Richard Clayderman is a French pianist, musician and arranger who is best known for his classical and popular works, which have made him one of the greatest musicians of our time. Over the course of his career, Richard has written over 1,300 compositions that have sold over 150 million copies; Of these, 267 have been certified gold in several countries and 70 have been certified platinum. Such incredible success brought Clayderman's name into the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Pianist in the World.
Richard Clayderman was born Philippe Pagès on December 28, 1953 in Paris, France. From early childhood, Richard studied music and learned to play the piano under the guidance of his father, a music teacher and professional musician. By the time of graduation, the music was for the boy
not just a hobby, but an occupation in which he would like to spend his life.
Entering the Paris Conservatoire, Richard quickly won the love of students and the respect of teachers, who quickly recognized the amazing talent of the young Clayderman. His career and future as a professional musician came to an end when Richard
knew about his father's illness and the almost complete bankruptcy of the family. So, in order to support himself and pay for his studies, he got a job in a bank, and also began performing with contemporary French musicians as a session musician. It is interesting that very quickly Richard made his way into the groups of the most popular musicians of that time, although other musicians on this
It took years, but, as he himself recalls, at that time he was ready to play any music for which he was paid, so it was profitable for professional musicians to get a young and promising musician to join their group.
In 1976, Clayderman was invited to an interview and audition for the ballad "Ballade pour Adeline"
(or just "Adeline"). Of the 20 applicants for the position of pianist, it was Richard who was chosen, whose playing style struck the producers with its heterogeneity: it combined lightness and strength, energy and melancholy. In just a few days of recording, the final version of "Ballade pour Adeline" appeared, the sold circulation of which to date is
t 34 million records in 38 countries. Despite the fact that this work was the most striking achievement of the musician, there are several hundred more popular works in his piggy bank, which are successful not only in Europe and the United States, but also in Asia, which is quite protected from Western influence. In many Asian countries, the work of Richard
Klaiderman enjoys such success that sometimes it occupies all the shelves in music stores, leaving no room for the masters of classical music - Mozart, Wagner, Beethoven, etc.
Spending most of his time on the road, Richard has established himself as an extremely hardworking musician - in 2006, he played 200 concerts in 250 days, playing
Using weekends only for moving and setting up sound in new places. During his career, he became the author of 1300 works, which were released both as solo albums and hit the screens of televisions and cinemas. In total, about 100 Richard's discs are available today - from his early works to his most recent work.
For the development of the apparatus, it is not enough to play for many hours of exercise. It is necessary to save energy for the rest of the work.
There is a known temptation to do what you know and what works best. Be able to resist this, otherwise you will not succeed.
Note that the elimination of one technical gap helps to eliminate all other gaps. Know your weaknesses and attack them decisively.
Those who, after playing the exercises in the morning for half an hour or even an hour, think that the technique is over, they are mistaken.
I'm not even sure if you should start your daily routine with exercise. The "treatment" of the apparatus becomes more effective when the exercises are reasonably distributed throughout the working day.
Interrupt from time to time the study of a work of art and return to overcoming certain technical difficulties - you will achieve success faster and with less effort.
As you study the technical exercises, keep the following tips in mind:
1. The height of the seat should ensure that the hand is in a horizontal position.
2. Exercises are played without a pedal.
3. Do not strain your hand. When tired, rest or change the type of exercise.
4. When playing at a slow tempo forte or piano, stick your finger deep into the key.
5. Think not only about hitting your finger, but also about lifting it. Knowing how to take your hand off the keyboard is just as important as putting it down. The first skill is a condition of the second.
In order to achieve ease of execution, it is useful at the beginning of work to exaggerate the clarity of articulation. The strength of the sound decreases with the gradual acceleration of the tempo.
6. Control your thumb, second fingers and do not tip your hand towards the little finger so that the latter retains the ability to strike on its own.
7. Continuously control the flexibility of the hand. It should be free from the shoulder to the wrist. Do not play with raised "hard" shoulders.
8. Work, gradually speeding up the movement, but often returning to a slow pace.
9. Count! In exercises, strong beats are fulcrums and starting points for the run-up of the fingers. Emphasize! The clarity of the rhythm contributes to the clarity of the fingers.
10. Play exercises expressively! Listen to yourself!
Reflecting the essence of our work, these instructions will give the conscientious musician food for thought and will no doubt help him master the secret of great pianists - the ability to work!
In conclusion, I would like to once again appeal to all pianists of good will who wish to benefit from this work. There is no single and exhaustive method to learn the art of pianism.
It is often said that technique is the work of the imagination. There is some truth in this. You can, for example, compose wonderful technical formulas yourself, based on the works that you study. These countless little finds make sense. But they are dangerous if the pianist thinks to replace them with exercises or traditional etudes.
The study of the work is not limited to technical tasks. Sonority, style, beauty of the phrase, fullness of sound, chords, nobility of rhythm, balance of parts - these are the goals that a pianist must set for himself, wanting to reproduce the author's intention. To do this, the performer must be freed from technical worries.
He will achieve this freedom by continuous study of the formulas contained in the etudes of the great masters of the pianoforte. No matter how necessary for the formation of a virtuoso and a musician, Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier or Chopin's etudes - these peaks of piano literature - they will not replace Czerny's School of Finger Fluency and Virtuoso School.
In order to achieve mastery, you need to work hard, you need a lot of patience. Do not forget also about modesty and respect for traditions.
I obeyed these simple truths, I put them into practice.
Marguerite Long, from the preface to The School of Exercise
Whether it is possible to determine the number of characteristic features of first-class piano playing. However, by selecting the ten most important features and carefully considering each of them, the student will learn much that will give him further food for thought. Ultimately, no one is able to express in print everything that a teacher can say in live communication.
Before studying a new composition, it is extremely important to understand its general concept, it is necessary to try to penetrate into the main idea of the composer.
There are also purely technical difficulties that should be overcome gradually. But until the student can recreate the main idea of the composition in larger proportions, his playing will resemble a kind of musical mishmash.
The composition has a certain structural plan. First of all, it is necessary to discover it, and then build a composition in the artistic manner that is characteristic of its author.
You ask me: “How can a student form a correct idea of a work as a whole?” Undoubtedly, the best way is to listen to it performed by a pianist whose authority as an interpreter is beyond question. However, many do not have this opportunity. Quite often, the teacher himself, who teaches from morning to evening, is not able to perform the composition absolutely perfectly in all details. Nevertheless, something can also be learned from a teacher who, to the best of his giftedness, is able to give the student a general idea of the artistic values of the work. But even in those cases when it is not possible to listen to either a virtuoso pianist or a teacher, the student should not despair if he has talent.
Yes, this is the greatest power, which, like nothing else, penetrates all artistic secrets and reveals the truth. A talented performer, as it were, intuitively grasps the thoughts that overwhelmed the composer at the time of creating the composition, and, like a true interpreter, conveys them to the audience in an adequate form.
It goes without saying that technical skill is a matter of paramount importance for someone who would like to become a first-class pianist. It is impossible to imagine a good performance that would not be distinguished by a clean, fluent, distinct, flexible technique. The technical capabilities of the pianist must meet the artistic requirements of the piece being performed. Of course, there may be individual passages that require special work, but, generally speaking, technique is of no value if the hands and brain are not sufficiently trained to overcome the main difficulties encountered in new compositions.
Schools in Russia pay great attention to technology. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for such a favorable reception by some Russian pianists in recent years. The work of the leading Russian conservatories is almost entirely under the supervision of the Imperial Musical Society. Such a system is flexible: although all students are required to take the same course of study, special attention is paid to individual lessons. However, in the beginning technique is the primary subject. In technical terms, all students are required to achieve a high professional level. Nobody is an exception. Perhaps readers of The Etude magazine will be interested to know something about the general work plan of the Russian imperial schools. The course of study lasts nine years. During the first five years, the student acquires most of his technical skills by studying Ganon's exercise book, which is very widely used in conservatories. In fact, this is the only collection of strictly technical exercises in use. All of them are in the key of C. The collection includes scales, arpeggios and exercises for other types of technique. At the end of the fifth year - an exam. It consists of two parts. First, the student is examined in technique, and then he must demonstrate mastery of the artistic interpretation of plays, studies, etc. However, those who fail the first examination are not allowed to the second. The student learns Hanon's exercises so well that he knows them by their numbers. The examiner may ask him, for example, to play exercise 17 or 28 or 32, etc. The student immediately sits down at the piano and plays. Despite the fact that in the original all exercises are written in C major, the examiner has the right to ask to play them in any other key. The exercises are studied so carefully that the examinees are required to play them in the required key. There is also an exam using a metronome. The student knows that he must play the exercise at a given pace. The examiner determines the speed and the metronome turns off. A student, for example, is asked to play the E major scale with a metronome of 120, eight notes per bar. If he copes with the task, he is given an appropriate grade and allowed to take the rest of the exams.
I believe that the requirement of deep technical knowledge is an urgent problem. Being able to play several pieces does not mean mastering musical professionalism. It's like a musical snuffbox with only a few tunes in stock. The student's understanding of the technique must be comprehensive. Later, the student is given technically more difficult exercises, for example, Tausiga. Czerny is also quite deservedly popular. Less well known are Henselt's studies, despite his long work in Russia. At the same time, they are so beautiful that they should be placed next to such pieces as Chopin's etudes.
Interpretation is impossible if the student does not know the rules that form the basis for a very important area, phrasing. Unfortunately, many publications are not perfect in this respect. Some of the phrasing characters are used incorrectly. Consequently, the only safe way is to undertake a special study of this important area of musical art. In the old days, phrasing signs were used little. Bach arranged them extremely sparingly. Then there was no need for this, since each musician, while playing, could set the boundaries of the phrase himself. But knowing how to define phrases is by no means the only requirement. Equally important is the skill of their execution. A genuine sense of music must be born in the mind of the artist, otherwise all the knowledge of phrasing that he possesses will be useless.
The execution of phrases depends entirely on the feeling of the music, or the feeling of the interpreter, so determining the tempo requires no less musical talent. Although now in many cases the tempo of a composition is indicated by means of a metronome, it is necessary to take into account the interpretation of the performer himself. One cannot blindly follow metronomic guidelines, although it is sometimes unsafe to deviate greatly from them. The metronome should not be used blindly. The performer should act according to his own understanding. I don't approve of prolonged metronome practice. It is designed to set the pace, and if not abused, the metronome will be a faithful assistant. But it should only be used for this purpose. The most mechanical performance imaginable comes from those who make themselves the slave of this little musical clock, which was never meant to be a despot controlling every minute of practice.
Many students realize that there is a wonderful opportunity for opposition in performance. Each work is a “thing in itself”. Therefore, it must be interpreted in its own way. There are performers whose playing is always the same. It can be compared with the dishes served in some hotels. Everything that is brought to the table tastes the same. Of course, for success, a performer needs a bright personality, and each of his interpretations must be colored by it. But at the same time, you should constantly look for diversity. Chopin's ballad needs to be played differently than Scarlatti's Capriccio. Indeed, Beethoven's sonata has very little in common with Liszt's Rhapsody. Therefore, the student should strive to give the composition an original, unique look. Every work must stand alone. If the performer fails to inspire this feeling in his audience, he is little better than any mechanical instrument.
Hoffmann has this ability to endow any work with an individual and characteristic charm that always fascinates me so much.
Called the soul of the piano. I didn't understand what that meant until I heard Anton Rubinstein. His game seemed to me so wonderful that it defies description. His pedal control was phenomenal. In the finale of Chopin's Sonata b-moll, he achieved indescribably beautiful pedal effects. For anyone who remembers them, they will always be remembered as the greatest of the rarities that music gives.
You learn to pedal throughout your life. This is the most difficult area of higher piano education. Of course, ground rules for its use can be determined, and the student needs to study them carefully. But at the same time, these laws can be skillfully violated in order to achieve unusual enchanting colors.
It is a series of well-known principles that are within the grasp of our musical intellect. They can be compared to the planet on which we live and about which we know so much. However, beyond these laws there is a great Universe - a celestial system. It can only be penetrated by the telescopic artistic vision of the great musician. This was done by Rubinstein and some other pianists who brought to our earthly vision the divine beauty that only they could perceive.
That the traditions of the past should be respected, although they are for the most part incomprehensible to us, since they can only be found in books, we should nevertheless not be enslaved by conventions. The struggle against traditional beliefs is the law of artistic progress. All the great composers and performers have erected new buildings on the ruins of the conventions they have destroyed. It is immeasurably more beautiful to create than to imitate. But before we can create anything, it would be good to familiarize ourselves with the best that preceded us. This applies not only to composing, but also to piano performance. The great pianists Rubinstein and Liszt possessed an unusually wide range of knowledge. They studied piano literature in all its possible branches. They knew every stage of musical development. This is the reason for their gigantic musical rise. Their greatness did not lie in the empty shell of acquired technology. They knew. There would be more students today who would have a genuine thirst for real musical knowledge, and not just a desire to show themselves superficially at the piano.
It was said that some teachers especially insist that the student know the source of the composer's inspiration. It's certainly interesting and can help stimulate a little imagination. However, I am convinced that it would be much better for the student to rely on his own understanding of music. It is a mistake to assume that knowing the fact that Schubert was inspired by any poem, or that Chopin drew inspiration from any legend, can ever make up for the lack of true fundamentals of piano playing.
One should see, first of all, the main features of the musical connections in the composition. He must understand what gives this work integrity, organicity, strength and grace. He must know how to bring out these elements. Some teachers tend to exaggerate the importance of assistive exercises and downplay the need to acquire a genuine musical foundation. This view is erroneous and leads to bad results.
Must be guided by greater motives than just playing for profit. He has a mission, and that mission is to educate the public. For the selfless student, for his own benefit, it is extremely important to conduct this educational work. For his own good, it is better to devote all his energies to the pieces, the performance of which, as he feels, will have a musical, educational and educational effect on the audience. At the same time, it is necessary to have your own opinion, but not go too far beyond the limits of the possibilities of perception of this audience. If we take, for example, a virtuoso pianist, then the question looks somewhat different. The virtuoso assumes and even demands from his audience a certain musical taste, a certain level of musical education. Otherwise it will work in vain. In order for the public to enjoy the greatest in music, it must listen to good music until the beauty of the composition becomes apparent to it... Virtuosi appeal to student musicians around the world to contribute to the enlightenment of a huge musical audience. Don't waste your time on music that is banal or ignoble! Life is too short to spend wandering through the empty sugars of musical garbage.
every good piano performance has a very important spark that seems to turn every interpretation of a masterpiece into a living work of art. It exists only for a moment and cannot be explained. For example, two pianists of the same technical ability can play the same piece. One has a boring, lifeless and memorized performance, the other has something indescribably delightful. It seems that this performance trembles with the fullness of life. It intrigues and inspires the public. What is this important spark that breathes life into simple notes?
It can be called the intense artistic interest of the performer. This is the amazing phenomenon known as inspiration. In the process of creating a composition, the composer is certainly inspired, and if the performer knows the same joy that the author experienced at the time of creation, something new and extraordinary enters into his performance. It seems that it is awakening and gaining strength in a completely amazing way. The audience immediately understands this and even sometimes forgives technical inaccuracies if the performance itself is full of inspiration. Rubinstein was a technical marvel, and yet he admitted to making mistakes. Perhaps they were, but at the same time he recreated such ideas and musical pictures that could compensate for a million mistakes. When Rubinstein was too precise, his performance lost some of its delightful charm. I remember how once at one of the concerts he played "Islamey" by Balakirev. Something distracted his attention and, obviously, he completely forgot the composition, but continued to improvise in the manner of a Balakirev play. After about four minutes, he remembered the rest and played to the end. This annoyed him very much, and he played the next number of the program with the utmost precision, but, oddly enough, his performance lost the wonderful charm of the moment in which his memory failed him. Rubinstein was truly incomparable, perhaps even because he was full of human impulses, and his performance was far from the perfection of a machine.
It is necessary to play all the notes, and, if possible, in a manner and style close to the composer, but the student's aspiration should by no means be limited to this alone. Every single note in a composition is important, but there is something that is just as important as the notes, and that is the soul. Ultimately, the extremely important living spark is the soul. The soul is the source of that highest expression in music, which cannot be expressed by dynamic notation. The soul intuitively feels the need for crescendi and diminuendi. The very duration of a pause or each note depends on its essence. The soul of the artist dictates to him how long to maintain this pause. If the student turns to frozen rules and depends on them completely, his performance will be soulless.
Performance also requires a lot of deep thinking, and not just perfect keyboard skills. The student should not think that the goal is reached if all the notes are played. In fact, this is just the beginning. It is necessary to make the work a part of itself. Each note should awaken in the performer a kind of musical awareness of the true artistic mission.
Recognizing the world's only best modern pianist is an impossible task. For each critic and listener, various masters will be idols. And this is the strength of humanity: the world contains a considerable number of worthy and talented pianists.
Agrerich Marta Archerich
The pianist was born in the Argentine city of Buenos Aires in 1941. She started playing the instrument at the age of three, and at the age of eight she made her public debut, where she performed a concerto by Mozart himself.
The future virtuoso star studied with such teachers as Friedrich Gould, Arturo Ashkenazy and Stefan Michelangeli - one of the most outstanding classical pianists of the 20th century.
Since 1957, Argerich began to participate in competitive activities and won the first big victories: 1st place in the piano competition in Geneva and the Busoni International Competition.
However, the real stunning success came to Marta at the moment when, at the age of 24, she was able to win the international Chopin competition in the city of Warsaw.
In 2005 she won the highest Grammy Award for her performance of chamber works by composers Prokofiev and Ravel, and in 2006 for her performance of Beethoven's work with the orchestra.
Also in 2005, the pianist was awarded the Imperial Japanese Prize.
Her ardent game and amazing technical data, with the help of which she masterfully performs the works of Russian composers Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, cannot leave anyone indifferent.
One of the most famous contemporary pianists in Russia is the musician Evgeniy Igorevich Kisin.
He was born on October 10, 1971 in Moscow, at the age of six he entered the Gnessin Music School. Kantor Anna Pavlovna became his first and only teacher for life.
Since 1985, Kissin began to demonstrate his talent abroad. In 1987 he makes his debut in Western Europe.
After 3 years, he conquers the United States, where he performs Chopin's 1st and 2nd concertos with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and a week later he performs in a solo format.
Another of the most outstanding contemporary Russian virtuoso pianists is the famous Denis Matsuev.
Denis was born in the city of Irkutsk in 1975 into a family of musicians. Parents from an early age taught the child to art. The boy's first teacher was his grandmother Vera Rammul.
In 1993, Matsuev entered the Moscow State Conservatory, and two years later became the leading soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic.
He gained worldwide fame after winning the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1998, when he was only 23 years old.
He prefers to combine his innovative approach to playing with the traditions of the Russian piano school.
Since 2004, he has been holding a series of concerts called "Soloist Denis Matsuev", inviting domestic and foreign leading orchestras to collaborate with him.
Christian Zimmerman
Christian Zimmerman (born 1956) is a celebrated contemporary pianist of Polish origin. In addition to being an instrumentalist, he is also a conductor.
His early music lessons were taught by his father, an amateur pianist. Then Christian continued his studies with the teacher Andrzej Jasinski in a private format, and then moved to the Katowice Conservatory.
He began to give his first concerts at the age of 6 and in 1975 he won the Chopin Piano Competition, thus becoming the youngest winner in history. Over the next year, he honed his piano skills with the famous Polish pianist Artur Rubinstein.
Christian Zimmermann is considered a genius performer of Chopin's work. His discography includes recordings of all piano concertos by Ravel, Beethoven, Brahms and, of course, his main idol - Chopin, as well as sound recordings of compositions by Liszt, Strauss and Respiha.
Since 1996 he has taught at the Basel Academy of Music. Received the Academy Awards Kiji and Leonie Sonning.
In 1999 he created the Polish Festival Orchestra.
Wang Yujia is a Chinese representative of the piano art. She gained fame thanks to her virtuoso and incredibly fast game, for which she was awarded the pseudonym - "Flying Fingers".
The birthplace of the Chinese modern pianist is the city of Beijing, where she spent her childhood in a family of musicians. At the age of 6, she began her tests on the keyboard, and a year later she entered the Central Conservatory of the capital. At the age of 11, she was enrolled to study in Canada and after 3 years she finally moved to a foreign country for further education.
In 1998, she received the prize of the International Competition for Young Pianists in the city of Ettlingen, and in 2001, in addition to the above-described award, the judging panel gave Van an award for pianists under 20 in the amount of 500,000 yen (300,000 in rubles).
The pianist also plays with success by Russian composers: she has Rachmaninoff's Second and Third Concertos, as well as Prokofiev's Second Concerto.
Fazıl Say is a Turkish contemporary pianist and composer born in 1970. He studied at the Ankara Conservatory, and then in the cities of Germany - Berlin and Düsseldorf.
It is worth noting, in addition to his piano activities, his composer qualities: in 1987, the pianist's composition "Black Hymns" was performed in honor of the 750th anniversary of the city.
In 2006, the premiere of his ballet "Patara" took place in Vienna, written on the basis of Mozart's theme, but already a piano sonata.
Two composers occupy an important place in Say's performing piano repertoire: musical titans Bach and Mozart. At concerts, he alternates classical compositions with his own.
In 2000, he made an unusual experiment, risking recording the ballet "The Rite of Spring" for two pianos, performing both parts with his own hand.
In 2013, he fell under a criminal case for statements on a social network related to the topic of Islam. The Istanbul court concluded that the musician's words were directed against the Muslim faith and sentenced Fazil Say to 10 years of probation.
In the same year, the composer filed a motion for a retrial, the verdict of which was again confirmed in September.
Other
It is simply not possible to tell about all modern pianists in one article. Therefore, we will list those whose names are significant today in the world of classical music:
- Daniel Barenboim from Israel;
- Yundi Li from China;
- From Russia;
- Murray Perahia from the United States of America;
- Mitsuko Uchida from Japan;
- from Russia and many other masters.
Great pianists past and present are truly the brightest example for admiration and imitation. Everyone who is fond of and was fond of playing music on the piano has always tried to copy the best features of the great pianists: how they perform a piece, how they were able to feel the secret of each note and sometimes it seems that it is incredible and some kind of magic, but everything comes with experience: if yesterday it seemed unrealistic, today a person himself can perform the most complex sonatas and fugues.
The piano is one of the most famous musical instruments, permeating various genres of music, and has been used to create some of the most touching and emotional compositions in history. And the people playing it are considered giants of the musical world. But who are these greatest pianists? When choosing the best, many questions arise: should it be based on technical ability, reputation, the breadth of the repertoire, or the ability to improvise? There is also the question of whether it is worth considering those pianists who played in past centuries, because then there was no recording equipment, and we cannot hear their performance and compare it with modern ones. But during this period there was a huge amount of incredible talent, and if they gained world fame long before the media, then it is quite justified to pay them respect. Taking into account all these factors, we offer a list of the 7 best pianists of the past and present.
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
The most famous Polish composer Frederic Chopin was one of the greatest virtuosos, performing pianist of his time.
The vast majority of his works were created for solo piano, and although there are no recordings of his playing, one of his contemporaries wrote: "Chopin is the creator of the piano and composition school. In truth, nothing can compare with the ease and sweetness with which the composer began to play on piano, moreover, nothing can compare with his work full of originality, features and grace.
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
In rivalry with Chopin for the crown of the greatest virtuosos of the 19th century was Franz Liszt, a Hungarian composer, teacher and pianist.
Among his most famous works are the insanely complex Années de pèlerinage piano sonata in B minor and the Mephisto Waltz waltz. In addition, his fame as a performer has become a legend, even the word Lisztomania has been coined. During an eight-year tour of Europe in the early 1840s, Liszt gave over 1,000 performances, although at a relatively young age (35) he stopped his career as a pianist and concentrated entirely on composing.
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Rachmaninoff's style was perhaps quite controversial for the time in which he lived, as he sought to maintain the romanticism of the 19th century.
He is remembered by many for his ability stretch your hand 13 notes(an octave plus five notes) and even a glance at the etudes and concertos that he wrote, you can verify the authenticity of this fact. Fortunately, recordings of this pianist's performance have survived, beginning with his Prelude in C sharp major, recorded in 1919.
Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982)
This Polish-American pianist is often cited as the best Chopin player of all time.
At the age of two, he was diagnosed with perfect pitch, and when he was 13 he made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. His teacher was Carl Heinrich Barth, who in turn studied with Liszt, so he can safely be considered part of the great pianistic tradition. Rubinstein's talent, combining elements of romanticism with more modern technical aspects, turned him into one of the finest pianists of his day.
Svyatoslav Richter (1915 - 1997)
In the fight for the title of the best pianist of the 20th century, Richter is part of the powerful Russian performers that emerged in the middle of the 20th century. He showed great commitment to composers in his performances, describing his role as a "performer" rather than an interpreter.
Richter was not a big fan of the recording process, but some of his best live performances survive, including 1986 in Amsterdam, 1960 in New York and 1963 in Leipzig. For himself, he held high standards and realized that at the Italian concert of Bach, played the wrong note, insisted on the need to refuse to print the work on CD.
Vladimir Ashkenazy (1937 - )
Ashkenazi is one of the leaders in the world of classical music. Born in Russia, he currently holds both Icelandic and Swiss citizenship and continues to perform as a pianist and conductor around the world.
In 1962 he became the winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, and in 1963 he left the USSR and lived in London. His extensive catalog of recordings includes all piano works by Rachmaninov and Chopin, Beethoven sonatas, Mozart's piano concertos, as well as works by Scriabin, Prokofiev and Brahms.
Martha Argerich (1941-)
Argentine pianist Martha Argerich amazed the world with her phenomenal talent when, at the age of 24, she won the Chopin International Competition in 1964.
Now recognized as one of the greatest pianists of the second half of the 20th century, she is renowned for her passionate playing and technical ability, as well as her performances of works by Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff.
How to choose the path is up to you! But to start -
