Best LIVING pianist (in your opinion)?

[liszt-and-the-galops]

In your opinion, who's the best pianist alive today?

The options I listed are the 10 living concert pianists I could think of who might arguably be "best." To get this out of the way, I mean historically rather than currently (so "Martha Argerich," rather than "84-year-old Martha Argerich specifically," for example).

IMO, it's between Gibbons and Katsaris (edge to Gibbons), though I'm curious what everyone's thoughts are on this.

[frodo10]

I'm not a good one to vote here.  I've only heard of Cyprien Katsaris, Martha Argerich, Marc-André Hamelin and Yuja Wang and haven't really listened to Wang.  I just randomly picked out a CD of Beatrice Rana playing the Hammerklavier sonata (having never heard of her before the CD).  I don't see how anyone could play any better technically.  Her soft passages are so soft, i can barely hear - which is a little annoying to me. But I don't know how large her repertory is or how much she performs.  I prefer Scherbakov performance of Liszt transcriptions of Beethoven symphonies over Katsaris, but this might be just because my ear is biased having heard Scherbakov CDs of these many times.  I only have 1 CD of Hamelin and it is a Schumann CD.  I prefer Andsnes performance of Schumann Fantasie op 17 over Hamelin.  Argerich was amazing at her peak.  But is she the best?  Anyway, I'll pick her.  Any great pianist must be able to perform Bach well IMO.  I've never heard any pianst mentioned here play Bach.  They must also be able to perform Beethoven well.  Perahia plays Bach to perfection as well as Beethoven - although I don't really like his Hammerklavier.

Anyway - you get the picture of why I can't really say whose best.  But I voted.

[kosulin]

Kissin

[psipsi8]

Hard to say, but what about Ivo Pogorelich? He never disappoints me. Instead, he's really creative. Because I'm a great fan of Bach, I'd have to include Grigori Sokolov and Daniil Trifonov amongst my favourite interpreters of his music and of Baroque music in general.

[frodo10]

I've always liked Vladimir Ashkenazy.  I better put his name out now before he dies.  HUGE discography and a career that spans many decades.  Everything that he does fits my ear.  Bach WTC 1/2,  Complete Beethoven sonatas, Complete Chopin, Rachmaninov,  Mozart, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin, Shostakovich. 89 CD's of solo piano with Decca - no concertos here.  Not to mention his conducting career.

[thorn]

I like Ashkenazy too, pianist-conductors are rare these days. As are pianist-composers like Hamelin and Trifonov mentioned above, likewise Stephen Hough. If you go back in history all the greats were able to do all three, so not sure why we stopped judging living musicians by the same measure? Sure it's not necessary if we're talking "concert" pianist, or "good" pianist/musician. But for words like "great" and "best" I think we should expect that extra level.

[gasplamey]

Yunchan Lim.
Of those on this list, Katsaris by far.

[eee-_-]

Sokolov for me , For me i either love his playing or i hate it , some of his interpretations  i love  are played so beautifully that i can call him the greatest alive , ( un arguably for me after brendel died ) < Ashkenazy is also a good one , but for me its sokolov ( i believe he is alive )

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Katsaris, Fazil Say, Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

[dizzyfingers]

I've never heard of many of those pianists on the poll.
 Vincenzo Maltempo ?
 Sung Chang (Traum Piano) ?
 Elisa Tomellini ?
 Goran Filipec ?

How are these obscure pianists getting on the list, where these very well know names are not:
Daniel Barenboim
Rafal Blechacz
Seong-Jin Cho
Marc Andre Hamelin
Evgeny Kissin
Yuchan Lim
Víkingur Ólafsson
Grigory Sokolov
Daniil Trifonov

Besides it's not about THE BEST, there's no one pianist head-n-shoulders above the rest, it's your favorite 5 pianists, and why they are your favorite...

[liszt-and-the-galops]

I've never heard of many of those pianists on the poll.
Vincenzo Maltempo ?

Second person to perform the complete Alkan Op. 39 live in concert, after Jack Gibbons. Also a fantastic Alkan and Scriabin interpreter.

Sung Chang (Traum Piano) ?

Liszt Etudes (S. 139, S. 140 nos. 3, 4a, 5, S. 141) rivaled only by the likes of Cziffra, unmatched Liszt Sonata, fantastic Chopin interpreter, best Petrushka out of anyone, etc.

Elisa Tomellini ?
 Goran Filipec ?

Have provided the gold standard for recordings of Liszt's S. 140, one of the hardest Etude sets of the Romantic era, along with various other achievements.

How are these obscure pianists getting on the list, where these very well know names are not:
Rafal Blechacz
...
Víkingur Ólafsson

Admittedly I've never heard of those two.

Seong-Jin Cho

I've hardly listened to him outside of a few incredible Chopin interpretations (e.g. 10/1, B4), though what little I have listened to beyond that has not impressed me in the slightest.

Marc Andre Hamelin

He possibly has some of the best technique out of anyone alive, but IMO his interpretations are often pretty poor. In hindsight I definitely should have included him on the poll though; I know he has his proponents.

Evgeny Kissin
Grigory Sokolov

Similar to Hamelin, except they actually have solid interpretations lol.

Yuchan Lim
Daniil Trifonov

I find it weird how one mediocre cycle of Liszt's second best/third hardest set of Etudes makes you a household name, but a near-perfect live performance of Alkan's Op. 39, Liszt's Spanish Fantasy, or Stravinsky's Petrushka can go almost completely unnoticed.

[dizzyfingers]

... the complete Alkan Op. 39  ...  Also a fantastic Alkan ...
Liszt Etudes (S. 139, S. 140 nos. 3, 4a, 5, S. 141) ..  unmatched Liszt Sonata
... provided the gold standard for recordings of Liszt's S. 140, one of the hardest Etude sets of the Romantic era ...

... Oh ... so to fine-tune your title:  Best LIVING Liszt / Alkan pianist ?

[liszt-and-the-galops]

... Oh ... so to fine-tune your title:  Best LIVING Liszt / Alkan pianist ?

Of course, since I listen to more Liszt/Alkan than any other composer, I'm going to know more incredible Liszt/Alkan interpreters. However, of the four you mentioned as being "obscure," three of them (Maltempo, Chang, and Tomellini) are just as fantastic outside of Liszt/Alkan, with only Filipec being primarily a Liszt pianist.

I'm sure that those who listen to lots of (for example) Czerny and Rachmaninoff will have a different shortlist of somewhat-lesser-known pianists who they would consider among the best of the best.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

IMO the best needs to also be versatile so I can’t give it to any of them.  And I think the best is probably some random no name who has a 9-5 lol

I met Quennel Gaskin when he was alive and played by far the best Bach I’ve ever heard.  He wasn’t even a classical pianist and I thought he completely mopped the floor with every pantheon great pianist I’ve heard up until that point lol.

Sullivan Fortner is probably my favorite pianist alive right now.  I heard Micah (don’t know his last name but he’s a jazz pianist) play the best Rachmaninoff I’ve ever heard during a noisy sound check at smalls in NY. 

But yeah idk best at what?  Standard rep?  What standard rep?  Most rep?  Best chamber musician?  Improviser?

[dizzyfingers]

But yeah idk best at what?  Standard rep?  What standard rep?  Most rep?  Best chamber musician?  Improviser?

Best dress.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

But yeah idk best at what?  Standard rep?  What standard rep?  Most rep?  Best chamber musician?  Improviser?

Whatever you define "best" to be is fine for this thread (as long as it conforms to the forum rules, of course).

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Best dress.

I mean Yuja did make it cool to wear whatever you want to concerts.  Which imo I think did more for classical music than like kissin and sokolov and almost everyone else