When I was a young record collector my pianistic god was Arrau who couldn't put a finger wrong for me. When it came to the eighties though he just became slow and cumbersome and a lot of the recordings during that period should never have been released. For instance, he recorded Bach's Partitas and they were released a long time after his death "big mistake" the tempi were all over the place and a very poor copy of what was once the greatest pianist on the planet "for me".  Today I favour some of the Russian pianists, Sokolov, Trifonov, Buniatishvili and my personal favourite of them Arkady Volodos who is undeniably a technical wizard without comparison. In a class of her own though is Martha Argerich who is still giving spellbinding performances in her eighties. I have heard Pletnev live a few times in Edinburgh and when on form he is incomparable. His was the most electrifying Bach/Busoni Chaconne I have ever heard live or recorded and thank goodness he is recording piano again. I think we are all in an age now of so many specialists that it is difficult to say who is best but it should now be " who plays this or that composer best". 

Not one mention of Van Clyburn.  

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.

My three favorite are :

Ivan Moravec, Vladimir Sofrontisky, and the greatest of all even in his ruined old age , Ervin Nyiregyházi...

Why ?

Because music is not about sound and playing perfection but about meanings and expressive emotions first and last ... We listen to meanings and not only that in fact we felt meaning and react to it ......

The Russian school is unrivalled by the great number of top pianists produced ...

The best test for a pianist is the impossible task to play Scriabin with expression or Liszt with rythm and colors control ...

I forgot many not so well recognized non Russian genius as for example Yves Nat in Beethoven or Michael Ponti in Scriabin ( in spite of a horrible recording sound ) and many others ... Or John Ogdon expressive interpretation of Busoni or Sorabji in the clavicem balisticum ...

And the goddess of piano is Maria Yudina, a so strong woman that she said no to Stalin money, at the risk of loosing his life , and Stalin died listening his playing always turning at the side of his deathbed ,a recording of Mozart made in the night at high speed after an unrecorded concert few years before his death and after the monster which was calmed by his playing asked for the recording which was never made and was replayed with Yudina awaken to did it for him in the night again ... Yudina feared only God and refused Stalin money and said to his face that she will pray for his sins in a telephone call from the monster so feared Shostakovitch could not sleep ...

Now imagine this woman so poor not owning a piano most of his life and playing, Russians know what a pianist saint is , she was one ...

Now german piano school is extraordinary too ...

listen to this miraculous version :

Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto - Gieseking/Karl Böhm (1939)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAfCW2-3NxA

I’m both surprised and delighted that so many classical music lovers on this forum came out of the woods to write a comment.

My favorites are Horowitz and Gould.