Great classical pianists

My prefered version of the Bach well tempered klavier is first Feltsman and second Schiff ...I enjoy the two but with a preference here ...

The Russian is more balanced between perfection and expression ...😊 So impressive the self controlled german could be , and he is ... This Schiff  interpretation is the top of his career ... But Feltsman give something more  than perfection...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4271Rm9TSU&list=PLTL_aYkQ5li7bET5sqlPJVRqWEF2JVCJZ

Feltsman is also my favorite Goldberg interpretation because he is irresistible in joy expression and we feel as if he spontaneously improvise the piece ... ...For me it exceed Gould mannerism so interesting Gould can be and it is ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIujuXIwQms&list=PLr0MsaDpKsY-biupbCUhZf55V3rNEzU_v

@mahgister 

you certainly know your Bach! Schiff is actually Czech 

Thanks for the correction ... 😊

But you certainly know more about Schiff playing than about Schiff origin  ...

Sir András Schiff (Hungarian: [ˈɒndraːʃ ˈʃiff]; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist

Wikipedia...

And here is the source of my confusion :

Schiff, known for his video broadcast masterclasses, is currently on the faculty of the Barenboim–Said Akademie in Berlin, Germany, serving as distinguished visiting professor of piano.^[17]

^Wikipedia

@mahgister

you certainly know your Bach! Schiff is actually Czech

 

«Sofronitsky met Elena Scriabina, Scriabin’s daughter in 1917, two years after the death of her father, and they were married in 1920. He never met Scriabin, but Scriabina said that her husband was the ‘most authentic interpreter’ of his works.

He’s little known in the west due to his few appearances outside the Soviet Union but he was held in high regard by other pianists such as Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels. They held him in such high esteem that when he acclaimed Richter as a genius, Richter responded by calling Sofronitsky a god.» Maureen Buja

 

listen to this :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx1FN-a47eg

Now compare the God to a great pianist, Horowitz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xudZ3J4EeoQ

So extraordinary Horowitz is here , Sofronitsky exceed him in sheer intensity without loosing anything in mastery of colors ...

Richter is nearer to Sofronitsky in intensity :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwqaOGikyNs

As a comparison the young Kissin look only like a first of the class , under the great Horowitz and under the intensity of Sofrontisky ......

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Russia Neuhaus was a god , beside Scriabin and Sofronitsky ...

Listen to the expressive and perfect rendition of Bach :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UwQqePIpRA

His son is one of the great russian pianist too :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvIMWyMxjq0

 

 

 I forgot to say that all the above  are only my impressions ... Others can differ ... 😊

I like Horowitz and Gould not for their incredible technique, but for the passion, intensity and intellect they bring to what they play.