Thread: Female pianists you regard like a storied pianist

By storied pianist, I mean a pianist you might refer to as a V.S.O.P. (very superior older pianist). That meaning that you regard the pianist as a vital part of music history, whose mastery of music renders appraisal inept.

Sounds like a grand standard, but there are several pianists who meet up to this standard. It's probably because they regarded music to be a lifestyle, as opposed to music being a technical challenge conquered with time and intuition. Out of these storied pianists, there are actually quite a few women.

So let's start with these women:

Nadia Boulanger.
Joanna Graudan.
Alica DeLarrocha.
Maria Yudina.
Eunice Norton.
Ginette Doyen.
Marcelle Meyer.
Maria Grinberg.

I would add Clara Haskil and Marguerite Long to the list.

Here in Australia, we had Miriam Hyde (1913-2005), who was a composer, pianist, music educator & even poet! I'm not sure whether she recorded that much, but she did give many recitals both here & abroad. During her studies in London in the 1930's, she was accompanied by the likes of Malcolm Sargent at the helm. I have heard her play her own piano concertos on disc, and she was no slouch of a pianist, I can tell you! She contributed a lot to the post-war music scene in this country, and you can read about her more fully in the links below.

Miriam Hyde on Wikipedia & at Australian Music Centre.

Two of the big female names that jump into my head right away are Argerich, and Hewitt, yet , apparently they haven't quite reached this level in your view?

I'm okay with whatever submission you have. Just curious as to the female pianists that people like. You could say that what I pointed out as notable to me, was a pianist who kept maturing over a long period of time, and contributed to music history.

Well, of course I haven't heard her, but I definitely consider Clara Schumann an "important" pianist.

I agree with Marcelle Meyer and Ginette Doyen. Both play top notch Chabrier with a lot of personality.

Another one I know is Harriet Cohen (1895-1967), a British pianist who played a lot of new music from that country during her time. I have her playing Hubert Bath's Cornish Rhapsody, with the composer conducting, and she also premiered William Walton's Sinfonia Concertante (other composers she played were Bliss, Vaughan Williams, Ireland, Shostakovich, Kabalevsky). The entry on her at Wikipedia relates her colourful life, including her forty year relationship with the composer Arnold Bax, visiting the USSR to play British music in the 1930's, and surviving two assasination attempts upon a 1939 trip to Palestine (she was a big supporter of a Jewish homeland). HERE is a photo of Cohen with Bax.

For myself, I wouldn't include Argerich, if only because of how disappointed I was in her setting of the Schumann piano concerto. She may be great with Prokofiev, but not with Schumann.

I don't know how she will be perceived historically or how she is currently perceived even, but I find Mitsuko Uchida awe inspiring. She very nearly makes me like Mozart and her other activities with the Marlboro Music Festival seem like quite a commitment to music to me. Someday I must see if her interpretations can make me appreciate the Second Viennese School. I guess she couldn't be considered "older" yet.

Yudina and Argerich the best me think;

Grinberg is sometimes good, sometimes too mechanically forceful in her playing, lacking nuances,
Haskil often fine, sometimes lacking a bit of temper (but not when collaborating with Markevich, for instance).

Annie Fischer hasn´t been mentioned yet; she recorded a lot, Beethoven and Mozart especially. Her "Appassionata" for instance is one of the best around.

Edith Farnadi made some incredible records (the exuberant, gypsy-style Tschaikovsky 2nd Cto/Scherchen you´ll never forget, in case you haven´t heard it, likewise the Bartok Concerti 2+3/Scherchen etc.), but of a very varying quality, the "Annees de Pelerinage" for instance is often much too hurried and seems off-minded.

Haven´t heard enough Elly Ney , Gina Bachauer and Monique Haas to say much.

Meyer made some good Rameau and Maurice Emmanuel records.

Ania Dorfman can sometimes be very interesting, a lot of technical brilliance and sense of line / moving forward, but can also lack depth.


Oh yes, and Yvonne Loriod for Messiaen; the earlier the record, the better.

There´s a whole bunch of Russian, Caucasian and East-European female pianists that deserves further exploration but often recorded little. Tatiana Nikolayeva is quite known and recorded a lot, including relatively contemporary works, often very fine. Victoria Postnikova made excellent Janacek records on Erato, for example. Others include Maria Mdiwani (fine Prokofiev 3 Cto, ), Tamara Licheli (fine Azarashvili quintet on you-t), Eva Bernathova (fine Janacek, fine Franck Quintet), for instance.

Some that I personally often find somewhat disappointing are Tureck, Hewitt, Landowska , but many would disagree.

Anne Øland: what I´ve heard were disasters, both technically and as regards content ("Appassionata", Nielsen).

& Turkish pianist Idil Biret, her recording on Naxos of the three Boulez sonatas (done live at Radio France, it won a coveted [Diapason D'or award) is seldom far away from my CD player. Her passion and fire has opened up this quite challenging repertoire for me to a high degree...

Originally Posted by tdc

Two of the big female names that jump into my head right away are Argerich, and Hewitt, yet , apparently they haven't quite reached this level in your view?

In my mind, "storied" implied from a past era...

I tend to agree with some of the replies about Argerich., I find some of her early work (for solo piano in particular) to be far better and fresher than her later work.

As for Angela Hweitt, I think (in time) she may make the list. What we need to hear from her, IMHO, is more "diversity" in her repertoire. She's done lots of Bach, the complete Ravel, but hasn't ventured much off of that path. I'd like to hear her try bolder things - I think she has the technique and the musicianship to do so...

Halina Czerny-Stefańska (1922 - 2001) is certainly important link in tree of great chopinists, her recordings are included on first ever (I think) complete Chopin music release in history of phonography. Here is she playing with her husband Chopin's rondo for two pianos:

Having seen her perform live since 1996 and then following her youtube performances, I strongly feel Valentina Lisista will be in these rankings when her time comes...she's the only pianist male or female alive whose Chopin Etudes performances I not only respect but actually like very much.

Originally Posted by joen_cph

Annie Fischer hasn´t been mentioned yet; she recorded a lot, Beethoven and Mozart especially. Her "Appassionata" for instance is one of the best around.

She was my introduction to the Mozart concertos and I still love her recordings of them.