong claims in the near future.

Offline emill

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #132 on: February 01, 2015, 06:11:41 AM
He played Rachmaninoff 3rd concerto and I cried. Just beautiful
  (Albert Tiu)

Yes ... you have to hear him play to really appreciate him.  If I am not mistaken he came from Boston U and Julliard. 

Although I do not have a top ten, I am a bit surprised that no one mentioned Daniil Trifonov, Denis Matsuev, Murray Perahia  and Helene Grimaud. 
member on behalf of my son, Lorenzo

Offline thalbergmad

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #133 on: February 01, 2015, 10:10:35 AM
Katsaris is the only pianist alive. All the others are nothing.

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline hardy_practice

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #134 on: February 01, 2015, 10:23:00 AM
A live what?
B Mus, PGCE, DipABRSM

Offline ronde_des_sylphes

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #135 on: February 01, 2015, 11:33:44 AM
Katsaris
Volodos
Fazil Say
Thibaudet
Giovanni Bellucci
Hough

If I was feeling "serious" I'd add Sokolov. Andsnes and Aimard, but I'm not, so I'll add pianists I particularly enjoy -

Roberto Cominati

Marco Falossi

Koji Attwood

and marik, not least for his Weber-Tausig

- the point being that I would happily attend a recital by any one of them over one by Lisitsa, Brendel, Lang Lang, Hamelin, or a multitude of other "big names".
My website - www.andrewwrightpianist.com
Info and samples from my first commercial album - https://youtu.be/IlRtSyPAVNU
My SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/andrew-wright-35

Offline thalbergmad

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #136 on: February 01, 2015, 03:34:14 PM
I would rather stick a metronome up my bum and set it to 250bpm than hear bang bang or hamelin again.

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline ahinton

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #137 on: February 01, 2015, 04:21:18 PM
I would rather stick a metronome up my bum and set it to 250bpm than hear bang bang or hamelin again.
Then may I be the first to send you such a metronome? I have little to say in favour of Bang Bang but I suspect that your knowledge of Hamelin's work is nowhere near adequate for you to make such a pronouncement.

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline thalbergmad

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #138 on: February 01, 2015, 05:31:31 PM
Then may I be the first to send you such a metronome?

I have not moved, so please feel free to do so.

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline pianoman53

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #139 on: February 01, 2015, 06:04:56 PM
You can send me a metronome too... Empty and emotionless playing is not my cup of tea.

Offline thalbergmad

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #140 on: February 01, 2015, 06:09:31 PM
Hinty better make a bulk order ;D

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline ahinton

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #141 on: February 01, 2015, 06:41:34 PM
Hinty better make a bulk order ;D
I'm quite sure that you already possess a metronome that you could insert into your anus if you feel so disposed (though quite how effectively it might continue to tick while there might be open to question)...

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline ahinton

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #142 on: February 01, 2015, 06:43:22 PM
You can send me a metronome too... Empty and emotionless playing is not my cup of tea.
It certainly isn't mine, either, but hearing any does not incline me to stick a metronome anywhere - it's preferable (and less painful) simply to switch off or walk out, depending upon whether the playing concerned is recorded or live.

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline thalbergmad

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #143 on: February 01, 2015, 06:44:18 PM
I do not have a metronome, so kindly send me one as mentioned above.

Look forward to receiving it.

Luv

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline pianoman53

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #144 on: February 01, 2015, 10:39:03 PM
to get back to topic: Radu Lupu and Volodos.

Offline perfect_pitch

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #145 on: February 01, 2015, 11:20:25 PM
My list is of Top 10 active pianists as of 2015.

...and the once-great but no longer (Pollini).

You DO realise that Pollini is still alive... don't you? Or did you mean he isn't great anymore??? If it's the latter, then I believe you're wrong.



Still just as astounding as when he was in his younger years.

Offline diomedes

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #146 on: February 02, 2015, 12:09:18 AM
Recently I decided to finally find out what's at the bottom of Lang Lang. Listened to that live performance of the Ballades and he almost ruined them for me. You turn off the video, and all his mannerisms and attention drawing is vivid in his playing auraly. There's no escaping it. Horrible experience.
Fabulous pianist, insincere musician.

Recently I've been in a state of admiration for Kissin (if you have not seen that video of a recent performance of his of Rachmaninov 2, you probably should.)

Others that caught my admiration,
Katsaris
Hough
Pletnev
Ponti
Hamelin (although i have limited emotional commitment to him)

Regrettably Tozer is not valid for the list, and Ogdon will always have my greatest admiration. And i admire Samson Francois.

I have not formed a musical opinion of Yuja Wang, but her abilities are indescribable.

Beethoven-Alkan, concerto 3
Faure barcarolle 10
Mozart-Stradal, symphony 40

Offline coda_colossale

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #147 on: February 02, 2015, 12:18:53 AM
Pollini
Katsaris
Perahia
Volodos
Sokolov
Pogorelich
Zimerman
Ashkenazy
Biret
Lupu

Offline pianoman53

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #148 on: February 02, 2015, 06:42:22 AM
Polloni is also great. Or at least that's what I've been told... I honestly don't know, because I always fall asleep when he starts playing...

Offline thalbergmad

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Re: Top Ten pianists still that are a live.
Reply #149 on: February 02, 2015, 06:10:28 PM
Listened to that live performance of the Ballades and he almost ruined them for me



He completely ruined them for me.

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society
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