Favorite hands to watch?

[vladhorwz]

Who is your favorite simply to watch play?

1) Casadesus
2) Horowitz
3) Aregerich
4) Cziffra
5) Michelangeli

Least favorite

1,2,3,4,5) Jose Carlos Cocarelli


6) Van Cliburn
7) Lang Lang

[Teddybear]

Argerich.

[vladhorwz]

.....

8  Zoltan Kocsis

[stevie]

favourite - gyorgy cziffra

least favourite - samson francois

[brewtality]

ABM, perfect looking hands.
Least: maybe Cortot in old age or Arrau (his hands looks huge)

[dbrainiak914]

Hamelin... they don't freaking move!

[musicsdarkangel]

Cziffra, Horowitz, Kissin, Van Cliburn, and Richter are my favorites to watch.



I have no idea who my least are.

I still have many to see.

[keys]

I think Arrau is an interesting performer. But seeing it LIVE is so much better! I've only seen the 'big names' on tape.

[pianonut]

besides my teacher, of all the people i've seen play i like a student/collegue from university of alaska the best.  beverly holt.  she played chopin with fire and grace.  her hands were kind of 'fluid.'  i've never seen anyone else's hands or renditions of chopin any better.  the strange thing is that i don't think she's a concert pianist today, but a very high caliber teacher, soloist, and accompanist at st. francis college.  www.stfrancis.edu/news/spring03schola.htm
i believe she is the beverly holt accompanying john barrowman live in belgium at www.dresscircle.co.uk  as well as other high profile vocalists.  if you live in illinois, i would recommend her as a piano teacher. 

always thought claudio arrau would be a graceful person to watch as well as hear.  i never heard him live, but thought his playing had class.

i generally don't like to watch 'flashy' players, even though i still enjoyed Andre Watts interpretations.  many of his hand movements seem unnecessary to gaining the same sounds today with less movement.  some of his movements may be to promote flexibility and his hands/wrists not locking up.

richter is probably a bore to watch, but a delight to listen to.  sometimes, it's not the hand movements, but the sounds.  glen gould (though i don't like all his interpretations, just some) was pretty close to the keys as well. 

john browning seems inbetween.  as well as barry douglas. and, many others who conciously let the piano talk and try not to intervene much in the sound.  hands and feet probably go together - as it is a delight also to watch my teacher, carl cranmer, very little foot movemnent - but fast and flexible.  you see some people stomp and it is very distracting. murray perahia is my favorite for mozart, definately, and his hand movements are perfect.

[Barbosa-piano]

 Favorite hands to watch... 
 1-Andras Shiff- His hands give me the impression of what a performance by Chopin would look like, and his performances sound "Chopinesque". His playing of Goldberg Variation No.5 looks very impressive.
 2-Michelangeli- His hands make the perfect muscle movements.
 3-Myra Hess- Very sensitive and at times very agressive.
 4-Josef Hofmann- Very powerful touch.
 5-Claudio Arrau- His hands take the hardest pieces with great ease.
 6-Horowitz- Virtuoso display, great demonstration of power.
 7- Cziffra- Great speed and agressivity, and delicate at times.
 8- Hamelin- His hands are fixed to the keyboard, they give me the impression of perfect technique.
 Etc...

Mario Barbosa
 
 

[Floristan]

I'd go with Argerich, Horowitz, and Michelangeli for sure.

I saw Argerich in concert a few months ago, and I had a full view of the keyboard.  The most amazing thing is her utter relaxation and economy of movement.  She was playing with Nelson Friere, who's no slouch, but his keyboard movements are much bigger and he seems to be working harder.

Michelangeli is so serene (and one of Argerich's teachers).

Horowitz could be dramatic, but only when he wanted to be.  It has always been obvious to me that his dramatic flourishes at the keyboard are primarily about showmanship and not about music.

[dinosaurtales]

I don't know how many of you are from Europe (I don't think this guy concertizes in the US much) but Michele Campanella  - and Luiz de Moura Castro.  Their hands barely moved!  Campanella's fingers never get more than a half inch from the keyboard I swear! 

[piazzo23]

I like seeing those hands that wrestle with the keyboard when trying to get a full singing tone in "those" sections. That arm weight finger supporting touch.

MOST: Richter, Uchida, Cortot, Argerich, Cziffra, Perahia.
NEAR: Rubinstein, Horowitz, Arrau.
NOT: Zimerman, Pletnev, Yundi Li.

I need to see Ashkenazy!!!

Obviously, all this is watching pleasure, not the ones I like more playing.

[Bouter Boogie]

Definitely Zimerman, Richter and Horowitz

[pseudopianist]

Cziffra of course

[Waldszenen]

Cziffra and Hamelin


Least favourite: Lang Lang, Yundi Li

[jerry xie]

Who is your favorite simply to watch play?

1) Casadesus
2) Horowitz
3) Aregerich
4) Cziffra
5) Michelangeli

Least favorite

1,2,3,4,5) Jose Carlos Cocarelli


6) Van Cliburn
7) Lang Lang
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1)horowitz
2)rubinstein
3)Li yundi
4)glenn gould
least favorite:
schnabel(just joking,but his hands are 2 small)

[chromatickler]

favourites: Cziffra, langlang, pavel raikerus

least fav: barenboim

[janne p.]

fav to watch: Cziffra and Michelangeli

hate to watch: Kocsis and Anderszewski

[piazzo23]

least fav: barenboim

I don´t even like the way he plays...