Favourite pianist who emerged in 1st decade of 21st Century

[Hobby]

I became a member GMG just over three years ago. The combination of the GMG and first accessing Qobuz as a streaming service helped keep me engaged and sane during enforced lockdowns, exacerbated by a hernia that could not get treated for months due to COVID restrictions. I have greatly enjoyed reading the wisdom and learnt a great deal, though some of the petty spats are irritating.

I thought it would be fun and illuminating to start a thread on this topic. Pianists who emerged into the recording domain in the first decade of the 21st century have had about 15 to 25 years to build up a recorded repertoire. As a result I expect a significant range of composers, preferably including both core repertoire and some less well known composers. Through GMG I have had a chance to discover several wonderful pianists who fit the bill - examples being Kosuge, Lucchesini, Schuch and Chamayou. As always members will welcome some flexibility at the margins - selected favourites might have an early recording just before 2000. Equally my intention is to include and welcome diversity across solo piano, chamber music and concertos.

[Hobby]

Of course would also be expected to hear reasons for the choice of favourites and possibly suggestions for recording you would most like them to add to their repertoire.
All views will be subjective (except possibly Todd?) and based on making a connection with the pianist. I assume that having heard them live might help inform subjective judgements.

[Atriod]

Easily Dina Ugorskaja.

Lucchesini had been making recordings in the 80s and 90s.

[Hobby]

Oops!

[Hobby]

My own favourite is comfortably Steven Osborne who plays with great depth and precision. I base my opinion partly on having seen him perform quite a few times and having accumulated virtually all his recordings on CD from Hyperion. Luckily these are now available on streaming services. In these pages his playing has sometimes been referred to as 'museum quality' - superb pianism and virtuosity in service of the music should qualify for this as an accolade, but it is a 21st century museum and not rigid or fusty. His solo recordings span a considerable repertoire with some emphasis on 20th century composers - Kapustin, Messiaen, Debussy, Medtner, Tippett, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Prokofiev, Crumb, and Feldman; 19th century solo works include Beethoven (a superb Hammerklavier), Alkan, Schubert, Mussorgsky. He has collaborations with cellists Gebhardt (Schnittke, Shostakovich, Britten, Alkan and Chopin) and Rivinius (Schumann); duo pianists Roscoe (Messiaen) and Lewis (Schubert and French), violinist Ibragimova (Prokofiev) and clarinettist Johnson (Brahms and Rosza). His orchestral pieces include Tippett, Britten, Messiaen ( Turangalila and Canyons), Stravinsky, Falla and Ravel. What a range, with every thing played with care, fidelity to the score, and virtuosity.

[Mandryka]

I saw Steven Osborne for the first time in the Edinburgh Festival around 1990. He emerged with his Messiaen I'd say.

[Mandryka]

I became a member GMG just over three years ago. The combination of the GMG and first accessing Qobuz as a streaming service helped keep me engaged and sane during enforced lockdowns, exacerbated by a hernia that could not get treated for months due to COVID restrictions. I have greatly enjoyed reading the wisdom and learnt a great deal, though some of the petty spats are irritating.

I thought it would be fun and illuminating to start a thread on this topic. Pianists who emerged into the recording domain in the first decade of the 21st century have had about 15 to 25 years to build up a recorded repertoire. As a result I expect a significant range of composers, preferably including both core repertoire and some less well known composers. Through GMG I have had a chance to discover several wonderful pianists who fit the bill - examples being Kosuge, Lucchesini, Schuch and Chamayou. As always members will welcome some flexibility at the margins - selected favourites might have an early recording just before 2000. Equally my intention is to include and welcome diversity across solo piano, chamber music and concertos.

Tobias Koch. Tom Beghin.

[Hobby]

I saw Steven Osborne for the first time in the Edinburgh Festival around 1990. He emerged with his Messiaen I'd say.

I first saw him there in 2002, performing a wonderful quartet for the end of time in a late night concert and Brahms and Ravel trios in Queens Hall. 2002 is when his first Messiaen recording of Vingt Regards was issued.

[Mandryka]

I first saw him there in 2002, performing a wonderful quartet for the end of time in a late night concert and Brahms and Ravel trios in Queens Hall. 2002 is when his first Messiaen recording of Vingt Regards was issued.

Gosh -- I thought the Messiaen was earlier than that!  Time plays tricks on you.

[Todd]

It's nearly impossible to select just one pianist who emerged in the first decade of the century, based on recordings, because so many are extraordinary.  I'll break them down into two groups, the Big Five and all the rest.  I know I missed some.  (I noted where the pianists released their earliest recording(s) at the very end of the 90s.)

Big Five (kind of in order, but not really)
Herbert Schuch
YES
William Youn
Bertrand Chamayou
Ragna Schirmer

Others of no little distinction
Alessandra Ammara
Daniil Trifonov
Dina Ugorskaja
Dong-Hyek Lim
Dong-Min Lim
Enrico Pace (possibly the greatest mostly accompanist working today)
Evgeni Bohzhanov
FFG (90s)
Irina Mejoueva (90s)
Maurizio Baglini (90s)
Minsoo Sohn (aka, Yunchan Lim's teacher)
Naida Cole (only two major recordings, one from the 90s)
Natahca Kudritskaya
Roberto Prosseda
Steven Osborne
Vassily Primakov
Yu Kosuge (90s)

[Mandryka]

Paul Lewis. When did he emerge? There are good things - the Winterreise with Padmore, the solo Schubert.

And of course there's the elephant in the room - HJ Lim.

[Karl Henning]

I became a member GMG just over three years ago. The combination of the GMG and first accessing Qobuz as a streaming service helped keep me engaged and sane during enforced lockdowns, exacerbated by a hernia that could not get treated for months due to COVID restrictions. I have greatly enjoyed reading the wisdom and learnt a great deal, though some of the petty spats are irritating.

I thought it would be fun and illuminating to start a thread on this topic. Pianists who emerged into the recording domain in the first decade of the 21st century have had about 15 to 25 years to build up a recorded repertoire. As a result I expect a significant range of composers, preferably including both core repertoire and some less well known composers. Through GMG I have had a chance to discover several wonderful pianists who fit the bill - examples being Kosuge, Lucchesini, Schuch and Chamayou. As always members will welcome some flexibility at the margins - selected favourites might have an early recording just before 2000. Equally my intention is to include and welcome diversity across solo piano, chamber music and concertos.

Welcome to GMG! And fun topic!

[ritter]

Francesco Piemontesi is the first name that came to my mind....

[San Antone]

Big Five (kind of in order, but not really)
Herbert Schuch
YES
William Youn
Bertrand Chamayou
Ragna Schirmer

Who is "YES"?

[Todd]

Who is "YES"?

Yeol Eum Son.

[Brian]

Here are some YouTube videos of Yeol Eum Son in 2005 (Chopin Etudes Op 25, complete, age 19), 2011 (finale of Prokofiev's Second Concerto, age 25), and 2022 (Moszkowski's Etincelles).

[Todd]

Here are some YouTube videos of Yeol Eum Son in 2005 (Chopin Etudes Op 25, complete, age 19)

She recorded the complete set around the same time as well: https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,26952.msg1203495.html#msg1203495

She needs to record everything under the sun.

If I lived in LA, I'd listen to her play Mozart this weekend.

[Florestan]

Not yet mentioned:

Nino Gvetadze
Daniil Trifonov
Khatia Buniatishvili
David Fray
Beatrice Rana
Kit Armstrong
Alice Sara Ott and her sister Mona Asuka
Benjamin Grosvenor

[Hobby]

I have a feeling that several of these pianists emerged in the 2010's rather than earlier. I was also surprised by the earlier inclusion of Nadia Cole, with only two major recordings and one of these from 1990's. I would expect any serious candidates to have at least 10 or 12 recordings by now given 15 to 25 years since 'emergence' on the recorded scene. I had hoped this thread would be avoiding long lists of very good or excellent pianists and select real favourites with more discussion of what makes the performers special.

[Atriod]

Not yet mentioned:

Nino Gvetadze
Daniil Trifonov
Khatia Buniatishvili
David Fray
Beatrice Rana
Kit Armstrong
Alice Sara Ott and her sister Mona Asuka
Benjamin Grosvenor

There are tons that haven't been mentioned. We are living in a time when there are more independent classical labels than ever before. And I'm only including pianists that have at least three albums, the list gets considerably longer if I'd have included those that only have one or two. Among the numerous great things about visiting Italy, one of my favorite aspects is hearing pianists at free concerts or paid concerts that can only sit 20-50 people interpret music just as well as musicians that can perform in an average sized concert hall.

Joseph Moog
Behzod Abduraimov
Anna Ojiro - 3 for 3, all of her albums could be considered among the very greatest interpretations for repertoire. Including Chopin Preludes which I have kept (discarded many) around 12-15 sets.
Rika Miyatani - looks remarkably young but she is in her early 50s. She might have recordings from the 90s, but I think she only started making recordings after doing well in Chopin and Tchaikovsky Competitions.
Daniele Pollini
Marilyn Nonken
Yevgeny Sudbin
Cathy Krier
Sabine Liebner - though she has a recording from 1999, she is worth mentioning. One of the very best modern music interpreters ever.
Mark Knoop