# If you were entitled to have piano music recordings by only 5 or 10 pianists ...



## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Watching a documentary about Yudina on youtube, this thread idea came quite naturally.
The title pretty much says it:

who would you choose, if you were to focus on the recordings made by only 5 or 10 different pianists?

And based on reasons such as their recorded repertoire, playing style, spiritual approach, etc.?

I thought this should include concertos, chamber music, piano solo works, but not comprise orchestral works with a prominent piano part (like Bartok´s _Music for Strings _..., Stravinsky´s _Symphony in 3 Movements_, etc.).


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Possibly...

Schiff
Michelangeli
Roge
Richter
Jando
Uchida
Allen (Gregory)
de Larrocha
Denk
Hamelin

Several choices I made have to do primarily with certain repertoire they play.


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## chesapeake bay (Aug 3, 2015)

Edited: had to fix this to match the title better, these are the pianists whose recordings I would most want to have.

Louis Lortie - Ravel piano concerto in G etc. he has a very smooth style that I enjoy.

Grigory Ginzberg - Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody no 2, Medtner etc. though most of his recorded music is in mono, he's so good I don't even notice.

Vladimir Sofronitsky - Scriabin Sonatas love Scriabin and his recordings are the best to my ear.

Irina Mejoueva - Medtner, not easy to come by, released by Denon and reissued in Japan where she performs.

Maria Yudina - Brahms intermezzos, Beethoven. another exceptional pianist whose work transcends mono recordings.

Friedrich Gulda - The Mozart Tapes,played on a classic Bosendorfer in a hotel with one mike in the soundbox and remastered from the only remaining recorded versions which were on tape.

Alfred Brendel - mostly for his Schubert.

Ivan Moravec - love his Beethoven Piano sonata no 14, Brahms piano concerto's and his Czech repertoire (Suk Smetana Korte). 

Sviataslov Richter - everything 

...Geza Anda - Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto and all his Mozart


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## shadowdancer (Mar 31, 2014)

Really though call.
The list order doesn't reflect anything
Michelangeli
Arrau
Richter
Horowitz
Rubinstein
Nikolayeva (Shostakovich's fugues & preludes)
Argerich
Perahia
Gould
Brendel


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

tdc said:


> Possibly...
> 
> Jando
> 
> .


I have dozens of his recordings (bought as a job lot on an internet auction site) and he's a mighty fine pianist, but don't you get irritated by his humming along?


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I've never noticed Jando's humming. Then again, I haven't even noticed all that much humming from Gould.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Headphone Hermit said:


> I have dozens of his recordings (bought as a job lot on an internet auction site) and he's a mighty fine pianist, but don't you get irritated by his humming along?


Oh gosh, why'd you have to tell me that, I hadn't yet noticed...

He was picked mostly because he plays a lot of interesting repertoire on the Naxos label. If the humming becomes an issue for me, he will be swiftly replaced with Anda or maybe Brendel.


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## chesapeake bay (Aug 3, 2015)

tdc said:


> If the humming becomes an issue for me, he will be swiftly replaced with Anda or maybe Brendel.


Drat I forgot about Geza Anda, might need to add him to my list


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## ricklee (Sep 5, 2015)

I don't know enough pianists...yet. For now, Michelangeli, Arrau, Gould, Richter, Lympany.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

These 5 would be required for me.

Gould
Arrau
Rubinstein
Perahia
Horowitz

The next 5 would probably fill me out quite nicely.

Brendel
Schiff
Richter
Buchbinder
Freire


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Required:

Horowitz
Richter
Bolet
Fischer, Annie
Sofronitsky

runner's up:

Schiff
Gould
Pletnev
Yudina 
Anda
Ginzberg

and then a host of others..

/ptr


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## shadowdancer (Mar 31, 2014)

realdealblues said:


> These 5 would be required for me.
> 
> Gould
> Arrau
> ...


Really interesting. Our lists are almost the same. 
I am also happy to see some recognition to my country fellow Nelson Freire!!


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Would probably suggest the following; each pianist with a (at times partial) discography:

- *Horowitz* http://www.vladimirhorowitz.hostzi.com/1_10_discography-videography.html
(lots of composers, including Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov, Chopin etc.)

- *Richter* http://www.trovar.com/str/discs/
(lots of composers, including Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Shosty)

- *Kocsis* http://www.allmusic.com/artist/zoltán-kocsis-mn0000044248/discography (Bartok, Debussy)

- *Argerich* http://andrys.com/adisc-pg.html (lots of composers)

- *Yudina* http://rec.music.classical.recordings.narkive.com/NUmCu0hT/yudina-s-complete-discography#post2 (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Stravinsky, Bartok, etc.)

- *Ponti* http://www.discogs.com/artist/953014-Michael-Ponti?page=2 (Tchaikovsky, complete Scriabin, Medtner, lesser known romantic composers, etc.)

- *Hamelin* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc-André_Hamelin_discography (Messiaen, Medtner, Roslavets, Scriabin, Busoni cto etc.)

- *Ashkenazy* (good Prokofiev concertos, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Chopin, etc.) http://www.vladimirashkenazy.com/discography.php

- *Schiff * (Mozart complete concertos, Beethoven Cello, Schubert, Bach, Janacek etc.) http://www.discogs.com/artist/885766-András-Schiff

- *Aimard* (includes some Ligeti, Schönberg, Messiaen, and contemporary music in general http://www.discogs.com/artist/33975...s://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/322)

The main flaws are the absence of Gould, Gilels, Rubinstein, Samuil Feinberg and concertos by Lutoslawski, Nørgård, Ruders and Keuris, I think.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Gould
Sofronitsky
Tureck
Brendel
Argerich
Gulda
Arrau
Bolet
Richter
de Larrocha


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

No-one wants Schnabel yet? Wasn't he one of the pioneers in recording the complete set of Beethoven sonatas?

And what about Leslie Howard - for his complete set of Liszt? Surely those 99 are worth having if you don't have to pay the hundreds of pounds that they cost (even if they are reputed to be slightly uneven in places)


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

I like Schnabel especially in the Beethoven sonatas and Schubert impromptus, but I think there´s reasonable competition from the other pianists I have chosen.

Among the many Liszt pieces missing in my selection, the _Harmonies Poetiques ... and Legende no. 1_ are probably missing; Pont recorded Malediction and Totentanz, both fine pieces beyond the two concertos & the Hungarian Fantasy (all three done by Richter+Kondrashin, among others). Ponti did the complete _Transcendental Etudes _too.


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## chesapeake bay (Aug 3, 2015)

Schnabel was on my list initially but there are other pianists whom I prefer. Morevac for Brahms pc and many different ones for Beethoven's sonata's, many of whom didn't make the list either, as there are just so many pianists worth listening too. Here are a few others that could have made the list, but either don't have many recorded pieces or I only have heard a few so far.

Lucas deBargue 
Beveridge Webster 
Clara Haskil
Maryla Jonas
Hugo Steurer
Edwin Fischer
Aldo Ciccolini
Daniil Trifinov
Hans Richter-Haaser
Paavali Jumppanen
Eric Zuber
Richard Goode
Bella Davidovitch
Maria João Pires


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

chesapeake bay said:


> Schnabel was on my list initially but there are other pianists whom I prefer. Morevac for Brahms pc and many different ones for Beethoven's sonata's, many of whom didn't make the list either, as there are just so many pianists worth listening too. Here are a few others that could have made the list, but either don't have many recorded pieces or I only have heard a few so far.
> 
> Lucas deBargue
> Beveridge Webster
> ...


Among those I know a bit, Webster indeed did a fine Schumann _Novelettes_, and Haskil quite a lot of very fine recordings - Mozart concertos, De Falla, Beethoven ... (her Schumann concerto is somewhat similar to Argerich/Harnoncourt´s, I think). And Ciccolini some of the French repertoire not covered much otherwise (D´Indy, Satie).


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Headphone Hermit said:


> And what about Leslie Howard - for his complete set of Liszt? Surely those 99 are worth having if you don't have to pay the hundreds of pounds that they cost (even if they are reputed to be slightly uneven in places)


If quantity is the criterion, Howard is your man. For me, the quality is somewhat lacking.


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## GreatFugue (Aug 16, 2015)

No Kempff? Should I... should I leave?


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## chesapeake bay (Aug 3, 2015)

GreatFugue said:


> No Kempff? Should I... should I leave?


nope just post your own list  Kempff is another one I left off due to fewer recordings that I have, though since you mentioned Him I was just listening to him play his Bach/Kempff Siciliano, lovely. Might as well add Benno Moiseiwitsch to the list, he was left off Because I can never remember how to spell his last name correctly.


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

-Gould (Bach)
-Brendel (Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, Mozart, Haydn)
-Lupu (Brahms, Schubert)
-Sofronitsky (Scriabin, Chopin)
-Ciccolini (Satie, Severac)
-Pollini (Chopin, Beethoven)
-Rosen (Stravinsky, Webern, Schoenberg)
-Gulda (Mozart, Debussy)
-Kocsis (Bartók)
-Richter (all that he want to play)


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Too many good pianists to choose from
So I will have Murray Perahia and 9 others if I may


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

For the record I love the playing styles of Horowitz and Brendel, but being more of a Baroque/Modern music listener the repertoire they play is typically not what I am most interested in. I do very much enjoy the Scarlatti Horowitz has recorded. Brendel seems to have a way of making me enjoy any music that he is playing, even by composers I normally don't listen to very much.


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## chesapeake bay (Aug 3, 2015)

Here is a nice short play list of some amazing pianists


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