Who's your favorite Bach player?

[thalberg]

Okay.......here's an incomplete and probably strange list of people who play Bach and have recordings released.  Who do you like the best?

[jlh]

Chinandler Bong???  

um... Thalberg... you know something I don't?   

[quasimodo]

Rosalyn Tureck is cruelly missing in your list. As well as Nikolaieva, Badura-Skoda...

[sevencircles]

Ivo Pogorelich is also missing. He is one of the best alive today I think

[pita bread]

Weissenberg and Gould

[counterpoint]

Keith Jarrett and Keith Emerson 

...and Jacques Loussier of course!

...and not to forget Wendy Carlos!

[pianistimo]

wanda landowska ?!

[ahinton]

Yonty Solomon, anyone?

Best,

Alistair

[furtwaengler]

Samuil Feinberg

[pianogeek_cz]

All those wonderful pianists...

...but when it comes to Bach, noooone of them surpasses Gould. Or so I think. 

[thalberg]

Rosalyn Tureck is cruelly missing in your list. As well as Nikolaieva, Badura-Skoda...

Yes, yes......my original post humbly acknowledged this list is incomplete.....no cruelty intended.

[mcgillcomposer]

Richter

[Nightscape]

Didn't Wendy Carlos write some of the music in The Shining?

[wotgoplunk]

Didn't Wendy Carlos write some of the music in The Shining?

Yep. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shining_(film)#Music.2FSoundtrack

And Gould, btw.

[sissco]

Has to be Rachel

[ramseytheii]

I wish I was at home and had my "Glenn Gould Reader!"  He reviews "Switched-on BAch" and gives Wendy Carlos a stunning compliment or two.  I will quote them later.  I think he is the best!

[Nightscape]

My favorite is Angela Hewitt.  I also really enjoy Schiff's recording of the inventions and sinfonias.  Glenn Gould is uneven for me, in that several pieces are wonderful whereas other pieces are odd.

[cygnusdei]

I happen to have the complete WTC recording by Jorg Demus. I'd say his is my favorite WTC.

[thalberg]

Richter

His fugue in C# minor is magic.

[dnephi]

It's Weissenberg, not Weissberg.  His playing is intense.

[quasimodo]

None of those.
for Bach, in particular, I find pianists of the current period have more insight. Not all of them of course...
But really, listen to Ivo Janssen and Angela Hewitt, those two are really onto something with Bach. On the other hand, absolutely avoid Barenboim...

[Petter]

Richter and Tureck

[gerryjay]

rosalyn tureck.
there are several interesting and cool interpretations, but to me, her bach renderings are sublime, one of the most perfect contributions to the art of piano playing ever made.
best!

[aewanko]

Sviatoslav Richter

[marianne_n]

Andrei Gavrilov

marvellous concert  BWV 1052

[twiltot]

mine it Vladimir Ashkenazy

[imbetter]

Murray Perahia's Bach is blows everybody else out of the water. Instead of my giving a long-winded post why just go listen to it.

[communist]

Murray Perahia's Bach is blows everybody else out of the water. Instead of my giving a long-winded post why just go listen to it.

I see how you can like him the best for Bach but I would not say he blows everybody else out of the water. I think Gould is as good as him in Bach (even though his is very idiosyncratic. I would say Weissenberg's is as good as Perahia's but his can be to heavy-handed which can be bad (but can be good sometimes to) I also like Vedernikov's a lot. It is not quite as good as the formers but it is very good (usually very aggressive)

[magio]

Andras Schiff is also excellent at performing Beethoven's sonatas...

[costasimpson]

Hewitt's Well-Tempered Clavier is exceptional in my opinion. Her phrasing and intelligence are careful and often reserved, but they are so aesthetically beautiful. Gould for the Goldberg Variations (immaculate phrasing and technique), Argerich for the C Minor Partita (Argentinian passion and flame when needed, but careful phrasing and beauty throughout), and Schiff for the Partitas.

[pianoplayjl]

Definitley Richter. He learnt the whole wtc II off by heart in 1 month. unbelievable.