True, but what we’re doing here is assessing the quality of a certain interpretation of a work of art.
Yes
If there are few recordings and only one great one, that’s fine. If there are many recordings, but one is on another level, that is also fine. I didn’t think it was that complicated… Obviously as the number of recordings grow, the chances of there being multiple great recordings also grows, so typically these ‘supreme’ recordings tend not to exist for popular works.
Anyway, this thread sucks. File it away with the weekly comme pianostreet threads.
Hehe. Gotcha.
There’s no distinction? A performance by a musician is judged and created no differently than a painting by a painter for instance.
Revision:
My hommage rape/shred of Horowitz pag 2 octaves section is new best rec of this piece. Think still slower than him sadly : (
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Difficult but very cool task! I included recordings for which I have only one first choice, so here is my list (I will probably update it later):
Bach: Goldberg Variations - Gould (2nd recording)
Bach: Partita no. 2 - Gould
Bach: English Suites nos. 2 & 3 - Pogorelich
Scarlatti: Sonatas
G major, K 427- Tiempo
Selections by Pogorelich, Horowitz and Pletnev
Toccata - Argerich
Couperin & Rameau - everything that Sokolov played
Haydn
Sonata no. 62 in E-flat - Richter
Concerto in D major - Argerich (London Sinfonieta)
Mozart
Variations in C major - Haskil
Sonata KV 333 - Horowitz
Beethoven
Sonata op. 53, “Waldstein” - Gilels
Sonata op. 111 - Sokolov (live from recent years, for me personally Budapest 2017)
Concerto no. 2 - Argerich
Schubert
Sonata no. 1 in E major - Volodos
Sonata no. 2 in C major - Volodo
Sonata D. 960 - Richter
Wanderer Fantasy - Richter
Drei Klavierstucke - Sokolov
Liszt
Soiree de Vienne no. 6 - Horowitz
Widmung - Van Cliburn
Spanish Rhapsody - Gilels
Hungarian Rhapsodies as a set - Cziffra
Moszkowski
Etudes 6 & 13, Enticelles - Horowitz
Mendelssohn
Variations serieuss - Richter
Brahms
Sonata no. 1 - Sokolov
Sonata no. 2 - Richter
Sonata no. 3 - Bachauer
Ballades op. 10 - Gilels
Both concerti - Gilels
Chopin
Etude op. 10 no. 1 - Argerich (Chopin competition
Etude op. 10 no. 2 - Rudenko
Etude op. 10 no. 4 - Richter (Enigma video)
Etudes op. 25 as a set - Sokolov
Nocturno op. 27 no. 2 - Lipatti
Scherzi as a set - Pogorelich
Waltzes as a set - Lipatti
Rondo op. 5 - Bozhanov
Grieg
Lyric Pieces (selection) - Gilels
Piano Concerto - Lipatti
Balakiriev
Islamey - Pogorelich (Carnegie 1990.)
Mussorgsky
Pictues - Pogorelich
Rachmaninov
Moments Musicaux - Pogorelich
Etude op. 39 no. 5 - Horowitz
Sonata no. 1 - Trifonov
Chopin Variations - Trifonov
Corelli Variations - Korobeinikov
Concerto no. 3 - Sokolov
Concerto no. 4 - Volodin
Prokofiev
Concerto no. 3 - Argerich
Concerto no. 5 - Richter
Scriabin
Etudes (selection) - Horowitz
Sonata no. 2 - Pogorelich
Sonata no. 3 - Gilels
Sonata no. 5 - Richter
Shostakovich
Some Preludes and Fugues - Richter
Concerto no. 1 - Argerich
Sonata no. 2 - Gilels
Stravinsky
Petrushka - Kholodenko (Van Clibrun competition)
Mompou
Chopin Variations - Trifonov
Everything played by Volodos
Spanish music in general - de Larrocha
Richard Strauss
Klavierstucke op. 5 - Vladar
Reger
Bach Variations - Schiff
Ravel
Gaspard - Pogorelich
Concerto in G major - Argerich
Messiaen
Vision regards - Aimard
Catalogue - Aimard
Ligeti
Etudes - Aimard
HAHAHA FUCKKKKKKKKKK LEGENDARY!!!
Da GRUNTAH GENSUI add even mo FURY to diz already LEGENDARY UNLEAZH HAHAHAH FUCK!!! 
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Thanks! trying reeely hard to be disciplined and learn this one properly but the occaisional rape through aint gonna hurt ; )
ahahahahah when da RAPE THRU zound bettah den da exact written notez
u noe u iz doin zumtin right! 
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Datz rite
Da SDC penizdick legacy!
Madge - opus cumbucketisticum
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Not really…a painter is creating a new piece of art, a musician is RE-creating an existing piece of art - unless he/she’s playing an improvisation.
Anywayz my point waz that judging/categorizing those things is quite a subjective affair.
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Yeah that recording really stands out - in a bad way 
The only way I could think to do it would be to name recordings that have achieved the most legendary status, which can kind of take the subjectivity out of it. Even though you may not agree it is legendary playing, you can’t deny their place.
Things like Gould Goldberg (which I don’t actually like) or da Perahia’s Zart cuncerti (which I like but I’m guessing most people here won’t).
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I definitely can’t agree with Sokolov op 111. It made such an impression on me that I’d completely forgotten that I’d heard him play it live.
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No really, I definitely think you can make the case that the painter’s job is a direct equivalence to that of a pianist. They both choose their motive - what to paint or what to play - and how well their effort compares isn’t so much about what they’ve chosen but how they present it and what they’re able to do with it artistically (indeed, in most cases it’s someone else who’s told them what to paint or play, or they choose according to what’s commercially viable). Horowitz’s chief claim to fame wasn’t his Tchaikovsky concerto just like van Gogh’s wasn’t his sunflowers - it was how he played that Tchaikovsky concerto, and how he painted those sunflowers. Further painter and pianist both need technique to present and realize their vision clearly and as close as possible to what they’re imagining, they both need an inherent sense for form, structure, proportion, drama & effect to make the result successful, their works can both be assigned to schools and styles which are subject to evolution through the exchange of artistic ideas, in both cases you can often identify who has painted or played a work through the personality of the artist which is imprinted on it, etc. We assess and classify their works in the same way, and the talents required for one are largely the same as those for the other only that they’re used in a different domain.
The bottom line is at least that I don’t think you can say one of them doesn’t do art of their own if you agree the other does - and if the assessment of their works had been a subjective affair it wouldn’t make sense to talk about great artists. You wouldn’t have had this consensus around people like Richter and Michelangelo, Picasso’s paintings would be as eligible for the museum as his neighbour’s, Biret’s recordings would be as famous as Kempff’s, and an analysis like what I recently did with Raphael/Perugino would not have been possible. Just drawing a green or a blue line on a piece of paper, that’s subjective which you might prefer. But when it comes to representing complex things and do so in a way intended to emotionally or intellectually stimulate a spectator you can’t just pick any bloke and call their results equivalent and only subject to a subjective assessment.
Cziffra in Liszt’s Polonaises 1&2
I’m obsessed with those and every other performance I’ve heard sounds dull by comparison.
I think he shines in music with a dance rhythm.
I’d venture to say he owns the Rhapsodies also but I know others enjoy different approaches.
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@Ashley_Tervort a bit off topic - If you like Liszt’s Polonaises so much, I suggest to check my upload of Goran Filipec in this thread:
http://www.dasdc.net/t/goran-filipec-liszt-anniversary-resonances/25034/4
Don’t wan’t to make comparison, just recommend good recording.
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Hmm, can’t really agree with your reasoning.
Yes, there are similarities between pianists and painters in terms of technique and artistic processes. But the big difference is that painters create their own work, while classical pianists recreate/interpret the masterpieces of others, unless they choose to improvise or compose themselves.
And I don’t deny at all that some artists are greater than others and that some of them have reached the pinnacle of their art in a certain style or area.
But the discussion here was of an entirely different nature. Have to agree with Chris that this thread sucks, because it is impossible to give a 100% objective assessment why a certain recording of an existing piece of music would be “unchallenged” or “unsurpassed”.