Best Pianist You've Ever Seen Perform Live

[poiuytrewq11zc]

What is the best concert you've ever attended? Which pianist, and what did they perform?

[naaga]

wow: it's difficult!
if i have to choose one I think the best pianist I've ever seen playing live was alfred brendel.
he performed the beethoven sonata op.110, it was ... I don't have enough words..however,relly more than great.

if i can choose two the next one would surely be bruno canino.

[birba]

Michelangeli at Carnegie Hall.  Gaspard de la Nuit was indescribable.

[cmg]

Bronfman at Carnegie Hall in the Rach3.  Stupendous power and sweep, technically and interpretatively.

Equally great, Argerich with Dutoit at Carnegie Hall performing both Chopin concerti on separate evenings.  She sounded as if she were improvising and Dutoit was right with her all the way.  Perfect.  Magical.

[49410enrique]

hmm i remember beeing pretty blown away by olga kern on tchaikovsky  no 1 a few years ago. can't say i've seen anything that really impressed me since (some very good ones but nothing better than great/amazing)

[ionian_tinnear]

George Shearing.  Amazing touch, effortless control and power.  Every note had clarity and purpose.  He was 80+ at the time.

[birba]

What a pianist!!!

[ted]

My best moments for that have not occurred at concerts, and I have not attended one for over forty years. When young I heard Rubinstein, Ashkenazy and Ogdon and I was suitably overwhelmed. But I think a lot of it was the effect of fame, aura, theatrical aspect and mystique on a romantic young mind rather than the directly transporting nature of the sound itself.

My really unforgettable experiences of live performance have been of a private nature. Listening to my teacher improvise comes to mind. Also, there was an obscure, retired jazz pianist here who played for me in his home one Sunday morning and whose sounds have stuck with me.

If "best" is taken to mean "best concert pianist" in the narrower sense then it would have been Ogdon, and the piece would have to be Chasse Neige.

[rachfan]

In 1961 I attended a recital by Artur Rubinstein at Symphony Hall in Boston.  I still have the program.  He played:

Beethoven's Sonata in C, Op. 2, No. 3

Brahms'
Rhapsody in Bm, Op. 79, No1
Intermezzo in C, Op. 119
Intermezzo  in B flat minor, Op. 117
Rhapsody in E flat, Op. 119

Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales

Szymanowsk's Four Mazurkas, Op. 50

Chopin's Scherzo in B flat, Op. 31

I believe the encore was an Albeniz's Navarra.

It was a great performance!

David

[keyboardkat]

A young David Bar-Ilan on the Columbia Community Concert series, in around 1960 when I was in High School.  He played the Mendelsohn Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in E, Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy, Five Pieces for Piano by Paul Ben-Haim, Chopin's Fourth Ballade, and six Chopin Etudes.  There was something else, but I forget what it was.   For an encore, he played the 15th Hungarian Rhapsody (Rakoczy March).  Fabulous!

[pbryld]

Hamelin at Southbank Center. Hated the music, but damn he plays well.

[williampiano]

Kevin Cole is the best pianist I've seen perform live. He played a full Gershwin concert.

In second place is Marc-andre Hamelin, but I don't remember what he played.

[mousekowski]

I heard Pletnev play Scriabin's Op11 Preludes in Bristol about 15 years ago. That was pretty special.

[keyboardkat]

I also heard Rubinstein in Decembeer 1962 in Rochester, NY at Eastman.   What a sound!  And he was less like a performing artist than like a host, and we in the audience were like his guests.  That's how he made you feel!    I remember that one of the things he played was the prelude from Debussy's Suite Pour le Piano.   Back in those days, it was acceptable to program one movement from a larger work.  I don't think that would fly today.

[rachfan]

Hi keyboardkat

That's interesting.  In 1962 I attended a recital given by Nicole Henriot-Schweitzer at the Lynn City Hall Auditorium in Lynn, MA.  One of her programmed pieces was "Prelude" from Pour le Piano, and that was it, just the prelude.  Must have been the fad that year.   Nonetheless, she played it very well.

David

[minor9th]

I can't name just one, but a few favorites include Lazar Berman late 70s, Ivo Pogorelich 80's, Emil Gilels 80s, Arcadi Volodos (every time!), and Denis Matsuev (Rach 3 and a solo recital). I can't recall the exact years of the first few.

[bugrad]

Radu Lupu performing Beethoven Emperor with the BSO at some time in the 90s.  I had seasons tickets with BSO for a number of years and heard alot of great pianists, but this performance still sticks in my mind more than the others......

[pianoplayjl]

Lang Lang playing Tchaikovsky's 1st. It wasn't that bad considering be backed up from a mediocre performance of Rachmaninoff's 2nd PC. The octaves were amazing. The encore wasn't bad either. There was also Leslie Howard playing Borodin, Glazunov, Beethoven and Liszt.

JL

[jmanpno]

Without a doubt Pierre-Lauren Aimard.  Both the best and worst of recital going experiences...

The best?  His Schoenberg, Benjamin, Carter, etc.
The worst?  His Bach Art of Fugue.... Abysmal.