Who Are Your Top 10 Favorite Classical Pianists?

[mephisto]

In no particilar order.

Rubinstein
Horowitz
Gould
Pollini
Argerich
Arrau
Andsnes
Gilels
Richter
Gieseking

Sorry Hamelin I love you to  If I could put eleven I would have put you up as soon as possible.

-The Mephisto

[mwarner1]

In no particular order...

Pollini
Argerich
Gieseking
Michelangeli
Solomon
Kempff (not Kempf)
Hungerford
Casadesus (French!)
Gilels
Richter

Other favorites:

Arrau
Horowitz
Ashkenazy (sometimes)
Rubinstein
Barenboim (sometimes)


(Note how all my choices play good Beethoven --  )

[practicingnow]

After considerable thought, here's my list (in no particular order)...

Horowitz
Fiorentino
Berman
Lipatti
Gilels
Watts
Rubinstein
Cliburn
Schnabel
Anievas
I find this group the most musically satisfying overall...

I always like Cziffra, but his musical taste is too often questionable to be put on a list of 10 greatest

Hamelin seems to make everyone's list, but I feel a great pianist should be able to play the masterpieces of Chopin or Beethoven or Mozart extremely well, not just Alkan and Godowsky, etc. (even though I like them very much also), and he can't

Rachmaninoff is so close to being on the list, so is Friedmann and Kapell...

This topic is always fun  : )

[MattL]

Horowitz
Pletnev
Ashkanozy (If I spelled it right thats a plus)
Lugansky
Argerich
Zimmerman
Lisitsa
Osetinskaya
Fiorentino
Pollini

[mephisto]

Ashkanozy (If I spelled it right thats a plus)

It is Ashkenazy

-The Mephisto

[Waldszenen]

Jorge Bolet

Feel the love

[thracozaag]

Might as well chime in (even though these kind of lists are rather silly):

Kapell
Lipatti
Gilels
Moiseiwitsch
Cziffra
Cortot
Horowitz
Bolet
Sofronitsky
Hofmann

  ...plus about a million other pianists.

koji

[tompilk]

My favourite is definitely Horowitz...

[pianistimo]

richter
pollini
michelangeli
my teacher (carl cranmer)
pogorelich
murray perahia
argerich
jean-ives thibaudet
barry douglas
barry douglas

[dmk]

This is so hard..!!! I like so many pianists for different reasons

Arrau (earlier)
Bolet
Kapell
Hough
Kiernan-Harvey
Gilels
Hewitt
Howat
Lane
Lipatti

[krittyot]

John Rusnak

Definitely one of the best!

[ksnmohan]

Horowitz
Uchida
Gould
Richter
Ashkenazy
Rubinstein
Rachmaninoff
Previn
Kempff
Gilels

Prof K S (Mohan Narayanan)
Musicologist, Composer, Teacher
Chennai (Madras), India

[cloches_de_geneve]

Wilhelm Kempff (not Freddy Kempf)
Grigory Sokolov
Maurizio Pollini
Alfred Cortot
Sviatoslav Richter
Mikhail Pletnev
Murray Perahia
Alfred Brendel
Myra Hess
Sergio Fiorentino*

*To those who are surprised by this name: I also discovered Fiorentino only recently. His playing is simply magnificent. Too bad he had such an erratic career not playing in public or recording for decades.

[_____]

Claudio Arrau
Alfred Brendel
Glenn Gould
Sviatoslav Richter
Daniel Barenboim
Alfred Cortot
Koji Attwood
Vladimir Horowitz
Mitsuko Uchida
Emil Gilels

If Yundi Li sticks around a while longer, he'll be right up there as well.

[asyncopated]

in no particular order,

bach,
chopin,
liszt,
schumann  (before he broke his hand) / clare is not bad either
beethoven,
clementi,
scalartti,
my teacher -- she's very good
me -- I'm no good but what's there not to like?

[jakev2.0]

1. Horowitz
2. Cziffra
3. Gilels
4. Hofmann
5. Gould
6. Lipatti
7. Rachmaninov
8. Richter
9. Hamelin
10.Moiseiwitsch

My list has changed a bit in the last year:

1. Horowitz
2. Gould
3. Rachmaninov
4. Schnabel
5. Moiseiwitsch
6. Hofmann
7. Friedman
8. Gilels
9. Cziffra
10. Lipatti

[infectedmushroom]

Random order:


Perlemuter
Kissin
Pogorelich
Berezovsky
Richter
Kemal Gekic
Volodos
Cziffra
Horowitz
Sergio Tiempo

[opus10no2]

My list has changed a bit in the last year:

1. Horowitz
2. Gould
3. Rachmaninov
4. Schnabel
5. Moiseiwitsch
6. Hofmann
7. Friedman
8. Gilels
9. Cziffra
10. Lipatti

Wisdom comes with age, as does ignorance.

[ccnokes]

ME.  ME.  ME.

[burstroman]

In no particular order:
Arrau
DeLarrocha
Schnabel
Hess
Richter
Lupu
Rubenstein
Lipatti
Gould
Rosen

[mikebechstein]

1.   Horowitz
2.   Rachmaninoff
3.   Cortot
4.   Lipatti
5.   Richter
6.   Hoffman

7.   Perahia
8.   Moiseiwitsch
9.   Gilels
10.   Arthur Rubinstein

I cannot really separate Horowitz and Rachmaninoff and they should be equal first.

I also think 1-6 are my piano gods and that there is a big leap in quality between them and the last four who are outstanding but not quite in the same league. I could name at least 10 more pianists who are as good as 7 – 10.  For me, numbers 1 – 6 have, without exception, been interesting (even when I haven’t loved the interpretation) in every recording I have ever heard of them. I cannot say that about any other pianists except my top 6.

I would also like to mention a special case of Gerald Moore who does not get mentioned enough on these pages and, were it not for his limiting himself to accompaniment (for want of a better word), would possibly be in the top 10 list. I would love to hear him in some solo works (especially Schubert) and maybe some Mozart concertos.

Noticing that only one of my top 10 is still alive (and I know that many pianophiles think he is overrated) it begs the question: Are pianists today giving the (informed/educated) public what we actually want?

[arensky]

Posted in this last year. Without looking back, I will vote again.

Horowitz
Richter
Michelangeli
Gould
Kapell
Rubinstein
Hofmann
Cortot
De Larrocha
Argerich

[beethoven2]

Beethoven
Chopin
Mendlessohn
Handel
Bach
Mozart
Hayden
Hans Zimmer(21st century)
Rimsky-Korsakov
Rachmoninov

[beethoven2]

*Rachmaninov

[gidselgrisen]

In no particular order:

Horowitz (bleh)
Rachmaninoff
Rzewski
Aimard
Gould
Kuerti
Zimerman
Hamelin
Francois
Richter
Moiseiwitsch

ok...that's 11...and...yeah...I could think of more...

DLu

Good to see somebody remembered Samson Francois 

[gwk]

In order:

1. Pachelbel
2. Beethoven
3. Chopin
4. Debussy
5. Bach
6. Mozart
7. Brahms
8. Haydn
9. Handel
10. Listz

[mephisto]

In order:

1. Pachelbel
2. Beethoven
3. Chopin
4. Debussy
5. Bach
6. Mozart
7. Brahms
8. Haydn
9. Handel
10. Listz

Maybe you are old enough to have heard all of these people play the piano, but I think you may have confused pianists with composers.

[gwk]

Maybe you are old enough to have heard all of these people play the piano, but I think you may have confused pianists with composers.

Sorry. 

[jonze701]

1:LISZT!
2:tchaikovski
3:chopin
4:rachmaninov
5:wagner
6:Grieg
7:volodos
8:paganini
9:ravel
10:gershwin

[mephisto]

1:LISZT!
2:tchaikovski
3:chopin
4:rachmaninov
5:wagner
6:Grieg
7:volodos
8:paganini
9:ravel
10:gershwin

You have never heard Liszt play the piano.
You have never heard Tchaikovsky play the piano.
You have never heard Wagner play the piano.
You have never heard Paganini play the piano!
You have never heard Chopin play the piano.
Ravel was a terrible pianist.
And I doubt that you have ever heard Gershwin and Grieg play the piano although recordings of them are available.

[jakev2.0]

QUISUISJE?

[mephisto]

Busoni

[mephisto]

Was it correct?

[sevencircles]

[Hamelin seems to make everyone's list, but I feel a great pianist should be able to play the masterpieces of Chopin or Beethoven or Mozart extremely well, not just Alkan and Godowsky, etc. (even though I like them very much also), and he can't/quote]

I have a strong feeling that Hamelin can do better when playing standard repertoire in General.

He has stated he doesn´t practice more then 3 very effective hours a day these days and that time is propably mostly spent on perfecting the motorics and technique.

[tompilk]

hamelin does play standard repertoire - I have a feeling that he has got quite a few people into Haydn, including me who has spurned all pre1800 music. It is truly superb cd - and Haydn is pretty standard rep.. He is releasing Beethoven's final three sonatas and Schubert D 960 later in the year - we can then see. His beethoven supposed to be not very good but his Schubert is supposed to be godly.
Tom

[prongated]

Of those I have actually heard recordings/performances of, in no order:

Schnabel
Kempff (W)
Bolet
Fleisher (he was great before he stuffed up his hands...)
Pletnev
Rubinstein
Cziffra
Perry (his D960 = AMAZING!)
Vlassenko
Soriano

[dmburke007]

1-Arthuro Michelangeli Benedetti
2-Arthuro Michelangeli Benedetti
3-Arthuro Michelangeli Benedetti
4-Arthuro Michelangeli Benedetti
5-Arthuro Michelangeli Benedetti

6-Rachmaninov
7-Richter
8-Alexis Weissenberg
9-M. Pollini
10-Dinu Lupatti

[weissenberg2]

1.Weissenberg
2. Gould
3. Moiseiwitsch
4. Michelangeli
5. Pletnev
6. Rachmaninoff
7. Zimerman
8. Cherkassky
9.Horowitz
10. Kapell

[alpacinator1]

In rough order, and at the moment, as my opinions tend to change

Alfred Cortot
Maria Yudina
Emil Gilels
Vladimir Sofronitsky
Annie Fischer
Alicia de Larrocha
Vladimir Horowitz
Claudio Arrau
Maurizio Pollini
Murray Perahia

[ajlongspiano]

Daniil Trifonov, Alfred Cortot, Ignaz Friedman, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Babayan, Sviatoslav Richter, Grigory Sokolov, Glenn Gould, Vladimir Horowitz, and Arthur Rubinstein.

[pencilart3]

Krystian Zimerman, Rafal Blechacz, Maurizio Pollini, Vlademir Ashkenazy, Yuri Rozum, Idil Biret, Evgeny Kissin, Pascal Roge, Eric Lu & AJ Long.

[rubinsteinmad]

Krystian Zimerman, Rafal Blechacz, Maurizio Pollini, Vlademir Ashkenazy, Yuri Rozum, Idil Biret, Evgeny Kissin, Pascal Roge, Eric Lu & AJ Long.

FINALLY, SOMEONE PUTS 2 AMERICANS IN THEI LISZT

[irrational]

So many choices especially for specific works.

Gilels
Schiff
Perahia
Pollini
Richter
Zimmerman
Shelley
Ashkenazy
Horowitz
Melvyn Tan - I saw him perform once. He was spectacular.