AudioCircle

Music and Media => The Classical Music Circle => Topic started by: sounddog on 8 Jan 2023, 05:28 pm

Title: Favorite Living Classical Pianists
Post by: sounddog on 8 Jan 2023, 05:28 pm
Who are your favorite living classical pianists? My top-ten list in rough order is:

1.Paul Lewis
2.Mitsuko Uchida
3.Steven Osborne
4.Angela Hewitt
5.Maria-Joao Pires
6.Alice Sara Ott
7.Alexandre Tharaud
8.Martha Argerich
9.Yuja Wang
10.Adam Laloum
Title: Re: Favorite Living Classical Pianists
Post by: richidoo on 8 Jan 2023, 06:00 pm
Lise De Salle
Yulianna Avdeeva
Julia Fischer
Ingrid Fliter
Leon Fleischer
Alfred Brendel (retired)
Yevgeny Sudbin
Title: Re: Favorite Living Classical Pianists
Post by: rotarius on 8 Jan 2023, 06:56 pm
Hey, Ashkenazy, Ax and Pollini are still alive!  Zimerman and Grimaud have always been enjoyable as well.
Title: Re: Favorite Living Classical Pianists
Post by: tipatina on 23 Sep 2023, 12:46 am
Philippe Entremont
Title: Re: Favorite Living Classical Pianists
Post by: simoon on 9 Nov 2023, 09:13 pm
In no particular order.

Martha Argerich
Maurizio Pollini
Evgeny Kissin
Emil Gilels
Mitsuko Uchida
Daniil Trifonov
Yuja Wang

And others...

I do hold a special place for Ursula Oppens. Of course, her playing is great, but I love that she has always been a champion for modern and contemporary classical music; Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Stefan Wolpe, Joseph Schwantner, Joan Tower, etc.

For example, her performance of Carter's Piano Concerto, is world class. And it is not exactly an easy piece to play.


Title: Re: Favorite Living Classical Pianists
Post by: Freo-1 on 9 Nov 2023, 09:56 pm
I'll add Anna Federova and Khatia Buniatishvila to the list.
Title: Re: Favorite Living Classical Pianists
Post by: Tyson on 9 Nov 2023, 11:23 pm
Based on what he did at the Van Cliburn competition, Yunchan Lim is going to be one of these generational talents.  His Rachmaninov in the finale was incredible, but I think his Liszt Transcendent Etudes in the semi-finals was even better.
Title: Re: Favorite Living Classical Pianists
Post by: S Clark on 9 Nov 2023, 11:43 pm
Quote from: Tyson on  9 Nov 2023, 11:23 pm
Based on what he did at the Van Cliburn competition, Yunchan Lim is going to be one of these generational talents.  His Rachmaninov in the finale was incredible, but I think his Liszt Transcendent Etudes in the semi-finals was even better.
I was in the audience  for the Semi's  on the 5th row  slightly left.... as good a seats as you could ask for.  And the Liszt didn't strike me as all that special... but I'd been listening aaaaallllllll day. Rene'e and I were really tired and thinking about heading out early anyway.   
But man, what I've hear of that Rach 3rd was .... wow.  Amazing.  I don't think I have anything on my shelves that is comparable.   
Title: Re: Favorite Living Classical Pianists
Post by: Tyson on 10 Nov 2023, 12:03 am
Oh man I am so jealous!!!!  Can't believe you got to see that live.   

For the Liszt Transcendental Etudes, listen to some other pianists first and then listen to what Lim did and I promise you your jaw will drop.  Pretty much every other pianist I've heard struggles to keep up with the music, while Lim is so technically facile that he can actually make the music sound playful even in the heaviest passages.  I literally could not believe what I was hearing.  It's that sense of play that really sets him apart, IMO.

Lim plays piano the way Michael Jordan played basketball - such a high level that you can feel the sheer joy that underpins what they do.
Title: Re: Favorite Living Classical Pianists
Post by: Chris from Lafayette on 10 Nov 2023, 01:24 am
Quote from: sounddog on  8 Jan 2023, 05:28 pm
Who are your favorite living classical pianists?

Really impossible to say, but I find the following (in no particular order) always interesting: