Young pianists worth following

Posted by: EJS on 28 April 2012

All,

 

Picking up from another discussion, perhaps time to start a new thread on the best up and coming pianists currently active on the podia and recording?

 

My first stab:

 

- Anna Vinnitskaya: three official discs so far, including a promising debut recital, and a great follow-up (Ravel and Prokofiev concertos). Her recent disc with Ravel solo piano music shows her finding her way in this repertoire, interesting but as of yet I think slightly out of her league. 

 

- Rafal Blechacz: one of the great sets of Chopin préludes was followed by good but rather anonymous discs of sonatas and Chopin piano concertos. However, his recent Debussy/Szymanowski is brilliant. 

 

- Joseph Moog: I'm bowled over by his recent Rubinstein 4 / Rachmaninov 3 disc. Both performances up there with the best I know

 

- David Fray: the new Pogorelich? Certainly as idiosyncratic, I highly recommend all his recordings, the highlight being his jazzy Bach concerto disc

 

Look forward to your views!

 

Cheers,

 

EJ

Posted on: 03 May 2012 by EJS

Endorsing Doug's earlier entry on Chamayou: I got to know him through his fine recording of the complete Années de Pèlerinage, which he manages to sustain from beginning to end. Not many before him have accomplished that feat! Another good record is his album with music by Cesar Franck, still relatively unknown music and again excellently played.

 

Cheers,

 

EJ

 

Posted on: 03 May 2012 by EJS
 
 
And since we haven't agreed on an age limit and Doug's already mentioned Steven Osborne, Ingrid Fliter and a couple of other middle agers, let me add Alexandre Tharaud to the list. The world got to know him via his complete Ravel but I think he's  made a bigger mark playing the works of Chopin, Rameau and Scarlatti. His most recent recording with Bach's keyboard concerti is also very good.
 
Cheers,
 
EJ
Posted on: 03 May 2012 by Florestan
Originally Posted by EJS:

Doug,

 

Awesome! I can only imagine what your collection must look like...

 

EJ

EJ, you don't want to see it now.  In any case, it always sounds better than it looks when I eventually find what I am looking for.  I am in the middle of trying to figure out how to organize everything better.  Not sure I will succeed because I am at the point where I generally collect a complete artist's work it is starting to make more sense to organize a huge portion by artist rather than composer or genre.  I may have to do a bit of both.

 

Thanks for bringing in Tharaud.  I actually thought I had him in there but must of gotten distracted somehow.  I did intend to include him too. 

 

Posted on: 04 May 2012 by EJS

 

Alexander Melnikov is making a name for himself as concert pianist, soloist, and chamber musician (regular partner with HM stablemate Isabelle Faust). His breakthrough was arguably his very fine recording of the Shostakovich 48. I'm looking forward to his new Schumann album, due out any time.

 

Cheers,

 

EJ

Posted on: 04 May 2012 by Earwicker

Bavouzet's 50 - is that young?! He is fantastic though, he certainly stands out from the (ofeten overrated) crowd. 

 

Of the young uns Katya Apekisheva impresses me - that Grieg album's fantastic.

 

EW

Posted on: 08 May 2012 by Aleg

Javier Perianes