Piano is difficult to record well and can be revealing of flaws in recording technique or playback systems. And there's so much great piano music nobody could listen to all of it in a lifetime. Here are some of the best piano recordings that I have heard. By "best" I mean they sound the most lifelike and realistic. This is hard because there's so much great music to hold back because even though it's generally well recorded, this is about selecting the very best based on sonics.
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Impromptus-899-Radu-Lupu/dp/B00000JXZ5
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Military-Marches-Variations-Barenboim/dp/B000000SA0
https://www.amazon.com/Schumann-Fantasy-Liszt-Transcendental-Etudes/dp/B000003FY4
On the last it is Etude # 12, the Chasse-Neige that is just fantastic. I have the classic Berman among others, but this one blew my mind in both sonics and performance.
What are some of your best piano recordings? I'd love to discover some new ones.
I just listened to Zimerman's 2022 CD recording for DG of several Szymanowski pieces. Zimerman doesn't carry his personal piano on tour, but a keyboard modified to his liking. I seem to remember that it struck the strings in different places from a standard Steinweg. Most of the pieces were recorded in the Fukuyama Hall of Art & Culture. This venue was chosen for its acoustic. Z: "every note is clear...yet each is in a cushion of warm surroundings." Z. used a Hamburg or a Japan Steinweg.
I was immediately struck by the sound, notably in the first pieces, Preludes, Op.1. The extreme treble had nothing clangy or metallic, but had a ringing resonant quality many find lacking in Steinways. (I preferred bare stereo to simulated surround.) The bass was low and full, warm and open. I loved the long decay of the low left hand notes at the end of the first prelude. The sound reminded me of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, which possesses by far the finest acoustic I have ever heard. Most locations seem to fight musical expression in one way or another, especially my rooms at home.
Here we have several factors: the piano, the modified keyboard, the hall, and the recording technique. Your reactions to this CD very much welcomed.