Martha Argerich, Chopin Mazurka Op.24 No.2 (live @ Nobel Prize Concert 2009)

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

nobel prize concerto? uh?

for obama?

[th3wing3dpaint3r]

@newFranzFerencLiszt Well, there's more than one Nobel prize per year. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, I think he didn't attend the concert though.

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

@th3wing3dpaint3r lol yes...

[tedsta485]

Does anyone feel like this Mazurka doesn't belong to Chopin? The melody is very incongruent with what i'd usually expect from Chopin. Satie always pops into my head when I hear this.. never Chopin..

[tedly10027]

@tedsta485 actually -- Chopin was using an "old" scale mode -- it's one of the "classical modes" - that were common in the pre-bach era that were cultivated very much in the church music - which itself was also had historical connections with even older scales from greece..every "tone" of a scale (say, starting with c at the piano) has its own "mode" ...C "major" being originally the "dorian" mode in church classical modes.

[tedly10027]

Chopin used , in this case , a mazurka in C "major" chopin introduces passages where even if your ear is expecting C MAJOR SCALE because his harmonies had been strongly supporting C major which has a scale that does not have sharps or flats -- he SHARPENS the 4th tone of "c scale" - the tone is now F# instead of the "normal" natural F..

c-d-c- F# -g-a-b-a - even if a piece is written "in c major". the Mode REALLY did start with that C and had that F# ..that's why it sounds "not chopin"...

[tedly10027]

and BRAVO to you because you really caught that Chopin genius moment...to give the piece its "folk" feel...in reality -- when you felt it was "unusual" -- from OUR modern ears used to mainly major and minor scales -- you really felt chopin's message: to remember the "old modes" ..and that's what chopin was doing for us. he was a GENIUS in harmony and scales like that. your ear and feeling is actually very sharp. :-)

[kbossi]

There is such artistry and beauty to this, and she carries it naturally and unaffectedly.

[MiNombreEsPeligro100]

No one plays Chopin like her. Such perfection!!

[TJFNYC212]

perfect

[xcrunner111]

Why is her playing so heavy-handed??

[BachFong11]

SHE should have won the Noble Peace Prize!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like this comment if you think so.

[LucioEiji]

The very last chord sounds almost like a question, if you pay attention to the final higher notes in the previous chords... Truly emotional playing!

[fredericfranc]

There is this theory taken rather seriously by some, that you have to be genetically Polish, you have to have the right genes in you, to execute a Chopin mazurka properly. Well, is the cat out of the bag now, have we discovered something we did not know before, about her ethnic origin?

[MrBlueOnyx]

@fredericfranc hahaha. This is ridiculous! Chopin was 50% french (his last name is even french)! So, genetically, he could undrestand only 50% of the Polish culture and his mazurkas would be only 50% good! Argerich has 0% of Polish genes and she is better than any Polish pianist I know (besides Rubinstein, of course...)

[fredericfranc]

@MrBlueOnyx ...you want to be cautious about the hahahas, in Warsaw they take this shit very seriously...when Fou Tsong some years ago won the Special Mazurka Prize at one of the competitions, there was a spontaneous scheme among the local population to string up the jury off the lampposts in the city...the only thing that saved them was it was hard to find the right type of lampposts to hang people off, bacause of the "new style" postwar Communist construction preavailing in the city...

[judderwocky]

@MrBlueOnyx Rafał Blechacz

[Chisy1234]

I heard this piece yesterday in vienna! just breathtaking

[HJKey]

OMG listen to exact 0:53...she makes that note almost fell into the next one, as if it was a guitar. Martha has always been the ultimate pianist...I can only compare her to Gilels.

[callenishss]

whoever said shes corny is just an idiot. her rubato is just a step faster than other pianists, and her technique is very proper

[th3wing3dpaint3r]

Of course we all know that :D

He's entitled to his own opinion though.

You should check his version of this piece. It's...well i wouldn't want to influence your opinion of it.

Let's just say i think it's a tad less brilliant ;)

[callenishss]

I have a version too, which is the same speed as argerich's, but i havent posted it yet.

admittedly, i dont have a laid-back relaxed rubato which many chopin musicians require.

ive posted 49 of my chopin interpretations and a lot of ppl say they are too fast

[callenishss]

her technique is extremely correct

[martaKetamin]

woww....

[lyghdha]

The concert will be released on dvd by Euroarts.

[rolipoli]

so corny and affected.... for an one time more, the worst version of this mazurka

[callenishss]

i have a tendency to play at her speed but she makes no errors and has rubato in small passages...

she has somewhat less whole structure than other pianists

[hornwu]

Anyone knows what she said after the encore 2:17?

[th3wing3dpaint3r]

@hornwu I can only make out "Chopin...". I think she was discussing what to play with the violinist sitting behind her.

Then she reports about how Chopin (The piece) went.

[scottyschumann18]

she says 'chopin mazurka'

[HJKey]

She says "Chopin Mazurka! "

[acintoli]

@th3wing3dpaint3r She says: "Chopin's mazurka"...probably to the lead violinist who asked what she was playing.

[silvr94]

"chopin mazurka"

[joshtaytrump1]

@hornwu She said "Chopin Mazurka" She was telling the violinist what she just played =)

[HJKey]

@hornwu She said "Chopin Mazurka"

[flowerable83]

@hornwu "

chopin mazurka"

[RantingTrent]

Thanks for posting this!

I think Martha is the finest pianist alive and one of the greatest to ever live.

Does anybody know where I can watch the entire Nobel Prize concert?