Cziffra. I have a recording of him playing the Grand Galop Chromatique by Liszt. Most amazing thing i have ever seen.
Seen? Have you *seen* a video of it, or have you just heard a recording? And which recording? All of his GGC recs, or at least all the ones I've heard, are impossibly excellent, but it is universally accepted that his most electrifying performance was the one he played in Tokyo in '64. 3 minutes 18 seconds, and as far as I can tell he didn't leave out or hit any wrong notes. In the video you can even see him flash a few devillish grins towards the audience, all of whom must have been too stunned to breathe!!
In the same recital he also played a thrilling 6th Hungarian Rhapsody (his last encore of the night), amongst other things like Chopin's Fantasie and 4th Ballade and Liszt's Spanish Rhapsody...
Anyway, even with technical things like the GGC aside, I am completely "in love" (no, not romantically) with Cziffra. His extemporaneous approach to the music has left an astounding effect on my own psychology, to put it frankly.
Sorry to divert the thread a bit--don't mean to turn this into a Cziffra praise-a-thon or, what would be worse, bash-a-thon because I know there are armies who hate him for some reason.
So I'll throw Kuerti's name into the mix of favourite pianists. His Beethoven is some of the best I've heard to say nothing of his Schubert.