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So many. I will name a few that come to mind instantly.
Shura Cherkassky
Arkadi Volodos
Alexei Volodin
Ilya Itin
Rudolf Kerer
Vlado Perlemuter
Samson Francois
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Alexx Thank you. Arkadi Volodos’ Plays Brahms album is the best interpretation of Brahms piano pieces I’ve heard. He’s an amazing pianist.
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I only know Lipatti from his recordings, but those are head and shoulders above any other pianist's performances of the same pieces. Chopin's Barcarolle and Ravel's Alborada del Gracioso in particular are extraordinary.
Mieczysław Horszowski is another pianist that I rate very highly. I twice heard him play at the Wigmore Hall in London. The first time was the 80th anniversary of his Wigmore debut, and the second was to celebrate his 99th birthday. Radu Lupu, Andras Schiff and Murray Perahia were in the audience. It was amazing enough that at 99 he could still play the piano, but even more so that he could play better than almost everybody else. He had a way of dissecting the music and putting it together again so that it was absolutely clear how it worked (I have heard something similar in the conducting of Benjamin Britten and Simon Rattle).I have heard Sviatoslav Richter a few times live, and he was another stunning pianist. His recording of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto puts others in the shade.
Shura Cherkassky had an extraordinary way of playing the piano and made it sound like nobody else.
Glenn Gould, although highly eccentric in his performances, as in his life, is another pianist that I would never like to be without. Every time I listen to his recordings I hear something new in the music that nobody else has brought out. His Bach is decidedly better than his Chopin, however, and he seems to have been completely unable to sustain the Larghetto of Chopin's first piano sonata.
The more I think about it the more pianists come to mind, so I shal stop now.
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Dr Julian Money-Kyrle What an experience it must have been to hear Richter and Horszowski live! They were both very well known during their lifetimes, less so now, so thank you for reminding us of them. The vagaries of fame....
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I forgot two pianists who are exquisite musicians but never attained the heights of popularity many others did: Ivan Moravec (to whom I was introduced by a Czech scientist) and Janina Fialkowska, whom I stumbled across because of this YouTube channel that compares recordings of (mostly living) pianists playing the same pieces side by side, with intelligent commentary by the owner of the channel, Ashish Xiangyi Kumar. Fialkowska's Chopin etudes are a revelation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0hoN6_HDVU&t=1356s
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Vicky Brandt thanks for giving a shout-out to Ashish Xiangyi Kumar’s YouTube channel - a veritable treasure trove of piano music, and possibly the richest and most wondrous gift to classical pianists on that platform. It never ceases to amaze me.
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Vicky Brandt I came across this post a few weeks too late - I would have mentioned Janina Fialkowska too! So, instead of being first, I will back you up on her, for a few reasons:
- I'm a loyal Canadian, so, obviously
- She is a powerful interpreter of Liszt and Chopin. I believe she gave the premiere concert of the Liszt 3rd concerto after it was discovered? Anyway, her recording with Hans Graf and the Calgary Philharmonic of the Liszt # 2 just rocks, and has been one of my favourites for years
- She has the incredible almost tragic story of developing a rare cancer in her upper arm, having a MUSCLE TRANSPLANTED to replace what they had to remove, and regaining her career after a lot of hard work. Including playing Ravel's Cto for the left hand, with her RIGHT hand:
https://youtu.be/0BuWXo0SGN4?si=h9YIE6tiTVqwiqiG
- and she has been involved in making classical performance more accessible to smaller communities in Canada.
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Ken Locke Thank you so much for expanding on Fialkowska's gifts and extraordinary history. I had no idea about her illness--how strong her love and understanding of music must be, for her to be so motivated to recreate her performing career. I've just spent the last 10 minutes looking for the YouTube video I'd seen earlier this week with "Canadian Piano Royalty" (Marc-André´Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, and Fialkowska) playing Mozart's concert for three pianos, but it seems to be gone -- argh! Apparently the concert took place on Jan 4 of this year. I wanted to share it with you in thanks for your link, but alas I've come up empty. Perhaps someone else will post it....
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Gayané Liebe-Petrosyan
She has the most beautiful sound colours in all styles!
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-QgBodb3dk
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFJbwsDk3vE
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Briggite Engerer sadly no longer with us is one of my favourite pianists. I always listen to her recordings of Chopin Nocturnes first before learning to play any of them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5btAymZyeGc
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Hazel Actually it's Brigitte Engerer!
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Kate Liu - for me one of the best performers of the new generation. I love her sensibility when interpreting the music. She seems to be completely immersed into it.
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Without hesitation, it's Dr. Louann Carnahan. She is a physician, board certified in neurology, and expert in epilepsy. She has played the piano since the age of 5 and has a condition that causes her muscles to weaken over time. Yet --this is the important thing-- she adapts and refuses to give up. She calls herself TheMarionettePianist on YouTube.
May we all have her persistence.
She has a couple of very spoiled dogs too!
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Hércules Gomes, brazilian pianist, has brought to light many forgotten pieces of brazilian repertoire from early 1900, like Chiquinha Gonzaga and Ernesto Nazareth. He received training from a once phelow student of Michelangeli, same teacher of Martha Argerich, and has a solid base of the classics. As you can see on the solidity of his performance, while not losing any of the proper groove of the piece.
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I've been following Tiffany Poon. She is a thoughtful, emotional musician who shares her thoughts, process and practice with her fans.
She has also started a foundation in which she supports young musicians from around the world.
Full disclosure, I support her on Patreon. On this platform she shares videos with her "Patreon family". She really is a delightful person.
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Anastasia Huppmann
i like her a lot. -
As a good Brazilian, I would like to recommend a great pianist from our country: Jacques Klein. Klein studied in Brazil with Liddy Chiafarelli Mignone and Lúcia Branco (teacher of Nelson Freire and Arthur Moreira Lima). Abroad he studied with William Kapell and Bruno Seidhofer. He won the 1953 Geneva Competition and unfortunately recorded little. To our happiness, the Instituto Piano Brasileiro rescued recordings of him for radio and TV programs that contain valuable material. I leave some links with your records: -
Definitely Lipatti , and of course Sofronitsky
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The Brazilian Nelson Freire.
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Renato Oliveira Fraga Yes!
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(1) Alexander Slobodyanik. Ukranian pianist, 1941-2008. Hailed as the most jawdropping phenom since Ashkenazy when he debuted at Carnegie Hall in 1968. Powerhouse romantics interpreter, no limits whatsoever. I have his Liszt B minor Sonata and Chopin Etudes on vinyl circa 1973/74. Amazing. He remained USSR-based into the late '70s and the dissolution of cultural ties with the west following the 1980 invasion of Afghanistan kept him out of the US (where he ultimately settled) until 1988, which had a derailing effect on what might have been a towering career.
(2) Jan Lisiecki, Might not fulfill the criterion that "more people should know about" because he's gained traction...but more people should know about the fully mature artist he's become (at 28). He shares in common with Kissin his recognition as a prodigy (signed by DGG at 15!) I saw his March 2024 performance at Carnegie...may be necessary to bring in contractors to repair the roof, because he blew it off.
As a demonstration of the fact that God does not distribute gifts evenly - both of these dudes were/are movie star handsome on top of everything else.
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There are many interesting out of print recordings in thePianoFiles.com. I was surprised to find these rare recordings of Marian Filar who's Chopin playing is of the best I've ever heard.
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I would like to add Vitaly Serebriakov to this list.https://youtu.be/0OrrcdZ7cw8?si=ath1QkvUuDyOGJYV
