Who is your favourite alive pianist?

[ahinton]

He has played works of all of the composers on my list since I got the list from his repertoire.

OK - and those of many other composers as well, as I already noted (and of which you must surely already have been well aware) - but you've still omitted both to define "plink" and its derivatives and explain why you appear to consider it acceptable to judge or otherwise favour a pianist on the sole basis of (some of) the repertoire that they perform.

So - over to you (once again!)...

Best,

Alistair

[annna]

Maurizio Pollini, I love his Chopin playing. AND, Maria Joao Pires. If you have the chance, listen to her Schubert recordings, "Le Voyage Magnifique". I find it heavenly. She is also a great Mozart interpreter!

[barb440]

Stephen Hough

[markedasred]

Right, I am a bit of a rogue here as I did not perform great in my Piano lessons, ending up living with my teacher 30 years back (Hi Trish), but have a great love for Piano recordings, especially on vinyl, both classical and Jazz. There are about 6000 in the house. I can't have a favourite pianist, I love thousands of them, including loads of those mentioned on this thread. Also what you like in performance changes. In the 1980's I hated the tone of Fou T'song, now I find some recordings of his magical. While I write I have the 1985 Horowitz Studio recording on and they are full of magic, and before that I listened to John Clegg in the Scriabin Op 11 Preludes which I would guess date from about 1971, again exceptional. I think I should nominate Lisitsa for the living pianist today, as this is the actual day (Oct 7th 2013) she releases her Liszt lp on analogue vinyl. A momentous occasion for vinyl lovers like myself. In Jazz, we lost a great one recently in Esbjorn Svensson. Alongside Jarrett and Bill Evans, the holy trinity of modern jazz pianists for me.
Also a special mention for the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto Series, for being a revelation regarding repertoire in wonderful accounts.

[alanteew]

Richard Goode would also have to be on my list.

[thesixthsensemusic]

Jean Martin. His 'Symphonic Etudes' and opus 11 piano sonata by Schumann are some of the finest recordings I have ever heard.

[pochofiev]

Nikolai Lugansky

Such a solid musician both in lyricism and technique. He's a nice guy too. Met him during the signing of his new Prokofiev/Grieg CD

[theodore]

For my taste the following video of Alfred Brendel shows his intense musical involvement in the Schubert Impromptu opus 90 # 3.  He does the melodic musical line with tenderness as well as anguish and resignation which really shows his empathy with the composer's wishes.

 

[ranniks]

This sexy man probably. Also Gould I think.

[dagny_taggart]

Spencer Krug is my favorite pianist, not necessarily technically, but in terms of spirit and originality. He is playing his own original composition here, but he is a classical musician. He is actually a fabulous composer, especially for the purity of his music. He is the only modern musician I really listen to. He embeds a few classical elements in this piece, especially at the end.

I say he is my favorite, rather than Valentina or Kissin, etc, because I prefer musicians/pianists who compose their music rather than solely play someone else's. I love Glenn Gould because he basically re-composed most of the pieces he played.  

[coda_colossale]

1- Lugansky
2- Argerich
3- İdil Biret (Complete works of Chopin, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and many others, . She is 72 and still works tirelessly. Lately, she has learnt Hindemith's Piano Concerti. Put all the labor together. One of the largest repertoires indeed.)

[marik1]

Anyone for Jonathan Powell?...

Best,

Alistair

I guess, for a certain repertoire... perhaps. I gladly agree he might have a formidable intellect, phenomenal memory, and many other wonderful qualities. However, in a standard repertoire I never heard from him anything what could be called "great". Was trying to find something on youtube and found this:

I think it is enough to compare that recording to Egon Petri (who BTW, while being an important pianist probably was not the "greatest") from more than half a century ago in the same piece to see the difference in spirit, musicality, imagination, and just... virtuosity:

Best, M

[thalbergmad]

1. Katasaris
2. Katasaris
3. Katasaris

Thal

[zezhyrule]

For some more obvious ones, Andras Schiff and Alfred Brendel.

[rjgrech]

Zimerman and Yulianna Avdeeva on a good day Vladimir Ashkenazy mainly for the Tchaikovsky seasons

[g_s_223]

Making no claims for "greatness", but rather thinking about pianists whose appearance on a concert programme might well pique my interest due to their particularly individual and original talents, I am happy to pay real £ to see:

• Ivo Pogerelich
• Murray Perahia
• Simon Trepceski
• Mikhail Pletnev
• David Owen Norris

[chopin4life]

For Mozart: mitsuko uchida
For Beethoven: Daniel Barenboim
For Chopin: Krystian Zimmerman
For late romantics: Martha Argerich

In general: MARIA JOAO PIRES

[tabeticclown]

My favorite living pianist is without a doubt Krystian Zimmerman, especially when listening to Chopin. His performances are always near technically flawless and are incredibly deep.

[steinway43]

In general: MARIA JOAO PIRES

I love her Bach.

[visitor]

Revising my top but not in any order but do occupy my upper list spots
Sun Hee You
Arseni Sadykov
Mikael Pletnev
Andre Watts
Yeol Eum Son
Olga Kern
Mischa Dichter

[julytwenty]

Making Music. Can tell who's playing by just listening to their music. Because can hear their personality and creation as part of the music.

* Old generation *

• Radu Lupu
• Martha Argerich
• Mistsuko Uchida
• Krystian Zimmerman
• Andrįs Schiff
• Murray Perahia
• Evgeny Kissin

* Young generation *

• Seong-jin Cho
• Daniel Trifonov

Piano Technician - Yuja Wang and Cateen(Hayato Sumino). Perfect techniques, not-so-unique music

Dislike - whoever tries to "perform" the music not "create" the music. i.e. Lang lang

[lelle]

I'd say overall Martha Argerich, Andras Schiff, Daniel Barenboim and Murray Perahia. But I'm sure I forgot lots of names that I actually really like.

[gipsypiano]

there are lots, most of them not too well known luckily they did not get eaten by the side effects of fame and have reserved the kind of fire of life in their music

all i am interested in is the degree of magic touch, fire of life and creative, warmhearted energy in piano playing.

I love this:
olivier

alex

&index=13

milos

&index=25

ignas

&index=30

cyprien

&index=5

jorge

and so on and so on

[gipsypiano]

I just discovered another pianist who seems to be quite alive and...
well just listen:

&t=3s

and how bout this one?

[virginofthepiano]

Myself if i get it right

[dinulip]

The newcomer : Bruce Liu (winner of the 2021 Chopin's Competition)

[swede1]

spam