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Helene Grimaud
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Marcus Wachsmann So wonderful, love her Brahms 1st concerto!
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Speaking of great pianist, we recently lost one of the finest. RIP Neslon Freire
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Dave B Yes, He is a legend, and such an extremely generous man. Loved his playing!
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It depends a lot on which music they play. Michelangeli, Grigory Ginzburg and Samuil Feinberg are overall my priority in musical and technical taste.
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Duc-Anh Nguyen Love how you listen to these giants of the golden age of pianism!
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Sullivan fortner getqld clayton or Gonzalo Rubalcaba for contemporaries. Mulgrew or Oscar Peterson maybe bill evans for historicals
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Christopher Bell Wonderful!
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The first pianist I discover in my teenagers years is João Carlos Martins and Nelson Freire. Through that I find Horowitz, Rubinstein, Gilels, Michelangelli, Richter, Gould, Argerich, Lisitsa and many others. For me i have a favourite pianist from different moments of my life. Right now, is Artur Schnabel and Wilhelm Kempff. Two great interprets of Beethoven and Schubert.
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Of certainty Rachmaninoff:
In childhood, I wouldn't have hesitated to say Chopin. As I have aged, I have come to deeply appreciate Rachmaninoff's music. I feel that this sorrowful, melancholic, perhaps painful energy within his works resonates with me. I find brief moments of elegant, peaceful joy in his music which do not strike me so overwhelmingly, as they often do in the works of other composers. I believe I simply cannot connect to intensely jolly music.I am inclined to declare I must consider Chopin as my second favorite, though I have also recently become highly intrigued by the work of Scriabin. I am entirely guilty of favoring the works of Chopin which convey less glee, though there are many of the composer's compositions in the major key which I find pleasing to listen to. For now, I am having a memorable experience exploring the prowess of Rachmaninoff. At times I feel I am immersed in the pain of a man, whom I couldn't know. I am compelled to feel a deep sense of uncertainty or shame when a smile dares to present itself as I traverse a given melody; though I believe his works facilitate such a release of one's own pains whiles listening, surely to elicit some sense of calm and momentary joyfulness. I find I must emotionally distance myself at times, so as not to be consumed by this energy of rage, if not melancholy. It provides an experience to reserve for a special occasion, like playing and hearing a nice Steinway, to allow one to release himself emotionally to the passage. I believe these are the qualities of his music that make him my most admired. Surely these are, nonetheless, opinions.
There was a time where I would have provided some alternating answer. Perhaps I would have said my favorite composer was Liszt, after having reminisced on the sensation of darkness and mystery I discovered whiles listening to "La lugubre gondola No 2." or "Sonata in B". It was rather recently, that I noticed I must declare Rachmaninoff to be most admired. This realization came after observing that I love most all of his works. His sonatas, concertos, etudes, preludes, and all other various forms: I find myself having to search for a piece that doesn't please me; whereas when entertaining another composer, I find that I more often must search for pieces that resonate with me. I do not mean to say that I find the works of other composers to be lesser, but that I am personally better able to connect with Rachmaninoff's music.
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Jonathan Eloquently written! Thank you for these insights. I hear you, and can tell just how intensely music affects you. You hit the nail on the head in describing what I also love so much about these composers. I do encourage you to check out Scriabin more! A personal favorite of mine, who had such an eclectic style. His early works are in the flavor of Chopin!
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In reference to the current pianists of today, I would say my favorites are most certainly Evgeny Kissin, Khatia Buniatishvili, and Yuja Wang. Yuja is, to me, an astounding talent in expressive prowess and Khatia's interpretations never fail to appeal to one's emotions as she melts your heart at the keys. Yuja's performance of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 is, to this day, the greatest performance I have ever seen. I have always found Evgeny's playing to be unique and distinctly memorable. There is an aspect of sound and expression in his interpretations that I have always admired but cannot quite explain. I suppose these attributes can be acclaimed to all three pianists. Three wonderful people indeed.
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Jonathan Great people you mention- wholeheartedly agree about Yuja, especially when I saw her play Prok 2 as well!
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Andrea Schiff on Bach, Maria J Pires on Schubert and Mozart, Sokolov on Rameau, Ivo Pogorelich on Scarlatti, Alexander Gavrylyuk on Rach 3 and many more….
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Seymour Bernstein, Rachmaninoff, and Ravel
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Pollini, Zimmerman, Michelangelli for Chopin. In general, I'm a fan of Sokolov and Martha Argerich. For younger pianists, I find Avdeeva inspiring in her thoughtful tone and interpretation.
Echoing Marcus & Dominic. Love Helene Grimaud's brahms concerto.
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Lc Sure, Sokolov is one of the very best.
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Well, for Chopin, it's Maurizio Pollini. Beethoven, it's Emil Giles. Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Oscar Peterson are just a few Jazz Pianists who I love. There are so many great pianists that it would be easier to mention who I'm not fond of...
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"Who is your favorite pianist?" Hmm - I read that and the first thing that I thought was that's an impossible question to answer - I couldn't possibly choose one. So I had a few in mind before I read over other people's responses. Oh, but then, as I read everyone else's thoughts, I found myself adding to my list. There are just so many incredibly talented pianists - living and deceased. It's overwhelming. And wonderful. We are so fortunate to live in an age where, in addition to hearing performances live, we are able to listen on demand to recordings of artists made over more than a hundred years. It's a wonder that I am able to get absolutely anything whatsoever done with the lure of tens of thousands of hours of recordings just a few clicks away.... But, I digress. So, I do have a disorganized, inconsistent list, only some of which I'll post here, with a few annotations.
Schiff - beautiful, insightful playing of Bach and Mozart.
Gould - Bach, of course. Brilliant. And, occasionally, terrible! (I've got a box set of the complete his Bach recordings and DVDs)
Rachmaninoff - I heard a discussion once about which pianist a group of professional pianists thought was the best and most influential pianist of the 20th century. Rachmaninoff's name came up over and over. He made so many recordings and his artistry and the technical mastery of his performances raised the bar for several generation's of pianists in the early to mid 20th century.
Yunchan Lim - gold medal winner of the 2022 Cliburn competition. (And he's only 18!). His performance of the Rachmaninoff 3rd Concerto (https://cliburn.org/yunchan-lim/#videos) is absolutely astonishing - technically of course, but even more so musically. Did I say that he's only 18?
Alicia De Larrocha - Granados Goyescas in particular, lots of others. If anyone ever says that their hands are to small to play some technically challenging pieces, watch a few videos of hers. She had tiny hands and, totally defying physical spatial impossibilities, plays everything.
Helene Grimaud - The Brahms - she has such a sense of color and warmth. She has Synesthesia and talks about how she sees colors as she hears music.
Uchida - Schubert and Mozart - elegant, passionate, balanced but not at all dry or boring. Her Chopin however - well this recording doesn't work for me (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSeVLwafLPg&list=RDEMP3fVecndSZVvg2SpBnTC2A). I just read though that she placed 2nd in the 1970 Chopin competition, so maybe I'm totally off the mark.
Martha Argerich - I've got nothing to say. For fun, here's a recording of her playing the Beethoven 1st concerto - at age 8. (https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=w8qvQeXEAa4)
Yuja Wang - technically, maybe the best living pianist along with
Evgeny Kissin. They're both truly amazing pianists and I very much enjoy listening to their performances. I'm conflicted though and am not totally convinced that they always plumb the emotional depths and essential musical beauty in the music. But, what do I know? Listen to Kissin's performance of the Chopin 2nd Sonata - especially the 4th movement - left me speechless)Khatia Buniatishvili - one of another generation of terrific piansts.
There are plenty of other women pianists, and I don't want to give them short shrift, especially after years where their talents weren't always recognized (Fanny Mendelssohn and Alma Mahler, anyone...). Consider this list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_women_classical_pianists
Trifinov - his concerto performance in the Chopin competition is transcendental. His other performances in the competition are great too. And he continues to be a wonderful, sensitive pianist. He is so serene and his playing looks effortless too. I watch him and his playing looks so easy and compact that I almost think that I can play a Chopin concerto too. I don't think that way for very long.
And so many more, whose artistry and technial prowess is no less than any of the pianists above... Ohlsson, Horowitz, Rubinstein, Oscar Peterson(!), Richter, Ashkenazy, Barenboim, Igor Levit (those Beethoven Sonatas), William Kapell, Myra Hess, Gilels, Gieseking, Zimerman. I've missed a whole bunch of others.
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Rachmaninoff is my favourite pianist.
His Chopin Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2, in particular, is the best of this piece that I have ever heard.
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