Who is your favorite pianist?

I was just wondering... Who are your favorite pianists? Dead ones included!

I would choose Michelangeli, Richter, Argerich, Zimerman... Arrau too!...

Favourite pianists? Richter, Gould, and Angela Hewitt -- but also John Kameera Parker, Agerich, aghhhhhhh -- too many to name. Each for different reasons, but I love them all.

Matthieu Stepec wrote:I would choose Michelangeli, Richter, Argerich, Zimerman... Arrau too!...

I have to admit, I've never really heard many different pianists, so I can't really answer the question.

What is it about these folks that sets them apart?

Mine are Rubinstein, Horowitz, Zimmerman, and Andsnes

Circle_of_Fists wrote:What is it about these folks that sets them apart?

A lot of things! Repertoire, technique, sound, temperament... For example Michelangeli has an extremely perfect technique which allows him to do any kind of sound he wants (watch his Ravel concerto!), but has a very restrained repertoire. Argerich has a very perfect technique too, but is much more hot-blooded and has a huge repertoire. Arrau plays a lot of classical viennese music (Beethoven especially) and has developed a very warm, rich sound to play it, without any sharpness or aggressiveness; he almost always plays at slow tempi, that's his deliberate choice. What makes him great is his personal implication into the music, his lack of compromise whatsoever: his willing to stay close to a very noble tradition...

Etc...

Many of these favourite pianists of ours can be heard and sometimes seen on youtubecom-- so you can check it out for yourself. It can be really interesting to hear the same piece done by different artists -- for Bach, Hewitt, Gould, Richter, Perahia, and others vary enormously -- sometimes the same artist re-records the same piece and again it's completely different the second-time around.

Sorry that should have been www.youtube.com -- I assume most everyone is familiar with this resource because that's how Andrew's classes are delivered. But I did forget to put in the "dot" so I thought I should correct myself.

favorites must be : Vladimir Horowitz, Valentina Igoshina, Friedrich Gulda, Wilhelm Kempff all great

KeyboardGal wrote:Many of these favourite pianists of ours can be heard and sometimes seen on youtubecom-- so you can check it out for yourself. It can be really interesting to hear the same piece done by different artists -- for Bach, Hewitt, Gould, Richter, Perahia, and others vary enormously -- sometimes the same artist re-records the same piece and again it's completely different the second-time around.

Sorry that should have been www.youtube.com -- I assume most everyone is familiar with this resource because that's how Andrew's classes are delivered. But I did forget to put in the "dot" so I thought I should correct myself.

I'll have to check it out. Any piece recommendations to start off with?

The first one I'll try out is this one to see who else plays it. This is the one Andrew has at the start of his vids. It would have been nice to hear his version:

that is a great vid it's in my favorites i would LOVE to be able to play this . new baby soaks up so much practice time sigh

Argerich:


Cziffra:



Both better than Horowitz in my opinion Horowitz can have such an ugly sound sometimes (often lol), probably because of his use of a light action keyboard. His interpretations are also very random sometimes.

And there you go with another one of the very best pianists of all time:

Unfortunately not very knowledgeable but I like Cziffra, or Kempff... one of my favorites is Cziffra's La Campanella, it's on youtube. One day I'm gonna get a Cziffra cd / box with Liszt pieces...

hay that czffra interpretation is great i agree much better than horrowitz

i cant say that i know too many but i have been looking on youtube alot and so far my fav is a guy named yundi lee... all i know is i like what i hear it sounds passionate in all the videos ive seen so far!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvm2ZsRv3C8

oops make that yundi li ha ha

check out vladimir horowitz

there was conveniently a video of him posted up above.... man these guys are crazy good the way their hands move isnt even right ha ha

He plays diffrent from most, much flatter hands. He's my all time favorite piano hero

There are so many hard to choose
Liszt, Chopin,
Horowitz,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lmJuAM_GvU

Gyorgy Cziffra,.. this is a warm up yeah i wanna warm up like that :DDD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf2accwGEaU

Zoltan Kocsis,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1gV2qtb71w

Lang Lang

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su2lLZRMQ9w


Annie Fischer - sad to lose such a talented lady

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d19_Faxiejg

I think different pianists suit different composers. For example, people like Barenboim and Kempf go magicly with Beethoven. Zimmerman goes amazingly well with Chopin. And Sofronitsky makes Scriabin come to life more then anybody!!!

That video of Lang Lang made me laugh, his just that into it. He's not just playing, his acting out the mood with his body ^_^

I'm so new to this piano business so I'll just say our Andrew!

But of the other very few ones I've heard I like the Dane Victor Borgé very much. Mainly because of his humour, but he's amazing at the piano the few moments he puts all joking aside.

I was reading a piano book few weeks ago and it surprised me that he was listed among the great piano players of the 20th century. I've known him for a long time as an entertainer, but never knew he was a top class pianist.

He should rather be playing instead

Oh I hadn't seen this second page. Yes Borge was good, but I wouldn't rank him among the best pianists of the century. Maybe he could have become one, but he gave up to become an entertainer! His sketches are very good by the way.

VictorCS wrote:That video of Lang Lang made me laugh, his just that into it. He's not just playing, his acting out the mood with his body ^_^

If I close my eyes, and liston to Lang Lang play, he is very very good!! But if I watch him, I cant take it seriously I think he should try to show his art more then his ego

Saying that, this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdrxM1f7wCE - is great!!

I can't claim to know very many pianists, I have not paid very close attention to the world of piano until recently. I have liked Wilhelm Kempff for a long time however...perhaps because I love Beethoven's sonatas and he is so well known for playing them. I never thought anyone could match Kempff's playing of Moonlight Sonata 3rd mov. However on a recent cruise of Youtube I stumbled upon this great woman playing it, Valentina Lisitsa, and I think I am in love with her
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zucBfXpCA6s