Your Three Favorite Bach Pianists

[Sammy]

Mine are Gould, Koroliov and Tureck.

As this thread moves along, I'll be offering the current tally.

[Todd]

Schiff, Anderszewski, Edwin Fischer.

[Scarpia]

Mine are Gould, Koroliov and Tureck.

As this thread moves along, I'll be offering the current tally.

Was listening to Tureck's 50's WTC last night and it was superb.  (Leads one to imagine building a time machine and sneaking a few Schoeps microphones and a DSD tape recorder into that room.)   To Tureck I'd probably add Schiff and Hewitt (or maybe Koroliov instread, but the last thing I listened to by him, the Goldbergs, struck me as a bit too heavy-handed).

[Leon]

Mine are Gould, Koroliov and Tureck.

As this thread moves along, I'll be offering the current tally.

We share two out of three: Koroliov and Tureck - my third is not so easy.  It is not Gould, but I'll have to think about it a bit since there are several contenders.

EDIT:  Perahia.

[PaulSC]

Koroliov is at the top for me. Till Fellner hasn't recorded much Bach, but I love his WTC I and eagerly anticipate more — I'll put him second. And I'll give the remaining spot to Maria Tipo.

[Sammy]

Koroliov is at the top for me. Till Fellner hasn't recorded much Bach, but I love his WTC I and eagerly anticipate more — I'll put him second. And I'll give the remaining spot to Maria Tipo.

Yes, I loved Fellner's WTC I.  Tipo's an interesting choice; I really go for her Goldbergs, but the set of Partitas leaves me cold.

Given the way I've set this up, each of your choices will have to get equal weight.

[Sammy]

Was listening to Tureck's 50's WTC last night and it was superb.  (Leads one to imagine building a time machine and sneaking a few Schoeps microphones and a DSD tape recorder into that room.)   To Tureck I'd probably add Schiff and Hewitt (or maybe Koroliov instread, but the last thing I listened to by him, the Goldbergs, struck me as a bit too heavy-handed).

It's good to have you back!

[Scarpia]

It's good to have you back!

Thanks!  I'll soon be getting on your nerves again, especially since you've given up smoking, or so I've read.   

[kishnevi]

It's good to have you back!

+1 
[pumps one fist in the air while pounding table with the other]

Thread duty:
This is both difficult and simple for me.  There are only three pianists of whom I have an extensive spread of Bach performances:  Gould, Hewitt, and Perahia.  Those three impressed me enough that I sought out as much of them as I could find.     There's also Schiff, of whom I currently have little, but will (depending on the post office) hopefully have a full swathe in the next few days, whenever my package from Amazon Spain arrives which includes it (it's now slightly overdue--predicted delivery date was July 30).   That's the Decca cycle:  while I have his complete Beethoven sonata cycle on ECM, I don't have anything else from him on ECM.    I have and like his ECM Partitas, but nothing else on ECM that I can remember at the moment.

Truth to tell, I have come to prefer Bach on the harpsichord over the piano most of the time, which is another reason I don't have that big a list to consider.

But there are others I like whom I have either not heard more than a little but like what I hear, like Feltsman, or who haven't recorded that much Bach but what they have I like a lot--Tharaud and Argerich are the primary contenders here.  And then there's Ashkenazy,  whose WTC bores me to death but whose Partitas are almost sui generis (a less kind word would be wierd) but a recording I would not want to be without.

But for purposes of this thread, 
1 Hewitt
2 Perahia
3 Gould
more or less in that order, although on some days I might flip 2 and 3. Hewitt is my clear overall favorite.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Hewitt
Schiff
Pogorelich (what little he's recorded)

[Sammy]

Current Tally:

Gould      3
Tureck     3
Koroliov   3
Schiff       3
Hewitt     3
Perahia   2
Anderszewski  1
E. Fischer 1
Fellner     1
Tipo         1
Pogorelich 1

[Octo_Russ]

1 - Nikolayeva [she's a genius]
2 - Schiff
3 - Perahia

I really need to hear more of Hewitt, and others i greatly admire are Gulda and Demidenko.

[Sammy]

1 - Nikolayeva [she's a genius]
2 - Schiff
3 - Perahia

I really need to hear more of Hewitt, and others i greatly admire are Gulda and Demidenko.

Gulda was close to being in my top three.  I hadn't thought of Nikolayeva, likely because I connect her closely with Shostakovich.

[snyprrr]

Christian, Wilhelm Friedrich, and Manny

[springrite]

Gould
Tureck
Feinberg

[The Raven]

Hewitt
Perahia
Schiff

[mc ukrneal]

Hmm. Interesting question. I love Perahia, Tureck, and Gould. I have thought Schepkin tremendous in the Partitas - but I haven't listened to the rest of his Bach. I have several Hewitt recordings, and think her excellent (for the most part), though not sure I'd put her in my top three. And I have enjoyed Richter's WTC as much as any other version.

So here are the three that excite me the most at the moment:
Perahia
Richter
Schepkin

And welcome back Scarpia!! We were concerned that something might have happened to you, so hope all is well...

[Holden]

Koroliov

Schepkin

Lise de la Salle

[Sergeant Rock]

Gould I love unreservedly but other pianists who've recorded a lot of Bach (e.g., Hewitt, Schiff, Tureck) don't do much for me. My second and third choices are of the Inauthentic Romantic School of Bach Playing.

Gould
Tipo
Barenboim

P.S. Feinberg almost made the list based solely on his Bach organ works arranged for piano.

Sarge

[Drasko]

Not particularly informed opinion but here anyhow:

Rübsam
Pogorelich
Koroliov