Schubert Impromptus Op. 90, N. 3, D 899 - Pires

[Gebissimo]

What a good recording ! a missed "encore"

[Dan474834]

Horrible...

[chrism216]

omg no =( this is terrible...

there is absolutely no reason to rush through such a beautiful piece...

it says andante not freaking presto agitato...

wrong piece to try to show technical skill =/

[thomasmschenk]

Sloppy, too fast, none of the emotion that this otherwise lovely impromptou should evoke. Technically a D-minus.

[Paulland30]

Pretty cute..just cute

[Ipsiipa]

.... !

humm, Sorry. I've been listening Maria Pires for years, I love her interpretations, but not this one ..

I prefer the interpretation from Horowitz, or Zimmerman (for this impromptu).

.. Too fast, sorry.

[mikejr41387]

i was just watching the kovacevich masterclass clip of this schubert piece, and he kept telling the girl "play alla breve, its a love declaration!" and i remembered this interpretation and came back and yes, MJP definately plays this way! stunning, beautiful tempo

[amiiton]

I am playing this tune right now! And i'm 15 ;)

But, a very well performance!

[ydraki]

Impromptus by their nature are improvisatory therefore  tempi may vary.

[amiiton]

it's sastter then the others but it's so so nice!

[koalaswrath]

In the beginning of the video she goes to the back stage to go get her husband a beer and goes back to playing. If you think she played it to fast, it was because she is a dutiful wife and wanted to finish in time to go take her husband another beer and maybe a snack.

[MrNiceDude4]

No wonder she is PORTUGUESE! What a brilliant pianist.

[derrieprut]

way too fast,

this song should be played slower and more touchy

[StoneChords]

It's not a "song." And you don't mean "touchy," though I understand the drift.

[JayElWu]

Interesting interpretation. Very different from her recording of the same piece. I guess it's related to her frame of mind at the occasion.

[JayElWu]

very interesting interpretation and nothing like what she did in the recording of the same piece. She must have been trying to express something related to the occasion / her frame of mind when the concert was held.

[13johnnygnr]

rushing a little bit. but very good

[predoje]

I think Brendel and she is the best performance on youtube!

[predoje]

Its not fast, she only listen to melody and that repetition figure which is all over the piece is not interesting...

[eldenigrador]

Que pianista mas mala, esta destrozando esta maravillosa pieza con esa forma histerica de tocar, k falta de sensibilidad, esta tocando forte todas las notas, vaya interpretacion mas mala, crei k en el crescendo se iba a cargar una tecla.... Cuando termina , muchos aplausos inmerecidos... si quieren escuchar una buena version escuchen la de Alfred brendel, me hace flotar...y no vomitar como otras...

[todaparte]

Virtuose.

[keiichi189]

I actually read all the comments criticizing her interpretation while the audience was still applauding. Well...I think the comments are pretty much spot on. I think the piece is supposed to be relaxing, but this feels so rushed.

[mmyylleenn]

She hasnt caught the spirit of romanticism ... If it was Rachmaninoff playing i would let go :)

[normthedoorman]

This is pretty bad. Remember that just because some pianist has a big career doesn't mean that someone else couldn't possibly play it better than them-even someone sitting at home listening. Many of the pianists who comment on youtube are unknown but great musicians.

[otrebor74]

With all due respect for an accomplished pianist, I really don't like this version...that said obviously she is a far better pianist than anybody else on this board, but I just don't like her interpretation. I prefer Zimmerman and Brendel

[quinto34]

Darn applause

[epalleja]

Cuanto más versiones oigo de otros pianistas, más me gusta esta. Gracias a Dios, no hay una sóla forma de tocar el piano, y no hay nadie que pueda arrogarse el derecho a sentenciar cuál es la mejor, ni siquiera el autor. Esta versión transmite sentimientos que otras ocultan, y muestra sutilezas dignas de entusiasmar a quienes la música les llega hasta lo más profundo de su ser. Gracias, Maria João Pires, por tanta belleza.

[nevertheless123]

slightly faster than usual but I like her control over the dynamics.

[guioume]

It's a strange interpetation she does, i'm surprised cause i have her interpretation recorded and it lasts a bit less than 6 min for the whole song which is rather good for the speed of the song... maybe she had to take a train just after

[Tomatiamubabe]

Just a little histeric and out of stile ... well , i think is horrible

[leozingy]

I agree. Instead of a serene, floating emotion I feel it's nervous and babbling. I really dislike her interpretation, I prefer Brendel or Zimerman.

She certainly is a great pianist, but this one is in my opinion a miss. :( Her Chopin is splendid though!

[ulsbolde89]

Hackneyed performance

[LT8Ctox]

well in fact great version . perhaps not the composer's one but Pires one. she has one message to say and she does it well, even if it's not the version we're used to hear . FIVE STARS For Pires .

[servilleto]

you're totally right

[sayaendo1016e]

アンコールで弾き飛ばすような曲ではないと思うのですが。。。

ピリスにとってはその程度なんでしょうね。

[camileludwig]

it's not bad....

it's a strange version

but i like it.

BRENDEL RULES! ;)

[Kreisleriana80]

In my opinion this is one bad interpretation,it is pseudo-dramatic BUT Schubert is not only dramatic (romantic) he is as well a classical composer.I don't know,I never liked Mrs Pires,not as a pianist,not as a teacher (her masterclass is on YT available).But she made a great career!

[abajour]

She made a great career because she is a great pianist. No one can deny it. To say that Schubert must be played this or that way is to ignore the artistic and musical range of possibilities.

Listen to her recordings of Chopin Nocturnes.

[donthuis]

It is an interesting version, but a very strange one. By strict interpretation of the notes on paper, one can imagine it as valid. But by playing with such extremes in volume and tempi, the "unrest" dominates and the sad song Schubert intended, is moved to the background. Lipatti's version goes the other way and its fluid approach impresses me more in the long run. However: many years ago when I could still play this, I could only try it the Pires way, so I sympathize with the effort.

[kempff95]

i dont like it at all...................

[LT8Ctox]

Wow another stupid amateur pianist that butcher a true piece of genius .

All the sense is vanishing .

------> perahia

LT8 .

[LT8Ctox]

hey, but you're lokopiano ???aren't you ?

[duxlee]

I liked it.

Looking at the comments, some people seemed to have suffered while listening. They expressed their terrible feeling using trains, demonic breathing, wars, etc. Someone even wants to shoot himself. It is amazing that the pianist can evoke such strong feeling. Yeah!

[jpedrocp]

:-)

[mickyh234]

Terrible. Simply uneven. There are no doubt many technical points to be made, but all other points cease to be when rubato is used to such excess that it ceases to be rubato and becomes simply uneven. My teacher would actually murder me if I did that in a piece that is so obviously meant to be steady and soft, which this is not. This rendition is like chasing a train where the speed of the train is calculated to always be 10% faster than yours.

[abajour]

That is why your teacher is not as famous as Maria João Pires.

[PrinsTan]

fame or success doesn't mean you're better

[PrinsTan]

I meant to add that possibly more people know Kanye West but to me there is absolutely no way he is better then Pires

[Daniel4lifeogenAnd]

damn what a rush :) common now pull yourself together

[pookiehohn]

During the applause it sounds like some sort of demonic breathing!

*****

[berrolv]

This is horrible, could be used in some film about wars.

[Dchrisanthakopoulos]

OMG. Finally a version that doesnt try to be "profound", "emotional" and "deep" by playing too slowly and people dont like it because the're used to slower tempi than this!!!!

Actually this IS the correct tempo because

1) Schubert writes not once but twice "alla breve", which literary means one beat per measure and 2) this is a lied without words, so imagine a singer singing the melodic line with some unwritten lyrics to Horowitz's tempo - just cant be done!!

[l8nur]

your first point:

just false. no "alla breve" at all and even less twice... it´s meant "andante": (just walking)

your second point: show me only one "lied" with such a fast melody as pires is indicating in this interpretation. you´ll find none, I betcha.

[Dchrisanthakopoulos]

well I'm sorry to insist but...

1) look at the score it writes that big "C" with a bar spliting it in half (alla breve - or doppio movimento depending on which country you study 4/4:2=2/2) and yet again a second big "C" cut by another vertical bar (2/2:2=1/1)

2) Try the most famous of them all -"Erlkening". Then consider it's opening. Doesnt it remind you of the middle episode in this impromtu?

[Dchrisanthakopoulos]

About that famous "wrong" note in the tenor line. I think you mean that D flat, D natural in some editions....

The story goes... When this was printed for the first time the editor thought it too difficult to play and transposed it in G magor. This versioncan be consider original as well. In it there is a d sharp in that point. Schubert was alive then and did not protest against this alteration.

I play d-flat as well but it isconsidered leggitimate to play it Pires' way. Believe me.

[l8nur]

your point all in all:

if those are your feelings about this pires-schubert, so why not, they´re your feelings: not trying to be "profound", "emotional" and "deep" - you even might be right with that.

brendel especially tried to be all of that, and he´s done a lot better. This is my feeling. (but one has to take into account, that he´s playing it in studio, and she in a bad quality live recording)

[hellomate639]

Are you kididng me? This is horrible. Its like Jazz. I play it better this, Jesus Christ. 4 stars is overrated. This interpretation is worth 1 star... There's little subtlety at all.

I think I would need a bucket to watch this, I literally gagged at the part where she puts in that extra note that some stupid editor put in. Jesus, it makes me want to shoot myself. Thank God I don't have to watch it.

[Toxxic88]

I agree, Brendel's version trumps this any day

[schmetterlink]

Rash, then hesitant; emphatic, then muted. Sometimes the sound of one interpretation is still ringing in my ears when she's already decided on another, which drives me nuts. Her Chopin nocturnes record is like this, too. Am I the only one who feels this way?

[kajohada]

very strange interpretation!

[alphacinha]

Por que será que não gostamos dos nossos melhores? Ribeiro Sanches, Camões, Jorge de Sena, Miguéis. Nem de ti, Maria João. Porquê esta pequenez?

Lá onde estiveres, parece que no Recife, fica sabendo que há quem te ame. Eu, pelo menos.

[CxC2007]

I think she was peeing, listen to Brendel or Zimmerman, they do know how to play this impromptu.

[melvin1610]

I guess she had to catch the last train.....

[jpedrocp]

No no, she had a motorhome in that time.....

[starsontheground]

@melvin1610 lol , good one!

[FILIGREE1]

I've listened to a lot of different versions and for me Brendel is peerless with regard to this particular piece. It's hard to critiscise Pires though. She is such an outstanding musician, but this is so unconventional - it frankly came as a bit of a shock.

[ulsbolde89]

Even if to each their own, the poetry of this piece is lost in this performance.

[syd0z]

This is good but I personally like Rubinstein's version. She has got her own style and confidence but to my mind Rubinstein is way better playing this particular piece.

[vettae]

She's a virtuoso and her interpretation is rather unconventional - it's not what you would expect when you are about to hear this piece.

But she is very coherent inside her own interpretation and masters it at 100%

Great lady!

[NATULINAN]

SUPERB!!!!!

[ebnykhda]

I do admit that the playing and intrepration of this piece is somewhat fast for my taste. But then again I respect the intergrity of the musician who feels it that way. Each pianist will play it differently. That is why we say, variety is the spice of life! Thanks for that. Imagine if we all played the same we would feel bored or even worse insulted!

[jpedrocp]

very well said.

Thanks!

[OuchByGriff]

@ebnykhda wow its nice to know that there are others that appreciate the diversity of each pianists' style of playing rather than criticizing it because thats not how they would play it. thanks for your comment

[ebnykhda]

I have read most of commentaries of you frustrated want to be pianist. Ready to critizes someone who is where you all want to be. Let me just say one thing. Technique and Interpretation of music is something very personal and the one can not exist without the other. Since we all are very different in our emotional and physical beings of course there will always be some feeling of denial when someone plays a piece of music we like and our expectations are not meet. Go play the piece yourself.

[BAKEDPIANIST]

her mozart was good, i dont like the way she plays the arpeggios in her right hand it seems sort of rushed or frantic

[hathor100]

únicaaaaaaaaaa!! A melhoR, Proud to be Portuguese you are the very very Best, she plays Mozart since she was 3 years old. Sem palavras,You play with your soul thank you!!

[Toxxic88]

I've heard Brendel, Perahia , Radu Lupu, Uchida, and zimerman play this piece (audio cd, not youtube).

She's an amazing pianist, but Schubert isn't her specialty.

[tchebinai71]

very amazing pianist ! It's the first time I listen to Pires and not the last ;It's fast ,what's the problem??? if she loves it fast,let her play !

maybe she is sugesting someting else in this melody even if like brendel would say it's "overstepping the borderlines"

Be mature and accept people way of playing !!!

[djsfpeace]

only problem is she made up notes...

[charade97]

Don't tell me that you want to go to the toilet as well!!

[goldberg72]

ti amooooooo,maria vieni in sardegna a trovarmi

[sachamenny]

elle a un train à prendre peut être ?

[vonspre]

I don´t think so...I think she needs go to the toilet urgently.Well,who knows?

[esdac]

bad bad bad

[arpekay]

Far to fast, she should take a lesson from Brendel

[ejasiewicz]

The criticisms of this performance are a bit ridiculous. I've heard faster and slower performances of this piece which faired better and/or worse equally according to their own, inherent standards. I can only wonder if there isn't some popular (slow) recording of this piece out there somewhere (Zimerman is FAR too stagnant) that's influencing a bunch of near-sighted listeners. ;) (...and it's not Schnabel, who set the bar for this music, BTW, and his version is about this fast, too.)

[charade97]

Alfred Brendel or Vladimir Horowitz is about as good as you will get.

[ulsbolde89]

Is this a performance where the pianist has to display rushed renditions of pieces?

[homerboy488]

The absolute worst rendition of this piece EVER! How on earth did she get in that position playing like that!?

[bonsoiree2]

For a far richer and substantive performance, have a listen to Juana Zayas or Sofronitsky.

[bonsoiree2]

Tempo is not the issue here. The issue is that she is missing about 9/10 of the piece in her wholly glib, naïve and immeasurably shallow melody-and-accompaniment reading. Fact is, there is plenty going on in the so-called "accompaniment" and within every voice. Perhaps someone should slip her a volume about polyphony and counterpoint so that she might fill in the blanks. In her hands this otherwise luxurious impromptu is no more volatile or luxurious than elevator music at a shopping mall.

[charade97]

I liked this comment so much, particularly the last sentence, that I have copy/pasted it into mydocs!

[Ernesto7608]

What a beautiful interpretation this would have been had she played a little slower!

[LiukLoSteccalecca]

This is the worst interpretation I have ever heard!!!!

The middle-melody is to high... And it seems mostly a speed-demonstration...

Not talking about the hands... Too rigid to play piano!

I've always cried listening to this impromputs (I think this is where music reached divine...) This interpretation lead me to nothingness...

[Ernesto7608]

The hands too rigid to play piano, Liuk?

But... she is playing the piano! and quite well indeed!

[Q4TZ]

it's kind of stupid to slap a first league pianist on the way she moves her fingers/hands

this particular lady performed in public since age seven

the piano would hence seem an organic extension of her own body

[abajour]

hahahahaha too rigid to play the piano! auehauehuahea This isthe funiest thing i've ever read! Maria João Pires, one of the mos aclaimed pianists worldwide, has too rigid hands!!!

[hellomate639]

This interpretation reminds me of a seizure...

[spoonmadeofgold]

omg! i agree!!! wtf!!! seriously too fast to be enjoyed...but she does bring out the top melody quite alright.

[esojbar]

This music is a poetry. Not a race car. Simply HORRIBLE!

[lyralary]

Je suis d'accord, c'est affreux!!!!

[stan724]

She plays about 72 to the half note. Too fast for my taste. Horowitz plays it rather slowly at about 52 but there's more nuance and feeling in his performance. Sofronitsky plays at about 60, a tempo I like. Schubert's direction is Andante mosso. One edition I consulted has 63 to the half note and another 84. List's edition has 84, which seems much too fast. I think the piece above all must sing and it must move, comfortably -- not too fast and not too slowly -- whatever that means.

[dagadbm]

i cried a lot

[jimjennings]

I have often been pleased with Maria Joao Pires but not here, I'm sorry to say. This Schubert is a miracle of composing. It must not be embellished with excessive speed or additional notes. There are countless opportunities for expression that are lost at this tempo. Alfred Brendel has a better version on YouTube. Horowitz has one too. They understand this piece. -- I would think Maria Joao Pires knows better than to do this. Apparently, jpedrocp has heard her do much better.

[jpedrocp]

The capacity of do every nuances and phrasing at this speed with all beauty is incredible. Here there are a unique contrast between the initial/meddle parts and the conclusion (which is less fast) - we have a feel of tranquillity and resignation.

This is what I can think.

[jpedrocp]

All comparisons between great human-beings as artists are ridiculous and without a practical truth sense. Lead us to no conclusion.

And even more in the case of a person like Maria João Pires, that has a serious and profound relation/understanding with/of life and music lines.

But I understand your point of view. Just think about this and try to search the positive aspects for you if you are a musician and want to learn.

[platero55]

Yes, very moving - it's almost as if Schubert was aware of how Chopin was expanding keyboard technique - but of course, the Opus 10 etudes were years in the future. But then, Schubert was "aware" of a lot of things.

[smudgepots]

Very moving, even if it does not always sound unfailingly elegant.

[lourak]

Seldom have I heard this impromptu successfully played at this tempo. Peres, however, pulls it off most convincingly! Interesting - when played at a slow tempo, one can't quite bring out the level of agitation that I hear in this performance. It's wonderful to be able to hear a piece from a new and interesting perspective every so often.

[jpedrocp]

Yes. However her CD "Le voyage magnifique" has this piece played at a very much slower tempo and it's very beautiful too, with great emotions.