Keyboard Lions/Lionesses

[gradus]

Like others on here (I imagine) Berlin Philharmonic sent me an email today, advertising a live recital by Daniel Trifonov this Thursday playing an attractive programme of Beethoven,Schumann and Prokoviev. The email included praise for the pianist from no less than Marta Argerich-“He has everything and more, there is tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that', presumably no irony intended.
It made me ponder the extraordinary number of young pianists making carers at present and whether there is indeed one that towers above the rest. Personally I don't think so but others might disagree. There are pianists I warm to more than others but I'd shrink from claiming their superiority over others. Perhaps it's just an unwillingness to develop a critical faculty on my part.

[LMcD]

I've been a great admirer of Mr Trifonov ever since happening upon him playing a Mozart piano concerto on You Tube. I think that Maria Batashvili is also outstanding. They both have the ability to convey, without 'show' or apparent effort, an air of complete authority. Their pianistic skills are also self-evident but not displayed for their own sake.

[Stanfordian]

I've been a great admirer of Mr Trifonov ever since happening upon him playing a Mozart piano concerto on You Tube.

Last May I was delighted to attend a concert by the touring Concertgebouw under Gatti at the newly refurbished Kulturpalast, Dresden - Trifonov gave an memorable performance of Prokofiev's third piano concerto. I was glad of having the opportunity of seeing him in concert.

[DublinJimbo]

In addition to Daniil Trifonov, I'm a great admirer of Alexander Melnikov. Others I'd rate highly are Igor Levit, Javier Perianes, Pavel Kolesnikov, Jan Lisiecki and Louis Schwizgebel.

[Pianorak]

All of the above. I greatly admire Joanna MacGregor, especially for her wide-ranging repertoire, imaginative programming as well as her astounding technique.

[vinteuil]

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... I am very taken by Daniel Grimwood : if anyone can make me take Liszt seriously it is he -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001O3MLN6

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[Rolmill]

They...have the ability to convey, without 'show' or apparent effort, an air of complete authority. Their pianistic skills are also self-evident but not displayed for their own sake.

In addition to those already mentioned (particularly agree with Igor Levit), I would say Benjamin Grosvenor is similarly gifted. I might also add Cedric Tiberghien and Arcadi Volodos, but perhaps they are no longer deemed 'young' (both in their 40s I think, but then so are Melnikov and Perianes).

[LMcD]

In addition to those already mentioned (particularly agree with Igor Levit), I would say Benjamin Grosvenor is similarly gifted. I might also add Cedric Tiberghien and Arcadi Volodos, but perhaps they are no longer deemed 'young' (both in their 40s I think, but then so are Melnikov and Perianes).

I agree with your view of Benjamin Grosvenor.

[Maclintick]

& Beatrice Rana, Clare Hammond...

[Barbirollians]

We have been lucky in Sheffield this year - so far already we have had Francesco Piemontesi of excellent young pianists and we have Kolesnikov and Grosvenor still to come .

Then again we have had two rather good older pianists too in Howard Shelley and Nikolai Demidenko.

[kea]

I think any consensus list of the greatest currently active pianists, as gathered from pianists amateur or professional, would most likely be headed by Marc-André Hamelin and also contain Yeol Eum Son, Yuja Wang, Arcadi Volodos, & Trifonov—and maybe one or two others—with some potential substitutions including Khatia Buniatishvili, Joseph Moog, Steven Osborne, Grosvenor, Levit, Momo Kodama, Rana, & Herbert Schuch. (& I would probably add Pi-Hsien Chen, Sabine Liebner and Aki Takahashi but no one listens to that kind of repertoire.) Plus a general agreement that none of them can match Cziffra at his best.

Obviously pianists have a tendency to weight pure technical ability higher than most other considerations which I suspect is because we know a) how essential it is and b) how genuinely difficult it is to achieve—I think many pianists who are seen as technically perfect by reviewers are seen much more critically by musicians.

I'm divided over how seriously to take these ratings—after all I personally wouldn't take Hamelin's Schumann over Anda's (or for a living artist, András Schiff's—someone who amateurs & professionals agree is a brilliant mind but with uneven fingers) even while I can appreciate it for the quality of the playing.

[LMcD]

I'm sure Marc-André Hamelin, who was born in 1961, will be pleased to feature in a discussion of briiliant young pianists.

[kea]

I have no idea how old anyone is these days, to be fair.

[Lordgeous]

I'm divided over how seriously to take these ratings—after all I personally wouldn't take Hamelin's Schumann over Anda's (or for a living artist, András Schiff's—someone who amateurs & professionals agree is a brilliant mind but with uneven fingers) even while I can appreciate it for the quality of the playing.

Uneven fingers? Ive never hear a duff note from him, live or recorded). What can you mean?

[Alison]

Uneven fingers? Ive never hear a duff note from him, live or recorded). What can you mean?

Just what I was thinking.