Todd A
pfm Member
After so much listening to something as elevated and ultimately undefinable as music making, nothing beats pigeonholing everyone into qualitative tiers!
Top Tier
St Annie (EMI)
Friedrich Gulda (Amadeo)
Stephen Kovacevich (Philips)
St Annie (Hungaroton)
Kazune Shimizu
Friedrich Gulda (Orfeo)
Yusuke Kikuchi
Wilhelm Kempff (APR)
Eduardo del Pueyo (Philips)
Irina Mejoueva
Yu Kosuge
FFG
Paul Badura-Skoda (Astree/JVC)
Robert Riefling (Simax)
Wilhelm Backhaus (mono)
Eric Heidsieck
Clara Haskil (mono)
Claude Frank
Paavali Jumppanen
David Allen Wehr
Second Tier
Yves Nat
Rudolf Buchbinder (Teldec)
Andrea Lucchesini
Daniel-Ben Pienaar
Friedrich Gulda (Decca)
Ikuyo Nakamichi
Russell Sherman
Wilhelm Backhaus (stereo)
Eduardo del Pueyo (Pavane)
Sviatoslav Richter (Moscow, 1965)
Ian Hobson
Paul Badura-Skoda (Gramola)
Maurizio Pollini
Igor Levit
Arthur Schnabel
Artur Rubinstein I
Ichiro Nodaira
Clara Haskil (stereo)
Peter Rösel
Daniel Barenboim III
Daniel Barenboim II
Younwha Lee
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Garrick Ohlsson
Takahiro Sonoda (Evica)
Stephen Kovacevich
Emil Gilels
Peter Takacs
Melodie Zhao
Rudolf Buchbinder (Unitel)
Michael Houstoun (Morrison Trust)
Yukio Yokoyama
Kun-Woo Paik
Michael Korstick
Wilhelm Kempff (King International)
Alfred Brendel II
Akiyoshi Sako
Third Tier
Michaël Lévinas
Jonathan Biss
Jenő Jandó
Maria Grinburg
Robert Benz
Gerhard Oppitz
Jean-Bernard Pommier
Takahiro Sonoda (Denon)
Angela Hewitt
Dieter Zechlin
Yaeko Yamane
Daniel Barenboim I
Wilhelm Kempff (DG mono)
Wilhelm Kempff (DG stereo)
Robert Silverman (Orpheum)
Lazar Berman
Gerard Willems
Abdel Rahman El Bacha (Mirare)
Stewart Goodyear
Sequeira Costa
Michael Houstoun (Rattle)
Earl Wild
Timothy Ehlen
Hans Richter-Haaser
John Kane
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
Alfred Brendel III
Claudio Arrau (analog)
Georges Pludermacher
Idil Biret
Bernard Roberts
John O'Conor
Steven Herbert Smith
Fourth Tier
Dino Ciani (Absolute bottom of the barrel sound; Tier 2/3 musically)
Seymour Lipkin
Louie Lortie
Robert Silverman (AudioHigh)
Artur Rubinstein III
Rudolf Buchbinder (RCA)
Martino Tirimo
Jean Muller
Paul Lewis
Sviatoslav Richter (Philips)
Alfredo Perl
Martin Rasch
Aldo Ciccolini
Anton Kuerti
Claudio Arrau (digital)
Llŷr Williams
Walter Gieseking
Alfred Brendel I
Murray Perahia
André De Groote
Abdel Rahman El Bacha (Forlane)
Mari Kodama
Ronald Brautigam
Richard Goode
Christian Leotta
Artur Rubinstein II
Craig Sheppard
Tatiana Nikolayeva
Robert Taub
Steven Masi
Sebastián Forster
Fifth Tier
Malcolm Binns (Due entirely to the abysmal, horrid, crappy instrument)
John Lill
Aurelia Shimkus
Rita Bouboulidi
Anne Øland
HJ Lim
Eighth Circle of Hell
Glenn Gould
Top Tier
St Annie (EMI)
Friedrich Gulda (Amadeo)
Stephen Kovacevich (Philips)
St Annie (Hungaroton)
Kazune Shimizu
Friedrich Gulda (Orfeo)
Yusuke Kikuchi
Wilhelm Kempff (APR)
Eduardo del Pueyo (Philips)
Irina Mejoueva
Yu Kosuge
FFG
Paul Badura-Skoda (Astree/JVC)
Robert Riefling (Simax)
Wilhelm Backhaus (mono)
Eric Heidsieck
Clara Haskil (mono)
Claude Frank
Paavali Jumppanen
David Allen Wehr
Second Tier
Yves Nat
Rudolf Buchbinder (Teldec)
Andrea Lucchesini
Daniel-Ben Pienaar
Friedrich Gulda (Decca)
Ikuyo Nakamichi
Russell Sherman
Wilhelm Backhaus (stereo)
Eduardo del Pueyo (Pavane)
Sviatoslav Richter (Moscow, 1965)
Ian Hobson
Paul Badura-Skoda (Gramola)
Maurizio Pollini
Igor Levit
Arthur Schnabel
Artur Rubinstein I
Ichiro Nodaira
Clara Haskil (stereo)
Peter Rösel
Daniel Barenboim III
Daniel Barenboim II
Younwha Lee
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Garrick Ohlsson
Takahiro Sonoda (Evica)
Stephen Kovacevich
Emil Gilels
Peter Takacs
Melodie Zhao
Rudolf Buchbinder (Unitel)
Michael Houstoun (Morrison Trust)
Yukio Yokoyama
Kun-Woo Paik
Michael Korstick
Wilhelm Kempff (King International)
Alfred Brendel II
Akiyoshi Sako
Third Tier
Michaël Lévinas
Jonathan Biss
Jenő Jandó
Maria Grinburg
Robert Benz
Gerhard Oppitz
Jean-Bernard Pommier
Takahiro Sonoda (Denon)
Angela Hewitt
Dieter Zechlin
Yaeko Yamane
Daniel Barenboim I
Wilhelm Kempff (DG mono)
Wilhelm Kempff (DG stereo)
Robert Silverman (Orpheum)
Lazar Berman
Gerard Willems
Abdel Rahman El Bacha (Mirare)
Stewart Goodyear
Sequeira Costa
Michael Houstoun (Rattle)
Earl Wild
Timothy Ehlen
Hans Richter-Haaser
John Kane
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
Alfred Brendel III
Claudio Arrau (analog)
Georges Pludermacher
Idil Biret
Bernard Roberts
John O'Conor
Steven Herbert Smith
Fourth Tier
Dino Ciani (Absolute bottom of the barrel sound; Tier 2/3 musically)
Seymour Lipkin
Louie Lortie
Robert Silverman (AudioHigh)
Artur Rubinstein III
Rudolf Buchbinder (RCA)
Martino Tirimo
Jean Muller
Paul Lewis
Sviatoslav Richter (Philips)
Alfredo Perl
Martin Rasch
Aldo Ciccolini
Anton Kuerti
Claudio Arrau (digital)
Llŷr Williams
Walter Gieseking
Alfred Brendel I
Murray Perahia
André De Groote
Abdel Rahman El Bacha (Forlane)
Mari Kodama
Ronald Brautigam
Richard Goode
Christian Leotta
Artur Rubinstein II
Craig Sheppard
Tatiana Nikolayeva
Robert Taub
Steven Masi
Sebastián Forster
Fifth Tier
Malcolm Binns (Due entirely to the abysmal, horrid, crappy instrument)
John Lill
Aurelia Shimkus
Rita Bouboulidi
Anne Øland
HJ Lim
Eighth Circle of Hell
Glenn Gould