Top Ten pianists still that are a live.

[ghchopin]

Arcady Volodos
Evgeny Kissin
Yundi --
Martha Argerich(born same city I was)
Valentina Lisista.

[mike_lang]

.

[jbmorel78]

Has anyone heard the pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger?  I purchased a recording of his live from Suntory Hall which had one of the most artistic and dramatic Liszt sonatas I have ever heard...  Really stellar young pianist.

Yes!

[teccomin]

My #1:
Krystian Zimerman
He stop recording solo pieces some 2 decades ago because he thinks that recording is lame... But whatever he touched seemed to turn gold. Most of his recordings can be considered as best of all time, such has the Chopin Piano Concertos, Ballads, Schubert Impromptus, Debussy Preludes and Liszt Sonata in B.

The rest of the list (in no particular order)
Hamelin
Argerich
Ashkenazy
Barenboim
Pollini
Kissin
Perahia
Pletnev
Yundi Li(not quite there yet but has potential)

Honorary Mention: Helene Grimaud (Unique style and so damn hot!)

My hate list:
Volodos
Lang Lang

[jbmorel78]

Liszt Sonata in B.

Really?  I would put several Liszt sonatas before Zimerman's, several live....

And what of Volodos?

[orangesodaking]

Hmm. Some of MY favorite top-notch pianists are:

-Marc-André Hamelin (obviously)
-Kemal Gekic
-Martha Argerich (although she has a good number of interpretations of pieces I'm not the biggest fan of...)
-Ivo Pogorelich (same with him... but when he gets it, he GETS it!)
-André Laplante

Sorry I only listed five. Too bad David Smith and Ronald Smith (not related) are no longer alive. They were absolutely stellar pianists.

[prongated]

-André Laplante

I've seen his name rather often in similar posts...I never realised he's THAT good...

[orangesodaking]

I've seen his name rather often in similar posts...I never realised he's THAT good...

On Youtube, I uploaded his performance of "Une Barque sur l'Ocean" and "Alborada del Gracioso" from Miroirs. I recommend buying that CD (also has the Pavane, Jeux d'Eau and other Ravel pieces)... it's one of the BEST uses of your money if you're a Ravel fan. He also made another Ravel CD with Gaspard de la Nuit, Sonatine, and other pieces.

And I'm not sure about other composers he plays, but I've heard he's just as good with anything he plays. I heard him play Mozart Concerto 21 in C Major live, and it was impeccable!

[liordavid]

My top ten are Lang Lang
                     Yundi Li 
                     Peter Serkin
                     Alexander Ghindin
                     Radu Lupu
                     Leon Fleischer
                     Martha Agerich
                     Alfred Brendel
                     Gary Graffman   
                  and Ingrid Fliter   

[gyzzzmo]

Hmm.... Sokolov.

[hssb]

who do you think are the top ten pianists in the world.

Gutierrez
Zimerman
Brendel
Argerich
Kissin
Gutierrez
Pollini

[mozartk365]

in no particular order:

Maurizio Pollini
Krystian Zimerman
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Marc-Andre Hamelin
Martha Argerich
Mitsuko Uchida
Stephen Hough
Valentina Lisitsa
Evgeny Kissin
Zoltan Kocsis

[pianoplayjl]

Ashkenazy
Pollini
Hamelin
Scherbakov
Kissin
Argerich
Gavrilov
Yundi li
Byron janis
Barenboim
Lang Lang (just kidding)

JL

[megadodd]

Kissin
Pletnev
Argerich
Ashkenazy

[sevencircles]

why Finnissy? all he has proven is that he can play his own disproportional, nonsensical monstrosities

May I ask what is so special about Ian Pace? he is 95% technical.

Also, Jonathan Powell is great but I don't think he is quite about to par with people like Pollini, Aimard, Zimmerman et al.

Jonathan Powell and even more Pace can play pieces extremely few people can. I haven´t heard much  of Pace but if he can play all the pieces listed on his site uptempo without making any significant mistakes, then he is for sure one of the greatest pianists in the world and the greatest technical pianist ever.

I have heard more from Powell then Pace and he is without any doubt one of he most underrated pianists out there.

[dream_pianist1999]

I think the top 3 should be:

1)Martha Argerich
2) Evgeny Kissin
3) Albert Tiu

[milkshake95]

Albert Tiu??

[angierc]

3) Albert Tiu

Isn't that someone from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore?
Are you REALLY REALLY SURE?  I don't think he can be parred with pianists like Yundi Li, or Berezovsky, or Argerich, or Zimmerman...  I think I still prefer Lang Lang..

[momoji]

not sure about top ten but Stephen Hough is one of the best pianists that i've watched perform

He played Rachmaninoff 3rd concerto and I cried. Just beautiful

[ruvidoetostinato]

in no order

Vladimir Ashkenazy
Martha Argerich
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Evgeny Kissin
Krystian Zimerman
Ivo Pogorelic
Yuja Wang

[aaren]

Difficult to say.. but i really like how Stanislav Stanchev plays. I saw him yesterday at youtube.

[thesuineg]

who said it
claire huangci
claire huangci
kills self

[the89thkey]

Nikolai Lugansky
maybe Martha Argerich, I like her playing as well.

[berman]

1. Ivo Pogorelich
2. Alfred Brendel
3. Vladimir Ashkenazy
4. Grigory Sokolov
5. Yefim Bronfman
6. Evgeny Kissin
7. Mikhail Pletnev
8. Piotr Anderszewski
9. Radu Lupu
10. Pierre-Laurent Aimard
11. Mats Widlund

[matthew from florida]

I'm just going to throw out some names...

Berezovsky
Hamelin
Yundi Li
Pollini
Zimerman
Argerich
Lisitsa
Kissin
Paul Barton (I know, he is a bit out of place in this list, but he is a decent player and makes wonderful tutorials and answers my questions )

[chopianologue]

Argerich
Pogorelich
Biret

[knguru]

Radu Lupu is like a magician. And it`s not because he`s a Romanian and I am one as well, he just seems to be „hypnotizing” the piano without even really touching the keys. He is well beyond technically playing the piano, the piano seems somehow to belong to his body, to be an extension of his hands. All he focuses on are the feelings, the mood, everything connected to the soul, even if that something is only one note, and brings them to life in a really unique matter. I just saw him last week at the Romanian Atheneum during the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest playing Schubert and it was unbelievable. A man was saying after the concert that he had heard the Schubert sonatas a lot of times before but the way Lupu played them made him think that he was listening to a totally different melody. And that`s exactly what Radu Lupu is all about.
He also played in another night of the festival the no.10 Mozart two pianos concert with Barenboim and they both were like angels singing. Absolutely incredible.

[cybermat]

David helfgott is the most unique and musical pianist ive ever seen.he has extraordinary gift despite his mental illness and plays with so much expression he is a extremely wonderful muscian and is near genius

[chopinfrederic]

1. Lang Lang
2. Evgeny Kissin
3. Valentina Lisitsa
4. Paul Barton
5. And, of course, me! :p

[sonicbass]

Lang Lang is the best living pianist in the world!!

[jlskiles]

Marc Andre Hamelin
Martha Argerich
Krystian Zimerman
Evgeny Kissin
Valentina Lisitsa
Daniel Barenboim

[syek88]

My list is of Top 10 active pianists as of 2015.

It excludes the retired (Brendel) the semi-retired/conductors (Ashkenazy, Pletnev), and the once-great but no longer (Pollini). It also excludes Zimerman and Sokolov: I have never seen them live, and given that they barely record, I therefore can't assess them.

1. Leif Ove Andsnes.  Having completed his "Beethoven Journey", he is at the peak of his career and the peak of the profession.

2. Maria Joao Pires.

3. Martha Argerich. Would be even higher but for the fact that she's not really extending herself as a soloist at present. Still, couldn't put her out of the top three. Recent live recordings with Abbado and Barenboim were exceptional.

4. Daniel Barenboim. Like Ashkenazy and Pletnev, very much a part-timer. Except that with his extraordinary work ethic and prolific production, he gets to make the list.  His recent multi-disc recording of Schubert sonatas - where does he get the time? - illustrate that he still belongs here.

5. Nikolai Lugansky. The top Russian, in my view. Recent recording of Grieg/Prok 3 was superb.

6. Marc-Andre Hamelin

7. Nelson Freire

8. Stephen Hough

9. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

10. Arcadi Volodos

Tough to leave out Perahia and Anderszewski.  Lang Lang would also be in my Top 20 - he, his facial expressions and his PR machine all annoy me but you have to respect his ability.  Only one Brit in the top 10: Hough. Full respect for Uchida, Lewis, Cooper, Hewitt, Osborne, but I reckon their careers get aided by their nationality (not their fault) and aren't Top 10 material.

Levit, Fliter and Yuja Wang would hopefully have strong claims in the near future.

[emill]

He played Rachmaninoff 3rd concerto and I cried. Just beautiful

  (Albert Tiu)

Yes ... you have to hear him play to really appreciate him.  If I am not mistaken he came from Boston U and Julliard. 

Although I do not have a top ten, I am a bit surprised that no one mentioned Daniil Trifonov, Denis Matsuev, Murray Perahia  and Helene Grimaud. 

[thalbergmad]

Katsaris is the only pianist alive. All the others are nothing.

Thal

[hardy_practice]

A live what?

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Katsaris
Volodos
Fazil Say
Thibaudet
Giovanni Bellucci
Hough

If I was feeling "serious" I'd add Sokolov. Andsnes and Aimard, but I'm not, so I'll add pianists I particularly enjoy -

Roberto Cominati

Marco Falossi

Koji Attwood

and marik, not least for his Weber-Tausig

- the point being that I would happily attend a recital by any one of them over one by Lisitsa, Brendel, Lang Lang, Hamelin, or a multitude of other "big names".

[thalbergmad]

I would rather stick a metronome up my bum and set it to 250bpm than hear bang bang or hamelin again.

Thal

[ahinton]

I would rather stick a metronome up my bum and set it to 250bpm than hear bang bang or hamelin again.

Then may I be the first to send you such a metronome? I have little to say in favour of Bang Bang but I suspect that your knowledge of Hamelin's work is nowhere near adequate for you to make such a pronouncement.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Then may I be the first to send you such a metronome?

I have not moved, so please feel free to do so.

Thal

[pianoman53]

You can send me a metronome too... Empty and emotionless playing is not my cup of tea.

[thalbergmad]

Hinty better make a bulk order

Thal

[ahinton]

Hinty better make a bulk order

I'm quite sure that you already possess a metronome that you could insert into your anus if you feel so disposed (though quite how effectively it might continue to tick while there might be open to question)...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

You can send me a metronome too... Empty and emotionless playing is not my cup of tea.

It certainly isn't mine, either, but hearing any does not incline me to stick a metronome anywhere - it's preferable (and less painful) simply to switch off or walk out, depending upon whether the playing concerned is recorded or live.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

I do not have a metronome, so kindly send me one as mentioned above.

Look forward to receiving it.

Luv

Thal

[pianoman53]

to get back to topic: Radu Lupu and Volodos.

[perfect_pitch]

My list is of Top 10 active pianists as of 2015.

...and the once-great but no longer (Pollini).

You DO realise that Pollini is still alive... don't you? Or did you mean he isn't great anymore??? If it's the latter, then I believe you're wrong.

Still just as astounding as when he was in his younger years.

[diomedes]

Recently I decided to finally find out what's at the bottom of Lang Lang. Listened to that live performance of the Ballades and he almost ruined them for me. You turn off the video, and all his mannerisms and attention drawing is vivid in his playing auraly. There's no escaping it. Horrible experience.
Fabulous pianist, insincere musician.

Recently I've been in a state of admiration for Kissin (if you have not seen that video of a recent performance of his of Rachmaninov 2, you probably should.)

Others that caught my admiration,
Katsaris
Hough
Pletnev
Ponti
Hamelin (although i have limited emotional commitment to him)

Regrettably Tozer is not valid for the list, and Ogdon will always have my greatest admiration. And i admire Samson Francois.

I have not formed a musical opinion of Yuja Wang, but her abilities are indescribable.

[coda_colossale]

Pollini
Katsaris
Perahia
Volodos
Sokolov
Pogorelich
Zimerman
Ashkenazy
Biret
Lupu

[pianoman53]

Polloni is also great. Or at least that's what I've been told... I honestly don't know, because I always fall asleep when he starts playing...

[thalbergmad]

Listened to that live performance of the Ballades and he almost ruined them for me

He completely ruined them for me.

Thal