Best Performers?

[fuel925]

When you are going to buy a recording of music, which performers do you look out for? I particularly like Glenn Gould's recordings, although i've only heard his Bach so far.

[BoliverAllmon]

Gould and horowitz. They are my first choice. After that just whatever I can find.

[larse]

Do not base your choices on Glenn Gould. He has great Bach recordings, but everything else is crap...Although it's what we might expect from a madman..

Horowitz, Richter, perhaps Ashkenazy in some recordings(not the Rachmaninov Concertos), Jeno Jando on Beethoven Sonatas. Hmmm...
Arcadi Volodos, Nikolai Luganski, Earl Wild, Leslie Howard, Grigorij Sokolov- to mention a few -  are all fantastic pianists. If you're looking for something antique, try to get Recordings of Rachmaninov playing himself and more. But Horowitz actually plays his works better than himself. And that's a quote from rachmaninov..

[Skeptopotamus]

Burman, Cziffra and Bolet.


haha sorry i love liszt.

[Hamfast]

Zimerman, Rubinstein, Horowitz, Cziffra, Pogorelich.
Best of luck

[lenny]

Do not base your choices on Glenn Gould. He has great Bach recordings, but everything else is crap...Although it's what we might expect from a madman..

i disagree, it is admittedly hit -and-miss, but he often plays with amazing new insight into the pieces

his chopin, scriabin and prokofiev are very interesting to say the least!

[DarkWind]

Glenn Gould should have never played Ravel's La Valse. He plays it horrifically. There is no music at all. None. Just sound.

Also, I normally look out for Horowitz, Rubinstein, Arrau, Aimard, Richter, Wild, Argerich, Berman, Bolet, Hofmann, among others. For Quartets and the like, I mostly prefer the Kronos Quartet.

[aquariuswb]

i disagree, it is admittedly hit -and-miss, but he often plays with amazing new insight into the pieces

his chopin, scriabin and prokofiev are very interesting to say the least!

"Interesting"... not a very complimentary choice of words. I like Gould for Bach, and that's it. His Mozart and Beethoven are shameful. Don't know about his Prokofiev or Scribian, but I avoid his Chopin.

The pianists I go for really depends on the piece and the composer. There are tons of great pianists for Beethoven sonatas, for example: Annie Fischer, Richter, Gilels, Hungerford, Kempff, Brendel, Schnabel (not so much for the late sonatas, IMO), Casadesus (few recordings exist), Pollini (especially for the late sonatas)...

In general, I find Pollini to be a good starting point for new pieces because he tries to limit his personal interpretations -- just plays what's on the page. Some find him "cold," but I find him fantastic. I really love Horowitz too. For Chopin, I first look for Rubinstein, Ashkenazy, and Arrau.

After posting all this, I realize I haven't answered the question, but I have also discovered that the question isn't really answerable in any simple way. It totally depends on the composer and the piece.  

[lenny]

"Interesting"... not a very complimentary choice of words. I like Gould for Bach, and that's it. His Mozart and Beethoven are shameful. Don't know about his Prokofiev or Scribian, but I avoid his Chopin.

The pianists I go for really depends on the piece and the composer. There are tons of great pianists for Beethoven sonatas, for example: Annie Fischer, Richter, Gilels, Hungerford, Kempff, Brendel, Schnabel (not so much for the late sonatas, IMO), Casadesus (few recordings exist), Pollini (especially for the late sonatas)...

In general, I find Pollini to be a good starting point for new pieces because he tries to limit his personal interpretations -- just plays what's on the page. Some find him "cold," but I find him fantastic. I really love Horowitz too. For Chopin, I first look for Rubinstein, Ashkenazy, and Arrau.

After posting all this, I realize I haven't answered the question, but I have also discovered that the question isn't really answerable in any simple way. It totally depends on the composer and the piece.  

even if you dont like gould's interpretations, you have to admire his creative spirit, he played those pieces in totally new and interesting ways.

i used the word 'interesting' , because if even if you dont love them, you have to admire his courage!

[larse]

I've not seen (or listened to) Glenn Goulds Prokofiev, Chopin or Scriabin recordings. But I've heard the Mozart and Beethoven which is, as mentioned earlier(by Lenny), shameful.

However...The famous story about Glenn Gould is about a pianist who went mad(in oposite to David Helfgott who were a madman who played piano) not unlike others, i.e. Horowitz. I'm not comparing them at all, but in my experience, Glenn Gould is the king of polyphony, even though some of his interpretations are quite funny. But Mozart and Beethoven he does'nt know.

If you're looking for something impressive, listen to Liszts Grand Galopp Chromatique played by Cziffra. And his own octave etude written over the flight of the bumblebee

[pianostudent88]

It depends very much on the composer I think. Personally I love Richter in most composers, and it's allways interresting to listen to how great pianists like Argerich, Horowitz, Hofmann, Perahia, Zimerman, Gilels, Kempff (Beethoven of course), Rubinstein (Chopin), Schnabel(his Beethoven sonatas are marvelous), performs the great work in the piano litterature.
And younger pianist like Andsnes and Anderszewski are interresting too.
Gould's Bach are amazing but I really don't understand what he is trying to do with the music of Chopin and Beethoven...  Pogorelich is best in the classical reperoire; his recordings of Scarlatti and Haydn are beautiful played
(His chopin is not particularly good).