Liberace in London playing Chopin in the late 60's

[Accurate4103]

To the theUroshman: What do you mean Liberace could not play the most difficult pieces? What non-sense. There can be no doubt that he had the skill to play anything ever written, he has more than demonstrated that, he did not however become proficient in the most difficult pieces by Rachmaninoff and others because he chose to play all genres to be more of a showman and performer to the masses but to suggest that he somehow could not have played them is absurd.

[MrHenrikhn]

what is this piece called?

[theUroshman]

I must add, that as much as he couldn't play the most demanding pieces of the classical repertoire, we could also say that he was the best in what he was doing, and that classically trained pianists couldn't do that as well as he could. He transcribed and arranged music, played all the different styles, played variations on famous tunes, and many classical pianists can't do that without a sheet of music in front of them.

[theUroshman]

I graduated from Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and you could say that I am a classically trained musician, but I must say that I agree with UklaTheMokk to a certain degree. First of all, Liberace was without a doubt incredibly talented musician, with a very good technique, and an impeccable sense of rhythm. What raised him above all the rest was his incomparable showmanship. Then again he didn't respect the scores of the great composers too much and his over sentimentality is a minus.

[justinlover4ev]

wow who taught him to play piano !?

[keyboardmagic]

@justinlover4ev His piano teacher was a lady named Florence Bettray Kelly, but he also had a 17-yr. scholarship to the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music from the age of 7. He also practiced fervently for 4-5 hrs. a day as a child.

[UklaTheMokk]

People who get disgusted at the way Liberace plays Chopin and others are all fucking snobs. Art isn't math...there is no one right answer. Art is interpretation. It's movement. Liberace brought his interpretation to the art Chopin created and, last time I checked, he was kinda popular. I think he sold out a few performances here and there. Maybe even a few records too...but I'm not sure. (sarcasm)

[astralislux]

Chopin was made for Liberace.

[RPHusarz]

The Polish soul !!!

[randyclar747]

Oh my God. I love Chopin and play his music. I heard of Liberace, but never knew he played this kind of stuff. Chopin is my intoxication and drug, I play it daily.

[gutiep]

Notice how Lee's facial expressions get very serious when he plays classical music. It's like he's saying "don't mess with me boy, I'm the baddest dude on the planet!" Yes you were!

[givemetoast]

I don’t care if you don’t agree with me, but why drag America into it? Don’t use Chopin or Liberace to hide your inferiority complex for America. 

[bellini7verdi]

es un fenomeno tocando y como el otro huvos y habran........pero CHOPIN ES OTRA COSA.......mas que un alarde en el teclado......es tecla a tecla.....un mazazo en el alma.......y eso hay que saber tocarlo e interpretarlo...........

[TrinidadPiano]

Can anyone tell me which Chopin piece he plays from 1:25 to 1:35- Thanks

[eldude555]

@TrinidadPiano lol he is just improvising

[TrinidadPiano]

@eldude555 Seriously? Your kidding-right? Okay, Thanks- you saved me looking thru my entire Chopin catalog looking for it- LOL thanks again

[eldude555]

@TrinidadPiano lol no problem :)

[sprintbass]

i wish i could play bass as well as he playes piano

[mgarvil]

Perfect .. that is the best

[titanicpiano14]

Go Chopin!

[umajunkcollector]

what more can you ask for - Liberace and Chopin!

[1991jerzy]

Chopin and Liberace-two great Polish pianists.

[Staticnz]

Honestly, people complaining about the way Liberace is playing Chopin are being ridiculous. This man is not a classical purist, he never pretended to be one, he was a music enthusiast. He plays Chopin as a homage, not as a formal classical arrangement. Stop being so uptight and if you want to hear Chopin played a certain way, or how Chopin wanted it played, listen to it somewhere else.

[lulutotom718]

@Staticnz u r right!

[GOTME188]

Liberace 's works may not live up to your expectations... but that just goes to show how closed minded you are both as a musician and an individual. Bet you dont even like yourself! Kaiser... youre a laugh!

[bobcrane123]

i can play heart and soul duet bymy self a nd im 13

[1980NewWave]

I agree that his Chopin interpretation is dreadful, but what does that have to do with his skill as a pianist?

Martha Argerich also plays a dreadful Chopin, but nobody would argue that she isn't a real pianist!

Incidentally, although Liberace sucks at Chopin, his Liszt interpretations are superb.

[mikern2001]

Liberace was not a great pianist.  He was a good entertainer. That is a fact, not an opinion.

[GregLile]

I think Chopin would just be happy his music was being performed 150 years later.

[hellothereimasian]

@GregLile Alot of chopins etudes are used by piano teachers to develop technique, so composers such as liszt and chopin will live as long as people are interested in piano. Generally pieces from the romantic era are used for auditions into music institutes. A friend of mine used Liszts un sospiro and Liebestraume no. 3 to audition for berklee college of music

[balto4]

This guy was sooooooo amazing,and he was a kind soul too. Such a shame a lot of people in my age group don't know who he was

[titanicpiano14]

Liberace is the greatest!

[givemetoast]

Remember, Liberace brought Chopin to many that may have never known Chopin; thereby augmenting Chopin! Liberace was popular for a reason...he brought class and style to everything he did. He was a pretty good Batman Super Villian too!

[MyREDTAIL]

@givemetoast HIS PIANO'S WERE TUNED TO PERFECT PITCH, EVERY TIME I WAS JUST WONDERING WHO HIS PRIVATE & PERSONNEL PIANO TUNER WAS FOR HIM DOES ANY BODY KNOW THIS.?

[givemetoast]

@MyREDTAIL Hummmm. Good question.... I wonder if he tuned it himself.

[keyboardmagic]

@MyREDTAIL Hello...I was told Liberace's personal piano tuner was a gentleman named Keith Albright.

[Jigov]

@givemetoast Liberace brought Chopin to many that may have never known Chopin

LOL WTF ?? only american can say this stupid sentense... LOL and only american would be that person who never haerd about Chopin. Stupid retards

[givemetoast]

@Jigov I don’t care if you don’t agree with me, but why drag America into it? Don’t use Chopin or Liberace to hide your inferiority complex for America.

[Jigov]

@givemetoast blame me for saying the truth.

[daughtersprince]

I think Liberace plays Chopin in a way Liszt did. Chopin was not happy with that. `Why does Liszt plays my music with so much ornaments, it is just the simplicity which can express the meaning of my music.´

Technically Liberace is not bad of course, but I don´t know if I would take this man too serious-

[ARoundOfApplause]

He often remarked of his only moderate ability to play piano....but, he was so much the great entertainer- and loved by all in the industry. His gay lifestyle was not revealed because he was so good to people. Same holds true with Rock Hudson.

[mikern2001]

It is wonderful how he brings out all the inner voices, the subtleties, nuances....He puts Horowitz and Richter to shame.

[MrVladimirHorowitz]

@mikern2001 I wonder have you ever heard Richter and Horowitz play, they are the best pianists who have ever lived, and you say liberace is better.

[mikern2001]

@MrVladimirHorowitz

I actually heard Horowitz play in person. I was being sarcastic. Liberace is a terrible pianist. he brings out no inner voices. I think Richter is a master too.

[allthenamesrtook]

@mikern2001 liberace could play duets on his own and he one of the few who have ever been able to and liberace is one of the greatest pianists of all time

[MrVladimirHorowitz]

@mikern2001 I'm afraid I disagree, i think Liberace is a magnificent pianist, he performed Liszt's piano concerto in E major at the age of 11, and it was one of the best recordings. But I Horowitz, Richter, Cziffra etc... are in a different league.

Love Horowitz

[mikern2001]

@MrVladimirHorowitz Liberace was a showman, who played the piano. His playing shows no refinement. He played with flash, but not with any depth or true understanding of the music he was playing.

[driemaaldrommels]

hahaha i never heard anything so style less and still i love it! he get's away with it because he is LIBERACE!

[encoda]

WOW WOW WOW  what a legend , he is amazing !! and funny as well !! and it seems all so easy to him ... now i see this i understand why he was recogniced as one of the greatest pianists of our times...

[SBZ925]

one of the greatest?!?!? no way what about kempff, or richter or horowitz??? liberace was jus a showman i admit he had skill but he was definatly not one of the greatest

[titanicpiano14]

Check out my Un Sospiro church organ tribute and my chopin parodies (if you wanna see something a jazzy twist on classical!)

[5thShock]

The people at the corner grocery store on State Road 78 going to the Lee County Civic center told me two things could back up traffic to I-75: Stone Cold Steve Austin et al and Liberace. When that man was on stage performing the most important thing in his world was you.

[sirwolfit]

Just for the record, Chopin objected to the liberties Liszt took with his music , so I doubt if he would have smiled on Liberace's performances.

Liberace was a really great entertainer...would that there were more like him around today.. and a fine pianist, too, but I think his taste in interpreting "The classics" was on a similar level to that which he showed in his choice of clothes.

[leemute]

Chopin was probably just mad because old Franz had bigger hands and prettier girlfriends. Probably would have been jealous of Leo Godowsky also...way of the world.

[SinisterDexter1]

I bet chopin didn't play his pieces the same twice. I don't know where this obsession of playing it exactly as it was written has come from, i think its good to mix it up a bit. You wouldn't play the same record over and over for 200 years.

[elisebumble]

What is the melody from 1: 42 ?

[MAAJDEKVRAGU]

Chopin Waltz In C-Sharp Minor, Op.64, No.2

[elisebumble]

Thank you super very much! :-)

[FunkeyJumpMOnkey]

True to Liberace and his style which came from a clumination of Eddy Duchin and Carmen Cavalero, then putting his own feelings into a Style which to date I haven't heard again. I saw Liberace in person many times. All personal views aside, he has not been replicated in music and style.

[newmusician]

good but an insult to chopin

[akm5176]

How is this an insult to chopin? Before you make a claim, back it up please. It's an insult to chopin because libarace played chopins music in the style of chopin. get a few recordings of chopin, he IS playing the music in whats considered a very very very standard way to play it. again, go get a recording, compare. keep in mind, libarace is a classical pianist first and foremost, i think he would know how to play chopin.

[newmusician]

This performance is an insult to Chopin because he can't mix and change short parts of his composition. He doesn't respect classic authors and the art of his masterpieces.

[daxispiano]

he's is being creative... and makes the music more alive and spontaneous.. that's makes him stand out from the rest of the so-called music teacher and students.. he transcends imitators.. not many can improvise like him either..

[HellsSaints]

as much as people may be mocking and arguing with you, new musician, you are quite correct.

[JohnEBProductions]

I have several recordings, a few box sets, and no one plays Chopin like Liberace. I personally hate the liberties he's taking, they don't sound good to me.

[oldfugnug]

Reply to newmusician....

When you are as famous and can play as good as Liberace you can give us your opinion.....But as that day will never arrive, kindly do us all a favour and shut your mouth!

PS Have you passed grade 1 yet???

[JohnEBProductions]

So by your logic, your opinion is null and void too?

[oldfugnug]

reply to JohnEBProductions. When you are as sucessful as, and can play as good as Liberace, feel free to comment. Until then do everybody a big favour and keep your stupid infantile idiotic comments to yourself!

[JohnEBProductions]

You're just setting nigh impossible goals for us to accomplish before we can have an opinion on what we're hearing. You get so angry at people's opinions that I don't even know why I'm commenting to someone with such a lack of self control.

If we were watching 'Paint Your Wagon' together, a Clint Eastwood Western/Musical and you said that you didn't like this movie and I said 'You can't say that until you're as good as Clint Eastwood, asshole.' how would you reply?

[JohnEBProductions]

You are using the same argument over and over again, why do you have to be so aggressive? In reply to someone saying they don't like Liberace's improvisation, couldn't you just give reasons why you like it instead of saying 'When you're as good as this person, you can have an opinion'. Do you know how ignorant that is? Why do you need to be so aggressive instead of calmly stating your point?

[Moorexec]

To some of you who are making negative comments about Liberace. Liberace forgot more about music than you will ever know. Liberace had a gift from God; thats how he became a Multimillionaire Performer. He was one of the all time great Performers. There will never be another Liberace. If you don't have God Gifted Talent. You wouldn't measure up to Liberace, even if you had a PhD in Music. I know a lot of PhD musicians, but, they are not millionaires and some of them work in Warehouses !!!!

[steinwaygrande1]

I had a music teacher back in my school days who had a PhD and other degrees and all he did was to play the chapels big pipe organ ! So much for intellectual ability

[akm5176]

Playing the organ isnt exactly easy. Also generally to be a professor a university will require you to do reasearch, otherwise they will call you an instructor. I am of occoursing assume he was your college being you said he had a phd....but that said playing the orgasn isnt exactly easy

[kilmer70]

@Moorexec

you know, if I wanted to be multimillionnaire I would have choose a different "job", sorry, I'm professionnal, and you can't measure a talent with the amount of money in bank account, don't you think? And my critics where with a lot of respect, read me again.... Where did I mention, Liberace had no talent? ok, my english is poor, so if you like I will write the same in Italian or in French, up to you!

[daxispiano]

you guys who are classically trained are very stupid to make negative comments of Liberace. Real Music that is original ought never to be exactly copied.. but play spontaneously!!!

[steinwaygrande1]

Yes indeed ! I agree with you whole heartedly. Liberace brought joy and spontineity to classical music so that the masses who didnt havbe the luxury of growing up with classical music get to ecperience it in a slighlt modified form, which I suspect Chopin et al would have enjoyed

[kilmer70]

@daxispiano

since when negatives comments makes from "classical performers" stupid? do you really think, that it's very constructive to say only the good things? and on top of this, you take only a part of my sentence, you understand nothing!

[kilmer70]

I m concert pianist and can tell you that this guy has a very good technic very free technic and sure. He brings good emotions but, with all respect, he could nt be a real classical musician, because classical music is much more exigent than this. Nevertheless, some classical professional Artists are less honest than him. That s just my opinion.

Didier Castell-Jacomin,piano

[fingerscarr]

excellent comment, he brings a unique approach which the composer would quite likely have approved and understood and even admired . no question his technique is quite up to anyone's but agree he may not have had the patience or restraint rquired to 'copy'/'duplicate' the way a concert pianist would play this nowadays . what do you say didier ? by the way heard of geoffrey tozer ?

[tm37gl]

Never the greatest pianist...not even close...but he must be the only one that brings everyone a smile!!!!

[pianomans111]

he was one of the greats cloth ears

[Cheesetubes]

Which pieces did he play?

[divvy1400yam600]

Waltz in D flat ( bent it a bit lol)

Waltz in C sharp minor (bent his fingers a bit)

Polonaise in A flat.

The last melody I dont recognise. Not even sure it is Chopin.

[pianomans111]

and u can do better asswipe-put up or shut up lymme

[divvy1400yam600]

Carnt believe you are talking to me you turd.

[fingerscarr]

crude crud

[smokeshell21]

I believe the last melody is the D-flat Major section of the Waltz in c-sharp minor.

[divvy1400yam600]

No afraid not. I am quite familiar with that and it aint it.

It is music composed by a "popular" composer. It is difficult to explain how I believe that to be true; just experience really. I know it lacks the musical ingenuity that a talent like Chopin could produce.

I will be "gobsmacked" if I am wrong.

[divvy1400yam600]

Mein Gott, you may be right.. My gob is truly smacked.

In my defence he does "bend" the melody a bit.

[TGarzarel]

The last melody is Chopin's C# minor waltz Op. 64 no.2.

[charlesking]

Thanks to the person that posted this clip,it sure fill up my soul,we will never see another one liky him, He always will be the be best one.

[FreeTheJambon]

His phrasing on the Minute Waltz is a bit odd, but nevertheless it's a great performance indeed.

[jdurr4]

The Polonaise and waltz was just terrific

[ITILII]

the man was a musical genius

[jdurr4]

Unbelievable! This is my favourite music on the piano and my favourite painist aswell!

Thank you SOOO SOO much for posting this!!

i am overwhelmed!

Thanks Showmanlee!!

[mickiewright]

Thank you so much for sharing Liberace with us. I've truly missed hearing his music. He made it so very special. Thank you again.