Best Pianist Ever?

Question

I know there are some amazing ones that were never recorded like Anton Rubinstein or Liszt, but who do you think the best pianist on record is. Also does anyone have any recommendations for me on this subject: my favorite pianist is Van Cliburn. I was lucky enough to see him live 2 summers ago at Interlochen Camp. I absolutely love his recordings and him as a person. Can you name any pianist who is similar to him in that he/she is a wonderful pianists and a wonderful person. so essentially this is a 2 part question. I would appreciate your opinion. Also if anyone has any information about Van Cliburn as a person i would appreciate it too.

Answer 1

My favorite is Sviatoslav Richter, but as a Cliburn fan you may not agree. There is a video of Richter, recorded when he was fairly old, which is fascinating and really brings him to life as a person. Search on Amazon for the title.

Answer 2

Best Pianist In History

Answer 3

Here is the answer I gave a similar post.
This is a difficult question to answer conclusively. There are many factors in determining a great pianist. The most important factors are, technical ability, and interpretive power. For example, I can say with confidence, that Marc Andre Hamelin is the greatest technition alive today. If I had to venture a guess, I would say that there probably has not been a pianist in history who had greater technical ability than Hamelin. Of course, I may be wrong... In terms of interpretive powers, it varies with regards to the performance of different composers. Glenn Gould may have been the greatest Bach interpretor, however, his Beethoven is horrendous. Arthur Schnabel was perhaps the greatest Beethoven interpretor, however, his technical skills left much to be desired. That being said, there are only a handful of pianists that can even be considered as the best of the best, and here is a list in no particular order...
Vladimir Horowitz
Claudio Arrau
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Sviatoslav Richter
Arthur Schnabel
Rachmaninoff
Glenn Gould
Emil Gilels
Regarding your second question...Marc Andre Hamelin, is the pianist who comes to mind when speaking of a great pianist who is also a great person. He is arguably the greatest technition to ever play the piano, and he is extremely humble and nice. If you were to meet him, you would never think that he is one of the foremost pianists out there.

Answer 4

This is highly subjective as there are no standards by which to judge... however,
I too greatly admire Van Cliburn who has made some fabulous recordings - I especially like his versions of the late Brahms piano music (It is a pity he never released a complete collection of this work).
When it comes to Austro - German works, I am particularly fond of Alfred Brendel. Immaculately performed versions of Beethoven, Mozart and especially Schubert - devoid of affectation and with deep insight.
Krystian Zimerman - perhaps the best modern interpreter of Chopin's larger works.
Marc Andre Hamelin - amazing technique and unique perspective on lesser performed and more difficult works from the likes of Alkan and Godowsky - remarkable!
I am, unfortunately not in a position to comment on their qualities as people, never having met any of them (shame).
I'm not sure that there are other pianists like Van Cliburn (or the others I have mentioned for that matter). I would imagine that each of these people are quite unique in their own ways.

Answer 5

I like the sports comparison. I saw Mantle, Berra, Musial, Hank Aaron, and all were a delight to watch. I have been at concerts given by Rubenstein, Arrau, Serkin, (missed Brendel but still hoping), Cliburn, Andre Watts and a host of others. All were very enjoyable experiences. The only two I met in person were Jose Iturbi and Gina Bachauer. Iturbi was most charming. "The greatest" is too subjective.

Answer 6

Franz Liszt is said to be the greatest pianist who ever lived, few could match his techniques and not could actually out perform him and his keyboard pyrotechnics.

However, the honour falls to Gyorgy Cziffra to be the greatest pianist to be recorded.

Many believed that Cziffra was actually Liszt reincarnated.

Answer 7

It's hard to take your question seriously - how could there be a "best pianist"? Is there a "best athlete" in the world, or a "best scientist"? I don't mean to nag you, but here's my friendly advice: if you phrase your initial question as "Who is your favorite pianist of all time?", I would bet that more people will respond. Or even better, "Who are your favorite pianists of all time?"

Here's a page which presents a good, thorough review of a series of recordings, including one by Van Cliburn:
http://www.classicalnotes.net/columns/pianoweb.html

And my personal answer: my favorite pianists are Marc-André Hamelin and Vladimir Viardo. I would give the highest possible recommendation to Hamelin's recordings of Alkan, and Viardo's recording of the Debussy Preludes.

Answer 8

excuse me anton Rubenstein is the worst pianist. even chopin lol hard at him ....vest pianist is subjective because piano tells preference. I say best pianist is subjective. the piano measures your preference. also I heard antons voice recording and sounds like a girl its the other way its to sound manly and strong >.<. clementi worse clementi its the "best dad" from all eras but hes a sucky pianist. Clara schumman knew the weakness of a pianist her description tells. angel vomits at rubensteins mentioning. one thing is huge fortissimo but lovely sounding another is huge fortissimo and annoying minds.and I heard both cases thing is I don't remember pianist. also master of harmony doesn't mean the strong one it means master of friends and that was bach.mozart is ok but the marriage killed him stupidly.wait you wanna know why anyone don't play antons pieces its because of that he sucks hehe . van cliburn hes ok but hes like clementi close to a Beethoven description. I like josh wright more but that's me.today pianist can reach from clementi to liszt and thalobergh lv. thing is musicians are scaterred.

Answer 9

Michael Nyman

Answer 10

It may well have been Mozart who was much feted as a pianist in his lifetime. Apparently he could do anything with whatever music he was playing and would always improve it. One of the reasons that the piano concertos of Mozart are relatively simple is because when he played them he filled in all the bits which, sadly, he never never wrote down.