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No specific order:

Kissin
Horowitz
Wilhelm Kempff

1. Wanda Landowska - always insisted on playing the ragtime pieces of Scott Joplin in private while steadfastly refusing to play Bach on the harpsichord in public.

2. Liberace - dazzling performer and promoter of Memphis-style Blues (although some say he was far too conservative in attire).

3. Peter Nero - thrived on the music & styles of his personal heroes - the trend-setting Billy Joel, Jelly Roll Morton & Elton John (nos. 6, 7 & 8 on my list).

4. Jerry Lee Lewis - the epitome of perfect form with great leg placement (a 3rd hand, so to speak) on the keyboard.

5. Scott Joplin - insisted on playing only classical music in public while playing only the little known compositions of Wanda Landowska in private).

Regards, JF

P.S. the question should have been: ". . . who's your favorite . . ."

No particular order, and these are just the ones that come to mind immediately:
Martha Argerich
Mikhail Pletnev
Murray Perahia
Angela Hewitt

LL ? Current Music notation for Loud and Lousy

Do you ever stop complaining and bashing other people's opinions?

1. Alfred Brendel
2. Grigory Sokolov
3. Murray Perahia
4. John Lill
5. Yuriko Asada (my teacher!)

...there are so many more and I could change the order ad infinitum!

'The five best.....' (fill in) seems to be in vogue these days. In the case of pianists, it does not make sense to me to ask who are 'the five best'. This is for two reasons.

The first is that pianists play best what they most identify with. So one could argue perhaps who plays Brahms best, or Mozart, or Bach.

The second is whether we are talking about 'in performance' or 'on record'. A live performance exposes a soloist's personality in a way that a recording does not.

The best examples I have personally experienced refer to the violin.

I listened for years to Henryk Szeryng on record and thought he was one of the greats. One day I had the opportunity to experience him live, playing Brahms (my favorite violin concerto). What a disappointment. I realized later that I was reacting to the stage personality he projected, which I did not identify with. I could not put this out of my mind and focus solely on the music.

I've heard Gidon Kremer in recording play just about everything but never felt a connection with him. One month ago I experienced him live. What a difference! Now I understand why everyone raves about the guy.

Some pianists come over better in recording. A prime example is Glen Gould, who someone in this thread seemed very keen on. After a bout or two with the concert hall Gould refused to play in public again. Probably a good decision.

One pianist who made a great impression on me in my youth was Myra Hess. Presence? Cheez! She played something (I forget what) which ended with a single note, fff. She hit it with both thumbs and no sound emerged.
"MiKod!" she said, turning to the audience, "Ze E-Flat? Vere haz eet kone?"

Ah, those unforgettable moments.

Since I've pretty much identified myself in this forum as a Schumann fan I feel obliged in this thread to assert that the finest performance of a Schumann work I have ever heard (on record) is Maurizio Pollini's CD of the Sonatas.

1. Art Tatum
2. Cziffra
3. Francis Poulenc
4. Dimitri Shostakovich
5. Maurizio Pollini

Hear, hear ...

I remember I used to care deeply about this sort of thing, who are the top 3, top 5, etc ... Come to think of it, that's when I was in the kindergarten.

1. My Dad
2. Art Tatum
3. Volodos
4. Horowitz
5. Valentina Lisitsa

Thanks for your reply. I will agree with you as well. I limited myself to the 5, but I would have indeed included Piers Lane, Stephen Hough, Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Evgeny Kissin ...

The 5 I mentioned have something *too* good about them. I've seen Hamelin, Pace, and Argerich perform live many many times, and they have almost never dissapointed. Argerich has a mastery that seems supernatural. Pace plays the supernatural, and Hamelin's technique is supernatural. Horiwitz' tone and range of dynamics in my opinion is stupendous and under my eyes only Richter grasped this concept of dynamics as good as Horowitz did; and Richter was never formally trained as a pianist!!! He was expelled twice in his 1st year at the conservatory. The man was also a genius.

Pace is 1st on that list simply because every single time I see him play he puts on a good recital, and every recital was usually 'completely' different. I hear him play 'Grand Hotel' once and the crowd went nuts for that piece. 40 minutes long seemed to go by un-noticed.

My list of 5; I consider them all masters at what they do. Just listening to Argerich's rendition of 'Gaspard de la Nuit' gives me shivers!!!

xD

And just imagine Horowitz's Scarbo!! He played during the 1932-33 season and in 1940.

argerich
horowitz
rubinstein
askenazy
rachmaninoff

1. Martha Argerich

Liszt
Gould
Pollini
Lupu

(don't know whom i should put at 5th, so give up for now)

Aloha, William my good mate, how to explain the Argerich phenomenon? I once asked my piano teacher about her recording of the Liszt B minor. He just shook his head and mumbled: 'she has sex with Liszt'.

I'll never forget when I was 10 or 11, cannot recall exactly. I heard this utterly dynamite recording of the Liszt Eb concerto on Radio 3. It was Argerich, and that started my love affair with this fantastic woman. Subsequently such glorious women as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Birgit Nilsson and Grace Slick came into my life. Yes, I was late to the party, but better late than never. Such riches in my life...

I'm still just discovering piano music, so I have to admit this is mostly based on watching/listening performances found on youtube.
They all seem to have total mastery over the music and the instrument. With these 5 pianists especially I feel there is unlimited potential. They could do justice to any piece by any composer and give it their own unique touch.

Like this one from Ashkenazy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI8KnHO2F8s&fmt=18
After the majestic ending chords I immediately realized I had just heard one the greatest things in my life ever.

horowitz
kissin
wilhelm kempff
blechacz

I don't understand why you would mention a pianist (though reportedly a complete master ) that no one alive today has heard play.

1. Vladimir Horowitz
2. Arthur Rubinstein
3. Cyprien Katsaris
4. Georges Cziffra
5. Maurizio Pollini

My favorite living pianist is Cyprien Katsaris.