Prokofiev Etude Op.2 No.1 (Freddy Kempf)

[tjtheplay]

Wow this looks kinda difficult.

[MrHippasus]

Beautiful. The transformation of the theme in the tranquillo section is so sweet (as only Prokofiev could pull off) and I love the jolt of those slightly "off" 32th notes at the end of each scale rise (i.e. starting at the end of the 9th bar). I've listened to this 6 times in a row now. Yeah!

[SpR4y510]

I can't believe how cleanly hes able to play 0:31-0:42. That part has always killed me at higher tempos

[Chakiejan]

Kirisiah it's second "published" work. Think about how many stories and things a writer writes in his life before publishing his second book. Similar with music I think....

[DavidMumo]

wow... this is so brilliant

[twgirl1]

好棒

[ridehorce]

I'm studying right now this beautiful etude, is so precious and complicated ahahah

[jrmagrelis]

simply fantastic...

[MrRrrrvvvv]

Especially the last part gives me the shivers. Pure awesomeness.

[NukiCherrys]

I definitely wanna study that piece of music... Wonderful and wordsless.

[Ir0nman86]

you can find free piano sheet music @ sheetsearch . com

[BarNuun]

Well, Freddy reigns monarch over this... brings it to life.

[Purplecatsoup30]

@EuphoricDan If Prokofiev "sucks" as you say, why would you own a lot of his work?

[DeliusAlkan]

@EuphoricDan You must were drunk when you wrote this nosense... Go & get a life, you museless snob!

[EuphoricDan]

@DeliusAlkan

Sorry to offend. In the future I will be sure to only express your opinions and only in a way pleasing to you.

[Kirasiah]

Was this really his...second composition? O.o

[xtfcr7]

@Kirasiah His second published composition. There's a difference.

[KevinBeethoven]

sounds like something out of a video game

[cem1891]

@KevinBeethoven i quite agree. this video made me think of this of the final fantasy vii piano collections piece "those who fight/  fight, if you search it there's some good ones out there) (like wise the linked video made me think of this etude. albeit a bit more modern, the sacrasm and emotional tension via harmonic language definately had a similar aftertaste).

[InsertName125]

@KevinBeethoven Frogger

[ttslipknotrulez132]

kempf is a genius

[ttslipknotrulez132]

this should be named the "heaven etude"

[ttslipknotrulez132]

i thank you god for letting prokofiev be born

[stamoum]

I'm speechless. This is music from heaven!!

[Chakiejan]

awesome......

[masked1one]

Rather tonal compared to his other works..

[frankentomato]

@masked1one It is rather tonal...but this was still when he was young. His dissonants are still much more restrained than his later works.

[claytonlisa]

Damn.

[athoverlord]

This Etude, done by Kempf, is just flowing like a water... I know that de gustibus est not disputandum, but -in my opinion- Freddy Kempf gives extra weight to Prokofiev's genius, emphasizes it. Unforgettable.

[LackingLack0]

i really really like this tune. very nice +1 for proko

[penguinpoop4]

HOW THE $#^$@ CAN YOU PLAY THIS?

[Saphir8]

this is really hard to play.. left and right hand play the same pattern but not synchronically..(if someone knows some hints for practicing let me know^^)

[DJNotNais]

dissonance is fun!

[SordidGuy]

@DJNotNais - Definitely! Listen to Villa-Lobos' 'Rudepoema' if you'd like a REALLY "fun" time......

[natetitus52]

beautiful!

Where can I get this sheet music from?

Please tell me!

[Omnichronicles]

@natetitus52 imslp.org/wiki/

[ShadKiklas]

1:18 - billy strayhorn's" take the a train" was stolen from this! anyone else hear it!

[flyaway951]

LOVE. thats it.

[belialah]

great

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

orgasmic

[violaloveviolin]

It's just awesome!!

[Jamez5cz]

i want to learn it right now!!

[SeadogDriftwood]

Prokofiev was a child prodigy, and a true genius. Already in an early opus such as this, hear how he explores new sonorities and experiments with timbres! The performer does a very good job too.

[TheIrieviolet]

This reminds me of being hysterically depressed and then hysterically happy and then back to hysterically depressed and then dead.

[11Agaja]

psychooooo

[AntipovSvyatoslav]

Really good performance of this very difficult etude!

[PjGalapatz]

shit!! this piece is a Monster

[4candles]

I've never heard this before, but I love it!

[Erikk91]

Maestoso

[petezilla]

I never paid much attention to Prokofiev until recently. Shame on me.

[jesusff10]

Im just sitting in my room trying to fathom how the hell one is suppose to play this...

[Altairograph]

@jesusff10 If you're a mortal hobby player like me you're not supposed to play this, you're just supposed to admire it :D

Whoever played this, wow!

[sumimimi0]

prokofiev is so hard to play....

[Erikk91]

...wow.

[MrGladSlayer]

Seeing the left hand makes me puck.

[grimmbo93]

unbelievable!

[311Bambino]

wow if someone ask me the hardest song on the world i will probably tell him Prokofiev

[JohnEBPiano]

@311Bambino Prokofiev isn't a song.... That's like someone asking you what your favorite fruit is and answering "Tree"

[Tompelicious]

@311Bambino Prokofiev isn't a song. He was a composer. :)

[RemovdSande11]

Liszt etudes will be a good second xD

[kdawghomie]

Amazing. I am now determined to learn this... even if it kills me

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

@kdawghomie you'll die in glory

[131newclear]

My god, Prokofiev amazes me more and more.. Incredible parts.....

[dalecampbl5]

Prokofiev always manages to sneak in a little slice of warm melodic tune before going off on another direction!

[cafity]

I love this etude... it makes me feel so well when I hear it...! =)

[surrealIdeal]

damn those russians could play

[jasonextreme]

These days, it's really easy to compose from your head without actually being able to play it.

[bevster1]

I got gooesbumps all over when I first heard this within about the first 15 seconds, such an amazing piece!

[Sanitoeter666]

I really recommend the Sarcasms! They are his masterpiece, in my opinion. Nice feeling to play them on the piano.

[afertyus1000]

@bevster1 so do i!!! it's like a natural rush

[1980NewWave]

This piece just turned me into a Prokofiev fan.

[1980NewWave]

good grief this is even harder than Chopin's famous "thirds" etude

just ridiculously tough

[rukashawn]

for some reason, my emotions gets so mixed-up every time i hear this /j

[despouv17]

amazing! does anyone know where i can find the music score?

[streek23]

@despouv17 You can find the score at your local public library or at IMSLP.

[despouv17]

amazing! does anyone know where i can find the music score?

[MrTiago8989]

My favourite Etude. Thanks

[GSE1916]

superb!

[MilanPtheCharming]

ahh love this!!!!:)

[ShabalinK]

Super.)

[NemoProkofiev551]

Holy schnitzel that's good!

[markmarshall39]

its prokofiev, to me one of the best

[iceskating31]

my friend has to learn this!!!

[dsm2240]

I get the feeling he was under the influence of the Moonlight (3rd mvt.) and Chopin op.25 no.11 when he wrote this.

[karazh]

@dsm2240 no he wasnt :D:D

[PhrygianBlack]

this is bad ass! I love the contrasting emotion in this one.

[Zupazwami]

Ha more people should post music videos like this. It's too hard for me but I enjoy looking and listening. Thanks!

[UranumPlanet]

hard rock-it s real hard

[fuckslipknot21]

although i like all versions of this piece i've heard so far, i think that kempf's feeling is the best for this piece. it is really extraordinary. i'm actually trying to learn this. ive managed it until 0:30 so far but i hope i can all of it !!!

[MrStrav81]

I prefer Pompa Baldi on this one, but the recordings on YouTube of his performance have horrible sound quality. :(

[hailkayy]

what fingering do you put on the staccato passage at the beginning ?

[professorhex1]

seeing the score alongside the recording pretty much made me crap myself... so ridiculously hard

[EuphoricDan]

Is not unreasonably difficult. Half the song is a D minor chord pattern. The pattern is the same for the left hands as well, except its like one step behind.

I've been playing for 2 years, seriously (everyday practice) for about 1. I was able to slop my way through the first minute of this, of course it was a long 2 minutes when I was playing it lol!

I'll probably revisit it in a year or so.

But... as I said, its not so difficult as it sounds, is mostly all repetition.

[hailkayy]

@EuphoricDan Try to play it at the tempo of BALDI or SANDOR, with the staccato passage clean at the beginning i give u 3 years ^^

[Nahui0llin]

increible...

[julywapo]

amo este estudio <3

[breakbeatmalaria]

Antonio Pompa-Baldi attempted this piece at the eleventh Van Cliburn and despite his remarkable Scriabin his Prokofiev is poor poor poor, nothing on this interpretation. Bravo Freddy Kempf.

[hailkayy]

I liked pompa baldi interpretation, he tossed it off as if it were nothing, powerfully !

[breakbeatmalaria]

That is very true, but listen to the contrast between Kempf's tranquillo and Pompa-Baldi's, and how distinctly he articulates the 32nd note runs

[pyskute]

Don't know anything about music nor gods or techniques, I don't know anything and I even don't want to know anything when I'm listening to Prokofiev.

He's....oh, words can only do harm when trying to define him.

I feel.

[Exanimousx]

Romanticizing what need not be romanticized is frustrating.

[pyskute]

Frustration is always by my side..And what to do if I'm so foolishly romantic. But the most important things in our life are so banal, emotions caused by art as well.

[rafeman111]

@pyskute pretentious twat

[rafeman111]

@pyskute pretentious twat, but i agree

[X3RX3SCZ]

This is absolutely stunning. Prokofiev is my favourite composer and this is one of the best of his great masterpieces.

[ilikeknives133]

this is beautiful

[Belamus]

wonderful performance of a great early prokofiev piece that deserves to be heard more often. but looking at the score, it becomes apparent why so few pianists bother to learn it : in terms of technical challenges, prokofiev throws everything and the kitchen sink at the pianist. i would even say that the toccata, although also quite challenging, is fairly easy compared to this piece.

[mordent17]

The two voices introduced from 0:30 and on the calm parts do it for me. It's interesting that the piece is based on a tonic-submediant octave jump ostinato in the left hand, from beginning to almost the entire piece (but on the coda is a mediant-tonic, giving that definitive closing feeling, whereas at the start it leaves, in combination with the dominant, the phrases with that openness and mystery)

[BetterOffDead1337]

prokofiev is so unique!!! and this song is one of the best. I love this composer he has created a complete unique and new harmonic world.

my favorites are:: toccata, march, dance of the knights, peter and the wolf,and all sonatas and etudes for piano.

[ASirensSoliloquy]

Such fury! Beautiful!

[mordent17]

Weak composition? This piece is awesome IMO. The lush harmonies create this somber, chilling winter wind atmosphere. It's great. And the performance, IMO, again, is exceptional.

[charleshoskinson]

recall after beethoven's first symphony, the music critics called his career would be forgettable and short lived. Idiots with no taste always plague the music world. ignore them.

[BNM321zxy]

have you lost your mind?

[GangrenaD]

You have to... but once you get it, it´s remarcably beautiful

[lizarthopinsky]

the technique looks so difficult in this,

[124bjw]

Wow--this is incredible--eerie and powerful--interesting and wonderful to listen to from start to finish. What a masterpiece to me.

[paopaomanalansan]

Jaw-dropping virtuosity!

[Nadarification]

Yes that is wonderful!

[TimK999]

Absolutely scintillating.

[huteca70]

what a beautiful piece of art

Thank you also for partituras

best regards

[Starbirdy9999]

You just made me be a fan of another classical music composer!

So far on list:

Ferenc Liszt (Franz Liszt)

Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Rachmaninov

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

And mostly any other Romantic Period composer.

[Starbirdy9999]

Also on the list:

Claude Debussy

Felix Mendelssohn

Mostly Ferenc Liszt (Franz Liszt) and Sergei Rachmaninov are favorites.

[EuphoricDan]

I like liszt's unfinished 4th mephisto waltz.

To be honest... other than that Liszt's compositions are lost to me. Of course there are some small things here and there that I enjoy.

I guess I am not a fan of chromatic music. I suppose other than being the greatest pianist ever, liszt's legacy legacy was to show the world how music would sound without a key sig... Interesting as it can be, it is not my favorite.

[Starbirdy9999]

I really agree with you. Liszt is one my favorite music composers, though also like Sergei Rachmaninov's compositions as some of my most favorites.

[Invalidpoint]

He missed a note.

[supermanifold]

and *you* missed the point entirely.

[fuckslipknot21]

when i first heard this, which was right now, i was as if i had fallen into a comma, i was like o_0, 100% surely, my favourite piano piece up until now!!!

[ostrorawr]

When I first heard this, I promptly downloaded and printed the sheet music. I then sat down in front of my piano, tried the first few pages and burst into fits of laughter.

Does anyone have finger extensions for sale?

[fuckslipknot21]

wtf... well, i liked it mate, good luck to you

[paganiniGOGO]

what are finger extensions?

[ostrorawr]

They are extensions. For fingers.

[paganiniGOGO]

How do they work and what do they do?

[fuckslipknot21]

hmm, where did you download it from (sheet), did you buy it or was it free, plzz tell me the webpage, i cannot find it anywhere for free...

[ostrorawr]

They're up on the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP).

[fuckslipknot21]

thanks very much, i found them!

and why did you burst into laughters when you saw them??

[ostrorawr]

some parts are ridiculously hard to play (for me anyways)...

[Ltlevim]

IMSLP users hi-five (via internet)!

[faraz1729]

IMSLP is a lot of win!

[Starbirdy9999]

Well, then high-five.

[S2HVU]

Search the composer on Wikipedia. At the bottom of the page it'll say Free Scores. Just follow those links.

[rubik56]

I found it using Utorrent

[DreDre349]

WOOOOOOOOW Amaziiing! :D

[Visualizzated]

oh yes O_O

[universalmind3000]

amazing interpretation by kempf...I love his playing

[vladrik1]

This man is genius....

[deviantrake]

This is very good but I have a performance on LP from Gyorgy Sandor that blows this one clean out of the water, when I manage to get it copied I'm uploading it. It's incredible.

[ReturnOfTheStienway]

Agreed.

Gyorgy Sandor is my favorite for Prokofiev.

[neversroad]

Oops. This is regards to Isbrother

[MISHA1119]

CrKrotina - You've got to be kidding - Prokofiev was a stupendous technician who could play his own gargantuan Second Concerto with ease. He had pianists like Richter and Horowitz

premiere some of his sonatas only because by that time (1940s) he was buried deep in diverse compositional projects. Many of his recordings display a transcendental mechanism equal to any pianist's at the very top echelons. Check out the Rachmaninoff g minor Prelude here on You Tube - it surprised even me.

[ultrallama101]

He wasn't THAT good. He admitted that he couldn't manage parts of his Toccatta, for example.

[mpaton2006]

who can? Even Argerich stated that it was the most difficult piece in the repertoire.

[ultrallama101]

Well, Argerich and Horowitz, for a start. The point is, while Prokofiev was undoubtedly a very good pianist, he wasn't up at the very top level of ability.

[martimtavares]

a composer is requested to know an instrument well, such as an orchestra leader, but isn't supposed to be a virtuose, unless he's an interprete like liszt or rachmaninoff were. Shostakovitch once played some of his compositions to prokofieff who was able to find the genius behind the technical errors.

[ultrallama101]

Right. But I'm not claiming a composer does have to be a virtuoso.

[HelveteKeiser]

Well,I believe that a composer-one whose compositions specialize for one particular instrument-has to be able to play them.I myself compose piano works influenced by the late romantic period (just as a composition study)but,when asked to make critical decisions about the bass line f.e. I constantly find my self in lack of imagination.And that;s because the known piano works are mostly composed in a technical manner,for technical purposes.Spanning from Beethoven to Shostakovich.

[HelveteKeiser]

That's the reason I believe some of Liszt's late works(you know to which one's I'm referring to)and the piano works of Eric Satie are extremely radical.(as always,in my opinion) :-)

[Hervinbalfour]

I disagree with you when you say that Prokofiev could play his 2nd concerto with ease. Here are his own words on the subject: "But I do not manage to stay calm during the most difficult parts: in the cadenza (specifically where I mark colossale) and at the beginning of the third movement, where the hands keep jumping over one another, I play badly."

Sometimes we think that composers are "Gods" but they were human just like us who struggled to learn and perfect their technique.

[lorenzotrojan]

@Hervinbalfour that may be, composers are not gods.... yet they are prophets for they are able to go farther beyond the limits of music and come back to us with stories and tales of those distant lands

[EdiEllerymissing]

@Hervinbalfour BRAVO! You're right!

[intervalkid]

@Hervinbalfour

You've got to understand though that his idea of playing badly might be unnoticeable to anybody else. Still I suppose he did not consider it easy.

Few would.

[13loodLust]

@Hervinbalfour Has a composer ever written a song where he went, "Fuck it. It's too hard, My hands can not reach those 12ths... let's leave this song for someone else to play."

[SeadogDriftwood]

@13loodLust Yes: me, at the very least. And I know that Prokofiev did so - I've played his march from Ljubov k Trjom Apelsinam (The Love for Three Oranges), and the left-hand chord @ the end can actually be physically impossible to play. Maybe not for Rachmaninov, though, but, well, HE had uniquely huge hands.

[LordN3mrod]

@Hervinbalfour Prokofiev IS, WAS, and WILL BE a GOD... although not necessarily in performance arts :)

[npelletier89]

This is crazy! I love in the middle of the sixteenth runs the dotted 16th followed by 32nd, it throws you right off! so unexpected haha :D

[MillionDollarVirg]

Pure genius, the emotions burst like champagne bubbles, lol.

[CrkotinaOutOfNowhere]

It's rather interesting that Prokofiev himself wasn't that much of a technician. Listen to his performance of Toccata in d minor and compare it than to some of the later performances.

[jasonextreme]

Rachmaninov was right to say Prok's music comes rather from the brain than of the heart...

[morvensky]

Rachmaninoff, as great as he was, was not completely correct with that statement. Sure Prokofiev's strong point was not emotional sensitivity but it is not completely emotionally dry. His music does not have the typical emotions like sadness or happiness but I see it has more of aggression, irritation, nervousness etc...