Michael Cooper wrote:

>I always hear Evgeni Kissin as being in a league of his own.  (Not I hear
>that's the word on the street, but I hear it when I listen to him and other
>pianists such as Perahia and Argerich, who are no doubt as near to the top
>as can be.)

I'll second that!  I really like his recording of the Chopin Ballads --
much more than Rubinstein's (the RCA from 1959).  I've had conversations
with fans of the "old school" who insist that music making isn't what
it used to be.  They site Heifitz, Rubinstein, Rudolf Serkin, Horowitz,
Reiner, and Szell as examples.  One guy I talked with explained the
apparent improvement in modern musicians' technique by engineering voodoo,
e.g.  the engineers can somehow substitute missed notes with right notes
(this seems totally ludicrous to me).

When I hear today's pianists, especially ones from Russia, I can't imagine
how anyone can say musicians aren't as good as they used to be.  How can
they explain Kissin, Volodos, Pletnev, Bronfman, Schiff, and Brendel?

So what if some today's pianists have unbelievable technique (e.g.  Kissin,
Volodos, Bronfman, Pletnev).  It doesn't mean they can't be musical also.

Mike