For me, it's Mitsuko Uchida for sure, incredible on Debussy & Mozart, but I discovered Freddy Kempf totally by accident - he records for Bis which seems like a pretty scattershot imprint to me but his Prokofiev is RIDICULOUSLY good. I have him doing some Liszt too which I haven't spent significant time with yet, but I tend to favor a lighter touch on Liszt whereas I think a lot of pianists use L. as their "here's where I really turn on the fireworks" composer (which to be fair was probably how Liszt played his own stuff). And finally Evgeny Kissin I think is spectacular but then again I am kinda helpless before Russian virtuosos.
Also tangentially of interest is that while I reject any claims by Genesis fans of Genesis having any formal connections to classical music, Kempf was involved in The Genesis Suite, which evidently treated a lot of mid/early-latter (...and then there were three) period Genesis as classical - he played on "Ripples" & "Entangled," LOL imo, but his technique cannot be faulted as far as I'm concerned
― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 17:29 (thirteen years ago) link
P I A N U S
― goole, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:41 (thirteen years ago) link
Professor Longhair is dead
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:41 (thirteen years ago) link
and you only want European classical players?
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Jerry Lee Lewis is still alive. He's my answer
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:44 (thirteen years ago) link
― under the pollcano (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Also please look here: http://www.smallsjazzclub.com/index.cfm?itemCategory=32334&siteid=272&priorId=0&banner=a&personTypeId=36
― under the pollcano (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:47 (thirteen years ago) link
Eddie Palmieri
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Cecil Taylor
― Funky Mustard (People It's Bad) (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:49 (thirteen years ago) link
I'd second Eddie Palmieri
― under the pollcano (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:51 (thirteen years ago) link
That's what I' m wondering. Until I hear the answer I'm posting this cat that I finally caught live last week:
man I was really really hoping James had posted Keyboard Cat here
― fat fat fat fat Usher (DJP), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Sorry, Dan, missed that meme.
Tried to get this thread started once jazz d-bag sick piano chops youtube thread but two of those guys have passed since then.
― under the pollcano (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:56 (thirteen years ago) link
Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu (whose Brahms intermezzi are beautiful)
Crappy live recording:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1DEyOoQEVc
― Bill Higgins, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 18:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Marilyn Crispell
― nicky lo-fi, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 19:13 (thirteen years ago) link
also a second for Cecil Taylor
― nicky lo-fi, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 19:15 (thirteen years ago) link
McCoy Tyner
― nicky lo-fi, Tuesday, 19 April 2011 19:18 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUAN6Q83a4Y
― Four Shouters Shouting (Eazy), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 19:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Lupu is great for sure. Also I love saying "Radu Lupu"
I'm thinking mainly of classical piano, if people wanna talk jazz piano that's fine too, it's not like jazz dudes have lesser chops than academy dudes - however there is this big gulf in that many jazz pianists are also composing their own material, which means a whole diff. relationship between the material & the player -- i.e., if you like Cecil Taylor's music, odds are you're going to consider him a good pianist. Radu Lupu for all I know could be the worst composer in the history of the world, it wouldn't make a difference - it's all about the playing in the classical world. (Or mostly. Michael Hersch is an amazing pianist who also composes.)
― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 19:31 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.audioenmuziek.nl/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Prokofiev-pollini.jpg
this is one of my fav piano lps
― no xmas for jonchaies (nakhchivan), Friday, 13 May 2011 13:21 (twelve years ago) link
the delicate filial bond between an italian intellectual and his homonculus is relayed through four greats of the modernist piano repertoire
― no xmas for jonchaies (nakhchivan), Friday, 13 May 2011 13:27 (twelve years ago) link
maria lettberg is a monster imo
― Steven Tyler the Creator (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, 13 May 2011 13:58 (twelve years ago) link
Call me a corny ECM fuXor but I really like Tord Gustavsen.
http://youtu.be/20-IPIsG4cI
― Per Yngve's having his brain out (MaresNest), Friday, 13 May 2011 15:19 (twelve years ago) link
http://boxset.ru/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/hamelin_liszt_grand_romantic_virtuoso.jpg
― http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WhiteAmericanFolks.jpg (nakhchivan), Monday, 6 June 2011 12:58 (twelve years ago) link
Hamelin is a fave among virtuosity dorks but don't hold that against him
― http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WhiteAmericanFolks.jpg (nakhchivan), Monday, 6 June 2011 13:22 (twelve years ago) link
John Tilbury
― erschloraque, Monday, 6 June 2011 14:04 (twelve years ago) link
no audiophile sound feast no credibility
― http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WhiteAmericanFolks.jpg (nakhchivan), Monday, 6 June 2011 14:07 (twelve years ago) link
Ti
Ian Pace is someone who never just rests on his brill technique - he's the one I always feel is doing much more and really using the piano as a way to think. Probably unfair to others; know it sounds awkward but its the best I can manage right now.
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 7 June 2011 20:13 (twelve years ago) link
Tilbury seconded. Saw him with AMM in 2000, absolutely stunning.
― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 7 June 2011 20:16 (twelve years ago) link
I know in itself it's a neutral observation, but Matthew Shipp has one of the most absolutely immediately recognizable piano sounds around, among contemporary pianists I've heard.
― redress control number (_Rudipherous_), Friday, 9 November 2012 22:03 (eleven years ago) link
But I forgot this thread had a classical slant.
― redress control number (_Rudipherous_), Friday, 9 November 2012 22:05 (eleven years ago) link
Also the Matthew Shipp Trio album from this year is excellent, though Shipp completely sits out some tracks, as far as I can tell.
― redress control number (_Rudipherous_), Friday, 9 November 2012 22:09 (eleven years ago) link
OTM re: Shipp's sound.
Also, Boston's Eric Zinman has been doing amazing, amazing things for a couple of decades.
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 10 November 2012 01:31 (eleven years ago) link
ha, I came here to say Matthew Shipp
― welltris (crüt), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 14:43 (eight years ago) link
Saw this guy playing some late pieces by Elliott Carter a couple of years ago, pretty spectacular technique:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Hodges
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 14:58 (eight years ago) link
I am also a fan of Matthew Shipp. wish more jazz dudes would pull a Jarrett and make a Shostakovich disc or something. I don't love Jarrett's Shostakovich (I think he did Bach too, I forget) but I love it as an idea
― tremendous crime wave and killing wave (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 14:58 (eight years ago) link
like those old jacques loussier records?
― feargal czukay (NickB), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 15:06 (eight years ago) link
Mark Knoop has carved out quite a presence in the last couple of years or so around London.
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 8 September 2015 15:10 (eight years ago) link
At the time of writing there are a couple of perfs coming up:
http://www.markknoop.com/performances/from/2015/to/2016
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 8 September 2015 15:11 (eight years ago) link
Shipp's recent Duke Ellington tribute is very good, I love piano trios but haven't heard a modern one I like as much as this before.
― xelab, Tuesday, 8 September 2015 15:40 (eight years ago) link
hamelin obviously
― Aleix Salmonid (Nilmar Honorato da Silva), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 16:06 (eight years ago) link
who is better out of ian pace and nicholas hodges
― Aleix Salmonid (Nilmar Honorato da Silva), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 16:11 (eight years ago) link
Now that Moravec has passed away this is a tough question. It's definitely not Hamelin for me. I can think of the active pianists who have made definitive (to me) recordings of certain pieces... Andsnes in a Schubert sonata, Frederic Chiu in Ravel's miroirs, lubimov in the Debussy preludes. Arnaldo Cohen in that Liszt recital on Naxos.
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 21:08 (eight years ago) link
chris abrahams
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 21:16 (eight years ago) link
https://youtu.be/YUwq63OIPtk
john tilbury - winter trees (terry jennings), w/additional field sounds.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 22:42 (eight years ago) link
yeah i recommend that
andsnes is excellent in liszt and bartok, lubimov i know only from his der bote elegies recital which is fine, that cohen lp i have also certainly recommended before
― Aleix Salmonid (Nilmar Honorato da Silva), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 22:48 (eight years ago) link
my favourite recent piano find is a couple of lps by michele campanella
http://www.allmusic.com/album/liszt-on-his-favorite-piano-mw0002165068http://www.allmusic.com/album/wagners-piano-mw0002409739
― Aleix Salmonid (Nilmar Honorato da Silva), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 23:04 (eight years ago) link
tania giannouli
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 9 September 2015 03:37 (eight years ago) link
your mom works my pianist very well indeed
― mattresslessness, Wednesday, 9 September 2015 03:45 (eight years ago) link
kris davis
― massaman gai, Wednesday, 9 September 2015 07:07 (eight years ago) link
oh i guess i should try & sell kris davis to you. check "waiting for you to grow" or "save your breath" or the "SKM" or "RIDD" discs - they're all on the clean feed label. davis also brings a lot to ingrid laubrock's anti-house, & is an equal partner in paradoxical frog w/ laubrock & tyshawn sorey.dumb reviewers say things about cecil taylor, but no, Davis maybe be fleet of finger, but she has a little more variety than taylor's irresistible extemporised bartok/ellington/scriabin/jellyroll morton testimony.dizzying giddiness abounds.go sample an mp3 somewhere.
― massaman gai, Wednesday, 9 September 2015 07:34 (eight years ago) link
Alex von Schlippenbach
― schlep and back trio (anagram), Wednesday, 9 September 2015 08:39 (eight years ago) link
"Save Your Breath" is so good, I have heard at least a dozen clean feed releases this year but somehow missed this one up till now.
― xelab, Wednesday, 9 September 2015 15:05 (eight years ago) link
aw shoot, sten sandell, of course. kinda humourless, dubious proclivity for throat singing,largely refuses to "sit back" in his own trio, but dang!
― massaman gai, Thursday, 10 September 2015 04:01 (eight years ago) link
http://counterflows.com/evan-parker-sten-sandell/
Saw this performance by Sandell and Evan Parker earlier this year, where Sandell was playing the organ in the Glasgow University Chapel - not entirely successful - Sandell was up in the rafters, Parker at the other of the church, so it often felt like two separate performances - but Sandell did coax some extraordinary sounds out of the organ, inc. some farty noises that cld be described as 'humourous'
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Friday, 11 September 2015 11:00 (eight years ago) link
despite parker being a braniac & giving us all the terry riley as a seagull circular squawking that we need, he sometimes brings some hokey "call and response" tricks to situations where they just reek like gorgonzola (see braxton & morris duets)
― massaman gai, Saturday, 12 September 2015 08:50 (eight years ago) link
tick.jpg
http://www.discogs.com/Massimiliano-Damerini-Piano-XX-Vol-2/release/1761957
― nakhchivan, Wednesday, 23 September 2015 19:50 (eight years ago) link
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0001/146/MI0001146120.jpg?partner=allrovi.com
I am no expert but have just been listening to the preludes disc off this Debussy complete works set, this dude can play and then some.
― xelab, Thursday, 24 September 2015 13:43 (eight years ago) link
yeah
his lp of the stravinsky works for piano and orchestra is highly rated
― nakhchivan, Thursday, 24 September 2015 14:21 (eight years ago) link
I love Bavouzet's rendition of the Preludes. The very modern full frequency sound picture activates my tinnitus so I can't listen to it very often though (not Bavouzet's fault, almost all piano recordings of the digital era do this).
For recent recordings of the Preludes (my all time favorite music by anyone as I've said tiresomely often on here) Bavouzet is excelled only by Lubimov on ECM.
Bavouzet's Liszt recital on MDG is just as good, a must-have with great repertoire selection.
I think he has an early disc of Ohana works, I keep forgetting to hunt for that.
I have the first volume of his Beethoven but I have to admit I haven't spent much time with it.
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 24 September 2015 14:56 (eight years ago) link
Chucho Valdes can play a lot, I really love his Bele Bele en La Habana album at the moment
― calzino, Thursday, 5 May 2016 22:54 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX7E8zSb0Sw
― calzino, Thursday, 5 May 2016 23:03 (eight years ago) link
saw matt shipp last night solo, he really is consistently amazing
― adam, Thursday, 5 May 2016 23:13 (eight years ago) link
I'm kind of anxious to see this. Hope it's posted soon!
― I have also been to Maine and, briefly, Nebraska (doo dah), Thursday, 5 May 2016 23:25 (eight years ago) link
It's online now!
― I have also been to Maine and, briefly, Nebraska (doo dah), Friday, 6 May 2016 13:16 (eight years ago) link
I currently keep listening to Chano Dominguez's brilliant Over The Rainbow release, which is a recording of a mesmerising performance from a couple of years back in Barcelona. I'm not really technical enough to competently describe what is so incredible about it, but I knows + feels it when someone has magic in their hands, oh yes!
― calzino, Thursday, 10 August 2017 19:45 (six years ago) link
I only opened up to this self-absorbed dead eurocentric elitist shit fairly recently, but Rudolf Buchbinder's Beethoven stuff really tickles my brain.
And this, which for some reason seems to be very controversial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zucBfXpCA6s
― sonderpop, Tuesday, 15 August 2017 11:18 (six years ago) link
Angela Hewitt
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 15 August 2017 12:23 (six years ago) link