# What makes a great soloist so much better than the rest of the pack?



## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

I read on Talkclassical how some soloists are the best. I read on here that Argerich, Ashkenazy, Gould are the upper tier of solo pianists. What makes these, and possibly others, better than the just extremely good pianists.

I saw Jean-Ives Thibaudet play Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major and I was totally amazed and enthralled by his performance. So, first off, is he below the three that I listed above? Secondly, why is he not in their class when he is truly an amazing musician?

I am not a musician and I am truly interested in what separates the great from the amazingly great.


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

First, there's no absolute ranking. The three you listed are acknowledged greats but it's not an exclusive list -- and like anything else, you cannot line up pianists from left to right in order of greatness. When you get to the top tier, it's as much a matter of personal taste as anything else. Thibaudet is certainly a world class concert pianist, but to try to give him a rank is senseless.

To answer your first question: "Topness" requires a combination of technique and musicianship that are hard to define, but you know it when you hear it.


----------



## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Rach Man said:


> I read on Talkclassical how some soloists are the best. I read on here that Argerich, Ashkenazy, Gould are the upper tier of solo pianists. What makes these, and possibly others, better than the just extremely good pianists.
> 
> I saw Jean-Ives Thibaudet play Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major and I was totally amazed and enthralled by his performance. So, first off, is he below the three that I listed above? Secondly, why is he not in their class when he is truly an amazing musician?
> 
> I am not a musician and I am truly interested in what separates the great from the amazingly great.


Part of the answer is that they are well marketed. Mainstream classical music creates stars and it does it largely by image building through advertising and public relations. Classical music listeners are very susceptible to this in my opinion. These guys can play well, and they look good, and they tend to be agreeable. But there is no real sense that they are better than the rest in the pack.


----------



## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Rach Man said:


> I saw Jean-Ives Thibaudet play Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major and I was totally amazed and enthralled by his performance.


This has as much to do with you as him, as it were. Your mood on the night.


----------



## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Friends I have the answer to this... I have the bonafide answer... all masters have the same attribute... 

answer:


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

OP: Superior musicianship, which for me means the ability to move listeners emotionally.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Rach Man said:


> I read on Talkclassical how some soloists are the best. I read on here that Argerich, Ashkenazy, Gould are the upper tier of solo pianists. What makes these, and possibly others, better than the just extremely good pianists.
> 
> I saw Jean-Ives Thibaudet play Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major and I was totally amazed and enthralled by his performance. So, first off, is he below the three that I listed above? Secondly, why is he not in their class when he is truly an amazing musician?
> 
> I am not a musician and I am truly interested in what separates the great from the amazingly great.


Greatness is just like beauty in the eye of the beholder.
I think Trifonov is out of this world at the moment, I someone disagree, that's fine by me.


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Rach Man said:


> *What makes a great soloist so much better than the rest of the pack?*


Possibly the same thing that, according to the great piano soloist Horowitz, gets one to Carnegie Hall: practice, practice, practice. Of course, there is probably much more to it than that. Some artists simply have more inherent ability than others, whether this means physical ability or mental alacrity. The greats, of course, have both of these to extraordinary degrees. Coupled with that elusive "gift" called genius. But it will take practice no matter how in-born abilities may be. Without practice, natural ability means little to nothing as far as development of artistic skills goes.

Practice itself is an elusive thing. The greats will likely tell you one has to know how to practice effectively in order to progress. That's why great soloists generally have great teachers (often great soloists themselves) in their backgrounds. Great teachers know how to shape practice for greatest benefits and least wasted time and effort.

So, go practice. Carnegie Hall awaits!


----------



## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Originality and innovation. The greatest soloists have a unique take on the pieces that they perform, sometimes even (as with Gould) to the point of coming across as willful and eccentric. They say something new about the music - a feat that requires enormous amounts of creativity, particularly with pieces that have been performed and recorded hundreds of times!


----------



## topo morto (Apr 9, 2017)

They have to look good on the poster, and then on the night, not drop the instrument.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Great technique is a given. One who has researched the music and can communicate the composer's intentions to the listener, due to that research; the way Rubinstein could do with Chopin; the way Van Cliburn did with the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1; the way Rachel Barton Pine did with the Brahms Violin Concerto and the way Nathan Milstein did with Bach's Unaccompanied Violin Sonatas & Partitas.

You know it when you hear it; at least I can.

Too many conservatory graduates these days who have technique to burn, leave me cold. All surface polish. Little insight into what the composer was trying to convey.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

topo morto said:


> They have to look good on the poster, and then on the night, not drop the instrument.


There's always Photoshop for looking good, except when they are dead.


----------

