My ultimate guide to the great pianists

1350 Views 31 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Open Lane, 7 d ago

chu42

Discussion Starter · 20 d ago

I just find it sad that there are so many incredibly talented musicians who record a huge amount of music, only to be listened to by music critics and the most hardcore fans. So I compiled a list of notable pianists so some of the lesser-known names can get out there.
Notable pianists in alphabetical order

This is kind of a vast list, so it's probably better to consult the list below in order to get a better idea of what the most notable pianists are in the major categories of classical music.
Notable pianists by category

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21 - 32 of 32 Posts

Enthusiast

· #21 · 17 d ago

Maybe I'm not getting the point of the shorter list in the OP but I found many of my favourites in some categories were missing. For example, Arrau's Mozart sonata set is one of the best and Aimard's records of Beethoven (the concertos, the Hammerklavier) are exceptionally good. I like his Bach, too, and his French impressionists. To call him a specialist in modern music but not these is penalising him because he is willing to play (and excels in) contemporary music.

In some of the above posts I see there are others and I'm sure I could find many more. At the same time I am not sure the "Originalists" category is helpful. But, as I say, I may have misunderstood the exercise.

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Mandryka

· #22 · 17 d ago

Enthusiast said:
Maybe I'm not getting the point of the shorter list in the OP but I found many of my favourites in some categories were missing. For example, Arrau's Mozart sonata set is one of the best and Aimard's records of Beethoven (the concertos, the Hammerklavier) are exceptionally good. I like his Bach, too, and his French impressionists. To call him a specialist in modern music but not these is penalising him because he is willing to play (and excels in) contemporary music.

In some of the above posts I see there are others and I'm sure I could find many more. At the same time I am not sure the "Originalists" category is helpful. But, as I say, I may have misunderstood the exercise.

Yes, I said to myself that I'd love to see how Demidenko would react if someone told him that he was a Vorisek specialist!

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chu42

Discussion Starter · #23 · 17 d ago

Enthusiast said:
Maybe I'm not getting the point of the shorter list in the OP but I found many of my favourites in some categories were missing. For example, Arrau's Mozart sonata set is one of the best and Aimard's records of Beethoven (the concertos, the Hammerklavier) are exceptionally good. I like his Bach, too, and his French impressionists. To call him a specialist in modern music but not these is penalising him because he is willing to play (and excels in) contemporary music.

In some of the above posts I see there are others and I'm sure I could find many more. At the same time I am not sure the "Originalists" category is helpful. But, as I say, I may have misunderstood the exercise.

It is not that they are specialists in "only" that kind of music. It is that they have a large recorded discography in that kind of music that is well-regarded. To be sure, most of the great pianists possess great recordings in all areas of the repertoire.

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Jokke

· #24 · 14 d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zacharias

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haydnguy

· #25 · 14 d ago

Perhaps Marcelle Meyer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcelle_Meyer

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Mandryka

· #26 · 13 d ago (Edited)

chu42 said:
It is not that they are specialists in "only" that kind of music. It is that they have a large recorded discography in that kind of music that is well-regarded. To be sure, most of the great pianists possess great recordings in all areas of the repertoire.

Well has DemiD recorded a lot of Vorisek? Ferber recorded more Debussy than he did Fauré. Cziffra and Sokolov have hardly played a significant proportion of keyboard pieces by Rameau or Couperin (contrast for example Hewitt.) Osborne has only played two pieces by Messiaen, no preludes and more crucially no catalogue or etudes -- which are arguably his most important piano works. I don’t think Uchida has played all of Schoenberg’s piano music.

What all these comments show is the enormity of the task you have set yourself.

By the way, have you forgotten Frederic Chiu? I can't look now.

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chu42

Discussion Starter · #27 · 13 d ago

Mandryka said:
Well has DemiD recorded a lot of Vorisek? Ferber recorded more Debussy than he did Fauré. Cziffra and Sokolov have hardly played a significant proportion of keyboard pieces by Rameau or Couperin (contrast for example Hewitt.)

Osborne has only played two pieces by Messiaen, no preludes and more crucially no catalogue or etudes -- which are arguably his most important piano works. I don’t think Uchida has played all of Schoenberg’s piano music.

What all these comments show is the enormity of the task you have set yourself.

Ah. I think I will remove Demidenko and Osborne in that case. While Uchida/Sokolov/Cziffra aren't comprehensive in their recordings of these composers, I believe that they are considered at least very significant among these composers' recordings. But that's subjective.

And in any case, there is no harm in overstating someone's specialities if it leads to more eyes on their work.

Mandryka said:
By the way, have you forgotten Frederic Chiu? I can't look now.

No, I haven't forgotten Chiu! I have him for Chopin and Prokofiev.

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Mandryka

· #28 · 13 d ago

You can really see how central piano has been to "classical music" culture since the advent of recording. There are just too many pianists to list. And someone else started a thread where he wanted lists of piano miniatures, and it's kind of the same, just too many!

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Mandryka

· #29 · 12 d ago

The last few weeks I’ve been exploring Granados’s Goyescas on record. In the past, if you were in the UK or USA or Japan you were really limited to what the big international record producers offered you. We all knew there were specialist Hispanic pianists but had very little access to them.

Things have changed thanks to the web. I am now listening to Teresa Escandòn play Goyescas, she’s a Cuban piano player, friend of Bolet. She recorded for the Piccolo label.

It is fabulous.

Where I’m coming from is that there is a whole world of “local” pianists, who never signed up with the likes of DG or EMI - so we’re never known out of their countries. And in some cases - Granados is one - these guys have very significant achievements.

So your task is even more complicated @chu42

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chu42

Discussion Starter · #30 · 12 d ago

Mandryka said:
The last few weeks I’ve been exploring Granados’s Goyescas on record. In the past, if you were in the UK or USA or Japan you were really limited to what the big international record producers offered you. We all knew there were specialist Hispanic pianists but had very little access to them.

Things have changed thanks to the web. I am now listening to Teresa Escandòn play Goyescas, she’s a Cuban piano player, friend of Bolet. She recorded for the Piccolo label.

It is fabulous.

Where I’m coming from is that there is a whole world of “local” pianists, who never signed up with the likes of DG or EMI - so we’re never known out of their countries. And in some cases - Granados is one - these guys have very significant achievements.

So your task is even more complicated @chu42

Very true. However, I will be happy if I help people just dip their toes into the surface because many folks hardly even do that. Ask most classical music listeners and they'll hardly be able to name the great pianists outside of the Chos and Argerichs and whoever won the recent big competition.