Your choice of pianist for Beethoven?!

Your choice of pianist for Beethoven?

If you were to buy one set of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, what pianist would you choose??
Personally I would choose Emil Gilels. Although I find Schnabel's interperatation to be the best, his lack of technical mastery detracts from the experiance as a whole. Gilels in my opinion possesses a wonderful and balanced combination of technical mastery and interperative vision. Looking forward to your opinions.

1 week ago
How about elaborating on why you prefer a certain pianist.

I would have to buck the trend here. You have to consider the quality of the recordings in addition to the performer.
So I would have to choose the sets by Alfred Brendel or Wilhelm Kempff. Brendel has recorded the complete sonatas twice, the later version more contemplative and cerebral.
Kempff's Beethoven is filled with nobility and beauty.
Your choice of Gilels is a good one. Schnabel's versions have long been considered definitive, but the older recording sometimes detract from the purchase. This occurs a lot these days when high quality sound from CDs is available. As an example of this compare the recordings of Debussy's music recorded definitively by Gieseking to the modern recordings by Pascal Roge.
Overall the Brendel and Kempff sets are the complete package.