Chopin - Ballade No. 4, Op. 52 (Rubinstein)

[EripmavRaye]

@rachman1337. 20

[Rachman1337]

On a scale of 1 to 10 how hard is this to play?

[shenkeey]

@Rachman1337 On a scale from 1 to 10 how long do you play?

[josetato]

@Rachman1337 This is, hands down the hardest ballade to play. Both technically and musically 

[MichaelScarn23]

hi tobin :)

[MekinoseHD]

@MichaelScarn23 nt needs to return

[MichaelScarn23]

@MekinoseHD i agree

[ethicks00]

@MichaelScarn23

HAHA!

[metalmario765]

@MichaelScarn23 I'm sorry who?

[MichaelScarn23]

@metalmario765 Tobin!

[metalmario765]

@MichaelScarn23 ?

[MichaelScarn23]

@metalmario765 !

[profdodo1]

I meant to say "justified" ( don't like spelling errors!!). The other thing is that the Charles Rosen talk was on BBC "Third programme" as it was then.

[profdodo1]

This is an incredibly beautiful performance from the great man for whom superlatives are justifies. Long live these wonderful Rubinstein performances.  By the way I recall about 50 years ago Charles Rosen talking in depth about this ballade and extremely informative it was. The stuff for Charles Rosen is very limited on Youtube. Does anyone remember that far back?? Reply please if poss.

[aliciajohn]

It is so beautiful!

[NightmareGuitarist]

THAT WAS SICK!

[fcg2367]

Wonderful and epic performance! Thank you.

[tsvetkovprelude]

6;40 onwards - the gradation of the bass is just incomparable, listen to the different elements that create the whole. Chopin knew the art showing something so logical in such a way to look tremendously elegant.

[ilovechopin11]

He makes it sound so easy...

[titusbeertsen]

@MadScientist7777 And one person under the name of MadScientist7777 tries to get thumbs up by copying the most irritating youtube comment ever from all the other classical music videos.

[pianop90]

I love from 8:20 to the end!!!!

[akagrin]

@pianop90 As do I. Yet, I am still discovering the piece

[jyoo21]

0 dislikes!

[jyoo21]

@jyoo21 fuck i jinxed it. 2 dislikes

[titusbeertsen]

6:28 - 6:35 is sooo beautiful!

[itsjustnopinionok]

U play it, one note at a time

[jerdawg553]

This is one complicated ballade...beautiful...but complicated...holy shit How can you play this....I thought hammerklavier was hard....

[MasterAzunai]

@jerdawg553 In this case the Hammerklavier is far more difficult... though I think even Beethoven would be hard pressed to pick his own piece over this one for sheer beauty (coming from someone who is a complete and total die-hard Beethoven fan).

[tedly10027]

@MasterAzunai there are some of the "musicology" types that consider this piece perhaps the "greatest" single movement by Chopin...rivalled only by his Fantasie in F Minor and the 1st mvt of his 3rd sonata. I tend to agree with THIS piece...it's like the "complete" chopin all in "one volume". just a glorious work..

[tedly10027]

@tedly10027 and RUBINSTEIN is, imo, STILL beyond all other greats in his chopin and in THIS work...after all these years and just now having listened to dozens of versions for a few hours now...Rubinstein just is on a different plane , imo...and I am a pianist too and have played these works plenty..when rubinstein plays - he is BOTH in this world and yet as if in a world one can not touch...but imagine being there also ...

[SestaLibero]

@tedly10027 I agree, maybe this is really the greatest Chopin's creation. I had in the past some problem with the Final, but then I understood it when I listened it played by Richter (which prolongs the pause before its beginning in a wonderfully exagerate way).

[lePistolero]

wow it looks difficult to play!

[justlooseit8567]

Obviously there are no dislikes for this video....How can you dislike such a gorgeous and genious interpretation?

[davidalpiano]

@asphalteaters And that part its unbelievably hard to play too!!

[calcmandan]

@davidalpiano Yes it is difficult to learn, but rewarding once it's down. This piece has been my project the last few months and I have to say it changed my view on Chopin.

[calcmandan]

@davidalpiano However, I'm not a big fan of this particular interpretation.

[anonymousQ45]

Is the Forte section at 9:42 a tarantella?

[Doug19752533]

@anonymousQ45 technically id say no its not a tarantella. a tarantella has a specific rhythmic pattern in 6/8 or other forms of compound duple time which would look like this (ill try to break up the measures too) | ta te ta te | te te te te te te | ta te te te te | ta...... ect. thats the basic layout of the tarantella. Chopins coda here at 9:42 is more a series of chromatic variations of the main themes in the piece

[muffinsarelife1]

fa la la la la, fa la lalalalala, fala la la la la la lalalalalala...

[wawa314159]

In the first half I thought it was easier Chopin's other works, and maybe I could play it myself... And then arpeggios, strettos, and accel.s appeared...It is still as technique-demanding as other typical piece of Chopin!

[LeonR1993]

@wawa314159 You know, i really love chopin, but he is such a bitch for creating almost impossible to play pieces :P Sure, it starts quite easy, although quite demanding, but then the hard parts make me crazy :S

[tedly10027]

@wawa314159 there is a counterpart in some way among opera singers: to many sopranos, one of the most difficult "feats" to accomplish is to perform the role of VIOLETTA in Verdi's La Traviata..why? because it incorporates IN its role not just ONE "type" of singing but 3: starting off as a "lyric" , then as the drama unfolds, becoming a "dramatic" - and after the voice has been "worn out" - MUST still sing Coloratura and finish off with highly controlled lyric singing again..

[tedly10027]

the shift from the "dramatic" middle part TO coloratura is often the bane of many...the ballade of Chopin is like that in some ways...before the long pause near the end...has been that long build up from "lyric" to FULL chordal virtuoso drama and really heavy-weight playing ...then the fingers have to give FULL tone BUT with even more difficult finger work right to the end, always building up some more..

[tedly10027]

and in THIS "feat" Rubinstein - imo - outshines everyone else in NEVER sacrificing the TONAL beauty and fullness (not merely loud) of the final dash after the long pause ..and note by note , phrase by phrase makes it sound like one long breath of singing...amazing, imo. he NEVER sounds forced in his speed, crescendos, accelerandos...and things just "pile up" so logically...and never makes it sound like "here comes the difficult part to play" but rather : here is the ENDING of the Story.

[fwinterzlodig152]

A true feel of the 1800's, right in this music. Why can't there be such music today?

[SilverStingPhantom39]

@fwinterzlodig152 Because there was no money back then. Just music.

[Gman6755]

Do you have to take piano lessons to play a piece like this?? Just kidding, that was insane and I remember now why I quit the piano many years ago, it is hard!!!

[Ferien7]

just wow...Chopin...teach me...  ... plz

[scottgilesmusic]

My favorite piece of Chopin and one of my favorite pieces ever.

[4thlord51]

This song blows my mind!

People complain about mainstream music today, but I take great pleasure to that because anyone that enjoys pieces like this are musical sophisticated. Am I selfish for knowing what music is really is and not educating others?

[AubreyProsper]

I have been reborn...now to spread the word of Chopin!

[ThePaczki]

How is this even possible?

[ostolation]

Too bad it had to end

[Jangmalja]

@ostolation you felt the same with me!! :D

[MozartK365]

@ostolation if it don't, probably this ballade wouldn't be famous today. Who is going to play and record unfinished piece, anyway?

[YSFmemories]

@MozartK365 How about Mozart's fantasy in d minor?

[MozartK365]

@YSFmemories I dislike that, the one in c minor is better, in my opinion

[YSFmemories]

@MozartK365 I was responding to your question "who is going to play and record [an] unfinished piece" :)

[MozartK365]

@YSFmemories OK, some unfinished pieces are also famous, such as Mozart mass in c minor K427 and Requiem

[e4e5sf3sf6]

@ostolation Play it again Sam :)

[nadashley]

no words can describe this -AMAZING- <333333333

[danceofthegoblins]

I've always loved Rubenstein's Chopin. Thanks for posting!

[audreyhsux5727]

@danceofthegoblins well, u obviously dont live him that much if you spell his name wrong!!! :(

[UtaupeEahhh1]

What a difference in "seeing" the notes played while hearing it at the same time. The more I see the scores with the title and the pianist, the better it gets. And it's already over the top. Then I switch back to watching Artur (Arthur)Rubinstein play..........

[sebastianrc]

WOW, I would take my whole life writing something like that. Gorgeous

[danceofthegoblins]

@sebastianrc All the more WOW! when you consider he wrote much more just as sublime and died at 39 :( .