I got the great pianists of the 20th century cd collection, which is full of great old recordings of greats like Horowitz, Rubinstein, Brendel, Richter, Sofronitsky (I'm a fan!), etc.

Since they are old recordings they are full of pop's, hiss and disgusting people coughing (I'm pretty sure you can hear one dying). But the music is phenomenal.

Now I would like to find some more new recordings, recorded with the better possibilities of today (basically higher quality audio). So I was wondering what are your current favorite pianists and cd's that you would recommend me?

I have listened to a lot of Kuerti and Schiff.

edit: Let me please clarify my question abit, what I meant was I have enough old recordings, like stated in my opening post (ofcourse Richter, Algerich and many more), but I'm looking for NEW recordings, without pops/coughs/tape hiss etc.

I like Martha Argerich's cds done by Deutsche Grammophon. Especially her recording of Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor op.54 conducted by Rostropovich

Schiff is probably my favorite of the currently working pianists in certain repertoire, but the bulk of his recordings sound odd to me. I think the reason is the microphone placement/microphone combination. The sound of his newer recordings released on ECM is a definite improvement.

My favorite piano recording of the last 10 years is Leon Fleisher's The journey.

I am re-savoring young Fleisher's set of all 5 Beethoven concertos with George Szell.. Truly magnificent..
Also still collecting all of Richter's prodigious output.. Most recently his live CD from Sofia 1958 (most amazing "Pictures at an Exhibition") and his Diabelli varations also recorded live from a performance at the Pushkin Museum (part of the "December Nights' that he used to organize. This latter CD has a bonus Mozart sonata with Oleg Kagan with awesome violin playing..

Andre Laplante's CD's of Ravel. Unbelievable. Here's a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTYUyDjVCRU

I am a huge fan of Kissin's Pictures at an Exhibition, though I would not recommend all his performances.

<<current fav...>>

Benjamin Grosvenor : This & That

I've been a huge fan of Yefim Bronfman for years now. I haven't listened to his Profofiev recordings but they are supposed to be excellent. I've seen him twice live and plan to go a third time when he comes back to Atlanta early next year. He never disappoints!

I've been listening to Aimard's Vingt Regards as well, and will hopefully be able to make it for his appearance in Atlanta next year.

his prokofiev sonatas are amazing! get on that you will surely not be disappointed!

I can highly recommend Howard Shelley's Rachmaninov cycle on Hyperion.It's one of the few things that have totally blown me away over the last ten years or so.
I'd also second the Kissin/Pictures recommendation.

His Prok sonatas are excellent. I have him with Rach 2 and 3 as well (the latter I heard live here last season and he blew the doors off the place!). I also highly recommend his recordings with Manny Ax (Brahms: Music for Two Pianos and Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances and Suites for Two Pianos).

The Fleisher/Beethoven concerti are second to none! I've had the "Sofia" recording for a while now and I love it. Richter is amazing.

Victor25,

How about David Fray on EMI Classics:

David Fray

schwammerl.

Let me please clarify my question abit, what I meant was I have enough old recordings, like stated in my opening post (ofcourse Richter, Algerich and many more), but I'm looking for NEW recordings, without pops/coughs/tape hiss etc.

Thanks for the suggestions, I will definitely look into them!

I wouldn't call it my favorite recording, but what I've been listening to a lot lately is Zimerman/Boulez/Ravel G major. Spectacular recording. Does anyone have his recording of the Brahms sonatas/ballades? Seems it's no longer available and I long ago lent mine out and it seems to have found more comfortable lodgings elsewhere.

Ravel: Tharaud
Chabrier: Tharaud
Beethoven concerti: not the last Brendels, but the not so old, well recorded Christian Zacharias
Beethoven sonatas: Goode
Anything by Krystian Zimerman, Marc-André Hamelin
Chopin in general: impossible choice
Schubert sonatas: Michel Dalberto
Schumann: Youri Egorov

just ask for detailed pieces you would like to modernize in your discography, that would make things a bit easier, thanks for the Kempff! Marvellous!

Which is precisely why I prefer the piano original to an orchestrated version. Nothing I've ever heard matches Richter, and IMO demonstrates that Mussorgsky had it right all along!

Okay, I get it...you only want recommendations of stuff recorded digitally.

Anderszewski playing Szymanowski.

Queffélec playing Ravel.

The Bartok concertos played by Zimerman, Andsnes, and Grimaud with three different orchestras conducted by Boulez. Also, the Kocsis and the Schiff recordings of these concertos are both outstanding.

Nelson Freire playing the Brahms concertos (this got the Gramophone "Record of the Year" award a few years back).

I am currently in love with the Imogen Cooper live Schubert recordings. Just amazing. I am also enjoy g the Marc Andre Hamelin Alkan recordings.

I also prefer the previous Brendel Beethoven Concerti to his most recent one. For the performances, not the recording quality - which was recorded when digital was possibly still in it's infancy (1981 or 82, I think) and sounds really cold and harsh (even in it's most recent re-issue).

I find it interesting that when re-issuing the 2nd Gould Goldberg's - recorded around the same time period - Sony chose to use the analog 'safety' copy and not the digital one.

Victor, do not assume that sound quality of recordings from the3se days will satisfy you more than recordings from the late 60s , 70s , and 80's. There are plenty of recordings from those times with no hisses or noises, and a lot of studio recordings with a much better tone than some of the latest recordings available.

My current favorites are -

The Sony release of Glenn Gould's 1955 Goldberg Variations
The DG release of the Rachmaninoff 3rd and Tchaikovsky 1st piano concertos with Martha Argerich and Kiril Kondrashin / Ricardo Chailly
The DG release of Martha Argerich's debut cd with Chopin, Prokofiev, and the Liszt B minor sonata.

Izaldu, there are indeed some recordings that sound fine even though they are old. The playing ofcourse is unmatched on them, but I listen on really good speakers, and the hiss and pops can really become unbareable on them, sometimes its even better for me to listen on bad speakers just so that I don't hear every single mistake in the recording.

And though I love older recordings, I already have a HUGE amount of them, I want something new. Anyway there is plenty already to check out, thanks all for the recommendations!

@dolce the Kuerti recording should be up today

What I mostly was looking for is

Modern Recordings of Chopin (I have recordings of Davidovich, Lortie, Harasiewicz)
Modern Recordings of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerti (I have Earl Wild)
Modern Recordings of works by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Debussy, Handel, Vivaldi etc.

I am broadening my horizon on classical music, and it has become a great joy. First I wasn't able to enjoy Chopin, but now that I have heard his Ballade's, Impromptu's, Piano Concerto's and the amazing Scherzo #2 in Bb, op31, I have finally made peace with Chopin :P. That piece is amazing (I have it played by Argerich)

At the moment, I've been enjoying Glenn Gould's performances of the Hindemith Sonatas. There is, as always seems to be the case with Gould, some unwanted vocal obbligatti, but the playing is brilliant. Given Gould's love of technology, I'm saddened that he wasn't around to really benefit from the best modern recording techniques have to offer.

I like Brendel's Beethoven. While he did much to revive Liszt's fortunes in the days when his work was looked down on as trash, I still prefer Argerich's performances.

Where Bartok is concerned, I am especially fond of the recordings his former student, the late Gyorgy Sandor. His Bartok sings!

I continue to love Horowitz, Rubinstein, Maria Joao Pires, Matha Argerich, and so many others. I love hearing old recordings of Rachmanninoff and Schnabel. As far as pianists of today, I quite like some of the stuff Jeno Jando has done on Naxos. Garrick Ohlson is marvelous.

Euh... thanks for responding !

So I haven't really heard name's of your current favorite Pianists. I'm looking for pianists that are alive and recording

As for pianists who are alive and recording, I really do Garrick Ohlson, Martha Argerich, Maria Joao Pires, Idil Biret, Evgeny Kissin, Mikhail Pletnev, and others. I especially admire Ohlson's vast repertoire. The man is amazing. I have a recording of Ohlson accompanying the violinist Benjamin Hudson in works by Charles Wuorinen.

Among contemporary pianists, Paul Lewis is very interesting,as is obviously Stephen Hough.
Paul Lewis' Beethoven set is definitely worth exploring.
Ivan Moravec for Chopin

If you like cello, the ISserlis / Hough CDs are superlative (very gorgeous sonorous experience)

Our local classical station occasionally throws in one of the Jando Haydn recordings. Sometimes it's a toss which I admire more: the crisp and sympathetic playing of Jando, or the limitless fascination of Haydn's piano sonatas. A mystery why only a handful are heard with any regularity.

My favourite piano cd:

"Maria-Joao Pires & Ricardo Castro - Résonance De L'originaire"

Quatre-Mains works of Franz Schubert. Their Fantasy in F minor D940 is perfect!

Barbara Nissman's Prokofiev sonatas! Amazing!

She has recorded all of Ginastera's music for piano as well, but I'm ashamed to say I have not yet heard those recordings.

Right now i am enjoying Alexnadre Tharaud; his piano recordings of Couperin and Rameau are beautiful. What a talented young artist he is, i love his repertoire choices too.

A set of recordings that are really worth getting are Eva Knardahl playing Grieg. She recorded 10 albums on the BIS label. Really wonderful, especially the Lyric Pieces and the Norwegian Dances.

Dan

Eva Knardahl is awesome. Her recordings of Grieg -in superb sound from BIS- are landmark status. Wasn't she pianist for the Minnesota Orchestra for some years?

Well indeed, no argument.

Here you go:

Argerichfan, yes Eva was the pianist for the Minnesota Orchestra for 15 years. She returned to Norway at the end of her career to record the Grieg piano works. One other fun note, she recorded most of the pieces on a Bosendorfer 275.

Dan

Josef Rheinberger's Piano Sonatas were completely new to me when I found this CD of Antonio Pompa-Baldi playing the first 3. The music is absolutely amazing. These are some of the finest post-Beethoven Sonatas that I've heard. They're much different than the Brahms and Schumann Sonatas; Rheinberger's are more Classical in structure.

The 3rd Sonata, Op.135 is just plain stunning. I can't recommend it too highly. The score was scanned by the Sibley Library:

Rheinberger Sonata No.3 in E flat, Op.135




Mel

Well, you didn't say classical

so even though that seems to be the direction so far...for this post, let me contribute by adding some non-classical wonderful solo piano CDs:

Keith Jarret's: The Koln Concert
Brad Mehldau's: Elegiac Cycle

Glenn Gould's 1955 Goldberg Variations (Sony)

Well, Pianist is a pretty charged term. My favorite keyboard player of all time would have to be Jordan Rudess, a progressive metal keyboardist famous for his work with Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment. Incredible creativity, incredible form and technique, and just an unparalleled overall sound makes him my number 1 inspiration. But while he is certainly a "Pianist," he is by no means some kind of classical performer.

what about bernd glemser's rachmaninov cd? worth checking out!

Yes she was. At the time, the Minnesota Orchestra was known as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Antal Dorati was conductor for most of her many years here. She did a lot of collaborative work around Minneapolis. A very memorable appearance for me was with the Danish tenor turned baritone, Aksel Schiotz, in Schubert's "die Winterreise." It must have been more than forty years ago, and I've been to hundreds of excellent concerts since, but this one stands out.

Tomasino

Evgeni Bozhanov, his Chopin op.60 is the best i have ever heard:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jptOIW_8DjQ

Paulena Carter playing light classicals on an old LP called: (97 keys." The odd thing is they say the piano is a Bechstein and yet no one thinks Bechstein ever made a piano with this may keys. So...maybe it's really a Bosendorfer.

The great news is this is now available at Amazon.com with free samples. Digitally remastered MP3s. I bought the whole package for a little over 8 dollars.

Best piano sound I've ever heard! The old LP is still available but pricey. Of course even better sound via good stereo equipment.

Bech

Sweet Dreams & Starlight by David Nevue. Saw him in concert and love his music.

http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Dreams-Starl...1944&sr=8-7

Zimerman is one of my favourite pianists, especially for Chopin. His 2 CD Brahms set has long been deleted and isn't likely to ever resurface again because Zimerman feels it doesn't represent him at his best (despite the fact that the Sonatas won him a Gramophobe Award) - ditto for the marvellous Chopin 14 Waltzes which only ever appeared on LP/cassette. Luckily, I've never lent them out to 'friends'...

My other favourite pianist, a very different kettle of fish altogether, is Mikhail Pletnev - his Mussorgsky Pictures is truly amazing, his Scarlatti Sonatas quite unique in its coloristic range and brilliance, his Tchaikovsky Concertos and piano works (including his own transcriptions of the ballets) is still the best around. All in superb digital sound too.

I'm relative new to classical pianists but two I like very much are: Valentina Lisitsa and Lola Astanova. I do like Argerich and others but what I like about these two is how they have gone out of their way to make lots of their playing available--for free on YouTube and at their sites! It's just tremendous to be handed such value for nothing.

Of course their being on video makes it more special in that you can not only hear how good they are but also see it.

The good and great classical pianists amaze me with their ability and have my respect for the very high "price" they had to pay for that ability.

Bech

Although I don't really have any favourite CDs of pianists, two that do come to mind are:

Radu Lupu playing Schubert Impromptus (a beautiful CD)

Pollini playing Webern, Prokofiev and the Stravinsky Petrushka (a wonderful disc)

My old and never failing favourites: Brendel playing Schubert Impromptu's, the old one!, Ashkenazy playing Chopin's Ballades on his first Decca, Zimermann-Brahms sonatas, Gilels Chopin 1st concerto on Melodya, as well as his Weber 2nd sonata, as well as his Medtner 5th and Glazunov 2nd sonata's, Lipatti with everything he did, Cortot's Barcarolle, Anda's Paganinivariations, as well as his Liszt sonata, Hamelin's Alkan.

I totally agree with you on Martha Argerich and DG. I have the DG cd of her playing Rachmaninoff's 3rd piano concerto / Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto with conductors Kiril Kondrashin and Riccardo Chailly. I also have her debut CD with Liszt's B Minor sonata. I cherish both cd's and listen to them often.

Have to agree on that. Love the 1955 version, even though Gould himself later dismissed it as being "too youthful".

Thanks for that suggestion! I picked up this recording and you are right. The third Sonata is a fantastic piece. Very nice indeed.