Your favorite pianists

[soliloquy]

Your five favorite pianists.  Simple as that.


Edit:  hahaha ghey- ok only choose 1

[henrah]

Richter

[pianistimo]

i happened to hear casadesus in a piano concerto class and was blown away.  he died fairly young, i think, but played mozart cadenzas amazingly!  i'd like to have heard him live.  i did get to hear pogorelich live and enjoyed it a lot. esp. his scarlatti.  hmm.  i wouldn't have minded hearing arrau live, too.  and pollini.  and michelangeli.  basically the lighter players (i mean playing lightly on the keyboard - not light  pieces). 

carl cranmer and koji should be on the list by now.  what does it take to prove that you have talent?  they both have a large rep and good understanding and interpretation of what they play.   i'd really vote for them just as much as anyone else. 

[nicco]

Its a disgrace that you dont have Leif Ove Andsnes on your list.

[raskolnikov]

There was no way for me to choose five all at one time (it could be the fact that I'm using Opera instead of IE). 

But since I had to choose one, I chose Michelangeli.

[pianistimo]

what percentage of these guys sing?

[Ruro]

I'm also limited to one option (It's the Tick Box version, not the Radio buttons! ^_^;

But since you do say five, I choose: Ashkenazy, Berezovsky, Vasary, Hamelin, Bronfman - the first 3 being true favourites, the last 2 being just pretty good & exciting pianists! If I had heard a wider variety of recordings by Cziffra, he would probably be in there instead of Bronfman.

EDIT: Ah ha... so it is one... christ... Ashkenazy I guess, I love too many of his recordings to pass him up over the few great recordings of other pianists I have heard.

[jas]

Its a disgrace that you dont have Leif Ove Andsnes on your list.

Oh, calm down. It was probably an oversight, nothing to get wound up about.

I picked Argerich. If I could have picked five I'd also have chosen Richter, Berezovsky, Horowitz and Pollini.

Jas

[nicco]

Oh, calm down. It was probably an oversight, nothing to get wound up about.

I picked Argerich. If I could have picked five I'd also have chosen Richter, Berezovsky, Horowitz and Pollini.

Jas

Calm down? He has listed like 50 pianists, some even barely known, while andsnes has been a leading international pianist for many years, with over 30 recordings, countless awards, a huge concert repertoire, 280 travel days as a concertpianist a year, well known in practically all countries, highly respected among every proffesional music critic, and is not mentioned. I have heard the majority of these pianists, and none can produce the sound and quality wich andsnes manages.

[gert]

Unless I missed his name, there's another important omission from your list: Richard Goode. I heard him play Bach, Beethoven and Chopin in Antwerp last year and he was absolutely wonderful: a great musician. Here's someone who has technique to burn but always makes his virtuosity serve the music first.

I agree about Leif Ove Andsnes, by the way, although I wouldn't use the word "disgrace" in response to anyone's posting. I guess he's similar to Goode in his unobtrusive brilliance (if there is such a thing). Keep your ears out for Dejan Lazic: he's a terrific young pianist. I heard him play some of the Beethoven Cello Sonatas with Pieter Wispelwey: again, great musicianship. 

[raskolnikov]

My Five:

Arturo B. Michelangeli
Alfred Cortot
Martha Argerich
Samson Francois
Claudio Arrau

And it is Sofronitsky not Sofranitsky.

[gert]

I guess it's not fair to post just to complain about missing pianists, although it's hard to pick only five: there are so many wonderful performances on disc. 

Richter (simply baffling)
Gould (for his Bach, obviously)
Argerich (Did anyone ever have a better debut recording? Never mind everything else she's done)
Dinu Lipatti (can't get enough of that Bach partita)
Richard Goode (love him especially in the faster Beethoven movements; wonderful humor in his playing as well)

Having picked these, Walter Gieseking's Debussy is not to be missed

Besides, I'm still 'discovering' pianists, so it's only going to get harder to stick to five

[franz_]

Cziffra, Horowitz, Hamelin, Pletnev, Kissin.

[Mozartian]

You left out Kapell.

[steveie986]

The list is missing Murray Perahia. Also the poll should be remade so you can actually select more than one.

[elongar]

I would have to say Bernd Glemser, influenced ever so slightly by the fact that he is my uncle...

Apart from that, I particularly enjoy listening to the music of Michelangeli and Horowitz.

Oh, and is the omission of Alfred Brendel purposeful, or have I missed something?

Compiling a list of famous international pianists is no doubt a hazardous endeavour, because such things are very much subject to individual tastes and personalities, so there is no need to become too upset methinks.

[franz_]

So, that's a prouve there are a LOT of good pianists, and a LOT of different tastes. Gives us hope 

[tyler_johnson]

Evgeny Kissin by far, anyone who is a fan of Liszt should hear him play the 12th Hungarian Rhapsody, it is absolutely beautiful.

[infectedmushroom]

Pogerolich

[pianistimo]

is that how you spell it?  don't worry.  i kept misspelling perahia until i finally took a cd of his and copied the spelling.  btw, i really like him, too.

does anyone remember john browning?  i heard him live in alaska a long time ago.  he was a heavier player, ithink, like berezovsky - but really compelling beethoven.  long fingers.  very tall.  james johnson was good too. 

i want to put barry douglas on the list, too. 

[soliloquy]

whine whine whine cry cry cry this guy i like isn't on your list

That's what the "other" is there for obviously.

Cut me some slack though; I don't know how many of you could come up with that list in 10 minutes off the top of your head at 4:30AM =P

[practicingnow]

The MAJOR omission on this list is JOSEF HOFMANN!!! 
I think that the Golden Jubilee album is perhaps the single greatest piano album of all time, and the Casimir Hall recital is rather high on the list as well.
He was widely regarded as the greatest pianist in the world during the first half of the century, and Rachmaninoff openly agreed with that estimation.
I think you should add him to your list.

[elias89]

Horowitz, Brendel, Pogorelich, VOLODOS, Gulda

[nicco]

That's what the "other" is there for obviously.

Cut me some slack though; I don't know how many of you could come up with that list in 10 minutes off the top of your head at 4:30AM =P

then perhaps you shouldnt make such a list while your head is sleeping.

[soliloquy]

You're probably right.


Haha nobody noticed that I forgot Cliburn and Ax.  I think that says something about them >>

Also forgot other Berman.

[steveie986]

You left out Tim Hofman. 

[thorn]

From the list, probably Arrau or Argerich

but my favourite pianists have to be Noriko Ogawa and Louis Lortie

[jas]

Calm down? He has listed like 50 pianists, some even barely known, while andsnes has been a leading international pianist for many years, with over 30 recordings, countless awards, a huge concert repertoire, 280 travel days as a concertpianist a year, well known in practically all countries, highly respected among every proffesional music critic, and is not mentioned. I have heard the majority of these pianists, and none can produce the sound and quality wich andsnes manages.

Then quick! Start a protest. It's obviously a conspiracy to wipe all record of Andsnes from the pantheon of pianists! You should camp outside soliloquy's house until he admits it and apologises for such a heinous and heartless display of dismissiveness.

[viking]

Anton Kuerti deserves his name up there also.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

oh god, it pains me, i dont see ivan moravec's name....

[nicco]

Then quick! Start a protest. It's obviously a conspiracy to wipe all record of Andsnes from the pantheon of pianists! You should camp outside soliloquy's house until he admits it and apologises for such a heinous and heartless display of dismissiveness.

lol  looks like i overreacted a bit 

[apion]

Zimerman
Richter
Hamelin
Gould
Cziffra

[soliloquy]

randomly I made a new one at about 6AM today with all the pianists that you guys have mentioned (with the dubious exception of Ivan Moravec) plus a bunch of others, but nils deleted it.  Yell at him.

[alejo_90]

My top 5:

- Emil Gilels (Everything, specially Beethoven)
- Arthur Rubinstein (Chopin)
- Claudio Arrau (Beethoven)
- Vladimir Horowitz (Rachmaninoff)
- Vladimir Ashkenazy (Chopin)

There are also lots of other good pianists that could be on my possible sixth place. Bronfman's recording of the Rach 2 & 3 is one of my favourites. Hamelin could be on my list but since he has a weirdo repertoire I can't completely make my mind.

Best
Alex

[steveie986]

Glenn freakin' Gould.

Compared to Mr. Glenn, everyone else is the same.

[matt haley]

Evgeny Kissin by far, anyone who is a fan of Liszt should hear him play the 12th Hungarian Rhapsody, it is absolutely beautiful.

 agreed.........evgeny kissin is amazing.....

        one of the most technically gifted pianists ever

[rocketman]

Barenboim

[matt haley]

Barenboim

  He's my favourite for beethoven sonatas

[elevateme]

Pollini
richter
argerich
rubinstein
kissin

[houseofblackleaves]

Azhkenazi & Ritcher.



AND Lisitsa. 

[pizno]

Where's Hewitt?

[franz_]

Where's Hewitt?

On the tennis court.

[sissco]

Where is zimerman? 

[chucha]

Sorry, but where is Sokolov?

[ahinton]

And its "Pogorelich", too, by the way...

Where's Grante?

Libetta?

Ah, well...

Best,

Alistair

[amanfang]

What about Maestro Timothy Von Hofman?

 

[steveie986]

You left out Tim Hofman. 

Amanfang, I beat you to it.

 

[amanfang]

You're right.  I didn't read all the replies.   

[gyzzzmo]

For Chopin: Rubinstein
For Liszt: Wibi Soerjadi

[sergei r]

Schiff?