Great classical pianists

Not much finesse by your favorite Alexandra, but perhaps that’s because everyone sounds like an amateur compared to Claudio Arrau. . .

I think you would do yourself a great favor by comparing this same piece performed by your favorite, then Arrau, and then anyone else: Ashkenazy, etc. . . I’m rather certain that you will agree that they all sound like beginners by comparision:

Perhaps Alfred Brendel is closest to Arrau, but a far second. Then Emil Gilels and Sviatoslav Richter in the top five (possibly higher, but all his recordings were done so poorly by RCA during the brief time he was freed by the Soviets to perform outside of the USSR, since he was a de facto political prisoner in the USSR.)

Glenn Gould is excellent with only one composer: Bach. Gould is the best pianist performing Bach’s works, but he is awful with any other composer: Beethoven, etc.

@esarhaddon

I cannot disagree with you that many of today’s classical pianists "are too tightly bound by a rigid performance controlled by the original score". However, most of Claudio Arrau’s recordings will demonstrate quite the opposite: he is very interpretative, which is why some individuals, who are classically trained, may not like him as much, as he plays what is written on the score, as well as what is not written, "between the notes," shall we say. However, not all of Arrau’s recordings are magnificent, as he has some mediocre recordings of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos, and Gilels might have the best recording of those concertos that I’ve heard.

As mentioned above, all listed here are excellent, but many are simply master technicians at playing the right keys right on time (Ashkenazy, Lang, Horowitz, et al), without the feeling or emotion behind the music.

Over the past year, I’ve discovered another “classical” pianist, who does excellent “interpretive” work, as he prided himself on being a jazz pianist who played classical music: Samson Francois. Some of his Chopin interpretations are unparalleled, but he is definitely unconventional.  I think he prided himself over never playing the same piece the same way twice, which should appeal to some of those who think that classical music has become too formulaic.

Yes, as @magister notes:  my "favorite" pianist has probably changed more than 10 times over the past 30 years, so that leaves about 3 years per favorite pianist.  I remember when I first started listening to classical music, I only wanted to hear the melody, perfectly played, without extraneous additions.  Now, I appreciate the eccentricities of the performers more (e.g. Gould humming, and Arrau breathing), which makes the piece a more personal experience.