of all pianists - who would you most like to meet and why?

[stevie]

3 choices - 1 living, 1 dead RECORDED pianist, and 1 dead pianist before the recorded era.

give reasons, and what you would like to say and discuss with them 

[pianistimo]

the one dead recorded ( i think) would be nadia boulanger.  she was the teacher and composition teacher also of so many famous pianists (among them aaron copeland, and poulenc, i believe).

one living, would be jean-paul billaud, my french piano teacher from alaska.  he could teach with so much interest (he told stories about music history and the history of certain pieces that made them come alive, because he experienced some interesting things in his education - travelled, and read a lot).  he resides in virginia and would be able (if he were on the forum) to tell more about liszt's mazeppa than anyone would believe. he and his wife, louise are able to play liszt better than anyone, i bet.  she is teaching at new river college in dublin, va.  her latest compact disc included:  bach, beethoven, barber, holliday, rachmaninov, and liapunov.  she released a lecture/recital on dvd entitled 'mazeppa - an inspirational living legend.'  though i don't get into mazeppa as much as them, i respect the amount of research and time involved to study any area of music so well.  they are cool.  if you live in virginia, look up louise as a teacher at www.nr.edu/billaud/pages/bio.htm  between the both of them, you can learn about most anything you desire.

(i'm not discrediting my current teacher either, carl cranmer.  if you live in pennsylvania, look him up, too at west chester university.  he is extremely talented, professional, and a great teacher - trained at julliard and sounds like he has played forever).

for dead pianist - i suppose rachmaninov.  i just have a facination for what he went through in russia, what inspired him, and to tell me about the musical 'goings on' that would happen at his house when he was growing up.  to me, this is how young children learn to love music.  to have a lot of different instrumentalists and musicians coming in and out of the house.  mozart experienced the same.  always hearing music.  certain melodies sticking with them for a lifetime.

[stevie]

rachmaninov was in the recorded era

he recorded like 10 cds worth of stuff!

[pianistimo]

oops.  yes.  i kind of knew that and was just thinking 'dead.' 

ok. how about mozart.  i would ask him about time management.  or, ask him if i could just watch for a few hours (as he scribbled and hummed)  that would be something to remember.  he had such beautiful handwriting, too, for a guy.  of course, the danger of having time with greats is that you fall in love with them (noting the many women/performers/singers that surrounded them) and would probably forget reality. 

we might be surprised at how little they actually had to work with, too, and how dilligent they were in the face of adversity.  same with beethoven.  i am in love with a painting of beethoven near a stream hanging above a piano in steinway hall.  if i could have that it would be just as good to me as beethoven in person.  his essence is captured.

[raffyplayspiano]

Liszt or Brahms..

Horowitz

Perahia

good thread...

raffy

[jeremyjchilds]

For dead recorded I would like to meet Gould...

[stevie]

for my living choice, it wouldve been marc-andre hamelin, but since ive already met him...

maybe boris berezovsky, a phenomenal virtuoso to be sure, with similar taste in music to me.

cziffra would be the dead recorded pianist, there are many things id love to have discussed with him...his unique style, his free and spontanios approach to interpretation, and his attitude about virtuosity.
also, id like to ask him about certain composers he didnt record but will have surely heard...like alkan, scriabin etc.

for dead non-recorded pianist it would be either liszt or alkan, for similar reasons, but im sure they would be extremely different personalities...
liszt being the confident famous womaniser..
and alkan being the insecure reclusive social reject, fascinating people.

[thalbergmad]

Dead-Thalberg

Dead (recorded)-Cziffra

Living-Volodos

[ted]

Choosing one living pianist is extremely difficult because there are so many I could learn from. It would probably boil down to a choice between David Thomas Roberts and Keith Jarrett. I would choose Jarrett because of the breadth of expression and also because such a meeting is surely hypothetical. A meeting with David is distinctly possible.

The dead recorded one would be either Waller or Gershwin. If pushed to choose, I think Waller. There is only one known film of him playing, in the movie "Stormy Weather", and it intrigued me because the reality of his technique appeared to be in stark contrast to the sound of his music.

I haven't the slightest idea about the dead unrecorded one. I suppose one of the masters would be as good as another - bound to be interesting whoever it was.

[da jake]

Alkan, except I'm afraid he'd hate me for my tendency to eat trafe. Besides the shared heritage I feel we have a lot of other things in common. I speak French too!

Bach, the greatest musician of all time. Scriabin, fascinating and weird.

I don't speak German or Russian, so we'd have to communicated solely through mime-like behavior.

 

[Barbosa-piano]

I don't speak German or Russian, so we'd have to communicated solely through mime-like behavior.

No problem, music is the great universal language.

[Barbosa-piano]

Living: Andras Schiff: His playing has an impression of Chopin, somehow... He seems like a great person.

Dead/ Recorded: Rachmaninoff: I believe it would be great to meet him, and talk not only about piano, but also about the problems he went through in his time, and his stories.
 
Dead: Bach.

[rohansahai]

Living: Martha Argerich
Dead/Recorded: Emil Gilels
Dead: Chopin

[arensky]

Living: Oscar Peterson. I would want to know how he was able to stay in time at such breakneck speeds and how he devised his chord structures and harmonic style.

Dead/Recorded. Michelangeli. I would like to discuss tone production with him and just watch him  play up close for awhile, he may have been(with Gould, who would probably be too annoying to be around for long)the most perfect  any of us have ever heard or seen, dead or alive.

Dead/pre-recordings;this is really tough, I'm thinking......
   CHOPIN. He is the single most revolutionary figure in the history of the piano; I would ask him why he didn't write like Hummel, Mendelsohn Kalkbrenner, Cramer and everyone else who was
active in the late 1820's; where did he get his ideas and  harmonic concepts. And then I would watch and listen to him play.....
                                                   

[hazypurple21]

living (tie)-Andras Schiff. We have similar ideas about music, from what I can tell from his interviews. We both love Bach and Mendelssohn as well.
 
               -Leon Fleisher-Again, similar musical ideas. He's also a great teacher, so there's a lot I could learn from him.

recorded- Rachmaninoff. I'm just curious about why he played certain music the way he did. He had very strange, but interesting interpretations of other composers' music.

unrecorded-Mendelssohn. I just love all of his music. It'd be a thrill to see him play it. (not like this doesn't go for many other composers) And like me, he loves art.

[Jacey1973]

Living: Andras Schiff: His playing has an impression of Chopin, somehow... He seems like a great person.

Dead/ Recorded: Rachmaninoff: I believe it would be great to meet him, and talk not only about piano, but also about the problems he went through in his time, and his stories.
 
Dead: Bach.

I don't know whether you live in Britian. But i noticed you mentioned Andra Schiff - he's doing some more "Beethoven Sonata cycle" concerts in the next concert season at Birmingham Symphony Hall - I can't wait to see them. Get a "International concert season" brochure from Bham Symphony Hall - the CBSO are also doing tons of concerts with such a variety of concert pianists this year. I've been away from the Birmingham area for the last 3 years so this is the 1st time i've looked into the classical music scene properly and there's soo much happening! Have a look:

https://www.necgroup.co.uk/visitor/symphonyhall/

The great thing also about Symphony Hall is that students and under 25s get tickets half price or you can get "standby" tickets on the day - for students/under 25s they are only £3.50! So cheap (depending obviously if there are some seats left), plus if you're lucky you may get a really good seat on the day for £3.50 - which would have originally been £12.50/£17.50/£22.50/£26.50/£32.50/£36.

The following pianists are appearing in the next concert season (if you're lucky you might get to see them for £3.50  I know i will be at most of them):

Celebrity Recitals series: Aldo Ciccolini, Emanuel Ax, Andras Schiff, Murray Perahia

CBSO related concerts/piano concertos: Freddy Kempf  , Alexander Melinikov, Joanna MacGregor, Imogen Cooper, Peter Donohoe, Stephen Hough, Leon McCawley, Simon Trpceski, Boris Berezovsky

Other international orchestras/piano concerts: Jean-Philippe Collard, Denis Matsuev, Andrea Lucchesini, Freddy Kempf, Alexander Korsantya, Alfred Brendel 

Lunchtime/chamber music recitals at CBSO Centre: Freddy Kempf, Benjamin Frith, Pter Donohoe, Leon McCawley

Such a fantastic range of pianists and orchestras! I'm so excited about going to all these. There's nothing like live music.

[Jacey1973]

3 choices - 1 living, 1 dead RECORDED pianist, and 1 dead pianist before the recorded era.

give reasons, and what you would like to say and discuss with them 

Oh yeah forgot to answer:

1) Vladimir Ashkenazy (ok so for this one i changed my mind about 5 times! Such a difficult choice!) I would ask him for a piano lesson and get as many tips as possible off him!
2) Rachmaninov....Just because he's such a legend and i'd get him to play Rach 3 
3) Chopin...wouldn't it just be fascinating? Just to hear how he played his own compositions - to compare the difference in pianos/technique/performance in those days to the modern day.

[yamagal]

Living - Earl Wild - I would love to attend his 90th birthday concert at Carnegie Hall this November!  I've nothing to ask him, would just want to hear him play live.  Check out his website - https://www.earlwild.com/

Dead/recorded - Rachmaninoff - I'd try to pry out of him what his inspirations were for various pieces - yeah I'm nosy.

Dead - Beethoven - he is my favorite overall composer.  I would go back in time to before he started losing his hearing, and warn him to lay off drinking out of leaded goblets.  Except then I'd be messing with the space-time continuum, wouldn't I?   Some of his greatest compositions that we have today might not have been written at all, or might have been composed quite differently, if he had been hearing.  Hmm well in that case, I would just let him know that in the 21st century, he's still loved and remembered as one of the greatest composers ever, and that his music is still played in conservatories and concert halls throughout the world. 

[pianobabe_56]

Dead~ Handel. I have always loved his music, and the fact that he was such a God-     fearing man. I'd also like to meet Bach.

As for the others, I don't know. I'm not familiar enough with recordings or living pianists to be able to say.

[phil13]

Dead: Frederic Chopin. His music is so beautiful. I'd want to know what his influences were, how he managed to deal with the chronic diseases he fought, what inspired him to create such masterpieces.

Dead but recorded: Vladimir Horowitz. He is an amazing Chopin and Liszt interpreter, and I also like his Beethoven. He is regarded as one of the most influential and prodigious pianists in the 20th century, and I'd love to know his secret to technique and interpretation.

Living: Earl Wild, for reasons posted above.

Phil

[pianistimo]

speaking of recordings and early ones, i was just listening to wrti and they suggested listening to today's program on:

www.composersdatebook.org   for the history of early recordings by edison.  hope you enjoy!

[practicingnow]

Good question -
Not Living - tie: Liszt or Chopin
Not Living recorded - tie: Busoni or Rachmaninoff
Living - hmmm...
not to be a downer, but after meeting F.Liszt, F.Chopin, F.Busoni and S.Rachmaninoff, it's hard to get excited about meeting Kissin, Hamelin, Brendel, etc. - I'm sort of enchanted with the notion of composer/pianist - does anyone fit that mold these days, or come close?  Any suggestions?

[Waldszenen]

Alive today: Pletnev

Dead but recorded: Horowitz

Dead: Liszt or Brahms

[Aziel]

Alive: Vladimir Ashkenazy
Dead (Recorded): Rachmaninov
Dead: Chopin - Liszt (Too hard!)

[gorbee natcase]

Mozart after reading his letters I realise he is right up my street,

[stevie]

yeah, you mean mozart was actually quite a dirty-minded joker?

thats what ive heard, and the impression i got from the movie 'amadeus'

[luc]

Dead - Beethoven - he is my favorite overall composer.  I would go back in time to before he started losing his hearing, and warn him to lay off drinking out of leaded goblets.  Except then I'd be messing with the space-time continuum, wouldn't I?   Some of his greatest compositions that we have today might not have been written at all, or might have been composed quite differently, if he had been hearing.  Hmm well in that case, I would just let him know that in the 21st century, he's still loved and remembered as one of the greatest composers ever, and that his music is still played in conservatories and concert halls throughout the world.

Moonlight Sonata and other pieces would be different or wouldn't exist at all  ?

[dmk]

LIVING: Stephen Hough....the diversity of his repertoire is amazing, I think he would be great to have a chat to....superinteresting

DECEASED AND RECORDED: Bartok....my old music teacher used to have a huge picture of Bartok above her piano, he always looked scary, it would be nice to know if he really is.  Plus he is a damned good pianist and I like his works (some tips on the Out of Doors Suite would be useful)

DECEASED: Schubert...I love Schubert's piano music, I adore it, I think its the classical romantic hyrbid thing!!! Many texts suggest that he was a marvellous improviser....I am a lousy improviser and love watching those who can!

[piazzo23]

Living: Argerich
Dead: Chopin
Dead recorded: Lang Lang

[practicingnow]

Liszt or Brahms..

Horowitz

Perahia

good thread...

raffy

Hey Raffy - There IS a sound recording of Brahms, so he would qualify as a "recorded/not-living!"
I agree - good thread!

[luc]

Living: Argerich
Dead: Chopin
Dead recorded: Lang Lang

Erm.. Lang Lang isn't dead yet 
Or.. am I wrong? 

[Waldszenen]

Dead recorded: Lang Lang

 

[Lebenssturme]

Living: Boris Berezovsky
Dead recording: Sergei Rachmaninov
Dead: J.S.Bach
 

[rapmasterb]

for my living choice, it wouldve been marc-andre hamelin, but since ive already met him...

Elaborate please. Did you talk to him for long or what?

[piazzo23]

I retire what I said about Lang Lang.
I´ve donwloaded the Barenboim on Beethoven video and Lang Lang seems very nice. He doesn´t have much musical ideas but I think he tries to.
Could it be Lang Lang is beginning to worry about music? If he does, I like his touch in that video, with more musical ideas he would be very nice to listen.

[Appenato]

1) Currentely, I'd like to meet Jim Brickman. His music is beautiful. Next time he comes to my city, I'm definitely going to see him. I missed out seeing him last December! He's one of my inspirations for composing, so I'd like to ask him what inspires him to write and in the style that he does.

2) Ray Charles. The fact that he was blind and he didn't let that hinder his dream of making music is inspiring.

3) Chopin - undoubtedly. By his letters and music, he led an intriguing life. For me, his music touches upon the entire range of human emotions. There's a depth in his music that I'm sure was part of the man that it would be interesting to get to know him and discover that.

[Waldszenen]

Update: I'd like to also meet Jorge Bolet =)

[brewtality]

Living: Hamelin, Grimaud () or Berezovsky, though meeting the latter without the right safety equipement might be hazardous.

Dead recorded: Probably Arthur Rubinstein because he seems like such a fascinating guy.

Dead unrecorded: Liszt, Henselt or Anton Rubinstein. 

[stevie]

Elaborate please. Did you talk to him for long or what?

just about 5 minutes, most of the things i asked were about alkan.
i asked his favourite alkan piece, and to my delight it was the same as mine, the symphony.
but i also asked if he was going to record anymore alkan, and he said no, at least not for a long time.

BUT, just recently it has been announced that he will record the alkan concert yet again! 

so mr hamelin told me a little white lie 

[stevie]

Living: Hamelin, Grimaud () or Berezovsky, though meeting the latter without the right safety equipement might be hazardous.

Dead recorded: Probably Arthur Rubinstein because he seems like such a fascinating guy.

Dead unrecorded: Liszt, Henselt or Anton Rubinstein. 

yeah rubinstein seems like a really nice guy from videos ive seen.

but why henselt? he was notoriously a bit of a ************

[donjuan]

living: Nikolai Demidenko
dead, with recordings: Horowitz
dead, w/o recordings: Liszt

[AvoidedCadence]

Deceased, unrecorded:  Scriabin, in his middle period.

Deceased, recorded:  Horowitz or Michelangeli - apparently these two masters were some of the most passionate piano teachers.  I would love to study Chopin or Rachmaninoff with Horowitz, or Debussy with Michelangeli.  Really, of course, the most important thing I would learn would be about sonority and pedal.

I would also like to meet Rubinstein and ask him how he played the Chopin 3rd Scherzo.  The descending arpeggio figures are unrivalled.  Sofronitsky is also high on my list.

Living:  Dunno.  Wild, maybe.  Or Berezovsky.  Or Trpceski.

[phi]

Martha Argerich.

[brewtality]

yeah rubinstein seems like a really nice guy from videos ive seen.

but why henselt? he was notoriously a bit of a ************

You should read Rubinstein's autobigraphy (the first volume especially) its really interesting. Includes stories of him and Szymanowski, Paderewski, Paul Kochansky, Neuhaus etc. Plus all of his womanising shenanigans.

Henselt was too shy to perform and too aggressive a teacher so I reckon I'd just express my admiration for his F minor concerto.

[quasimodo]

Living : most of the contemporary pianists mentionned in the "piano-babe calendar" thread, my reasons are not exclusively musical  .

Dead-recorded : Samson François, because I would love to hear him play some jazz

Dead : Chopin, and I would sign up for piano lessons with him

[Bouter Boogie]

Krystian Zimerman