(Paleczny)Chopin Polonaise Op. 53

[rigel48]

What is the tempo and spirit of this work ? Allegro con brio? Allegro con spirito ? Allegro con fuoco ? No. Chopin headed it "MAESTOSO".

I am not sure that it is what we can hear on this video. The sound is also awful !

[fredericfranc]

@rigel48 ...Paleczny does not play it faster than Horowitz or Argerich, and one can argue that the spirit of the interpretation is definitely not con brio or con spirito, that it is extraordinarily reserved and solemn, which is what maestoso is all about, what is unusual is the ferocious, unforgiving sound, but that is Paleczny for you, and his Polish School bacground, in Poland, when playing Ch. you are supposed to kick ass...

[rigel48]

@fredericfranc If it is that you call a natural chopinist, I can't see what you may reproach to Horowitz or Argerich. I have rarely heard the beginning played so harsh, and the left hand octaves without any care for Chopin marking p and SOTTO VOCE !

Horowitz is much more careful and majestic (and of course Rubinstein).

[fredericfranc]

@rigel48 ...Paleczny I would not call a "natural chopinist" because of his dry tone, I was trying to make the point that this perf is compatible with the chopinesque maestoso-polonaise "solemn-reserve" conception that they beat into you in the "Polish School" training that he got. The much older Paleczny cranks back on the harshness, as might be expected, THAT perf is here too...

[yoshitaka871]

気持ちわるい・・・

[Hitherto90]

Piano is tuned differently than I've ever heard the Heroique played. Cool.

[fredericfranc]

@Hitherto90 ...a technical query...I am very fond of this recording, but...the earlier commentators have alleged that the sound might have been "electronically jiggered" (perhaps by the Polish counterpart of the KGB, this is a Communist-era recording after all, and the Communists did allegedly use music in their propaganda efforts)...i.e. do you really think this piano is "tuned differently" or it is "something else" going on here?...

[kasyapa]

and he's one of those guys who can finger the l/h using 2-3-4-5 or some such - he's certainly using 2. fun.

[kasyapa]

possibly jiggered communist-era sound. so far strong and almost explosive but almost no dynamic contrast.

[fredericfranc]

@kasyapa ...would the Communists, being by definition intellectuals, and so, being by definition dedicated to intellectual and artistic honesty(?) JIGGER?...would the Communists (hey, these are the POLISH Commusists, you know what I am trying to insinuate...) KNOW how to JIGGER?...would they CARE to jigger? (the Communists, being intellectuals are lazy, they think, but not do)...do you know of a case of jiggering whereby the pianist was made to appear more "heroique" deliberately?...

[kasyapa]

@fredericfranc those definitions are preposterous. communism is one of the least actually intellectual ideologies in world history with its materialistic mysticism. rivers of blood were the result. in any case, look at communist athletes poisoned with steroids to show how communism is "better."

[fredericfranc]

@kasyapa ...my musical(?) ears mostly could not resist doing a riff off your use of the word "jigger" and playing it against the "communist" frame of reference...i.e. I was largely trying to be funny in a Communist sort of way...the distingushed uploader of all that out-of-the-way Horowitz, with some kind of halfway decent ears, should have been able to pick up on this...but,instead, he behaved on me like a typical UTUBER...God, what a downer...not a good day for me today on the Tube...

[kasyapa]

@fredericfranc ah, my apologies. i thought you were being serious. : )

[fredericfranc]

@kasyapa ...certainly, I was being "serious"...but in a different sort of way...MUSICALLY SO!...CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!...have you ever experienced the experience of being musically SERIOUS?...in a non-UTube sort of way?...was there any musical experience AROUND before the UTube?...I am kinda confused about that by now. Anyway, what I was thinking...could have the "Polish KGB" manufactured the musical impact of this music video without Mr.Paleczny's interpretive talent being involved in this?..

[kasyapa]

@fredericfranc never said KGB. more like engineered sound to increase impact. quite easy to do with micing and mixing.

[fredericfranc]

@kasyapa ...I deliberately ignore the standard protocols of the Internet texting and use the caps in place of punctuation, because here you lose the effect of punctuation...I behave too much "like a musician"(?)...don't worry about the KGB...but the question is does it really sound like somebody "engineered the sound to increase the impact" because usually, if you try to do this, you decrease the impact, and here the music really "works"...you want to think...not an easy question to answer..

[fredericfranc]

@kasyapa ...does the music really sound SHARP? (i.e. not A FLAT, but A POW IN THE KISSER) like the man below is insinuating?...is not the "no dynamic contrast" really CHOPIN'S problem, he COMPOSED the damn thing that way, and so Mr.Paleczny follows the lead of the GENIUS COMPOSER maybe a little too much? and is this not a freaking MP3 anyway, which by definition DEBALLS the living .... out of the music, i.e.KILLS the, yes, the freaking dynamic contrast?...well, me being a rather humble...I don't

[kasyapa]

@fredericfranc so much YELLING.

[pianonextdoor]

great find

[fredericfranc]

This is being esoteric, but the word "paleczny" can also be translated as "someone who hits you with a club". The lady from hell presumably responded to that effect. It is a good idea to keep in mind if you want to enhance the quality of your relationships with your women in an unorthodox fashion.

[TelemarketerFromHell]

OHHH LAWWWDY I JUST HAD AN ORGASNM LAWL

[Guitharafy]

Very close to Horowitz style

[mx19idlewilder]

@Guitharafy

sorry mate, but horowitz is nowhere near paleczny if we're talking about playing this polonaise...

[pianopera]

Very fine performance, but... Polonaise in A major? I guess in reality he played it slower.

[DanielPianoForever]

BEAST!!!! 

[dawdus]

it's funny that you can translate polish 'Paleczny' as Fingerful or something like that.

[fredericfranc]

This is damn irresistibe, who else takes this kind of approach? This face, not a twitch of emotion, this is the face of the Polish School at its best. You just kick ass and that's it.

[flies101]

I just heard him live today playing both Chopin piano concertos and he was not harsh, he had a beautiful projecting sound

[DanielPianoForever]

what a talent. the sound quality is not great, but the pianist is awesome. Absolutely phenomenal, thanks mainlymuzik for posting this.... i am INSPIRED

[mx19idlewilder]

just listen guys to jan ekier!

youtube . com/watch?v=8hU8cIXO4KE

but piotrek paleczny is also brilliant.

[rogernldw]

what a noise....

[davidgray2]

Is it just me who thinks this really harsh and explosive sound is very exciting and appropriate?!

[callenishss]

@davidgray2 the sound may seem more harsh and explosive on recording, not in a real hall

[Attila19101960]

@davidgray2 I totally agree with you

[kochammalgosie]

@davidgray2 po polsku kurwa! 

[givemetime123]

C'est vraiment très bien joué, par contre, la prise de son n'est pas à la hauteur du talent de ce pianiste....

[cdpiano27]

Were the 1970 Chopin competition videos all in black and white, and starting in 1975 the competition videos were in colour then?

[Pogouldiwitz]

I don't know, this sounds kind of terrible to me.

[musicist001]

The sound is horrible, but the interpretation is fantastic!

[Pogouldiwitz]

I mean that his tone production is very harsh. Of course, that may be do to the recording and not his actual tone production.

[clem4705315]

you should know better, follow your second thought- it is the recording. I heard this guy in a masterclass a few days ago- a born chopin player.

[MaxximusDecimus]

@musicist001

It's one of my favourites interpretation, first after Blechacz interpretation's