Who was better: Horowitz or Rubenstein?

[ade16]

For me, I think Rubinstein is much better in the overall interpretation of music. Horowitz is okay, but I find his music too bland in his own interpretation of certain pieces.

This is fairly typical of the kind of completely vague and unsubstantiated, and therefore meaningless comment, I was alluding to in my previous post! How about some examples from actual performances of real music by these two pianists? A sort of compare and contrast maybe in order to back up an argument with some substance. Sorry to single out your particular comment, it just happened to be the most recent example, but by no means the only example of vague, meaningless and unsubstantiated comments regarding a comparison of these giants of the piano!

Before anyone says "Where are your own fully substantiated arguments then?", I would say that I have never expressed an opinion as to who was "better", precisely because I respect both pianists in equal measure, while recognising their differences. Who is better, Mozart or Beethoven? Just another example of another really silly question! Again, what do you mean by "better" anyway?

[pianoman53]

why are you even discussing this?! And how can you ask for "proof" about who's the better pianist?

I really like this site, but sometimes it's just hits a low that I was unaware of... Why is it so freakishly important for you people to have the answer to "who's the best?", and why are you arguing about it?!? No musician with a somewhat clever head can argue that any of those two were amazing musicians. Chopin wasn't a great fan of Beethoven, but he recognized his genius anyway.

And that you argue that one of them is better, because he had bigger repertoire?! And sometimes not even bigger, but just "He played the newer generation of composers, therefore he was better". what is that?! Since when is music about that?

And you can't possibly be serious when you say that he didn't play as well when he was old as when he was young? Oh, Captain Obvious strikes again! I can assure you that most concert pianists will play better when they are 40 then when they are 85. Music is not about "You're just as good as your latest concert". If anyone make one great recording of Waldstein, and 4 bad, you can't judge it on the 4 bad ones. And who would care about the 4 bad ones anyway? If Rubinstein had a memory slip in Chopin when he was whoever cares how old, why the crap should we care about that? HE WAS WHOEVER CARES OLD! Most people who are that old can't remember how to put on pants, and he managed to play the Chopin sonata! And since when is music about wrong notes?!

Don't be so extremely shallow and superficial, so that wrong notes becomes more important than the poetry.

[ade16]

why are you even discussing this?! And how can you ask for "proof" about who's the better pianist?

I really like this site, but sometimes it's just hits a low that I was unaware of... Why is it so freakishly important for you people to have the answer to "who's the best?", and why are you arguing about it?!? No musician with a somewhat clever head can argue that any of those two were amazing musicians. Chopin wasn't a great fan of Beethoven, but he recognized his genius anyway.

And that you argue that one of them is better, because he had bigger repertoire?! And sometimes not even bigger, but just "He played the newer generation of composers, therefore he was better". what is that?! Since when is music about that?

And you can't possibly be serious when you say that he didn't play as well when he was old as when he was young? Oh, Captain Obvious strikes again! I can assure you that most concert pianists will play better when they are 40 then when they are 85. Music is not about "You're just as good as your latest concert". If anyone make one great recording of Waldstein, and 4 bad, you can't judge it on the 4 bad ones. And who would care about the 4 bad ones anyway? If Rubinstein had a memory slip in Chopin when he was whoever cares how old, why the crap should we care about that? HE WAS WHOEVER CARES OLD! Most people who are that old can't remember how to put on pants, and he managed to play the Chopin sonata! And since when is music about wrong notes?!

Don't be so extremely shallow and superficial, so that wrong notes becomes more important than the poetry.

Thank you! At last, someone else who is getting p*** off with this bloody stupid, shallow question! I absolutely agree with everthing you have said. I completely pick up on your annoyance and frustration and share these feelings with you. I think your choice of word "shallow" sums things up perfectly!!!
I think it is about time we all moved on to considering some fresh and more intelligent questions, rather than this, or any other similarly pointless ones! Enough now!!!  

By the way, I was not sure if the question about why anyone is bothering asking for "proof" refers to any of my comments? For the record, I am not asking for any proof regarding who is the better pianist, I am simply pointing out that it is a silly bloody question to even ask who is the better pianist in the first place, and that if anyone is going to express an opinion about anything (which is better, rice pudding or custard?), then they should get their facts straight first, and then communicate clearly! Otherwise, they should keep their irritating, badly thought out and utterly pointless comments to themselves! I am rapidly getting fed up of the naive questions some people are asking in this forum, particularly in the so-called "performance" section.

[sevencircles]

Horowitz was the best pianist based on the recordings I have heard.

 Rubinstein always claimed that he was born lazy and that he didn´t start to practise seriously until his forties.  Hard to imagine how good he would be if he worked really hard since his early childhood.

Hamelin and Argerich have also claimed that they have had many lazy periods throughout their careers.

Maybe it´s just a fun thing to say to make it seem like you are almost superhuman.