not in specific order--

Evgeny Kissin (my absolute favorite)
Martha Argerich (another absolute favorite)
Aimi Kobayashi (a wonderful budding talent)
Daniil Trifonov (an extraordinary artist)
Valentina Lisitsa (a true inspiration)
Wibi Soerjadi (my favorite since age 10 and a severely underrated pianist IMO)
Khatia Buniatshivelli (poetry+fireworks=Magic)
Yuja Wang (great fireworks!)
Vladimir Horowitz (somebody better get working on that time machine lol)
Sara Chang (I couldn't think of anymore pianists)

Sokolov
Sokolov
Sokolov
Sokolov
Sokolov
Sokolov
Jeremy Denk
Sokolov
Sokolov
Sokolov

Sokolov, or possibly Yuja Wang.

Perahia
Schiff
Zimerman
Sokolov

Hamelin, Libetta, Kun-Woo Paik, Zimerman, Sokolov, Anton Nel

Oh yeah, i forgot! I'd like to see Hamelin too!

If you can get that time machine to work, may I borrow it for:

Ferruccio Busoni
Sergei Rachmaninov
Anton Rubinstein
Eugen d'Albert
Bela Bartok
Teresa Carreño
Josef Hofmann
Karl Tausig

some of these pianists I do not know but will definitely investigate.
Well, there's no Lang Lang so far, which is interesting -

My list:
Yeol Eum Son
D.Trifonov
Kissin
Argerich
Ashkenazy
Hamelin
Lisitsa
Kapustin (play his own works)
Kobayashi
#10 open

A time machine and you don't have Liszt in your list? Unbelievable!

My List:

Marc Hamelin
Cyprien Katsaris
Yuja Wang
Arcadi Volodos
Valentina Igoshina
Polina Leschenko
Mikhail Pletnev
Gerhard Oppitz
Zoltan Kocsis
Leif Ove Andsnes

My time machine list:

Liszt
Friedman
Rubinstein (Artur)
Brahms
Beethoven
Chopin
Mendelssohn
Backhaus
Kapell
Ogdon

20th Century Time-Machine Liszt:

- Evgeny Kissin
- Leif Ove Andsnes
- Martha Argerich
- Sviatoslav Richter
- Vladimir Horowitz
- William Kapell
- Sergei Rachmaninov
- Emil Gilels
- Glenn Gould
- Georges Cziffra

This is a fun question. My list, without regard to whether they're still with us:

Artur Rubinstein
Grigory Sokolov
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sviatoslav Richter
Vladimir Horowitz
Emil Gilels
Nelson Freire
Martha Argerich
Horacio Gutierrez
Van Cliburn (in his salad days)

Well I figured that was a 'given'. A little too obvious to mention, eh?

I was lucky to see Argerich several times in the UK, but I unfortunately missed Ogdon. Reading the bio by Brenda Lucas, I was surprised at the amount of standard rep that Ogdon so often played. (Ogdon in the Grieg or Schumann would be like using a Porsche to drive to the local taco stand.) But Ogdon -with a musical appetite only matched by his gastric appetite- was truly adventurous in 20th century music, and what I would have given to hear him playing works which few but he could ever do justice to.

And here's a postscript, with my "Tier 2" list:

Franz Liszt
William Kapell
Jorge Bolet
John Browning
Leif Ove Andsnes
Sergio Fiorentino
Earl Wild
Krystian Zimerman
Marc-Andre Hamelin
Ivan Moravec
Chico Marx

Time machine list:
Bach. Mozart. Beethoven. Chopin. Liszt. Neuhaus. Horowitz. Gilels. Richter. Gould.
More realistic list:
Sokolov. Lisitsa. Andsnes. Yuja Yang. Kemal Gekic. And my favorite pianist on Pianoworld.
Have not decided on the rest yet.

I saw Hamelin last year It was incredible.

I'm seeing Kissin in September so that should be good...

The guy I'd love to hear the most would be Zimerman, and Barenboim. (Well, Liszt actually, but yeah :p)

"I am Emanuel Ravelli!"

-- Say, I used to know a guy named Emanuel Ravelli who looked just like you!

"I am Emanuel Ravelli!"

-- No wonder you look like him. But I still insist there is a resemblance.

"Heh heh, he thinks I look alike."

Cliburn (even if he hasn't been practicing)
Lupu (WHERE is he on anyone else's list???)
Argerich
Richard Goode (surprised he hasn't been mentioned either, and he doesn't get discussed enough here)
Sokolov
Kissin
Ashkenazy
Kocsis
Lisitsa (partly for the 'visual aspect' -- sorry)
Andre-Michel Schub

OH MY GOSH... LUPU, yes!!!!!!!!

Also, Cliburn, YES!!!

And I've seen Andre-Michel Schub! It wasn't a full length recital, but it was a lecture on Schubert where he played the Wanderer Fantasy (not a fan of that piece but it was a fantastic performance), and the Schubert Op. 90 No. 3 (huge fan of that piece, but it was a very fast performance...), and he also taught a master class the next day.

Richard Goode is very excellent with Mozart, right?

Haven't heard in person, but need to:
Argerich
Sokolov
Lugansky
Bronfman
Hamelin
Orange Soda King
Angelina Pogorelich

Heard in person, but need to again:
Jeremy Denk
Joyce Yang
Yeol Eum Son
Lydia Artymiw - didn't hear her nearly enough while I was at Minnesota. Fascinating and commanding performer.

Need a time machine for:
Hofmann
Sofronitsky
Young Horowitz
Young Gilels
Young Ashkenazy
Premiere of Beethoven's 9th (Beethoven was a pianist afterall)

-Daniel

....and especially with Beethoven.

I'll just name a couple that haven't been mentioned yet.

Living: Berezovsky

Passed: Sofronitsky

edit: Oops, someone did mention Sofronitsky. My bad.

I of course own Goode's Beethoven sonata cycle, and while excellent, I do find it ever-so-slightly "dry." I haven't heard him live, but like Brendel whom I admire (who I also haven't heard in person, unfortunately,) I find there's a slight midi/robotic-like quality in their recordings at times. I'll be the first to blame the engineers and not the pianist. I'm convinced they are currently among the greatest Classical era interpreters.

-Daneil

Dead pianists:
-Godowsky
-Busoni
-De Larrocha
-Alkan
-Liszt
-Beethoven
-Gilels
-Ogdon
-Petri
-Ronald Smith

^^^ Wow, I didn't know that everyone else wanted a time machine so badly, too! Let's get cracking PW and build it!

Oh, and Bach and Mozart.

Mark C --

Good call on Lupu (gorgeous Schubert and Brahms) and Schub (who looks like he wandered in off the set for "Revenge of the Nerds" but played the finest rendition of Chopin's E major Scherzo I've ever heard). And as for Chico, all I can say is:

Groucho (in "Coconuts"): . . . and over here we're going to build a viaduct.

Chico: Vy a duck? Vy a no chicken?

AND he could play the piano like -- well, like no one else.

Lisitsa (purely for the musical aspect :D)
Pollini
Argerich
Zimerman
Bozhanov
Schiff
Barenboim
Volodos
Sokolov (only because people seem to think extremely highly of him, I haven't listened to many recordings by him)
Leslie Howard (I'd like to see him perform the late Liszt works and maybe his own set of 25 etudes)

If you allow me a bonus, I'd love to see Aimi Kobayashi live too.. her Op 10 No 4 blew me away!

Sokolov, yes that's most definitely another one!!

Aside from Chopin and Liszt:

Scarlatti
Gottschalk
Bizet
von Bulow
Albeniz
Siloti
Joplin

Is that 10?