Your 10 favourite pianists

[Ein Heldenleben]

Some surprises in rauschwerk's list, reminding me that Roger Woodward once said his favourite pianist was Fats Domino.

I know it's an old thread, but here are my ten:

Gieseking
Schnabel
Cortot
Solomon
Katchen
Rachmaninov
Ogdon
Brendel
Backhaus (yes, really!)
Kempff.

It's not without significance that most if not all of these are dead.

Good list. I would prefer either Richter or Lhevinne over Brendel though.

[richardfinegold]

Good list. I would prefer either Richter or Lhevinne over Brendel though.

I don't have any list, but currently I'm quite taken with Beatrice Rana

[gradus]

I hear so many fine classical pianists broadcast and recorded these days that it is almost impossible to keep up.

[Mandryka]

John Tilbury
Peter Hill
Andrea Bacchetti
Anthony di Bonaventura
Chitose Okashiro
Mikhaïl Pletnev
Nina Milkina
John and Kaoru Bingham
Robert Lortat
Yuki Matsuzawa

[pastoralguy]

Well, not being a pianist I can only make a list that’s very personal to me.

John Ogden. I remember speaking to him at an SNO Rehearsal where he played the Gershwin concerto. Lovely man but you could tell he was on a completely different planet. I was genuinely very sad to hear he’d died.

Martha Argerich whose Prokofiev 3rd Concerto on Andre Previn’s Music Night with the LSO turned a bored pre-pubescent boy onto classical music!

Christina Ortiz who I vividly remember playing the Rachmaninov Paganini Variations in the Usher Hall with the SNO in 1978. Absolutely dazzling!

Steven Osbourne for being both a terrific pianist and a great guy.

John Lill who introduced me to the Beethoven piano concertos both on CfP and live with Sir Alex Gibson and the SNO.

Annie Fischer whose Beethoven 3rd got me through my ‘O’ and Highers!

Murray Perhia who I only heard once in performance but absolutely bowled me over. (And I have all his recordings).

Angela Hewitt who I’ve heard so many times in concert.

Mitsuko Uchida who I think is terrific. I remember buying her Mozart piano concertos one cd at a time in the 80’s. One of my indelible musical memories was her playing a Scarlatti encore after a Beethoven concert in the Usher Hall. Possibly the most exquisite playing I’ve ever heard of ANYTHING!

Rubinstein whose Brahms No.2 got me through some really tough times.

I’m going cheat and add Andras Schiff whose late night Bach performances in the Usher Hall late at night were unforgettable.

Oh, Leif Ove Andnes who I was lucky enough to hear the complete Beethoven concertos in Edinburgh, London and New York.

I’m going to cheat, again, and add Beatrice Rana who I think is terrific. I’m looking forward to hearing her live on day.

[pastoralguy]

I don't have any list, but currently I'm quite taken with Beatrice Rana

Her recording of the Goldberg Variations is superb.

[Pulcinella]

Her recording of the Goldberg Variations is superb.

As mentioned on Richard's Chicago concert thread, sadly that's one of hers that I simply didn't take to.

Might give it another airing just in case I was in the wrong mood when I first heard it, but I seem to recall it being too wayward for me.