I re-visited the Pogorelich recently, and found it surprisingly good and interesting.

Of complete sets, I've got

• Pogorelich /dg
• Blechacz/dg
• Karolyi /arkadia
• Cortot 1942-43 /piano library + international media
• Cortot 1933 (?)/melodiya LP
• Katsaris /sony
• Kissin /rca
• Argerich /dg
• Sofronitsky /brilliant
• Gulda /membran
• R.Kerer /melodiya-emi LP
• Moravec /connoisseur society LP
• Magaloff /philips LP
• Arrau /philips ca.1980 LP
• J M Darre /vanguard LP (not very interesting)
• Pollini live 1960 /joker LP
• Fiorentino /saga LP
• Alexeev /emi LP

I'm sure there are dozens of potentially interesting, other ones out there (including Sokolov, his Etudes and Sonata 2 also on Naive are very good, for example), but that's pretty much enough for me these days.

 

Good to see Kerer and Karolyi there @joen_cph

 

Cortot surpasses all others, not just in terms of poetry of phrasing but also in terms of the multitude of colours he elicits from the piano. Although, as brilliant as they are and as much as they have received classic status, I don't find them quite as unimpeachable as his recordings of the etudes and ballades. I also enjoy Argerich for a more technically assured approach in better sound.

 

My personal favorites: Argerich, Pogorelich (both of these belong to my all-time favorite recordings of any work, the palette of colors they achieve is out of this world), Pollini.
More recent recordings I find superb too: Tharaud, Blechacz

 

Recently purchased Pogorelich's recording at a thrift store. When I listened to it I immediately sat up straight. The preludes are exciting masterpieces when he plays them. Then listened to Kissin's recording. Then suddenly they became normal piano pieces.