most over- and underrated pianists!

[presto agitato]

My humble opinion:

Overrated: Martha Argerich (Too much bravura, she is also very fast).
                  Kissin (Never like his playing)
                  Yundi Li (Where is his Beethoven, Mozart, Bach etc?)
                 

Underrated:Howard Shelley, Benjamin Frith, Idil Biret, Shura Cherkassky, Martha Deyanova, Vitalij Kuprij, Art Tatum, Tony Macalpine,Patrcik Moraz, Radu Lupu and Leslie Howard.

[sevencircles]

I agree that Tatum is underrated in the classical community!

Vitalij Kuprij, Tony Macalpine, Patrcik Moraz

You are into Rock,right?

Vitalij was a very promising player Chopin player,rock-keyboardist etc. His playing has been at times very sloppy during recent years and something tells me that he is an alcoholaddict these days.

Tony Macalpine mainly a guitarist but he can play all of Chopins Etudes on piano. In a very dry way perhaps, but the notes are there.

Patrick Moraz. You will never go back to classical piano If you start to enjoy playing keyboardsolos  with a pitch bend. Not true in every case....

[Waldszenen]

My humble opinion:

Overrated: Martha Argerich (Too much bravura, she is also very fast).
                  Kissin (Never like his playing)
                  Yundi Li (Where is his Beethoven, Mozart, Bach etc?)
                 

Underrated:Howard Shelley, Benjamin Frith, Idil Biret, Shura Cherkassky, Martha Deyanova, Vitalij Kuprij, Art Tatum, Tony Macalpine,Patrcik Moraz, Radu Lupu and Leslie Howard.

I agree - Yundi's focusing on Romantic music and it pisses me off. And I do agree Cherkassky and Lupu are underrated.

[presto agitato]

I forgot to metion: Underrated: Dang Thai Son. I saw him playing live and hes is *** great.

[daniel patschan]

Completely underrated: Konstantin Scherbakov, Bernd Glemser
Slightly overrated: Sviatoslav Richter, Vladimir Horowitzjavascript:void(0);

[contrapunctus]

What do you do to become overrated?

[superstition2]

Over-rated: John Ogdon, Evgeny Kissin, Michael Ponti, Van Cliburn, Georges Cziffra

As for under-rated, it depends on the performance. Robert Taub is definitely under-rated when it comes to some Scriabin. His complete sonatas collection is the best I've heard, but not every performance is outstanding. The 8th and 9th aren't terribly compelling, for instance. I've heard his Beethoven isn't the best.

Bernd Glemser is probably under-rated, because some of his Scriabin sonatas are the best I've heard, like the 7th. But, his first disc of them is better than the 2nd.

Anyone who says Horowitz is overrated must refer to specific performances, because--overall--he is a genius. Some of his performances are not the best, because he's human.

Richter, like Horowitz, produced some unimpressive performances as well as outstanding performances.

As for Rubinstein... I've never heard a better version of Chopin's G minor ballade and don't expect to. Horowitz's definitely doesn't do the job. Rubinstein also did the best I've heard with Brahms' second concerto (a 1960 live recording in Warsaw). His Beethoven sonatas are solid and so is his Chopin.

Ashkenazy is uneven. His performance of the Rachmaninov unrevised second sonata is the best I've heard, and he did a wonderful job with Prokofiev's 2nd concerto and Scriabin's 1st concerto. Yet, his Scriabin sonatas are not the best (although he has the best 8th I've heard) and I have a disc of him playing Beethoven sonatas that is vastly inferior to Rubinstein and Richter. To Ashkenazy's credit, a lot of pianists have butchered that Rachmaninov sonata. The only issue I have with his performance is the unusual chord near the end of the second movement, which is either due to his mistake or a mistake in the score.

[burstroman]

overrated - horowitz
underrated - myra hess

[stevie]

Over-rated: Georges Cziffra


Bernd Glemser is probably under-rated, because some of his Scriabin sonatas are the best I've heard, like the 7th. But, his first disc of them is better than the 2nd.

i agree completely about glemser, i am very impressed with his playing.

but cziffra?! he is my musical god, why do you consider him overrated? if anything i consider him very underrated in many regards.

[practicingnow]

5 most Overrated: Richter
                              Arrau
                              Pollini
                              Hamelin
                              Schiff

5 most Underrated: Fiorentino
                                Katsaris
                                Berman
                                Levitski
                                Lisitsa

[pabst]

why do people still bother replying and reading this nonsense? (me included)
this a conundrum!

[mrchops10]

My humble opinion:

Overrated: Yundi Li (Where is his Beethoven, Mozart, Bach etc?)
                 

Underrated:Art Tatum

Hm...where are Tatum's Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach?

why do people still bother replying and reading this nonsense? (me included)
this a conundrum!

[arensky]

Hm...where are Tatum's Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach?
 

And where is the Jazz of probably every pianist mentioned in this thread so far except Cziffra and Horowitz? 

[perfect_pitch]

David Helfgott is not over rated... He can play once piece brilliantly and that is all, so you can't really call him overrated..

What about Peter Waters... anyone ever heard of him???

[sevencircles]

Simon Barere has to be one of the most underrated:

He did the best recording I heard of La Leggierezza and Blumenfeld´s Etude for the Left Hand

One of the best Don Juan Fantasy, Gnomenreigen, Oriental Fantaisie and Weber´s Moto Perpetuo

At least if you ask me

He could for sure do more then play fast

[musicsdarkangel]

Overrated post-1960: Alicia de Larrocha
Underrated post-1960: Krzysztof Jablonski

Wow, never have i agreed more yet disagreed more at the same time with someone's post.

I think Jablonsky is excellent, but man, Larrocha, she's a musician; a lot of pianists aren't, but when you hear her play Mozart, you hear a vocalist.

[musicsdarkangel]

Mmmm, Murray Perahia. Over-rated I think you mean to say. That man is totally fake. And if you're going to record the Chopin Etudes one measure at a time, you could at least make them different from Pollini's. Oh, but Perahi is different from Pollini! Yeah, it's slower, and that's about it. Thanks Murray, thanks a lot.

It doesn't matter because Ohlsson's recording slaughters both musically and technically.

[lau]

I feel like I have seen this topic three times

[arensky]

OVERRATED!!!!!!!!!


Maurizio Pollini...(in the words of a friend of mine) "fakes having real guts really well!" (not so well IMO, he is sterile and lame)

Alfred Brendel... Bad tone, sloppy technique (live anyway, heard him twice and he can't play like his records sound.. splicing is his great friend! Listen closely on yer IPOD, you'll hear it!)

UNDERRATED!!!!!!

Agustin Anievas...Mexican American New Yorker who recorded  all the big 19th Century pieces for Angel/EMI...VERY underrated! Agree with me or challenge me! He's great...

Malcom Binns...British gentlemen with an ALL-ENCOMPASSING TECHNIQUE!!!!!!
Was playing Medtner before Medtner was hip and can play ANY period's music with ABSOLUTE stylistic perfection! Be it Mozart, Chopin, Gershwin, Medtner, Hamilton Harty, Balakirev..it's all PERFECT!!!  I am so angry and riled up right now and I so want to hear him live that I am going to get on the case of our most important local concert series' director, and get him to BRING THIS GUY HERE!!!!!....I hope he does....

BTW the best recording of Gershwin's Concerto in F, bar none...

[superstition2]

Agustin Anievas.

He did a great job with Rachmaninov's 4th concerto. Unfortunately, it's the last revision instead of the superior earlier versions.

[chromatickler]

to add to the underrated list (or simply: deserves to be better known)

Ingolf Wunder
Sergio Tiempo
Vadim Rudenko

[perfect_pitch]

I would agree with Wunder and Rudenko, but I don't honestly think Tiempo is sincerely that great.

[stevie]

I would agree with Wunder and Rudenko, but I don't honestly think Tiempo is sincerely that great.

i thought so too until i heard his totentanz....

[perfect_pitch]

I haven't heard his totentanz.... Haven't had the pleasure/pain.....

[thierry13]

And where is the Jazz of probably every pianist mentioned in this thread so far except Cziffra and Horowitz? 

I don't know if I speak only for myself, but I don't *** care for Jazz. As I don't *** if Yundi Li doesn't play beethoven/ bach/ etc. He made me hear some nice Chopin and Liszt and I thank him for that. Amen.

[arensky]

I don't know if I speak only for myself,

Yes you do...

[superstition2]

but cziffra?! he is my musical god, why do you consider him overrated? if anything i consider him very underrated in many regards.

I had a CD of him playing Liszt. I gave it away. Maybe he has better recordings. I found his playing quite unappealing.

[practicingnow]

Agustin Anievas...Mexican American New Yorker who recorded  all the big 19th Century pieces for Angel/EMI...VERY underrated! Agree with me or challenge me! He's great...

I agree - the best recording of the Chopin Etudes IMO

[arensky]

I agree - the best recording of the Chopin Etudes IMO

Yo, gimmee 5 dude! I thought I was alone in this opinion, like with the Rachmaninov 4th!

[frombachtobarber]

Underrated: Nelson Freire from brazil
fabulous romantic pianist

oooh i agree. i heard him at an duo concert with martha argerich.

[piazzo23]

Ashkenazy is still underrated.

[superstition2]

Ashkenazy is still underrated.

I think he's uneven. His Rachmaninov unrevised sonata #2 is monumental. Yet, I have a disc of him playing Beethoven that's truly mediocre. Rubinstein is far better when playing the same sonatas. He played the Scriabin concerto and Prometheus really well, and did a great job with Prokofiev's 2nd concerto. But, his Scriabin 7th/10th aren't good.

[musicsdarkangel]

I think he's uneven. His Rachmaninov unrevised sonata #2 is monumental. Yet, I have a disc of him playing Beethoven that's truly mediocre. Rubinstein is far better when playing the same sonatas. He played the Scriabin concerto and Prometheus really well, and did a great job with Prokofiev's 2nd concerto. But, his Scriabin 7th/10th aren't good.

He's recorded SO much repitoire, and about 75 percent of it is awesome.

His Rachmaninoff in general is cream of the crop, listen to his Mephisto Waltz, his old stuff.

Listen to everything.

[cfortunato]

I think Ashkenazi is over-rated.  I think John Lill is over-rated.  I think Xenia Knorr is under-rated.  I think a pianist you've probably never heard of named Gregory Haimovsky is under-rated, because you should have.

Pop music, Jerry Lee Lewis is really good.  Little Richard isn't nearly as good and is often placed with him, so he's over-rated.  Billy Joel is over-rated.  Elton John is under-rated.  Does it have to be piano only?  Garth Hudson is under-rated.

[da jake]

Overrated:

Brendel
Pollini
Perahia
Argerich
Ashkenazy

Underrated:
(not necessarily obscure, but given too low an assessment)

For instance, Lipatti is just obscure. Hardly anyone has anything bad to say about him so he's not really underrated.

Gould
Horowitz
Arrau
Schnabel

[cfortunato]

I think he's uneven. His Rachmaninov unrevised sonata #2 is monumental. Yet, I have a disc of him playing Beethoven that's truly mediocre. Rubinstein is far better when playing the same sonatas. He played the Scriabin concerto and Prometheus really well, and did a great job with Prokofiev's 2nd concerto. But, his Scriabin 7th/10th aren't good.

I think Ashkenazy often plays too fast, because he can.  And that's showing off to the detriment of the music.

[perfect_pitch]

most Overrated: Lang Lang... (You know it's true)... I'm not saying that to be derogatory...
Most Underrated: David Helfgott... Everyone hears his piano repertoire and it is riddled with mistakes (I will admit that...) and sure he moans and annoys you while he's playing... but his performance of Rachmaninoffs 3rd Piano Concerto is immaculate.