Who do you wish you could play like???

[jimbo320]

I'm curious of how many different answers there will be......

[faz55]

Liszt Trois Etudes de Concert S.144 III Un Sospiro ...

[becky8898]

Hi jimbo: For me thats easy and its not even close.  If I could play like Martha Agerich, it would be like heaven. in fact if I could kind of play like her it would be heaven. In fact if I played one passage and sounded like her it would be fantastic.

Anyway you didnt mention who your choice would be. 

Cheers, Becky

[nanabush]

Chick Corea or Oscar Peterson.

[jimbo320]

Becky,
Ooo good choice! I'm cheating and saying two.
My choices are John Evan and Rick Wakeman. More contemporary than most choices but I love the combining of classical chords into rock music. John Evan is the keyboardist of the band Jethro Tull and Rick Wakeman played many solo concerts and also in the band Yes.

Musically and cheers, Jimbo

[fleetfingers]

I would also say Martha Argerich. She is amazing.

[m1469]

Myself.  I want to play what's deep inside of me.  I learn a lot from others though and I learn a lot about myself in that process, too.

[mnmleung]

I have been reading Allan Evans' book on Ignaz Friedman and I would like to play like Friedman (well, I would rather learn with him but...)

I heard a recording of the Chopin butterfly etude on youtube and at one point the sounds I heard reminds me of sunshine and smiles and joy.  I have not experience it before, and don't want to over-listen so that I take it for granted.

[music32]

For Spanish repertoire, Alicia Delarrocha.. For Bach, Murray Perahia
For Chopin, the late Maria Yudina  for Brahms, Dame Myra Hess.
For Scarlatti, Murray Perahia, and Vladimir Horowitz  for Mozart, Perahia
For Schubert, Alfred Brendel

Shirley K
https://arioso7.wordpress

[cuckoo]

I wish I could play like a concert pianist.  Just because I am so far behind!!     

[pianist1976]

Who do you wish you could play like???

Always be yourself, my friend. Imitation only takes to disaster. Try to be an improved yourself  

[stevebob]

I took the question to refer to pianists with the technique and expressiveness we would like to possess.

For me, Arthur Rubinstein was always a paragon of pianistic professionalism and artistry.

Of current performers I'm familiar with, I'd choose Brad Mehldau ... because jazz and improvising are so remote from my own abilities.

[dado765]

Hi everybody from the worst piano player in the world (no, I'm lying: I came only as the second worst...'cause I was really too bad as a player! LOL - OK, I just rearranged an old joke, sorry...)!
My impossible dream is being able to play like a perfect mix of the following:
Maurizio Pollini, George Winston, Roy Bittan and Keith Jarrett - now, who can beat this??

Dream, baby, dream...   

[acemanic]

Chopin fan that I am...I'd actually won't mind being able to play like Yundi Li!

[hodgeinator55]

Matt Bellamy of Muse! He's AMAZING!!!!

[gbdfania9]

Chopin fan that I am...I'd actually won't mind being able to play like Yundi Li!

I love Chopin! Good choice! I love the Five Browns, but I think Melody is my fave out of the Group. Lang Lang has amazing virtuosity. I like to watch others to be inspired, but I also love to wonder, "how would I play that? Do I like that expression?" It kinda jazzes things up. 

[jimbo320]

Ah yes, The Five Browns are very talented in deed. Watching them compliment each other is amazing. I'm an old rocker at heart and really think Rick Wakeman is awesome. Check him out here....

Dreams drive us to try, Jimbo

[birba]

Always be yourself, my friend. Imitation only takes to disaster. Try to be an improved yourself  

My teacher (in the ice age) said one of the biggest mistakes in her life was her attempt to emulate Maria Teresa Carreno.  And she gave me your very same advice when I was trying so hard to emulate Michelangeli! (I was very naive at the time...)

[jimbo320]

Birba,
What advice? By whom?

[birba]

Always be yourself, my friend. Imitation only takes to disaster. Try to be an improved yourself  

This advice here given by pianist1976.  Never try to imitate.  You might be inspired by a certain pianist's tone, or technique, but never take it as something to imitate.  For example, I've always been very taken with the WAY Kempff performed.  It always sounded improvised.  It might not always have been technically brilliant or clean, but it always said something.  It always revealed HIS inspiration and voice.  This is what inspired me to try and achieve the same end.  To reveal MY inspiration and voice.  Get it?  It's sort of difficult to explain.  But the question of this thread "Who do you wish you could play like???" is very misleading.  We can only play like ourselves.  Anything else would be a travesty of a musician's artistic objective: to express one's self.

[kalithepianist]

I really wish I could play as well as Lang Lang... or Horowitz. (Lang Lang's emotions sometimes scare me though, haha.)

[ted]

Like m1469, I have no desire to play like anybody else. Of course, I like certain aspects of most well known players, but overall I am quite happy with the hand I have been dealt. More importantly, no one can realise my  musical ideas except me, so I'm stuck with it anyway.

[mussels_with_nutella]

For me, Valentina Lisitsa is great! She is not only blond, but also she plays whatever she wants, managing to master it in a really short period of time!!

[jimbo320]

Sorry if some of you take playing like someone as imitation. I know there's a style or sound we all have heard and took something from. I just was curious of the responses I would get. Just because I like Rick Wakeman or Yanni doesn't mean I want to imitate them. I play a lot of their stuff but to give me inspiration and practice. Composing my own is more rewarding for sure. Everybody reads and plays someone.

Musically, Jimbo

[lelle]

Sviatoslav Richter, Marc-André Hamelin, Roland Pöntinen, Alfred Cortot (when it comes to imaginitive playing of Chopin) to mention a few.

[deejeff442]

john valby  youtube him )

[perfect_pitch]

I wish I could play like Valentina Lisitsa... simply because she looks relaxed and her hands seem so loose and airy, yet having absolute control.

[countrymath]

Vitalij Kuprij and Rick Wakeman

[chelseasmilexx]

Definitely Martha Argerich.

[marioshand]

yundi li; very quiet, very smooth......

[roger_1948]

Well for me an Answer Like Agerich is just plain silly.  If I could sound like anyone it would be either Peter Nero or erroll garner.

Roger

[nadia goh]

Valentina Lisitsa for techniques/skills

Rafal Blechacz for his Chopin interpretation

[ekerette]

Like m1469, I have no desire to play like anybody else. Of course, I like certain aspects of most well known players, but overall I am quite happy with the hand I have been dealt. More importantly, no one can realise my  musical ideas except me, so I'm stuck with it anyway.

Very sad . If it where 'a mouse click away' posible I would simply download Lang Lang's brains and just install, safe myself this headache of amateurity. The fact remains that not every good piano player is a virtouso and will become a renown one. I don't like this card i'm dealt, I want to be Lang Lang or Yanni. LOL 

[becky8898]

Hi. Ive changed my Answer. Its not Martha Agerich anymore.  I wish I could sound like me when Ill be 21.

Cheers, Becky

[fleetfingers]

I wish I could play like Becky when she's 12, almost 13. 

[overfjell]

I can't choose one, my favourite pianist is Berezovsky, so I spose he'd be my first choice. But also Rachmaninoff and Richter are huge influences for me.

[nataliethepianist]

Hello! What an interesting question. I would love to play like Barenboim! The thing I love about his playing is that he knows when to change feeling, while some pianists just stick to one feeling. If the piece begins sounding happy, but then become a very serious, sad sounding piece, I find some pianist are still happy when they should be serious! I find he plays Beethoven extremely well! Definitely a genius!

[evannn]

Hmm... For me one person is my piano teacher (seen a couple of his concerts, only small, but  have to say he was pretty awesome, guess all good teachers are though), but probably horowitz, I don't know too many famous pianists, but whenever I search for a video of a piece (normally chopin), I always click on his videos over anyone elses

Zimmerman I wouldn't mind playing like, I think hearing him is awesome, but when you see him he exaggerates it too much.

[cassiomartinez]

I'd like to play like Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Also would like to be Keith Jarrett playing the Köln Concert.

[seanramon]

I wish I could play like Mitsuko Uchida.
I love her interpretation of Mozart's piano sonatas.

[54545]

I pick Busoni or Friedheim since they hear Liszt play and they probably even sounded like him.

 But I'd go with Busoni because he never hits a wrong note and his technique is unsurpassed.

[ongaku_oniko]

Li YunDi.

Rubenstein a close second.

Lang Lang is... not a bad guy, but not as good a pianist as he's made out to be. In fact, many people in Beijing's music academies play like him; they're all shaped from the same mold.

Li Yun Di on the other hand, is completely different. Very talented.

^ This came from my little cousin's piano teacher who graduated from some music academy in Beijing, forgot the name. And I agree with him.

[fred792k]

Without a doubt Vladimir Horowitz. Maybe Richter. They have huge influences in my life.

[ignaceii]

Nobody else but me, somewhere deep inside, hidden away.
I go with m1469 if you wish (2 votes for us).

[1plus]

My answer is more realistic (even not sure), my teacher! That's enough for my life already...

[pianoplayjl]

I want to be able to play like Liszt.

[danhuyle]

Yundi Li

[pianoplayjl]

For a pianist who is alive, Argerich or george LI.