Favorite Pianist

[Rinaldo]

Gilels (whom I discovered through a certain sergeant), Moravec and, after seeing him live, Sokolov.

[Androcles]

John Ogdon

[Parsifal]

Kempff
Lortie
Pollini
Hewitt
Arrau
Schiff
Brendel
Argerich
Aimard

(Picking one seems impossible)

[Ken B]

If I pick just one it's Kempff. Perahia, Hewitt, Argerich, Schiff, and Brendel are high up there. I have a soft spot for Vasary and Sandor. Horowitz might make the top 300.

[Wakefield]

Horowitz might make the top 300.

Your new avatar was, no doubt, a great find. Perfect match between image and personality. 

[Florestan]

Maria Tipo, Brigitte Engerer, Guiomar Novaes, Ingrid Haebler.

Dinu Lipatti, Thierry de Brunhoff, Tamas Vasary, Samson Francois, Alfred Cortot.

The best pianists I've seen live: Andrei Gavrilov, Nikolai Demidenko, Evgeni Kissin, Yuja Wang, Valentin Gheorghiu.

(in no particular order except for Gavrilov)

[zamyrabyrd]

Bruno Leonardo Gelber to my mind is in a class of his own. He has that extra something.
Evgeny Kissin is a current favorite.
Otherwise, the late greats are Rachmaninoff, Cortot, Arrau (not everything, in particular when he takes ultra slow tempi), Horowitz, Rubinstein (I am appreciating him more and more), Gould for Bach, Jorge Bolet and Gyorgy Cziffra (the man for Liszt!)
Funny about Cortot, I am not sure young musicians appreciate him as much. I had an argument a couple years ago with a guy who pooh-poohed his ultra romanticism and missed notes. OK, they didn't have the kind of correction technology they do today. He would have had to do takes from the beginning and something of the spontaneity would have been lost repeating something umteen times.

[Rinaldo]

If I pick just one it's Kempff. Perahia, Hewitt, Argerich, Schiff, and Brendel are high up there.

How on Earth did I forget Brendel?!

Bad, bad Rinaldo.

[nathanb]

Seems like Nicolas Hodges is probably the best right now.

[mszczuj]

Friedrich Gulda

Paul Badura-Skoda

Piet van Kuijken

Jos van Immerseel

Malcolm Bilson

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Can i bend the rules and include Hiromi?

[zamyrabyrd]

Can i bend the rules and include Hiromi?

Oh, gosh, include her on my list!

[Marc]

I can't pick a favourite, even though names like Kempff, Arrau, Pires and Rosen came to mind rather quickly.

But actually I think that my favourite pianist has been and will always be Chico Marx.
His grumbling brother would disagree of course, but at least I've got the lovely (though ill-fated) Telma Todd on my side.

https://www.youtube.com/v/3kDHD4Bs_EI

[Drasko]

Michelangeli, of living Zimerman and Sokolov.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Oh, gosh, include her on my list!

[Andante]

I have gradually warmed to Glenn Gould despite his vocal accompaniment, it started with the Goldberg variations and now the rest of Bach's works.
. 

[Ken B]

I have gradually warmed to Glenn Gould despite his vocal accompaniment, it started with the Goldberg variations and now the rest of Bach's works.
.

You might find this useful

http://www.davegrossman.net/gould/

[Andante]

You might find this useful

http://www.davegrossman.net/gould/

Very good actually I would miss it if removed, but he has a very light touch compared to some ham fisted piano players 

[kishnevi]

Going for pianists who have a broad command of repertory...leaving out people like Hewitt who are best in one or two areas only (in her case, Bach and the French)

Deceased or retired
Rubinstein
Richter
Brendel
Older generation but still active
Perahia
Argerich
Friere
Pollini
Schiff
In mid career, assuming normal life spans
Hamelin
Andsnes
Younger generation
Several candidates but hard to pick any who match my criteria

[San Antone]

Maurizio Pollini
Martha Argerich
Nikolai Demidenko
Marc-Andre Hamelin
Bill Evans