Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Who do you think is the best pianist?

Yes, I will back you up.

But as others have said, there are many great pianists and it is unrealistic to pick just one.

If there be a greater recording of the Chopin Etudes than Pollini's, I've yet to hear it.

And yet, my intuition tells me that the greatest pianist of all time was Ferruccio Busoni.

I will vote for Richter, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Brendel and Gilels. Don't make me pick one!

Contrary to everyone else here, I really dislike kissin and his Chopin.

Liszt and Alkan of course!

My favourite pianist is definitely Schiff - His playing is so natural and has such beautiful clarity - it's as if he plays for children.

...and then the great Glen Gould 2nd

Does anyone think that Barenboim is hugely overrated? Or have I only listened to his 'bad' recordings. uuerrrggh tooo much pedal..

and



but not

Rachmaninoff

Mike,

I envy you fiercely.

Craig

Victor Merzhanov is everything I want in a pianist. Impeccable control, crystal clear voicing, and a sublime emotional connection to the music. His interpretations of Russian music, and Rachmaninoff in particular, are about as good as they get.

Having been fortunate to study with one of his proteges, I'm biased.

I still don't understand the concept of thinking that Liszt and Alkan or any other pianist you've never hear is great or the best...

Tofu is my favorite food even though ive never tasted it, and only seen it in pictures.

In a certain sense, quite true of course.

But look at Busoni's music (the operas especially), his writings on music, and the reports of his piano playing. I don't for a minute believe his recordings or piano rolls (Arthur Rubinstein called the latter a "caricature"), but I just know we're talking about a god.

At least with Argerich we have solid proof. Some folks have complained about her early recordings, but the later chamber recordings? Unmatched.

And who but a silly sod can reign (or "rain" if you wish) negatively over Argerich's fabulous octaves in Tchaikovsky 1? Jealousy and wet mops love each other's company.

Why don't we rephrase this question...

"Who do you think is the best pianist on PianoWorld"

Anyone hungry for a can of worms?

I still don't understand the concept of thinking that Liszt and Alkan or any other pianist you've never hear is great or the best...

Tofu is my favorite food even though ive never tasted it, and only seen it in pictures.

Well I won't go there, but I'll vote for Reaper978 as one of our most fascinating members. His mind is so utterly alive... it questions everything.

Rumors and myths are one thing, but in my opinion, all we can gather from great piano writing is that the particular composer was a great piano writer, and had a good concept of the instrument and the technique required. A good friend of mine, Dr. Bauman, writes wonderfully for the piano yet has no actual skill in the instrument. Looking at one of his scores, you would guess that he had a degree in piano performance as well

Personally, I can't let myths, rumors, and tall tales stand before actually experiencing artistic playing. The fact that Busoni wrote very well for piano and the fact that he had a very high standing in the musical world is enough for some, but music isn't music unless you hear it.

A very safe pass which cannot -in a sense- be argued. But it's much too simplistic to claim "music isn't music unless you hear it". Do you really believe that?

No one alive today heard Liszt so he can be safely dispensed with. Everybody is thankfully dead that may have witnessed Bach's sovereign pedal technique on the organ. Then there are all those castrati.. countless operas written for total freaks, yet operas which fail to ignite these days because those -whatever they are- aren't around to give them life.

Me neither.

I don't know how Liszt got to be so lucky; he's been dead for over 120 years, there are no recordings of his piano playing, and people will forever announce that it is impossible to play better than Liszt.

Liszt is sometimes glorified because he played all of this really tough repertoire with allegedly little practice. Well, just look at what's being played at the music schools and the competitions! And listen to how well that difficult repertoire is being played.

There are so many such good pianists at my school (and they're just students!!!); sometimes I wonder how they'd be praised and remembered, if they could transport back to the 1800s and play for the rosy-tongued critics.

(Yes -- rosy-tongued critics. Liszt lived during a time when writing styles were very poetic and elaborate... sometimes it's hard to figure out quite what really was being written! So naturally, any descriptions of any pianists during that time are likely very poetic and elaborate. Today, we live in a much more business-oriented society, and writing style is much different. Liszt would be critiqued much differently today, although perhaps with the same enthusiasm.)

And the students here play very musically, too -- technically amazing, and the musicianship is there as well. And don't forget those hundreds of pianists who participate to a *very* high degree in international piano competitions every year.

This is all subjective, byt there are pianists who speak to me and there are pianists who does not.

Among those that speak to my heart is Uchida, Hewitt, Schiff and Andsnes (of course) and among those who does not are Kissin and Lang Lang.

But don't ask me why, I have no idea....

R

Just my opinion but I think the only meaningful suggestions, in answer to the original question, are those resulting from having heard the pianist in question play live in concert... on this premise, my favourite has to be the young German pianist Martin Stadtfeld , as he's the only concert pianist of 'world stature' I've heard, so far! He played beautifully in Hamburg last week in a program consisting of:
Bach - Partita Nr 6 in E minor
Mozart - Sonata in A minor KV310
Schubert - Sonata (Fantasy) in G major D894

But, next week I'm going to see Pollini and next year Kissin, amongst others... watch this space!

celt

Barenboim overrated? I think not -- to be honest, I don't know any of his recordings, but I have heard him live with Bach, Beethoven (Diabelli Variations and all piano concertos), Chopin and possibly some others - I found him to have a very sparkling, yet intimate tone. That was - however about 10-15 years ago, possibly even a little longer.

I am going to hear Jean-Yves Thibaudet tomorrow (Debussy preludes and Brahms f-minor sonata), Andras Schiff in about 3 weeks, Pollini in March, Radu Lupu in April and Brendel in May -- possibly also in between Angela Hewitt and Nikolai Demidenko - and Kissin is playing in Munich as well next year. So full programme there (forgot Martin Helmchen together with Julia Fischer and Pjotr Anderszewski).