Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Top living pianists rank the greatest pianists ever

I got this from another site:

"BBC Music magazine has a very interesting poll in their latest issue. Interesting not so much for the topic, "the greatest pianists ever", but for the poll contributors: 100 of the best contemporary pianists including Brendel, Ashkenazy, Andsnes, Grimaud, etc. Each of the 100 contributors were permitted to make 3 selections, and you can see how each pianist voted. For example, Andsnes, one of my favourite present day pianists, chose Lipatti, Michelangeli, and Geza Anda, who, not surprisingly, number among my favourite legacy performers."

Here is the list:

1.Rachmaninov
2.Rubinstein
3.Horowitz
4.Richter
5.Cortot
6.Lipatti
7.Schnabel
8.Gilels
9.Argerich
10.Michelangeli

(from a later poster in this thread)
11th -Zimerman
12th -Friedman
13th -Lupu
14th -Fischer(Edwin)
15th -Kempff
16th -Perahia
17th -Gould
18th -Gieseking
19th -Hofmann
20th -Arrau


Does anyone have a listing of the individual pianists' votes?

I think it's interesting that the only living pianists among the top 20 are Argerich, Lupu, Zimerman, and Perahia.

NO LISZT/CHOPIN...???

My guess is that the "top living pianists" have assumed the question means "greatest pianists ever whose playing you have actually heard" (in one form or another)...

Oh, then I agree...:D RACH FTW

true.

I mean... What if Chopin couldn't play a note in his life? What if he used a double?

*ducks and sprints out of here*

All silliness aside.

Yes it means physically recorded artists.

I would say thats a perfect list!

inb4 WHY IS RUBINSTEIN RANKED HIGHER THAN HOROWITZ!?

ya gotta problem with that ?

Horowitz was a technician.
Rubinstein was a musician.

:x

No, he doesn't (maybe he does, I don't know). He just knows OTHERS will say that. inb4 means "In before..." which basically means, "someone's gonna say something about... Rubinstein higher than Horowitz."

I have problems with this list, but all it makes me want to do is listen to these pianists more and see how much of the problem is just me.

lol I was jking, sarcastic, and playing around. Thanks for letting me know about this "computer saying" .

All ratings like this are arbitrary and influenced by how well the raters are familiar with the work of the rated. After all, Rachmaninoff said that Hofmann was the greatest pianist, and that Hofmann said that Rachmaninoff was the greatest pianist. He went on to add that Hofmann thought he was the greatest car mechanic among pianists, and that he, Rachmaninoff knew that he himself was.

Well: "inb4" or "in before" still doesn't make any sense to me in the context in which it was used.

Arrau not there? COME ON!!!!

is this article available online?

In before what?

Horowitz or Rubinstein, also; though there's no solid evidence, Liszt and Chopin were thought to be the greatest Pianists, they apparantly had flawless technique. Definantly Liszt, how on earth did he play some of the cadenza's he written.

If this is the article I think it is, he did make the list. (I think he's #20.)

Interesting internet etymology question.

I think it's a shortened version of "In before the lock" (sometimes abbreviated IBTL), meaning before the moderator locks the thread. It's a phrase that I used to see people use either when they saw a thread going down an ignominious path (not unlike Horowitzian's "What an awesome thread") .....or when they themselves were about to say something a little controversial, jokingly implying that their post might send the thread down the tubes because it was going to annoy some people, even though it obviously wasn't going to have such a awful consequence.

Skorpius's post fits the latter definition.

#20? ooooh ... do you have a link, Mark?

11th - Zimerman: 12th -Friedman : 13th - Lupu : 14th - Fischer(Edwin) : 15th - Kempff: 16th -Perahia: 17th - Gould :
18th -Gieseking :19th - Hofmann: 20th -Arrau.