The greatest pianists past and present

Posted by: EJS on 04 May 2012

Coinciding with the young pianists thread, I'm starting a thread to provide an overview of the best established pianists past and present. Let's hope we can do a better job than Universal with their Greatest Pianists of the 20th Century series!

 

Let me kick off with my two heroes:

 

Stephen Kovacevich

 

 

 

 

 

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Ivo Pogorelich

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Maurizio Pollini:

 

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Annie Fischer:

 

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Clara Haskil

 

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Claudio Arrau

 

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Maria Joao Pires

 

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Krystian Zimerman

 

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Angela Hewitt

 

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Murray Perahia

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Vladimir Ashkenazy

 

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Mitsuko Uchida

 

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Alfred Brendel

 

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Julius Katchen (here with Joseph Suk, brilliant violinist)

 

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Jean-Yves Thibaudet

 

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Stephen Hough 

 

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Daniel Barenboim

 

Posted on: 04 May 2012 by Komet

Keith Emerson. Especially his playing on sides 3 and 4 of Welcome my friends...

Posted on: 04 May 2012 by Yippedidou

Are jazz pianist allowed? Michel Petrucciani, Kenny Barron, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and Myra Melford are my personal top 5.

Posted on: 04 May 2012 by Hook

My favorite pianists also come from the world of jazz -- Thelonius Monk, Bill Evans, Art Tatum, and many others!

 

But if I had to pick only one, it would be McCoy Tyner.  And not just for all of his work with Coltrane.  His solo career was amazing, so rich and varied (post-bop, African and Latin rhythms, and even jazz/rock fusion, kind of like Miles).

 

Apolologies to EJ if he wanted to keep this a purely Classical thread!

 

Hook

Posted on: 05 May 2012 by Earwicker

Sviatoslav Richter

 

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HOrowitz.

 

 

Gould.

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Michelangeli.

 

 

Backhaus.

 

 

Kempff.

Posted on: 05 May 2012 by Florestan

Excellent!  This is exactly where I was going anyway with the young pianists.  The point being that everyone starts out young, naive and inexperienced.  Compare a twenty year old pianist of a century ago with a twenty year old pianist of today and you still hear an eager musician trying to make music aligned with there own character and that of the style of the day/period.

 

Emil Gilels

Posted on: 05 May 2012 by Florestan

Edwin Fischer

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Myra Hess