Top Ten pianists still that are a live.

[Petter]

Perhaps not, I havent heard it. I just think he deserves to be mentioned. But what do I know 

[quasimodo]

In no particular order, my ten are:

Lisitsa
Zimerman
Hamelin
Beresovsky
This Guy
Maksim
Yundi Li
Kempf
Kissin
Sekiya

What's "This Guy" 's name? he's awesome!

[apion]

Krystian Zimerman
Marc-André Hamelin
Maurizio Pollini
Martha Argerich
Grigory Sokolov
Nelson Freire
Stephen Hough
Daniel Barenboim
Stephen Kovacevich
Yefim Bronfman

[healdie]

I think John Lille should get a mention jsut for his incredible memory, he can do all 32 Beethoven sonatas, chopin etudes and 30 concertos from memory, then he has another 30 concertos which he knows but may need to brush up on before a performance

[akonow]

1. Ashkenazy - (tie) - Dead Rubinstein
2. Argerich
3. Barenboim
4. Perahia - (tie) - Pogorelich
5. Brendel
6. Kissin
7. Pollini
8. Larrocha
9. Dichter
10. Kocsis

[argerichfan]

9. Dichter

Perhaps you had a better experience with him than I did.  I couldn't put Dichter in a list alongside such names as Argerich, Ashkenazy, Brendel, Pollini, Kocsis, etc.   

[communist]

Murray Perahia
Vladimir Feltsman
Mikhail Pletnev
Kristian Zimmerman
Aleksandr Korsantia
Maurizio Pollini
Aimard
Alexis Weissenberg
Mark Fuksman
Vladimir Ashkenazy

[birba]

em...just for my Perference ONLY
that's rather subjective.

1. Martha Argerich [tie] Maurizio Pollini

[birba]

em...just for my Perference ONLY
that's rather subjective.

1. Martha Argerich [tie] Maurizio Pollini

Now THAT'S food for  thought.  A tie between the world's most exciting and most boring pianists.

[communist]

Now THAT'S food for  thought.  A tie between the world's most exciting and most boring pianists.

which ones the boring one 

[birba]

Well, it certainly ain't Argerich!

[zemyk4e]

my take on this:
no particular order ...

1- Marc-Andre Hamelin

2- Maurizio Pollini

3- Martha Argerich

4- Ian Pace

5- Evgeny Kissin

6- Jonathan Powell

7- Grigory Sokolov

8- Daniel Baremboim

9- Fredrik Ullen

10- Donna Amato

 

[tanman]

hmm...

langlang
richard kastle
maksim
the pianovlog guy from youtube

  

[tanman]

and I forgot to mention tim hoffman. 

[communist]

don't forget Billy Joel 

[pianisten1989]

No order though...

Argerich
Lang Lang
Kissin
Per Tengstrand
Roland Pöntinen

[richard black]

How has this thread got this far without anyone mentioning Radu Lupu? I would also like to suggest Eliso Virsaladze, Peter Donohoe and Ronald Stevenson - the last may not be performing any more but he's very much still alive!

[Petter]

Radu Lupu

<3

[communist]

How has this thread got this far without anyone mentioning Radu Lupu? I would also like to suggest Eliso Virsaladze, Peter Donohoe and Ronald Stevenson - the last may not be performing any more but he's very much still alive!

who?

[marianne_n]

1.Andrei Gavrilov
2.Howard Shelley
3.Nikolay Lugansky
4.Mauricio Pollini

[thierry13]

Keith Jarret 

Angela Hewitt

Ho, I tought this thread was about pianists. Sorry.

[Petter]

Outside western trad. classical music: Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Pablo Ziegler.

[ahinton]

Ronald Stevenson (...) may not be performing any more but he's very much still alive!

He never did perform frequently in public, MORE'S THE PITY! I once crossed swords with him (albeit only briefly) about my profound regret that he had done so little public playing, to which his somewhat terse and irritated reply was "would you have me as a travelling salesman in Busoni?", to which I unfortunately responded without prior thought "well, that would be great for starters!". It would have been, too. Just as my thoughtful response was at the same time thoughtless. The conversation fortunately reverted to amicable status very soon thereafter, though. It remains a matter of great sadness to me that hardly anyone has actually experienced Ronald Stevenson the pianist at a public performance. I myself have done so but rarely, although of course I have heard his recordings (few though even they are). I have no hesitation in regarding him as one of the very few pianists that could be spoken of in the same breath as Rakhmaninov and Michelangeli. At his very best, he had (I hate to use the past tense for a living artist, but you know why I do so in this instance) the dynamic range of John Ogdon (well, almost!), the dynamism of Ronald Smith, the reflexes of Hamelin (well, almost!), the crystalline precision of Michelangeli, the stylish elegance and spontaneity of Cherkassky and the kind of gorgeous sound to which one would have to go to Yonty Solomon for an equal; his utterly comprehensive understanding of pedalling probably transcends that of almost any other pianist of any era (expect perhaps Banowetz). I can honestly say that, had I ever harboured ambitions to be a pianist (and it is as well that I never did!) and I wanted to cite one single rôle model to whose work to aspire, it would be Ronald Stevenson.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

1. Mrs Mills
2. Winifred Atwell
3. Russ Conway
4. Richard Clayderman
5. Elton John
6. Mylene Klass
7. Les Dawson
8. Roy Chubby Brown
9. Bobby Crush
10. Tara Palmer Tomkinson

[tds]

there are many top/best pianists threads. isn't anyone interested in making a thread on top accompanists perhaps? is that like, lame? i wonder if people like opus have heard of the word "accompanists". of course they,..may! but correct me if i am wrong

[thalbergmad]

is that like, lame?

Errrr yes.

Thal 

[ahinton]

1. Mrs Mills
2. Winifred Atwell
3. Russ Conway
4. Richard Clayderman
5. Elton John
6. Mylene Klass
7. Les Dawson
8. Roy Chubby Brown
9. Bobby Crush
10. Tara Palmer Tomkinson

Classic, Thal! (or should I say "Klass-ic"?). Worth the membership of this forum just to read that, I'd say! I'm just slightly puzzled by the last reference and must assume that this is one of what may very well be many things about which you know more than I, so any enlightening elaboration that you may kindly care to provide would be more than welcome (and not only to me, I'm sure!). If we were to seek to extend this list to make a (dirty) dozen, then surely we might be helped in so doing by contemplating the likelihood that Hayley Westenra and Lesley Garrett play the piano at least abit? And if we're to make the lis(z)t into a baker's dozen, haven't you forGOTTen your state of HELF?...

Never mind what composers might or might not earn (see another thread on here), you ought to earn a fortune for that one! (although you may need it if any of them sue)...

Best,

Alistair

[michel dvorsky]

Lang Lang has got to be #1. He plays piano like a multimedia website.

[rob47]

I once crossed swords with him (albeit only briefly)

It doesn't matter how brief; the damage has been done. Was Ursula Oppens there?

[thalbergmad]

(although you may need it if any of them sue)...

None of them are Sue, so i should be OK.

Thal

[aslanov]

im glad many people hear mentioned the less known pianists

my top 10, well if i name 10 good, if not, dont hold it against me

Daniel Barenboim (beethoven sonatas)
Vladimir Ashkenazy (especially his chopin recordings)
Lugansky (rach etudes/preludes/musical moments)
Leif Ove Andsnes (grieg + rach)
Marc-Andre Hamelin
Stephen Hough
Yundi Li
Boris Berezovsky

Honourable Mentions: Rachmaninov, Richter, Prokofiev.

[imbetter]

in no particular order:

perahia
pletnev
feltsman
korsantia
zimerman
weissenberg
hamelin
berezovsky
jeno jando
Geoffry tozer
richard kastle (lol)

[trish89]

Lang Lang
Fazil Say
Murray Perahia
Ivo Pogorelich
Nikolay Lugansky
Ivan Moravec
András Schiff
Andrei Gavrilov
Ivan Klánský
Martin Kasík

my top 10 

[pwla]

1.Martha Argerich
2.Krystian Zimmerman
3.Nicolai Lugansky
4.Eduard Kunz
5.Valentina Lisitsa
6.Vladimir Sverdlov
7.Boris Berezovsky
8.Yundi Li
9.Mitsuko Uchida
10.Nelson Freire

[birba]

You're getting old when you don't recognize half of the names of favorite pianists...

[pwla]

are you satisfied now ?

[michael_langlois]

G. Sokolov, anyone?

[Petter]

G. Sokolov, anyone?

<-

[allemande]

no nelson goerner??

[weissenberg2]

in no order

Alexis Weissenberg

Mikhail Pletnev

Zoltan Kocsis

Jeno Jando

Geoffrey Tozer

Murray Perahia

Pierre-Laurent Aimard

Vladimir Feltsman

Gillies Vonsattel

Marc-Andre Hamelin

[angierc]

Top 3: Martha Argerich, Yundi Li, Lang Lang (not in order)

[pwincess05anime]

Yiruma and Guang Liang

[nejlac]

Have you ever listened to Fazıl Say?

http://www.fazilsay.org/ing/index.htm

[classical pianist]

Maria Tipo
Radu Lupu
Ivan Davis
Nelson Friere
Martha Argerich
Marc-Andre Hamelin
Evegeny Kissin
Kemal Gekic
Alexis Weissenberg
Alicia De Larrocha (She just passed away last week.... T_T)

[communist]

No one mentioned Jack Gibbons? I don't think he is the greatest pianist but I think he is as good as a lot of the pianists mentioned.

[antichrist]

No one mentioned Jack Gibbons? I don't think he is the greatest pianist but I think he is as good as a lot of the pianists mentioned.

Well he is indeed very great,he played plenty of alkans

[weissenberg2]

1. Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
2. Marc-André Hamelin.
3. Ian Pace.
4. Francesco Libetta.
5. Jonathan Powell.
6-10. ...some others.
11. Michael Finnissy.

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.

[bellywelly]

Yiruma and Guang Liang

 

how could you compare these pop-culture piano amateurs to professional concert pianists?

i am simply shocked.

[gorucan]

berezovsky
bronfmann
argerich
pollini
pogorelich
kissin
sokolov
montero
and like 235 more

these are mjust some but in no real order.

[thierry13]

Have you ever listened to Fazıl Say?

http://www.fazilsay.org/ing/index.htm

Yes, do not give us more reasons to NOT name him.