All (85) Piano Players Considered

All (85) Piano Players Considered

In case you're interested in who I listened to for this set, here is the full list (ordered alpha FIRST name, just to keep you on your toes):

Abbey Simon

Alain Planés

Alexander Brailowsky

Alfred Cortot

Anatol Ugorski

Andrei Gavrilov

Anna Malikova

Artur Rubinstein

Aube Tzerko

Augustin Anievas

Belina Kostadinova

Benno Moiseiwitsch

Boris Berezovsky

Bronika Kushkuley

Cameron Carpenter

Christian Ihle Hadland

Claudio Arrau

Daniel Del Pino

Dinara Nadzhafova

Dinu Lipatti

Dmitry Paperno

Dong-Hyek Lim

Dubravka Tomsic

Earl Wild

Erika Haase

Eugene Mursky

Freddy Kempf

Frederic Chiu

Fujiko Hemming

Gergely Bogányi

Glenn Gould

Guiomar Novaes

Gwon Sun Hwon

Géza Anda

Henry Neighaus

Hsia-Jung Chang

Idil Biret

Ignace Jan Paderewski

Istvan Szekely

Ivo Pogorelich

James Rhodes

Janina Fialkowska

Joanna Jimin Lee

Joel Hastings

John Bingham

John Browning

Konstantin Lifschitz

Krzysztof Jablonski

Lazar Berman

Leif Ove Andsnes

Leszek Mozdzer

Louis Lortie

Madeleine Forte

Martha Argerich

Maurizio Mastrini

Maurizio Pollini

Mikhail Pletnev

Milos Mihajlovic

Mindru Katz

Mitsuko Uchida

Murray Perahia

Mélodie Zhao

Nobuyuki Tsujii

Peter Schmalfuss

Philippe Entremont

Philippe Giusiano

Ragna Schirmer

Rem Urasin

Ren Zhang

Samson François

Serge Romanchak

Shura Cherkassky

Sona Shaboyan

Sviatoslav Richter

Van Cliburn

Vardan Mamikonian

Vitalij Margulis

Vladimir Ashkenazy

Vladimir Horowitz

Vlado Perlemuter

Walter Klein

Warren Mailley-Smith

Wilhelm Backhaus

Youri Egorov

Yuki Matsuzawa

Pletnev plays the sublime op. 99 no. 1, Bunte Blätter, Albumblätter I. Ziemlich langsam, sehr gesangvoll

The Beginning

As a matter of honor, this first post really should in some way involve Glenn Gould. So I'm going to briefly take on a philosophical point of order, in the hopes that it not only satisfies honor but also sets forth some principle of approach so you can tell whether or not this is going to be something you're going to want to read going forward.

The philosophical point concerns the idea of "greatness" in created work, and since this is specifically about piano players and music, greatness qua such. I'll try to keep it simple for my own sake, so here: I don't think much of the idea.

Less simply, here's why. If we stack up 5 artists of any sort and set some categorical context, some criteria and so forth, that's all a bunch of muddle to me and misses what I consider most satisfying in many cases: not the historical moment but what a player means to ME. And in this regard, some unknown or some so-called minor work or some eccentric trajectory of a career may prove to be the most fascinating, the deepest creation of a moment. And as we all well know, having once upon a time been children, a moment can last your whole life. 

So you won't, I hope, find me arguing much for Greatness around these parts, but rather for things of substance and positive provocation. And as a substitute, if one is needed, I would say what is more meaningful is to put forward artists of tremendous insight, unique in the je ne sais quoi and sine qua non of their approach and execution. For if there is one thing the 20th and 21st centuries do not need, it is more of the vanilla perfection of what is churned out by the piano academies and too much of the concert world. How many of these will we miss? Do we need more and more and ever more of the more or less same Chopin waltzes, Brahms intermezzi, Tchaikovsky concerti, and [substitute your own overplayed repertoire]?

Well, yes, it might be argued, we need more and more and infinitely more because you never know (and the artist him/herself surely does not know) when something unusual or remembrance-worthy is going to occur. But this is precisely where judgment enters the picture. Precisely where maturity and an editorial decision along the lines of: "Yes I will study that work, yes I will play it, but no I will not record it, no I will not concertize with it, unless I am firmly convinced that my voice is one that must be heard". Do current piano players make this conscious statement? Of course they do, alas.

Which brings me back round to Gould. Glenn Gould is my favorite piano player of all I've heard because his is the loss I would feel most (and have most felt since his death), his is the hole that would leave piano playing with a gap that would change it inconceivably had he never been. That he is Great is not the point, for we will speak of many things in these posts that are Great. I would not like to rank anyone with anything other than subjectivity, so that's all you'll find here. People I cannot do without, the objects of their making I cannot do without, or the people and their objects I can do without and why.

Much about much to come.

Something interesting coming tomorrow, in honor of Chopin. I think this could be a lot of fun.

[Image source unknown, but found courtesy of foreverswedish.org]

Opus Posthumous

And herewith we round out the set:

Samson François

Artur Rubinstein

Christian Ihle Hadland

So there it is. Next we'll go into op. 10 no. 1, that arpeggiated, C-majorated delight, more fun in the playing than the listening really. But that's to come tomorrow. Also, I will lay out the full list of piano players listened to and considered for this list. (It's long so I don't want to tack it on here.) Please feel free to let me know the error of my ways or how you'd do it differently.

Portrait of the Artist as Piano Teacher