Top 10 pianists ever

[rachmaninoff_969]

If it's that silly to you, why did you feel compelled to post?  Your points about Liszt and Chopin have already been brought up, so that can't be the reason.  On the whole it seems like you don't know what you're saying or why.

I know very well what I am saying, and that is the exact reason why it is impossible to rate them.  I think it is quite evident that each pianist has something different about him/her that makes him/her great.  Sometimes it is a combination of things, ie. showmanship, virtuosity, original interpretations...maybe even shocking unorthodox interpretations, tone, colour etc.  I don't see how you can place these pianists on some heirarchial scale when each one combines the elements listed, plus more in such different ways. 

Another point which is continuously ignored is that performance practice has changed dramatically.  Thus the idea of what constituted a great pianist today is completely different from what it was in the time of Liszt, Beethoven, Mozart etc.  Where do you draw the line between musicality, and virtuosity for its own sake?  These are all very subjective questions that do not warrant definitive answers.  It is therefore quite a useless endeavour to post lists of prospects for the top 10.  You could easily place 100 pianists in the top ten by considering some equal to others.  Anyway, I would rather keep this conversation on the polite side and not allow ignorant remarks to get in the way. 

I just found it insulting that you posted a reply suggesting that I had no idea what I wanted to say.  Just try and post a list with a detailed description of your choices, and I bet you 10-1 I can find something to counter it.  In this mere fact lies my argument that the topic is rather silly to discuss.  I think a better question would have been "Who are your top 10 favorite pianists of all time?"  Anyway, regardless, one would have to know every single pianist that ever lived to formulate an accurate list.  Maybe I am digging into this too deep, but I still feel that my point warrants consideration.

Thanks for reading, and I hope we can continue this on a more friendly note (no pun intended )

[LVB op.57]

First of all, I don't see how you can put people like Chopin and Liszt on there. We all know they were great, but we don't know if their playing would appeal to us. That said, I'm not saying these are the 10 best ever, but only my top 10 favorite out of the pianists I've heard.
In no particular order:

-Vladimir Horowitz
-Leon Fleisher
-Emanuel Ax
-Yundi Li
-Mariko Sato (my teacher)
-Serge Rachmaninoff
-Chen Pi-hsien
-Artur Schnabel
-Andre Watts
-Andre Previn

[steinwaymodeld]

First of all, I don't see how you can put people like Chopin and Liszt on there. We all know they were great, but we don't know if their playing would appeal to us. That said, I'm not saying these are the 10 best ever, but only my top 10 favorite out of the pianists I've heard.
In no particular order:

-Vladimir Horowitz
-Leon Fleisher
-Emanuel Ax
-Yundi Li
-Mariko Sato (my teacher)
-Serge Rachmaninoff
-Chen Pi-hsien
-Artur Schnabel
-Andre Watts
-Andre Previn

Nice to see Fleisher got mentioned, even maybe not where I want it to be mentioned. Have u listened to his Brahms 2nd Concerto?

And I thought Previn is a conductor...

[ionutz]

And I thought Previn is a conductor...

He is a conductor know but FYI he was one of the most versatile pianists playing from Mozart to jazz duets with Oscar Peterson

[lenny]

and recorded duets with ashkenazy

[steinwayguy]

I just noticed I forgot to mention the underrated Annie Fischer. This woman has the greatest set of Beethoven sonatas and Brahms 2nd concerto. Her playing is simply divine. She is not often spoke of because she has a limited number of recordings, but you should definitely check her out!

[SteinwayTony]

I know very well what I am saying, and that is the exact reason why it is impossible to rate them.  I think it is quite evident that each pianist has something different about him/her that makes him/her great.  Sometimes it is a combination of things, ie. showmanship, virtuosity, original interpretations...maybe even shocking unorthodox interpretations, tone, colour etc.  I don't see how you can place these pianists on some heirarchial scale when each one combines the elements listed, plus more in such different ways. 

If you'd read the thread in its entirety, you would have seen that I was the first to make a reply, and I said the exact same thing.

[JP]

Definitive List------

1.) F. Liszt and Art Tatum

2.) Cziffra and Horowitz

---assorted others

I saw it the same way.

[Chrysalis]

Horowitz, Ashkenazy, Biret, Wibi Soerjadi, Rach, Cziffra

And if i have to believe all the tales which i do

then liszt goes on top of it all

[stormx]

What is your opinion about PLETNEV?

I have many of his CDs (Scarlatti, Haydn, Tchaicovsky) and i beleive he is an amazing pianist, with a very personal touch...

i am pretty surprised that nobody has included him in their top 10 list. 

[rach2nd]

1) S.RACHMANINOFF   -  BECAUSE HE IS THE BEST
2) S.RACHMANINOFF    - BECAUSE HE PLAYS LIKE A MAN
3) S. RACHMANINOFF  - BECAUSE HE HAS A FEMININE TOUCH
4) S.RACHMANINOFF  - BECAUSE HE CAN BE A LION ON THE TOUCHE
5) S.RACHMANINOFF  - BECAUSE HE  DISCOVES MEANINGS AS A CHILD A NEW TOY
6) S.RACHMANINOFF - BECAUSE HE SUFFERS WHEN HE PERFORMS
7) S.RACMANINOFF  -  BECAUSE  HE IS MODEST
S.RACMANINOFF  -  BECAUSE  HE IS DOING "HIS WAY"
9) S.RACHMANINOFF - BECAUSE AGONY AND NOSTALGY IS EVERYWHERE
10) S.RACMANINOFF -  BECAUSE "FULL MOON.. EMPTY ARMS.." (2nd piano concert)....
I am a little obsessed maybe but i simply love him ...

[lfischer]

i'd like to put lizst, chopin etc in here because you'd have to be pretty amazing to write what they did. however i shall not put anyone in that died so long ago.
here are 10 pianists i especially admire. in no particular order,

Ashkenazy
Barenboim (can turn good music into special music, something not many of the greats can do)
Michelangeli
Rachmaninov (even if only because i love playing his big chords, he plays his 3rd a bit fast i think tho...)
Horowitz
Oppitz
Richter
Rubenstein
John Ogdon (legend!)
Katchen

i would like to have heard Clara Schumann's playing, and also that of Charles Valentin Alkan.

[lfischer]

Robert Casadesus and also Pollini i would have liked to mention also...

[nikodr]

I think that it is not easy to say who is no 1.Mainly because there are many pianists who are good,and you cant easily say who is better than whom.If however permission was given to place one of those equal pianists on top that would HAVE to BE Sviatoslav Richter.

I understand that there have been there tens of pianists like the ones mentioned in the thread that i personally like.But i think it would unfair to compare any pianist to richter's genious.Neihaus once said that he has been able to teach richter nothing.I think richter is one of the few who proves that "A talent learns from others,a genious from himself."

[Skeptopotamus]

Bolet
Cziffra
Hamelin
Aimard
Pace
Burman
jando
Richter
Jalbert
Chen


in no particular order.

[steinwayguy]

I think that it is not easy to say who is no 1.Mainly because there are many pianists who are good,and you cant easily say who is better than whom.If however permission was given to place one of those equal pianists on top that would HAVE to BE Sviatoslav Richter.

I understand that there have been there tens of pianists like the ones mentioned in the thread that i personally like.But i think it would unfair to compare any pianist to richter's genious.Neihaus once said that he has been able to teach richter nothing.I think richter is one of the few who proves that "A talent learns from others,a genious from himself."

I fully and completely agree.

[iumonito]

What a very strange thread.  Oh well, nobody likes mine, so here they are:

Whom I have heard:
Jorge Bolet
Leopold Godowsky
Benno Mosievitch
Ignaz Friedman
Edwin Fischer

Whom I have read:
Carl Tausig (you have to just love those Strauss transcriptions)
Johannes Brahms
Wolgang Amadeus Mozart
Johan Sebastian Bach
Domenico Scarlatti

With another ten Lhevine, Hoffman, Rachmaninov and most surely the great Dinu Lipatti, who are usual suspects, come along with the already mentioned Horowitz, Gilels, Richter and Arrau.

Two I also see nowhere are Heinrich Neuhaus and Isabelle Vengerova.  Nor Sofronitsky.

I adore Murray Perahia, but let's be serious: he is not in that class.  Even Nelson Freire, Jose Feghali or Arnaldo Cohen give seven laps around him.

Stephen Hough and Fazil Say also not mentioned.

So many great pianists!

Here is one for you all to ponder.  Roger Wright.  he would be the first to laugh but he has great power of communication and a piano sound that comes once every hundred years.  (Descriptions of Sulhoff's playing come to mind).

...and myself, naturally.

[Glissando]

hm my favorites have got to be...
(in no particular order)
Kapell (brilliant)
Lipatti (again, brilliant- seriously seriously amazingly brilliant)
Richter (love his rach op. 23 no. 5, that recording is fantastic)
Horowitz
Barenboim, SOMETIMES- some of his recordings I love and some of his other recordings makes me want to scream.
Argerich
Maria Joao Pires

[Waldszenen]

My turn..... in no order of course.


1. Horowitz
2. Gilels
3. Michelangeli
4. Rachmaninoff
5. Cortot
6. Richter
7. Hofmann
8. Arrau
9. Rubinstein
10. Schnabel*

*He only barely makes it there because in my humble opinion, Janis is the greater pianist. But whenever I listen to Schnabel's Beethoven... yeah, he belongs here.

[volodya]

In no order:

Horowitz
Hamelin (In my opinion he plays the piano better than anybody has ever done anything)
Richter
Ogdon
Rachmaninoff
Gould
Hoffman
Michelangeli
Gilels
Kapell

[bravuraoctaves]

Depends what kind of stuff the pianist plays.

[tds]

Horowitz, Ashkenazy, Biret, Wibi Soerjadi, Rach, Cziffra

And if i have to believe all the tales which i do

then liszt goes on top of it all

wibi soerjadi? are you really fond of him? personally, i wish i could relate better to his playing. i heard his chopin cd and found some essensial lack of natural warmth in his playing. well yeah, technique wise, he is extraordinary. but then again, the world is not in shortage of so-called great technique. best, tds