Great classical pianists

There are so many great pianists that I find making comparisons to be somewhat silly. I’ve heard conservatory students who were amazing and many of them will go through life without getting the attention they deserve. As for those who enjoy stardom, I saw in concert Andre Watts, Helene Grimaud, Fredrick Rzewski. At the Theatre Champs Elysee in Paris I caught Elisabeth Leonskaja perform Beethoven Sonatas. Around 1983, I saw Paul Bley with Steve Swallow and Paul Motion in Greenwich Village at the Lush Lounge. The club was very small; Jaco Pastorius and myself sat together in the far back. Paul Bley is forever etched in my mind from that experience.

As far as recordings go, I’m loyal listener to; Clara Haskil, Edwin Fischer, Alexander Melnikov, Andras Schiff, Maurizio Pollini, Angela Hewett, Marc-Andre Hamlin, Artur Rubinstein and recently Anna Malikova, to name a few. 

apr records released a series of recordings entitled The Russian Piano Tradition. Lot’s of Soviet Era recordings in this catalogue. I used to believe the Russian school to be mostly psychological but right after the Orange Revolution, I visited a friend in Odessa, Ukraine. We went to the Philharmonia Concert Hall and I saw a Juilliard schooled pianist who also studied under the Soviet system. After seeing and hearing that, I had a new appreciation for Russian musical training.

Anyway, the apr recordings are out of print but they are scattered about on the internet. I have a couple originally recorded in the early to mid 1950’s and the remastering is excellent.