I would like to know what's your Top 5 pianists ever...in any kind of music.

At this time i would choose:

1- Chopin
2- Claude Debussy
3- Beethoven
4- Sergei Rachmaninoff
5- Thelonious Monk

You might be interested to read this thread from just a short time back.

Chopin. I love the way he plays his own stuff.

Thanks currawong, i'm new here...

You really, really need to restate the question. Because nobody living today has ever heard Chopin or Beethoven play the piano.

Are you asking about composers for the piano? If so, that's an entirely different question.

:D

Gould
Gould
Gould
Gould
Gould

In that order:)

1. Rubinstein
2. Argerich
3. Horowitz
4. Ax
5. Richter

Matt

Faves whom I've heard playing (mostly on CD)

1. Artur Rubinstein
2. Sergie Rachmaninov
3. Vladimir Horowitz
4. Vladimir Ashkenazy
5. Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

IMHO.

1]My Mother.
2]Pope Benedict XV1
3]Sylvan Zingg
4]Abert Ammons
5]Vladimir Horowitz

1. Rubinstein
2. Horowitz
3. Pletnev
4. Arrau
5. Keith Emerson (I just had to throw that in for old time's sake... )

1. LL
2. LL
3. LL
4. LL
5. LL

(Sorry, I can't help that LL spelled backwards still reads LL.)

I'm Gould fan too ... IMHO no one should try Bach again.

If you let me pick another 4, they would be Horowitz, Arrau, Gilels, Kissin ... names not in specific order.

I guess I'll update my entry in the thread Currawong linked to.

Horowitz
Rubinstein
Gilels
Arrau
Cliburn



But by no means is the other list defunct; I like 'em all! :p

Gilels
Rubinstein
Ashkenazy
Richter
Argerich

in that order..i think

In order:

1- Ian Pace
2- Marc-Andre Hamelin
3- Vladimir Horowitz
4- Martha Argerich
5- Sviatoslav Richter

^Fair enough, no arguments. But I heard Andsnes recently... he just fried my innards. I was in awe. Of course he is a gorgeous looking man, but that sound... it is unlike anything in recent memory. And what musicianship... I shudder at the thought of it all...

at the moment I have to go with
Richter
Horowitz
Ashkenazy
Zimerman
Kissin

Gary Graffman
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Evgeny Kissin
Oscar Levant
Olga Kern

I already listed 5, but I must add Alexis Weissenberg.

No specific order:

Kissin
Horowitz
Wilhelm Kempff

1. Wanda Landowska - always insisted on playing the ragtime pieces of Scott Joplin in private while steadfastly refusing to play Bach on the harpsichord in public.

2. Liberace - dazzling performer and promoter of Memphis-style Blues (although some say he was far too conservative in attire).

3. Peter Nero - thrived on the music & styles of his personal heroes - the trend-setting Billy Joel, Jelly Roll Morton & Elton John (nos. 6, 7 & 8 on my list).

4. Jerry Lee Lewis - the epitome of perfect form with great leg placement (a 3rd hand, so to speak) on the keyboard.

5. Scott Joplin - insisted on playing only classical music in public while playing only the little known compositions of Wanda Landowska in private).

Regards, JF

P.S. the question should have been: ". . . who's [/b] your favorite . . ."

No particular order, and these are just the ones that come to mind immediately:
Martha Argerich
Mikhail Pletnev
Murray Perahia
Angela Hewitt

LL ? Current Music notation for Loud and Lousy

Do you ever stop complaining and bashing other people's opinions?

1. Alfred Brendel
2. Grigory Sokolov
3. Murray Perahia
4. John Lill
5. Yuriko Asada (my teacher!)

...there are so many more and I could change the order ad infinitum!

'The five best.....' (fill in) seems to be in vogue these days. In the case of pianists, it does not make sense to me to ask who are 'the five best'. This is for two reasons.

The first is that pianists play best what they most identify with. So one could argue perhaps who plays Brahms best, or Mozart, or Bach.

The second is whether we are talking about 'in performance' or 'on record'. A live performance exposes a soloist's personality in a way that a recording does not.

The best examples I have personally experienced refer to the violin.

I listened for years to Henryk Szeryng on record and thought he was one of the greats. One day I had the opportunity to experience him live, playing Brahms (my favorite violin concerto). What a disappointment. I realized later that I was reacting to the stage personality he projected, which I did not identify with. I could not put this out of my mind and focus solely on the music.

I've heard Gidon Kremer in recording play just about everything but never felt a connection with him. One month ago I experienced him live. What a difference! Now I understand why everyone raves about the guy.

Some pianists come over better in recording. A prime example is Glen Gould, who someone in this thread seemed very keen on. After a bout or two with the concert hall Gould refused to play in public again. Probably a good decision.

One pianist who made a great impression on me in my youth was Myra Hess. Presence? Cheez! She played something (I forget what) which ended with a single note, fff. She hit it with both thumbs and no sound emerged.
"MiKod!" she said, turning to the audience, "Ze E-Flat? Vere haz eet kone?"

Ah, those unforgettable moments.

Since I've pretty much identified myself in this forum as a Schumann fan I feel obliged in this thread to assert that the finest performance of a Schumann work I have ever heard (on record) is Maurizio Pollini's CD of the Sonatas.

1. Art Tatum
2. Cziffra
3. Francis Poulenc
4. Dimitri Shostakovich
5. Maurizio Pollini

Hear, hear ...

I remember I used to care deeply about this sort of thing, who are the top 3, top 5, etc ... Come to think of it, that's when I was in the kindergarten.

1. My Dad
2. Art Tatum
3. Volodos
4. Horowitz
5. Valentina Lisitsa