Added: 3 years ago
From: mainlymuzik
Views: 159,427
Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:
see all

All Comments (227)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • wow, she is beautiful. 

  • doll

  • Miss Uchida a that age played very young but because she learnd first how to play the piano she had the oportunity to become what she is today!! a true artist!!!

  • This short and unimposing piece is probably the most difficult etude off all. Chopin already indicates a breakneck speed: quarter= 144, she starts at 158. The somewhat hangdog expression on her face at the end seems to reflect the missed note on 1.02.

  • Her style is full of light, great performance

  • Horrible...

  • @ravelitodebussy are you insane? This is pure perfection, you cant imagine how hard this is, so stop blaming Masters, and learn it better (if u can) i seriously doubt

  • If this was the runner-up, what placed first?

  • This video has been accelerated.Sounds like B-flat but the original is in A.

  • @Vesivian You are envious you can't play this well so your ego lashes out, if it were a person from a random place anywhere you'd still have the same reaction. Don't be stupid, okay.

  • All that talent, and she was a BEAUTY too!

  • is it me or does the piano need some tuning?

  • nice in B flat!

  • I quit music.

  • I love the way she smile at the end. Uchida is so beautiful.

  • @wanseong25 no smile.

  • First time I have saw her play without pulling strange faces!

  • stupid camerawork, awesome playing

  • my 5 year old trany bro can play beter than u

  • Is this video available commercially? Thanks!

  • japanese argerich :D

  • @wnsbug so true !!! lol

  • @wnsbug ROFL nice comment.

  • @wnsbug Much better than Argerich, in my opinion.

  • @throwscats Comparing Argerich and Uchida is like comparing apples and oranges.

  • @freakytea Comparing two people who play the same instrument is apples and oranges? It's more than fair to compare two musicians, even if they play DIFFERENT instruments.

  • @throwscats Their styles and (most of) their repetoire are very different, which is why I find it difficult to compare the two. They're both wonderful in their own ways, but miles apart artistically. Now, Argerich and Cziffra... There's a fun comparison.

  • @freakytea I'm more saying I think Uchida is a better artist than Argerich. Argerich is, of course, a phenomenal technician, but I just don't like her translation of--pretty much everything, whereas Uchida frequently gives me goosebumps--as long as I don't watch her :P

    It's like me saying Dickinson is a better poet than Sandburg. They both are completely different poets, but I think Dickinson is a better writer. I don't really understand why people like Argerich. Maybe you can explain why.

  • Ya... The first note definitely sounds more like a B flat than an A... Oh well, just for fun transpose it from A minor to B flat minor and then try to sight read it... LOL

  • @Ullerichj. Ya. The first note sounds like a B flat , definitely not an A.... It sucks to have perfect pitch... you notice these things

  • Here comes B FLAT MINOR! :) Still sounds amazing, though!

  • Hey guys, I uploaded a recording of this with the pitch fixed and it's still pretty fast. Check it out!

  • She was very very pretty!!

  • She was a dish.

  • Wow, she plays in a gorgeous way. And She was, and still is, such a beautiful woman.

  • @GothicalSOberhauser Are there any ugly women who can play like that?

  • @nearenough3 I don't know. There probably are, we just don't know them. And they would still be beautiful, because of what they are :)

  • The awards for solo musicians went to the pianist Mitsuko Uchida for a Decca recording of Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 23 and 24, and organist Paul Jacobs for a Naxos recording of Messiaen’s “Livre du Saint-Sacrement.”

    #グラミー賞受賞おめでとうございます。

  • Outstanding performance of this piece. It must be mentioned it sounds like an exiting romantic piano piece, not like a very diffucult etude even it is.

    Congratulations!

  • Wow, was she ever BEAUTIFUL!. I didn't realize she was old enough to be competing in 1970. She has kind of a sad expression though. Thanks for posting this. It is always interesting to see videos of famous artists' early works. Search for John williams bach 1963 and you'll see another good one.

  • I'm an Uchida Fan, and so what? fuckers!!!!!!

  • Her hands are so fast the sound can't catch up. XD

  • Her Mozart  is nice.

  • it's funny how so many people think a lot of these old films are sped-up because of the choppiness

  • @ibclappin Well, it's Chopin. You've got to expect some Choppiness.

  • @FanClassical well, i appreciate the fact that she's not relying on the pedal. you know, how people use that 'pedal shortcut' to make things sound more connected and faster. lol. but she's actually playing that fast, I can't even see her fingers. lol.

  • @FanClassical oh my dear sweet lord i'll have to write that one down. -_-

  • Oh my gosh!!!! When Mitsuko Uchida was young, she resembles my second-cousin so much!!!!!! Oh, she was really beautiful and she still is.

  • Genius!!!

  • how do we know that its sped up and that the pitch isn't due to bad recording quality? the video looks quite old....

    but its great :)

  • @thinkgreenlovepurple

    Because that isn't possible. Pitch and timbre are not the same thing. Each recorder has a slightly different speed. The recorder that digitally mastered the video is not the same as the one that originally caught the footage. It ran slightly faster. This affected the pitch by raising it. So it's 'sped up' through obsolete tech. This btw is why HXpro tape decks record an electronically produced pitch onto the tape, then listens back to it, adjusting tape speed until matches

  • I-V-IV-I

  • How amazing technique and articulation.

  • She's so gorgeous!

  • Thank you for uploading such a good performance from a long time ago! Please upload more

  • Really good player! 

  • somehow this looks like a clip from horror movie

  • she scared me ~.~

  • very dry piano, its difficult to play

  • This is not a minor. It's almost b-flat minor.

    If you need to speed up a performance you should pitch correct it.

    The fastest (and most impressing one) is anyway Vadim Rudenko's live performance here on youtube

  • Not my favorite version but one learns so much watching these peoples' hands playing. It feels like I play better just by watching them, strange.

  • This is good, but quite scary at the same time.

  • Wrong microphone, can't take the resonances...

  • This has been sped up (probably badly resampled) and as a consequence is about a semitone sharp (Bb minor, imagine trying to play this etude in that key for real).

  • Wow, when Ohlsson plays etude no.1, he won 1st place. And when Uchida played etude no.2, she got 2nd place! Wow!

  • Elle joue beaucoup mieux maintenant ! Là, c'est propre, mais musicalement très plat : elle joue tout sur le même plan et n'a pas compris que c'est une étude... pour la main gauche ! Une fois qu'on a surmonté le chromatisme à la main droite, avec 4 et 5e doigt qu'on doit jouer très lié et léger... il faut porter toute son attention sur la main gauche qui doit être phrasée. Ici : rien. Scolaire. Respectable, bien sûr : mais prosaïque. déçu !

  • ありがとうございます。

    

  • Too bad she doesn't play all th notes! Just a blur....

  • @scotcking yes to Bad, but that was 40 years ago if you watch some of her concerts with the Berliner Phiharmoniker today SHE IS THE BEST PIANIST OF OUR TIME

  • @manuelspcool would'nt go that far

  • @afertyus1000 ¿? and that mean??

  • @manuelspcool you wrote the best pianoist of our time what about volodos,marc andre hamelin, argerich etc etc

  • @afertyus1000 Yes They're great pianist but this is thi time for Uchida, Yesterday I saw her at the Digital Concert Hall playing the Emperor Concerto by Beethoven and It was incredible all the german aundience clap and clap and scream BRAVO BRAVO. simply the best of the best

  • @manuelspcool ok you have your opinion no problem but i don't agree, she is great but also there are the others,i like murray perahia on the emperor too

  • it sounds like a college sophomore practicing.

  • @consult3d Sounds like a typical youtuber who doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about, yet posts their ignorance anyway.

  • Comment removed

  • @Thilindel Agreed.

  • Can you play it here on Youtube at the speed she actually played it at?

    This is speeded up so that it sounds a half step higher than the A minor the piece is written in.

  • @marcxopoco I can get it at correct tempo for you. ;)

  • incroyable,

    douglas

  • What happened to her ? She's become crazy.

  • Amazing :)

  • That is in B Flat Minor, I have a keyboard and a piano, I played it on my keyboard, when Mitsuko Uchida presses an A, it's the exact same tone as a B Flat.

  • the best!! the fastest!

  • Thanks for sharing :)

  • Subscribe to Lawrencelovespiano! Be the 50th subscriber and win 10 subs!

  • she was pretty when she was yoiung

  • she misses half the notes, transcribes notes written for the right to her left h, and never maintains a legato tone throughout... go listen to backhaus... Don't bother responding.

  • How old was she here?

  • @KCBellyDancer

    22 years old. This was in 1970 and she was born in December, 1948. If this was before December of 1970, then she was 21.

  • OMG IMPOSSIBLE! THAT'S AMAZING! She is amazing! How can someone do those chromatic scales that fast?

  • @OrangeSodaKing plus, she is playing them with fingers 3 4 5 (as marked by the etude) My personal best: Cziffra

  • so pretty

  • Great practice for the right hand especially fingers 3, 4, and 5.

  • I like this piece...

    her hands are sexy while playing it :-)

    this etude always remembers me on the flight of the bumblebee^^

  • Compare Argerich with Uchida? That's nonsense! Both of them are unforgetable in their way! And both of them have a different repertoire! Imagine that Martha plays the D959 or D960 by Schubert? Would you like to hear this? - I don't. As well as I wouldn't like to hear the Prokofiev Toccata of Uchida.

    What was that story with Callas and Tebaldi about Cognac and Champagne?

  • I didn't realise how beautiful she was when she was younger!

  • How come she can play so well without twisting her face grotesquely as she does at present?

  • @lospazio Very relevant question!

  • @MussoGorski Yes, quite relevant, indeed. Because watching a performer play is actually very different from just listening to them. The body language conveys additional information to the music which contributes to the whole experience. I personally find Ms Uchidas histrionic displays quite disturbing. They make me feel uncomfortable. I certainly prefer the sobriety of her youth.

  • @lospazio grotesquely? hahaha youre such and asshole, If you play a piano concerto like She today talk mother fucker

  • now THAT is impressive! is that the kind of stuff mitsuko used to play when she was younger? yet, she still looks so well composed but her hands are creating a tornado!

  • wow!!! 4 and 5th fingers are so fast!!

  • すばらしいぬ

  • Hmmm!

    Just a mistake. Mitsuko Uchida were second place and the first was the American Garrick Olsson. and the third one was a Polish Pianist

  • She cheats, not playing second finger's notes always as is written.

  • Do it better yourself.

  • Why is she a runner-up?

  • nice, I wonder what this tune is called

  • Hmm, musically as attractive as a sewing machine. The dry, mechanical approach makes the uneven bits, and slight inaccuracies stand out more. The sped-up recording,(b-flat minor!) gives a harsh neon lighting to the sound. For confirmed Uchida fans only.

  • Were you able to tell it's sounding b-flat minor just by listening to this?

  • Well, i don't have perfect pitch, but it sounds too high & artificial, so just checking with any pitch device, other recordings, or even the telefone,(all landlines here have an A tone!) confirmed my suspicions.

  • @NOSEhow2LIV -- I love it... "for confirmed Uchida fans only."

    Can I add, "for confirmed Uchida worshippers only."

    It sounds like a sewing machine powered by a hand crank: dull, uneven, monotonous and naive.

  • for some reason the piano keys look kind of smallish

  • Beautiful playing, Beautiful woman!

  • I love this performance of Etude Op. 10 No. 2. It's so clear and how she barely uses the pedal makes the notes very crisp.

  • Comment removed

  • She's as beautiful now as she was then. Her Mozart sonatas are still unsurpassed.

  • the piano was terribly tuned. But a great pianist could have it transposed, for instance, backhaus transcribed the entire grieg concerto because the piano was tuned a bit low.

  • What for?? Is it really that important to play it in the "original tune"? The problem of the PITCH here is probably from the recording, not the piano... Would you dare to tranpose a Chopin etude right in a competition? I don't know why, but I think the judge will care more about your technique, your music, your phrases, your articulation, your dynamics and nothing about the piano tunning... Your comments is nothing but VERY STUPID!! Really, is very stupid.

  • jaja, dont get so mad man, I was just giving my opinion about the piano (or the problem with the sound). I never said Uchida was a bad pianist, nether that you had to transpose it to another tune. I just sayed that It would had been greater that a pianist could had that done. MY COMMENTS ARE NOT STUPID Pd: take it easy

  • Jejejeje! Sorry man, you're right. Anyway, I'm still thinking your comment is a little bit pointless.

  • Of course the recording is sped up, and it IS important, as the musical quality suffers, sounding tinny, & strained. It would be better (& more honest!) to regulate it back to original pitch.

  • I agree...it's the same thing with people talking about performance instrument tuning and the "transposing down" of the Queen of the Night arias - who cares if they're not truly high F's?! The performance and the music are what really matter.

  • CRAZY !

  • the key is not right. it's lower

  • The recording here sounds just flat of Bb minor... first thing I noticed too that it sounded a bit sharp here.

  • Well, the recording has messed with it...if you look at the notes she's playing, it's still definitely the original, in a minor. And why would anyone transpose a piece to b flat minor? For the extra flats? :O

  • @SsteinwayS of course she plays a minor but the vid is sped up so the pitch is not correct and now it sounds near b minor.do you understand now?

  • @Achtelnote

    For me it sounds like B Flat Minor.

  • @SsteinwayS ..to speed it up, perhaps, as that is a side effect of speeding up audio - it is transposed...

  • beautiful woman with beautiful play. First i didnt like her but i start to like her more and more

  • Certified Intergalactic! Wow, Mitsuko Uchida is very beautiful!

  • Good interpretation. It takes a pretty big technique to play the upper notes staccato like this. I like faster performances, but this is one of the better ones out there.

  • quite nice in B flat minor!! because of the higher pitch the speed will be affected as well.

  • what a beautiful women...

  • this etude is very hard, may be chromatic s but it really works your fingers.

  • Never seen her play at this age, Thanks!

  • the FASTEST performance of the piece I've ever heard.

  • ... try "Vadim Rudenko"

  • I've loved Uchida's playing for decades! She is a profound and sensitive musician of wide-ranging tastes. What a treat to hear her in a Chopin etude! Her Debussy etudes are out of this world. I know she studied with Askenase, Kempff, and Hauser...but does anyone know who she had worked with in Japan as a child? She must have been given a solid grounding at an early age! Brava, Uchida!

  • she grew up in Vienna, I think

  • She moved to Vienna when she was about 12. Before that, she had studied piano in Japan.

  • Probably, kempff was the biggest influence on her.... her phrasing changed a great deal. But I have no idea of her playing before.

  • When I first bought Uchida's recordings en masse as a college student, it was for her Mozart that she was renowned. Then more recordings came forth, of works by Schubert and Schumann - definitely the Kempff influence there! I have also been astounded by her Debussy, her Webern, and so on. Truly, she is an artist of depth.

  • Youre right. Her playing inspired me about the golden days in which the germans were played with magnificence.... not the automats of today that desire to break the piano apart.

  • stupendo

  • If you say so, but the technique of the woman is astonishing. Buy the score of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto and the CD and see how she brings music to life here.

  • I enjoy much of her playing and she is indeed very technically proficient. But I think this particular reading is too mechanical and lacks feeling. In fairness though, she's obviously very young here and her best years were still ahead of her.  She's done wonderful things since.

  • BTW, you mentioned her performance of the Schoenberg PC. In case you didn't know, there is a vid here of her discussing & practicing that. Fascinating stuff !

  • Comment removed

  • WOW, what amazing performance, so her face expression wasn't THAT hyperbole by then, heheheeheheh

  • Boy I wish I could play this one up to speed. Not quite this fast but up to where its generally played. I keep hitting a wall with it !

  • If you really want to play this, you must do many preparatory exercises that help equalize strength and flexibility in all fingers. Practice slowly, build up speed very gradually a notch at a time with the metronome, and DON'T push yourself too hard. Be sure always to keep the right hand thumb light and flexible.

    It's not necessary to reach this speed to give a good performance. Control of phrasing, voicing and dynamics are even more important.

    It may take YEARS to do it well.

  • Thanks. My teacher said pretty much the same thing & I agree. She also added that this particular etude is brutal on the hand - especially if one isn't careful to work up to it. As for prep, Cortot has some helpful exercises that I might try one of these days. FWIW, I think this is way too fast & mechanical for my taste anyway.

    BTW, don't waste time feeding the trolls here. Not worth it. Thanks for the advice !

  • Thank YOU. Cortot had a much better technique than he is usually credited with. His exercises are demanding, but probably very helpful. I'm a Pischna person, myself. ;-)

    I agree on this interpretation -- it's not as good as most other things Uchida has recorded. The best rendition from a technical view is CLAIRE HUANGCI. Rosenthal, Backhaus, Pollini, Ashkenazy, Sandro Russo, Cortot , himself, and I'm sure Berezovsky are also great.

    Friedheim gives MM 126.

    YOUR advice is good too. Thanks.

  • Wow, look at how she's changed over the years.

  • Who could have possibly beat that?

  • Claire Huangci "beats it" -- by miles. Alfred Cortot and Sandro Russo do too for their vivid imagination and superior musicality. And for sheer technique Ingolf Wunder is unbeatable. And there's always Pollini and Ashkenazy.

    This is good, but it's not the best thing Uchida ever produced by a long shot.

    She found her true self in Mozart, Schumann and Debussy.

  • Her Beethoven is nothing to sneeze at either. ;-)

  • Perfect piece to train those pesky 3, 4, 5 fingers to submission... really hard to master this piece.

  • Agreed. This may arguably be the hardest of the Chopin Etudes.

    Its a knuckle buster in disguise !

  • but for me, the hardest is the first etude in C Major op. 12 because I have small hands.