Which pianist has the best left-hand technique?

[opus10no2]

An interesting and important niche of pianism - left-hand virtuosity.

Its seems that actually, the one thing that defines a true super-virtuoso is the ability of their left hand - Barere, Hamelin, Libetta.

But who has the best? 

[viking]

Hamelin has 2 right hands...


Sam

[nicco]

Indeed he does.


Frodo

[opus10no2]

But interestingly, comparing his studio Chopin-Godowsky left-hand etude recordings with Berezovsky and Libetta, he is considerably slower, same when comparing his Blumenfeld LH etude with Barere's.

[gruffalo]

Hamelin comes to mind when thinking of this. though his Chopin Godowsky etudes might not be as fast, his control of the keyboard, its sound and tone is generally superior to berezovsky and libetta.

Gruff

[sevencircles]

Libetta has got the best lefthand technique I have heard.

Check out "Ignis Fatus"for instance.

Maybe Godowsky himself was better though.

[thalbergmad]

Best left hand alive - Ian Pace
Best left hand ever - Ian Pace
Best right hand alive - Ian Pace
Best right hand ever - Ian Pace
Fastest Alkan - Ian Pace
100 metres breaststroke - Ian Pace
Largest glasses - Ian Pace
Most boring website - Ian Pace

Discussion over.

Thal

[mephisto]

Even when he is slower Hamelin`s technic is insanely secure, always in control. So I vote for him. Libetta, Berezovsky and Barere(have you heard Joyce Hatto?) are of course insane technicians, and may i say...musicians?

[ahinton]

Best left hand alive - Ian Pace
Best left hand ever - Ian Pace
Best right hand alive - Ian Pace
Best right hand ever - Ian Pace
Fastest Alkan - Ian Pace
100 metres breaststroke - Ian Pace
Largest glasses - Ian Pace
Most boring website - Ian Pace

Discussion over.

Thal

Nice one! I wonder who you're impersonating here?! But - just for the record - have you actually observed each of Mr Pace's hands in motion at the keyboard at close quarters, measured his Alkan playing metronomically, swum with him and compared the dimensions of his spectacles with those of other living pianists who also wear spectacles? (such as Hamelin - or were you referring here to the capacity of vitreous receptacle into which Mr Pace pours wine?). I'm not even going to get into the matter of his website here. Just curious, that's all...

Best,

Alistair

[dnephi]

Best left hand alive - ?
Best left hand ever - Liszt
Best right hand alive - ?
Best right hand ever - Liszt
Fastest Alkan - Alkan
100 metres breaststroke - Moses
Largest glasses - Francis, the near-sighted
Most boring website - PianoStreet.

Discussion over.

Thal

[gruffalo]

Even when he is slower Hamelin`s technic is insanely secure, always in control.

yes, what i was trying to say, but better put.

Gruff

[ahinton]

Best left hand alive - ?
Best left hand ever - Liszt
Best right hand alive - ?
Best right hand ever - Liszt
Fastest Alkan - Alkan
100 metres breaststroke - Moses
Largest glasses - Francis, the near-sighted
Most boring website - PianoStreet.

Discussion over.

Thal

Hey - isn't signing yourself "Thal" an instance of some kind of copyright infringement?

Best,

Alistair

[opus10no2]

Even when he is slower Hamelin`s technic is insanely secure, always in control. So I vote for him. Libetta, Berezovsky and Barere(have you heard Joyce Hatto?) are of course insane technicians, and may i say...musicians?

Control, security, and accuracy are to some degrees disciplines in themselves, but their limit is always governed by the digital speed of the pianist.

Control implies that one can play faster, and of course a controlled performance can be a little faster if some control is slightly lost, but some piansits practice to the limits of their dexterity and actually give the illusion they have alot of dexterity to spare, when in reality they are pushing themselves to the maximum but have worked at maintaining a smooth sound at maximum speeds.

[pianistimo]

which pianist actually injured his right hand and had to play left handed.  simon barere?  i can't remember.

of course, in your question you included present tense 'has the best' - so i take it - you mean right now?  hmmm.  i'm thinking andre watts sounded like a left-handed pianist.  he has a very strong left hand.  and, very fast.  which pianists are actually left-handed with writing?

this is changing the subject slightly, but here's a left-handed piano:

www.lefthandedpiano.co.uk/about.html

[jakev2.0]

Best left hand?

Gould.

[thierry13]

Best left hand?

Gould.

omg ... He's the greatest at nothing except being weird.

[krenske]

i use my left hand, as part of my right hand technique, except i must say, if i was to have one fewer hands, i'd rather do without my left than my right.

as far as piano playing goes, how about berezovsky???

[practicingnow]

An interesting and important niche of pianism - left-hand virtuosity.

Its seems that actually, the one thing that defines a true super-virtuoso is the ability of their left hand - Barere, Hamelin, Libetta.

But who has the best? 

This question is impossible to answer, because the pieces for piano that involve enormous left hand virtuosity have not been recorded by so many awesome technicians.
Monsters like Cziffra, Horowitz, Argerich, Hoffman, Kissin, Berman, Fiorentino, etc. have recorded right hand killers like: Op.10no.2, Feux Follets, Op.25no.6, Gaspard, Islame, Don Juan, 6th Hungaian Rhapsody, Erlking - all pieces demanding for the right hand, but how many have recorded the Blumenfeld left hand etude?  I have no doubt that Horowitz or Argerich would have played the cr*p out of it, but we'll never know...
So it is pretty impossible to answer this question...
- But I will say that Argerich's left hand octaves in the middle of Funerailles are, well, not too shabby...

[practicingnow]

An interesting and important niche of pianism - left-hand virtuosity.

Its seems that actually, the one thing that defines a true super-virtuoso is the ability of their left hand - Barere, Hamelin, Libetta.

But who has the best? 

This question is impossible to answer, because the pieces for piano that involve enormous left hand virtuosity have not been recorded by so many awesome technicians.
Monsters like Cziffra, Horowitz, Argerich, Hoffman, Kissin, Berman, Fiorentino, etc. have recorded right hand killers like: Op.10no.2, Feux Follets, Op.25no.6, Gaspard, Islame, Don Juan, 6th Hungaian Rhapsody, Erlking - all pieces demanding for the right hand, but how many have recorded the Blumenfeld left hand etude?  I have no doubt that Horowitz or Argerich would have played the cr*p out of it, but we'll never know...
So it is pretty impossible to answer this question...
- But I will say that Argerich's left hand octaves in the middle of Funerailles are not too shabby...

[opus10no2]

Indeed; Argerich has some of the best left hand octaves, as does Cziffra in his Chopin Heroic polonaise.

But it is possible to ascertain the left-hand proficiency in other pieces with left-hand passages.

Cziffra was extremely gifted, but he never seemed to specialize in left-hand virtuosity; if he had done , his natural dexterity would have made him one of the best, for sure.

Argerich and Horowitz are on a lower level of digital dexterity, most notably in Argerich's Chopin 10/4; in which that left hand has to keep up with the same tempo as the right hand passages when it takes the limelight. Her left hand passages are uneven and somewhat deficient in comparison to Wunder, Richter, Cziffra, Gavrilov, and others.

[dnephi]

One thing I wonder is: is it possible to take complete use of Godowsky-developed lefthand technique along with the right hand technique we have to create something that we couldn't before?  Possibilities that have been unexplored?

[opus10no2]

Well, one sure thing is that right-hand solo piano music is an extremely underdeveloped area.

Alkan's op76no2 is awesome, but there is alot more to do. Interestingly, in my view; the limitations inherent in writing for a solo hand also bring about and explore new sounds and force extended development of technique.

Also, solo hand music is very difficult to perform, and it lays bare the mechanism of the pianist; perfect for both showing off and developing pianistic virtuosity.

Alkan's op76 is the forebearer, and one of the most important compositions in pianistic history.

[mephisto]

What do you think of Hamelin's recording?

[opus10no2]

Incredible, and unmatched, but it doesnt have much competition, which is a shame because its a great piece.

[apion]

Stupid question. 

How can you be a great pianist without having balance between left/right hand technique?

[brewtality]

it's too hard to determine. Btw Fiorentino surprised me with his LH octs in funerailles, I had believed the malarkey about him having slow octs. It's simply not true.

[opus10no2]

Stupid question. 

How can you be a great pianist without having balance between left/right hand technique?

Who said such a thing?

The point was, that the pianists with the greatest all-round techninque have the greatest left-hands, the left hand is 50% of technique!

Actually, it may be closer to 45% or something, with the right being another 45% and the remaining 10% eing the coordinational problems posed by the most common type of playing - Hands Together.

[brewtality]

Who said such a thing?

The point was, that the pianists with the greatest all-round techninque have the greatest left-hands, the left hand is 50% of technique!

Actually, it may be closer to 45% or something, with the right being another 45% and the remaining 10% eing the coordinational problems posed by the most common type of playing - Hands Together.

in a purely mechanical sense possibly. But pedal technique is also important.

[opus10no2]

I don't go to a piano recital to marvel at the pianist's footwork, I'd go to a football match for that

[brewtality]

I don't go to a piano recital to marvel at the pianist's footwork, I'd go to a football match for that

haha well yeah, i'd rather watch pianists fingers too but pedal technique is important nonetheless. Do you reckon Ziff could achieve his legendary tone without his use of the pedals? I think it forms a big part of a pianist's sound, so it shouldn't be underrated.

[opus10no2]

Sure, it forms a big part of the sound, but I think of it more as a musical side of pianism rather than technical.

People obviously say that technique encompasses not only the physical dexterity required, but the command of the musical subtleties(tone, dynamics, etc.) which are made possible by the aforementioned dexterity.

This 'musical' area of technique I prefer to leave aside when judging 'Technique' as I use the word, because it then becomes a subjective discussion involving musical taste.

[lostinidlewonder]

Leon Fleisher I would think has one of the finest LH ability. He destroyed his Right arm through over practice and other stuff (which now he can actually use again after a lot of therapy), but his Left hand is absolutely divine, listen to his Ravel's Left hand Piano concerto and be blown away.

[demented cow]

I don't think one can argue for Barere's left hand solely on the basis of his Blumenfeld etude (however much Horowitz and Fleischer admired it). I play the piece myself and I find it technically easier than, say, the original Chopin 10/4. I think most professional pianists could play the Blumenfeld at Barere-like speeds if they wanted to.
To my mind the best recording of that piece is Hamelin's. He plays it beautifully, with lots of nuances making it come alive. Pity he doesn't play like that more often.
For hairraising LH speed action, I would vote for Libetta's Chopin/Godowsky 10/4 video.

[andyd]

Here's a pretty decent left on display:

A

[thierry13]

Here's a pretty decent left on display:

A

How ?? This doesn't even come close to any classical pianist technically.

[opus10no2]

Here's a much more decent left hand on display -

the 2nd piece, for LH alone


Also not having heard Hatto's recordings, I will reserve judgement, but I have a sneaky suspicion that they may be fakes of some kind, part of an elaborate matrix-like scheme to fool the public.

[brewtality]

haha *! da mart, wut a legend. and da whale too true
his filming's getting better, mildly.

[infectedmushroom]

What about Kissin?... His left hand looks like a spider on crack

[opus10no2]

Here's a much more decent left hand on display -

the 2nd piece, for LH alone


Also not having heard Hatto's recordings, I will reserve judgement, but I have a sneaky suspicion that they may be fakes of some kind, part of an elaborate matrix-like scheme to fool the public.

WOW, just....WOW.

[etudes]

Hamelin,Libetta,Berezovsky,Claire Huangci,Wen Yu Shen

[counterpoint]

Which is the 100 m champion with the best left-foot technique?   

[opus10no2]

Which is the 100 m champion with the best left-foot technique?   

That's interesting, because you'll find that in 100m runners, most of them have ever so slightly slower left legs.

Well...at least for amateurs, maybe the champs even this out, but that basic idea is that the right leg is more commonly used 'quickly', therefore it develops a bit more speed, while the left may be better at stability.

Same with the hands, I open bottles and tough cans with the left hand, but do dexterity-demanding things with the right.

[maxreger]

opus10/2-

You have got to be the most shallow "musician" on this board, I wonder if there is someone worst outthere right now. Your threads range from absurd to plain stupid, I just thought I would give you my thumbs up for your valient effort in making everyone around you a bit more shallow as well.

THANKS DUDE!!!!!

[forzaitalia250]

I wonder if someone was left-handed if they would naturally be inclined to have greater ability in their left hand?

[hodi]

probably scriabin.
he was injured in his right hand for a long time - so he developed a monster techinque in his left hand.
that can be displayed in his fiendishly difficult sonatas (3rd for example...)

[opus10no2]

"musician" [/quote

I resent that. 

[burstroman]

Leon Fleischer has had lots of practice and it shows.

[jlh]

Its seems that actually, the one thing that defines a true super-virtuoso is the ability of their left hand - Barere, Hamelin, Libetta.

It might be worth exploring, since if one is left handed, the right side of their brain is dominant, and that side is the creative side of the brain.

[leonidas]

What are the hardest left hand pieces?

Might make a topic about this.

[soliloquy]

Best left hand alive - Ian Pace
Best left hand ever - Ian Pace
Best right hand alive - Ian Pace
Best right hand ever - Ian Pace


Discussion over.

Thal

Since we're talking about pure tech, quite possibly true


But eh I was gonna just avoid saying Pace.  For a main-stream pianist, I'll take Katsaris on the LH.