IYO, Who was/is the best piano player you have heard?

[ROYC75]

Anthony Burger - Hands down!

Talent wise, there was nothing this guy couldn't play, in any style. Had severe burns on his hands as a toddler to grow up with the talent he had was truly remarkable.

So sad, he passed away too quick, here is a video for some of the younger crowd.

[19now11]

tom hanks

[srvy]

Originally Posted by KranzDictum

Leon did a lot of things well.

I forgot to mention my Favorite rock artist who's catalog I have been going through for the last 5 years non-stop. Warren Zevon, before he was a solo act he was the pianist and band leader for the Everly Brothers. I think that is how he met Waddy Wachtel. Warren was using Coplandesque voices on his 1st album. He also met Igor Stravinsky and took a few lessons from Robert Craft who was his conductor.

[RocKhawks]

Jordan Rudess .. not sure how to post video, but look him up. Mostly keyboard player not piano.

And the guy who thinks Danny Carrey is better than Peart. YIKES! Dont get me wrong Danny is great though.

[srvy]

If it youtube just right clic on the video then choose copy embed code then paste it into your message or reply.

[kjwood75nro]

Toss-up between Bugs Bunny and Tom from Tom and Jerry.

Few pianists can play Franz Liszt like they do.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by srvy

My favorite:

[cooper barrett]

Not the best pianist but probably one of my favorite songs accompanied by piano.

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by scho63

Ray Charles
Billy Joel
Billy Preston
Keith Emerson

All good

Rep for Billy Preston. This would be a great tune for a RBs/Return men highlight film for sure. I can see Barry Sanders, Tyreek Hill, Dante Hall, Devon Hester, etc........

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by seclark

i'd like his take.
sec

Tough to say.

If you are talking about pure virtuosic ability, I don't think anybody can touch Yuja Wang right now. A few years ago she toured with the world's best orchestras in which she ALTERNATED between the Prokofiev 2nd, Rachmaninoff 3rd, and Bartok 2nd, which in my opinion are numbers 1, 2, and 3 in terms of the most difficult standard rep piano concertos ever composed. Until I caught her in concert with the Boston Symphony playing Prokofiev 2 in 2014, I had never witnessed that work in person. Holy ****ing shit. Worth the money to see it live. She nailed it, and that was coming fresh off her European tour, where she was (again, I say this) ALTERNATING between those three concertos between stops in various cities.

Just check out 6:00 - 10:00 of this video, which covers most of the 1st movement cadenza. And I'd be lying to you if I said that at least Prokofiev gives the player a break in the rest of the concerto. He doesn't.



I think I have to second Pawnmower when he talks about just how damn good Glenn Gould was. The world isn't going to see another pianist like him for a long time-- a guy whose interpretive genius and creativity WAS a part of his ability. Listen to anybody else play a piece by ANY composer. Can you guess who's doing it without looking? Nearly anybody who has ever listened to a Glenn Gould recording can identify him just by his style and sound. We have yet to see another performing artist accomplish something like that in the entire history of audio recording, in my opinion. MAYBE Vladimir Horowitz could do that, but that depends on what you would be hearing him play.

I think Marc-Andre Hamelin is the best all-around player, and he makes a strong case as the greatest pianist to ever live. Not only can he perform the insanely difficult virtuosic works in such a way that makes you drop your jaw, but he's also a goddamn genius in understanding HOW music is put together. I don't think there's anybody out there more successful than him at just taking any written piece of music, no matter what it is, learning it, and performing it better than a few recording artists who spend entire years milking out performances and concertizing that one specific composer, style, or even specific work. He's not a usual big-name label deal pianist who comes out with a CD once every 3-4 years of the stuff from your average professional. He comes out every 1-2 years with recordings from MULTIPLE worldwide labels of all kinds of eclectic, hard-to-interpret, hard-to-play works. He's just the best at everything.

Oh, and he's also one of those reerunedly smart people. He's practically a savant. The greatest musical experience I've ever witnessed in person was going to Toronto in the summer one year. He did a series of 7 recitals (one each day) that covered all of the 32 Beethoven Sonatas. I managed to get tickets to see him play Op. 31 No. 3 and Hammerklavier on the same friggin concert.

Oh, and did I mention he did them memorized? And they were both the best performances, recorded or otherwise, that I've ever heard of those two pieces?

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

TheREALSNR

I don't do as much performing as I did 5-10 years ago. I'm still active with it, but I've really let my practice habits go down the tubes.

That being said, I'm looking at some of the responses people have given, and I can say for certain that yes, I could blow the doors off of close to half of these jokers in my sleep.

Get some better music tastes, people. You have no ****ing clue what greatness is.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

I don't do as much performing as I did 5-10 years ago. I'm still active with it, but I've really let my practice habits go down the tubes.

Get some better music tastes, people. You have no ****ing clue what greatness is.

Damn you are really down with the cause!

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by Pawnmower

probaby Glen Gould

but I have a very very strong affinity for Bach, so ...

To your point even further.

[patteeu]

I don't have any idea who the best musician is, but Benmont Tench from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers has the coolest name I'm aware of. Yuja Wang isn't a bad one either.

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

Get some better music tastes, people. You have no ****ing clue what greatness is.

Sure we do. Just depends on how you define greatness. Apples to apples. No doubt classical is the hardest to play BUT can these classical geniuses put the 'Funk, R&B, R&R, Jazz feel into these type of genres as good as a Jerry Lee, Leon Russell, Hancock,Monk, Preston, Dr. John,etc.... who knows ? As it is said about paintings and can be said about music as well, "Beauty is in the eye/ear of the beholder".

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Chiefshrink

Sure we do. Just depends on how you define greatness. Apples to apples. No doubt classical is the hardest to play BUT can these classical geniuses put the 'Funk, R&B, R&R, Jazz feel into these type of genres as good as a Jerry Lee, Leon Russell, Hancock,Monk, Preston, Dr. John,etc.... who knows ? As it is said about paintings and can be said about music as well, "Beauty is in the eye/ear of the beholder".

Jazz is a genre unto itself. I wouldn't claim any of them can play jazz as well as Thelonius Monk. Most of that, however, is due to Monk's improvisation ability. Style replication? If Marc Andre Hamelin sets his mind to it, he could absolutely replicate style. Just look at what Keith Jarrett accomplished when he "switched" to jazz midway through his career having zero experience with the genre previously. It's all about habits and intent.

And Jerry Lee Lewis? You're going to tell me a classically trained pianist couldn't replicate what Lewis did on the piano down to the tiniest style detail? Please.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" refers to preferences. What I'm talking about is greatness of expression.

And no, it's not just about classical vs. pop, either. Ben Folds could easily have been a classical recording artist. He's not as good as Hamelin or Wang, but he's undeniably great.

Being classically trained doesn't mean you can only play old dead guys. It means you possess the technique and the knowledge of potential ability to play almost anything written on a grand staff. And yes, those players CAN improvise as well. They're not exclusively dependent on sheet music to play.