best pianist alive

[ghassen]

hi
who do you think is the best concert pianist alive.As for me I think it is valentina lisitsa and yuja wang are relly good. That's may be not true cuz I m no professional. I relly wanna hear what you have to say

[thesixthsensemusic]

Daniel Barenboim, because, like I already said in another topic, he prefers to play music in a well-informed yet personal manner, and does not allow himself to being taken hostage by what people think is how the composer would have played the work.

Having said that, I must say I very much prefer the recordings of, unfortunately, dead pianists. Alfred Cortot, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, and Robert Casadesus are my personal favourites, all belonging to an era long past us...

[perfect_pitch]

As for me I think it is valentina lisitsa

I'd probably say that, although I would probably give my 'best pianist alive' to Maurizio Pollini...

Valentina Lisitsa is probably sharing the 'best pianist alive' spot with him.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Yes!!!  My Valentina Lisitsa!!!

[nocturnetr]

Lisitsa? You gotta be kidding me... Who Lisitsa interpretates the best? Rachmaninoff? There is Lugansky. Liszt? There is Cziffra. Prokofiev? There is Martha Argerich. Chopin? There is Zimerman. She is not in the top 15 living pianists for me.

[j_menz]

There is Cziffra.

Hallelujia! Another resurrection!

[49410enrique]

Hallelujia! Another resurrection!

[49410enrique]

since no mention is made as to what type of  concert pianist (i.e. strict art music solist? collaborative/chamber specialist? jazz and improv? etc)

my vote goes to kapustin. i think he's prolly the best 'all arounder' alive. i almost want to put hamelin as tie for first but i think kapustins improvisational abilities put him over marc andre in the final tally.

[blazekenny]

Probably Ivan Moravec, Daniel Barenboim, Alfred Brendel and Mitsuko Uchida
Its a pitty Moravec and Brendel dont play anymore.

[p2u_]

who do you think is the best concert pianist alive.

Arcadi Volodos is probably the best of the younger generation. Of the "old" guard: Grigory Sokolov.

Paul

[jknott]

can't believe noone's mentioned radu lupu yet

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Lisitsa? You gotta be kidding me... Who Lisitsa interpretates the best? Rachmaninoff? There is Lugansky. Liszt? There is Cziffra. Prokofiev? There is Martha Argerich. Chopin? There is Zimerman. She is not in the top 15 living pianists for me.

I never said she was the best.  Stay on this forum a little longer and you'll understand what I mean.

[cmg]

Nobody loves Joyce Hatto?   

[nocturnetr]

Hallelujia! Another resurrection!

Just realized that he was dead. That made me sad dude. I was happy in my fake reality.

[the89thkey]

I'm just going to say that Valentina Lisitsa is nowhere close to the top 10 pianists alive. Lugansky is one of my favorites. Allowing deceased pianists into the equation there is Rachmaninov's Rachmaninov (), Rubinstein's Chopin, Cziffra's Liszt, etc.

[ahinton]

Nobody loves Joyce Hatto?   

Dunno - but what's "alive" about her?

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Yes!!!  My Valentina Lisitsa!!!

Your possessive pronoun use prompts me to ask if she is that a different one to the one that most people have heard of?

Best,

Alistair

[sasuke_10]

Lisitsa? You gotta be kidding me... Who Lisitsa interpretates the best? Rachmaninoff? There is Lugansky. Liszt? There is Cziffra. Prokofiev? There is Martha Argerich. Chopin? There is Zimerman. She is not in the top 15 living pianists for me.

Really? Have you heard Lisitsa's Totentanz?

On topic, my favorites are Ashkenazy (Chopin), Pollini (Schubert) and Lisitsa.

[edwardweiss]

Alive? God-I don't know. I know who it isn't and there are a lot of them. Dead-Busoni every single time.

[daro]

Vladimir Ashkenazy and Gary Graffman are both still alive, and while Ashkenazy doesn't perform any more, Graffman still plays better with just the one hand than most pianists do with two.

[cranston53]

A daft, but enjoyable question.

I approach this by considering who might still be listened to in a hundred years time, so I would opt for Zimmerman.

[perfect_pitch]

I'm just going to say that Valentina Lisitsa is nowhere close to the top 10 pianists alive. Lugansky is one of my favorites. Allowing deceased pianists into the equation there is Rachmaninov's Rachmaninov (), Rubinstein's Chopin, Cziffra's Liszt, etc.

Okay - 89thkey... Give us your top 10 pianists WHO ARE ALIVE (after all, that is what this thread is about).

[perprocrastinate]

Surely the best pianist alive must be the one who is the89thkey. Although I have never heard a recording from him, I am sure that he is the best, because his genius is reflected in his well-thought out posts. I thank him for his tremendous contributions to this forum.

[fritzi2000]

Lisitsa and Ashkenazy are my favourites alive, some Kissin-recordings are great aswell. Though in my opinion no one is as good as (the unfortunately dead) Horowitz...

[ahinton]

Lisitsa and Ashkenazy are my favourites alive, some Kissin-recordings are great aswell. Though in my opinion no one is as good as (the unfortunately dead) Horowitz...

There's no such person - but that doesn't have to stop us from wondering. Fredrik Ullén? Jonathan Powell? Donna Amato?... Just pondering...

Best,

Alistair

[thelightfromheaven]

From the ones, who are still living:
Barenboim, Hamelin, Lugansky, Lisitsa.
dead ones:
Horowitz, Kempff, and, definitely, Cziffra. Cziffra is simply genius.

Why no one mentions Lang-Lang? 

[the89thkey]

Surely the best pianist alive must be the one who is the89thkey. Although I have never heard a recording from him, I am sure that he is the best, because his genius is reflected in his well-thought out posts. I thank him for his tremendous contributions to this forum.

I'm going to take you at face value. I am not even close to the best pianist alive. Thanks for complimenting my posts. I hope I am adding a good amount of insight to these forums. I will continue to do the same.

[patrickd]

I pick Hamelin and Sokolov.

However my overall favorites are Richter and Michelangeli.

[brendan765]

"Lisitsa" really? and yuja wang? no way, just cause you think they're hot no.  not even close, yuja wang is not that good at all, Lisitsa isnt a composer so shes by my books not an artist.

       My fav... Hamelin, and his little group of composers are the best alive. 

              Also I think Yundi Li does an stunningly good job at interpriting Chopin.

               And an all around good Pianist is Katsaris composes some and interprets very well. smart guy he is.

[asuhayda]

Martha Argerich

[worov]

Grigory Sokolov, Steven Osborne, Zoltan Kocsis, Stephen Hough, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Joanna McGregor.

[drexo]

Sudbin, Lugansky, Volodos, Tiempo.

[liug_2012]

can't decide between me or chuck norris

[pianosolution]

There are lots of pianists who are not sentimental household names and one of them might be the best.

[gapoc459]

Well my 3 favorite pianists are Argerich, Zimerman, and Hamelin. Argerich because she's so exciting. Zimerman, because he's so perfect, and Hamelin because he's so much fun.

Looking at my iTunes library, I also love Andsnes (extremely solid), Volodos (enough said ), Barenboim (I'm fairly closely connected to him; and his Beethoven is great), Ohlsson (CHOPIN!!!!!!!), Pollini.

I love and respect Lisitsa, but I just don't find her interpretations inspiring at all. Sorry...

[rachmaninoff_forever]

"Lisitsa" really? and yuja wang? no way, just cause you think they're hot no.  not even close, yuja wang is not that good at all, Lisitsa isnt a composer so shes by my books not an artist.

       My fav... Hamelin, and his little group of composers are the best alive. 

              Also I think Yundi Li does an stunningly good job at interpriting Chopin.

               And an all around good Pianist is Katsaris composes some and interprets very well. smart guy he is.

If you're not a composer then you're not an artist?!  That's ridiculous.

I can give you plenty of kickass recordings from Yuja Wang and Lisitsa.

The same thing goes with Lang Lang and Kissin.

You find one bad recording, I come back with 10 more.

This disdain of superstar pianists is just childish.