So, who do you think is the greatest pianist of all time?
I haven't put this as a poll because there are so many I wouldn't be able to name them all buit I'd be really interested to see who you think is the greatest.
Personally, I think Liszt is the most technically advanced pianist of all time, but I regard Chopin as being the greatest of all time.
What do you think?

Do you mean the best pianist or composer of piano music? I don't see how we can tell who is the greatest pianist of the past, if we haven't been able to hear them.

Not a pianist (im an i-wish-i-could-play-piano)

I like Debussys impressionism, love whole tone scales, lovely music

On what basis are you stating this? Have you acquired a TARDIS and experienced them playing live?

W might just be very, very, very old?

Pure guess-work, by accounts, correspondence and books generally. Luckily these are never like actually hearing with your own ears. It probably would have been better had you named the thread "Who is your favourite composer for the piano?"

I would guess that my favourite interpreter would probably have been Chopin from his originality. I bet I couldn't bear Liszt showing off all the time had I been alive at that time!

I'd say Chopin. He was supposed to be an amazing concert pianist, and his piano compositions are amazing!
If we're talking about the best LIVING pianists, i'd say Martha Argerich would have to be my favourite, her technique is breath-taking and she plays everything beautifully. Some people would argue against Martha Argerich being the best, but I love her!

That volodos bloke.

There is no such thing... one persons view of greatness will always differ from the next. Liszts sightreading and improvising skills were legendary, as well as his technical wizardry. Chopin was said to have possesed a beautiful tone but was not the most powerful of pianists...he also did'nt care very much for public performances, giving no more than thirty in his life. Thalberg, Henselt, Von Bulow, DÁlbert, Kalkbrenner were virtuosos during the nineteenth century, with some critics of that time rating them above Liszt or Chopin as performers, though it would have to be said as composers they were not in the same league. I have many favourites, but if i had to pick one it would be Emil Gilels.

For sheer technique, at least until modern times, Leopold Godowsky, friend of Einstein and Rakhmaninov, comes at the top or very near. Arthur Rubinstein wrote of him, "It would take me 500 years to get a mechanism like Godowsky's."

Wikipedia has a short biography and an article on his 53 Studies on Chopin's etudes, which elaborate fiendishly on the latter, as if they weren't difficult enough already.

Beethoven. He's the greatest pianist to ever live, exept for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8l37utZxMQ

There you go, the last great composer/virtuoso playing himself - I often think that if Rachmaninov was playing his own music for an exam the comments on the level of Rubato would be interesting.

I think over time, and not available on youtube - I would have loved to have heard Chopin, who could apparently improvise for hours and never repeat a thing, obvious but Mozart although I think Mozart the person would annoy me I would love to have heard Mozart the pianist, and probably Liszt.

Lets not forget Mrs Mills - how she got away with national TV I will never know!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlqZ_gXdEjc...eature=related;

As an aside, the other day I came across a pamphlet in which Dame Fanny Waterman recalled seeing Rachmaninov perform...

"My musical happiness began when I was taken to the Leeds Town Hall by my parents more than seventy years ago [1920s - she would have been under 10]. I heard the giants of the time. Recitals by Rachmaninov, Kreisler, Heifetz and Paderewski were the very first I can recall and I found myself inspired by their playing and impressed with the reverence of the audiences.

Rachmaninov was very tall, gaunt and unsmiling. When he came on to the platform the hall was plunged into darkness and I wanted, as a youngster, to scream because of the awesome tension."


How wonderful must it be to talk to Fanny Waterman about her lifetime's experiences

Pianist-flautist says "I'd say Chopin. He was supposed to be an amazing concert pianist..."

That's true, but contemporary accounts reveal that Chopin was rather to weak due to his medical problems to play the piano at all loudly. There were various reports saying that he was unable to get much volume out of the piano so, unfortunately, I think he physically wasn't able to be the concert pianist he should have been.