Your 10 favourite pianists

[Barbirollians]

As I was idly browsing the forum this morning looking for posts about Rubinstein whose dazzling Saint Saens 2 was just demonstrating what was wrong with Gina Bachauer’s 1st movement of the piece I came across a post from our late member salymap .

In memory of her I thought perhaps time for one of her top ten lists again .

Who , living or dead, are your top ten pianists and why ? First records , a memorable concert ? Whatever .

No need to order 1-10 in preference.

Mine are

Dinu Lipatti ( those two Scarlatti sonatas he recorded would be enough ) but in particular for the Bach First Partita , Chopin third sonata and Schumann Piano Concerto )

Alfred Brendel ( Schubert in particular)

Murray Perahia ( for that Mozart piano concerto set and solo Bach)

Annie Fischer ( well for just about everything she recorded especially the Beethoven 3 with Fricsay )

Maria Joao Pires ( for those impromptus and her Chopin nocturnes , Mozart with Abbado and a superb recital in Birmingham the other year.

Martha Argerich ( just about everything but her Beethoven 1 at the Manchester Piano Festival was sublime)

Arthur Rubinstein ( chamber Brahms with the Guarneri, Chopin especially the Berceuse and his Underrated Mozart )

Daniel Barenboim ( for Beethoven 5 with Klemperer )

Pavel Kolesnikov ( whatever he touches turns to gold to my ears from Bach to Chopin

Solomon - just about all his recorded output but particularly his Brahms 2, Kansas Tchaikovsky 1 and Beethoven sonatas.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I can’t get it down to ten also - not sure you can compare easily given the poor quality of early piano recordings

No longer with us. Not sure they are the greatest but the ones I most enjoyed listening to
Richter
Solomon
Rachmaninov (partly on the evidence of fellow pianists and on his piano writing )
Ignatz Friedman.
Josef Lhevinne
Dinu Lipatti
Claudio Arrau
Clifford Curzon
ArRubinstein
Julius Katchen

Don’t want to leave out Michelangeli, Schnabel Kempff

Living
Murray Perahia
Stephen Kovacevich
Andreas Schiff
Steven Osborne
Alfred Brendel
Maria Jao Pires

There are only a few contemporary pianists I’d buy a ticket for . Not really a fan of Argerich , most of the Russians (except Pavel and one or two others E.g Bunatishvilli ) , I think Ben Grosvenor Elizabeth Brauss and Batishvilli are going to be amongst the greats.

[AuntDaisy]

Can you stretch a point and count a Harpsichord as an early piano?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Can you stretch a point and count a Harpsichord as an early piano?

No, because it can't play piano and forte intuitively. I't like the bagpipes - one dynamic.

But the performer could play either, so perhaps he/she could be included.

[Bryn]

No, because it can't play piano and forte intuitively. I't like the bagpipes - one dynamic.

But the performer could play either, so perhaps he/she could be included.

So how about clavichords?

[Ein Heldenleben]

No, because it can't play piano and forte intuitively. I't like the bagpipes - one dynamic.

But the performer could play either, so perhaps he/she could be included.

I thought the fundamental difference is the harpsichord string is plucked not struck.
Perhaps we should have a keyboard final with subsection of pluckers , hammers and blowers ….?

[AuntDaisy]

I thought the fundamental difference is the harpsichord string is plucked not struck.
Perhaps we should have a keyboard final with subsection of pluckers , hammers and blowers ….?

And a special Gerard Hoffnung section?

I liked Bryn's Clavichord point...
Hoping to vote for Trevor Pinnock and Christopher Hogwood

[Alison]

Using my CD collection as reference:

Shura Cherkassky, Alfred Brendel, Murray Perahia, Steven Osborne, Stephen Hough, Pavel Kolesnikov, Jorge Bolet, Benjamin Grosvenor, Andreas Schiff, Vladimir Ashkenazy

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

So how about clavichords?

Possibly, but clavichords can only play piano and pianissimo.

[Barbirollians]

Some more greats there .

[Bryn]

Possibly, but clavichords can only play piano and pianissimo.

Indeed, and thus fulfil the conditions of the term "pianists". Of course, at the time that clavichords were most popular, dynamic notation in music was very much in its infancy, if employed at all.

[Barbirollians]

Can we perhaps stick to the topic ? Someone can always start a thread of non- pianoforte keyboard players allowing harpsichordists and experts on the Bontempi organ to be nominated.

[mikealdren]

This reminds me of an article in the Manchester Evening News that described the elderly Rubinstein as being one of the world's half dozen greatest living pianists, I soon managed to list the other 12!

Sadly, as the subsequent recital showed, he was no longer one of them.

[Bryn]

Can we perhaps stick to the topic ? Someone can always start a thread of non- pianoforte keyboard players allowing harpsichordists and experts on the Bontempi organ to be nominated.

My personal favourite pianist plays the clavichord (as EA points out, strictly a piano), in addition to modern pianofortes. Indeed, the pianist in question has, I think, recently recorded Howard Skempton's Preludes and Fugues on such a clavichord (no release date, as yet).

[Keraulophone]

he was no longer one of them.

Two pianists I admired earlier in their careers were Lazar Berman and Ivo Pogorelich. Their interpretations could be wayward, especially the latter, but I was shocked at the deterioration of their piano technique when heard past their listenable-by dates.