Piano playing is about so much more than just chords, melodies and rhythms!  Here are some quotes from the great pianists on the art of playing.

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General

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-- Heinrich Neuhaus, The Art of Piano Playing: My method of teaching, briefly, consists of ensuring that the player should as early as possible … grasp what we call ‘the artistic image’, that is: the content, meaning, the poetic substance, the essence of the music, and be able to understand thoroughly in terms of theory of music (naming it, explaining it), what it is he is dealing with. A clear understanding of this goal enables the player to strive for it, to attain it and embody it in his performance; and that is what ‘technique’ is all about.

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Tone

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-- Emilie von Gretsch, student of Chopin: True to his principle of imitating great singers in one's playing, Chopin drew from the instrument the secret of how to express breathing.  At every point where a singer would take a breath, the accomplished pianist should take care to raise the wrist so as to let it fall again on the singing note with the greatest suppleness imaginable.

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-- Anton Rubinstein: You think it is one instrument?  It is a hundred instruments! 

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-- Heinrich Neuhaus, The Art of Piano Playing: My advice: play beautiful melodic passages (for instance from Chopin) much slower than they should be played; for convenience I call this slow motion.

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-- Josef Lhevinne, Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing: If the cushions of flesh on the ends of the fingers are the pneumatic tires in piano playing, the wrist is the spring or the shock absorber.  For this reason it is next to impossible to produce a good singing tone with a stiff wrist.  The wrist must always be flexible.  The more spring the less bump, and it is bumps that make for bad tone on the piano.

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Technique and Practice

 

-- Karol Mikuli, student of Chopin: On beginning a lesson, Chopin's main concern was to do away with every stiffness and convulsive or cramped movement of the hand, in order to obtain the primary requisite of good playing: 'souplesse' [suppleness] and with it independence of the fingers.

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-- CPE Bach: It can be seen that correct employment of the fingers is inseparably related to the whole art of performance.  More is lost through poor fingering than can be replaced by all conceivable artistry and good taste.

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-- Frederic Chopin: Fingering is the basis of good playing.

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-- Josef Lhevinne, Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing: Brilliancy is as important as "bel canto" in piano playing.  One general principle, however, is that of striking "key bottom".  Many students do not learn this.  The piano key must go all the way down in the production of a good tone.  The habit of striking it half way accounts for much white or colorless playing. 

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-- Boris Berman, Notes from the Pianist's Bench: Good pedaling comes more from a discriminating ear and sensitive touch than from foot technique.  The pianist's attentive ear continuously analyzes the sound being produced and serves as a guide in his using the pedal.

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-- Heinrich Neuhaus, The Art of Piano Playing: A very frequent mistake among pupils (even among the advanced ones) to which one has to draw attention frequently, is the dynamic "similarity" between melody and accompaniment, the lack of an "air cushion" between the first and second levels or between different planes, which is just as unpleasant for the eye in the case of a picture, as for the ear in the case of a musical composition.

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-- Josef Lhevinne, Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing: Practice just left hand as though you had no right hand and had to get everything from the left hand.  Play your left hand parts over and over, giving them individuality, independence and character, and your playing will improve one hundred percent.

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-- Boris Berman, Notes from the Pianist's Bench: The multitude of approaches and their combinations [of pushing down the keys], can be reduced to two generic types ... the polarity of these physical approaches are 'sostenuto' and 'leggiero' ... The [sostenuto] type is based on a slow immersion in the keyboard: the action continues even after the sound has been produced, as if the moment of attack were ignored ... The [leggiero] type is quite the opposite.  The sound is produced by a quick stroke, as if the finger left the key even before the sound could be heard.