Great classical pianists

«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.

Nobody can negate what you just say about them...

I discovered Bach thanks to intense Gould playing of the Goldberg ...

And Horowitz is Russian pianist... It is enough for me ... And his reputation need no advocate so much he is great pianist in every aspects universally recognized ...

But each one of us had our own personal intimacy moments with someone...

We are partial because we love too much, especially me ... 😊

My strong convictions about pianists does not means that i am right about all i said ...This goes without saying but is better if i say it ...😊

The only very good thing about very strongly expressed opinions, right or wrong, would be that some will listen a less known pianist for the first or the second time in a different mood, or way , to test any claims or to perceive it perhaps...

Thanks OP for this piano thread...

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

My favorite version of the Chopin mazurkas which is my best prefered opus from Chopin was by Antonio Guedes Barbosa...

A pianist with a natural rythmical sense and a spontaneous simplicity of expression that is very convincing to me in these idealized dances ...

Most others pianist so high are they in perfect playing for me miss the difficult cut/transition between rythmic parts to some degree ...

Yakov Flier is not so successful in this as Barbosa but he play very well anyway and did not annoy me anywhere by a lack of rythmic coherency ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5UKFIHGwJk&t=13s

Now listen Flier strong expressive power in Rachmaninoff :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0VOoJG-O_Q&t=103s

 

One of the greatest not so well recognized Italian pianist is Sergio Fiorentino ...

“The only other pianist” – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

“Recently I listened to a pianist on the radio who impressed me very much: Sergio Fiorentino, do you know him?” – Vladimir Horowitz

 

This pianist as Radu Lupu as Moravec, never play less than at his top usual expressive and tone colors mastery ...

In Rachmaninoff he play as expressively as the Russian Neuhaus fluid mastery and as Raphael and Michaelangeli for the brush colors ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnmUNLgB944

Natural spontaneous simplicity as the only sophistication is with him over any proposed mere plastic perfection ....He is more than perfect ...

And to convince the sceptic:

Chopin as not heard often , here virtuosity serve the expression in a natural never affected way as in Jazz improvisation :

Chopin etudes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD2AKelo8M8&list=PLMeOYP-ZXc_2THgAtVRu9yEOlvDVIc0E-

Chopin preludes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASX7qQCKOc0&list=PLMeOYP-ZXc_2THgAtVRu9yEOlvDVIc0E-&index=2

Chopin Nocturnes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvoI1nl-MmM&list=PLMeOYP-ZXc_2THgAtVRu9yEOlvDVIc0E-&index=4

The Version of Moravec , the most perfect one i listened too  had this one as a rival , here we listen the pieces not as idealized perfection but more as a spontaneous intimate moment ... I dont criticize Moravec here by the way  who is one of my best three pianists...