Amazing. I think anyone who plays this piece, let alone who plays it this well, deserves the utmost respect from the music community.
For those of you who are wondering about the chromatic scale fingering:
RH: B-D# (1-5), E-F# (1-3), G-A# (1-4), etc; yes, the pinky...the 1313 fingering wasn't fast enough for Liszt, and apparently not for Lugansky/Berezovsky either! Try this fingering, within a few min you'll be as fast as them! lol
@OriginalBasaliskos Arrau does great justice to the piece, but I honestly believe that pieces like Chasse-neige and Mazeppa NEED a ton of speed, or else you don't hear the "fire" driving these pieces like you should. That's why I like berezovsky's interpretations of those harder TE pieces so much. It was said that Liszt and his students played Wilde Jagd in about FOUR MINUTES.
@oxsaphiraxo I've always thought of Lugansky and Berezovsky as two friends like Chopin and Liszt. Chopin was more poetic and light in his playing, Liszt had more of the power" and bravura. Luganksy practically worships Rachmaninoff, who in turn followed more in the style of Chopin. Berezovsky, has huge stubby hands like Anton Rubinstein (Beethoven reincarnate?) and deeply likes Liszt, Beethoven and performs Chopin like Liszt probably would. Both are different and offer great music.
First of all, while I don't know much about Liszt's own playing, this "rather powerful than poetic" certainly doesn't translate to his body of compositions, so it's entirely irrelevant when talking about pianists performing these composers.
Then, some would object to your point that Rach was "more like Chopin", considering he was also a fan of "hammy" runs and sentimental extensions - so maybe he was more like Liszt?
this piece is perfectly written, one of Liszt better compositions as a whole, especially considering the substance and color changes within a short 5 minutes
Yay left hand cross overs! I found that a good tip for doing them is, even for those who still are more comfortable with looking at your hands while you play, don't look. Your brain will be able to feel it work together if you just space your hands well and look at the music. ;)
Bravo! great performance! beautiful Chasseneige... this work seems to be extremely difficult to play, but he put sensibility and gave the proper emotional load on his performance.
If you ever learn this piece, don't play with Lugansky or Berezovsky's fingering at 3:30 on those octaves. Use your second fingers instead of your thumbs there. It makes it so much easier.
This performance definitely redefines the Transcendental meaning in Liszt. This piece just gets to me. It is one of the finest examples of how incredible technique is utilized perfectly to break expressive boundaries
1:22-1:33 is the hardest part to play right after memorizing and learning it. Giant jumps. I can tell he practiced it more than other parts because of how accurately and quickly he played it. He kind of neglected a few areas if he can play that part perfectly and screw up a bit in some other areas.
Not that I didn't do that with this piece worse. Hardest but most gratifying piece I've ever learned, by far.
i truly love this piece from him, i have kissin's and otter's and arrau's but he gives everything and he is sucha great performer....i like him very much
ou vecio! un esempio di geniale concezione lisztiana. a 3:16 c'è una scala cromatica. Liszt ha diteggiato 12345-123-1234 il che produce una velocità quasi doppia rispetto a una diteggiatura normale.
Now that I'm into this piece, I gotta say, for Lugansky, this is a bit sloppy. His Feux Follets was under par for him as well in this concert. The other recording of his Feux Follets was a lot better. Something was up with him that day, I bet.
someone had said he was showing off by raising his hands so high... but im learning this right now... and was having so much trouble with those fast leaps, until i started imitating how lugansky raises his hands so high... almost instantly my accuracy got a lot better ... so maybe he isnt showing off
I don't think the height is the thing, but the arm has to be totally free and loose to move very fast to prepare the notes. The height is just a by-product of very relaxed, elastic movements.
In terms of chromatics, it depends. If you're playing a slowish one (e.g piano entry in the Emperor concerto) 13 13 123 etc works, but for hyper-fast (this) fingerings with 4 work better
Is he using a different chromatic fingering than is standard on those in order to allow for that speed? Or is it just so fast it creates that illusion...
its five finger chromatics, very hard to get smooth but faster than normal fingering. start with thumb on e, its 123 1234 12345. the thumb under the little finger from eb to e is the stinker.
Yeah, thanks, I want to add that to things I know. I play the third movement of the moonlight sonata, and I want that chromatic at the end to be a bit smoother.
I looked, he definitely used at least four, possibly five.
Lugansky uses even his fifth, and the score I have says to use your fifth finger. Makes sense where you place it too.
You won't get 900 notes per minute with the standard fingering. It's not possible, lol. Going three quarters that speed is significantly fast for it already. Apparently, Liszt may have created it for these types of chromatics. Don't repeat that though because it's unreliable.
Actually I haven't played super fast chromatic pieces like bumblebee or some parts of this piece, so maybe if I play them I would realize that with 1313123 fingering I can't play it enough fast. But why to figure that out by yourself and spend a lot of time to do that, when you can just watch videos and ask around, like you did. Which really makes sense. I would do that too if I should play a piece like this.
So, can you play around 1100 notes per minute doing 13123? Thats how fast you should be able to do it if you want to to be nice and blended. Lugansky does it slower, at around normal tempo, so like 900 per minute.
I dont understand what you are trying to tell me but since im 4 i learned 1313123etc from my teacher. i tried other fingerings too but i couldnt reach the equality of the notes compared to the normal fingering
Wow, I once tried to come up with different fingering variants for chromatic scales, but couldn't think of this one.
Looks great.
Btw, what do you think of 12341234 (starting from any note)? The apparent advantage is that it requires much less thought or coordination (esp. when both hands play chromatics in contrary motion, like in the climax of Chasse-Neige), but technically it's much less convenient
What do you think, is this fingering realistic for smooth playing in fast tempos?
Yeah, I know they can be and are for building technique, but this one is so hard it's more of a piece that you use Etudes to get to, rather than an Etude itself...
For those who know the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, a passage from the "Lothlorien" track (watch?v=dCLOtIzUQXs, 1:17-1:40) strongly resembles a short part of this Etude (same harmonies), namely 0:53.
Just an interesting detail I wanted to point out.
It wouldn't surprise me. Film music composers often "borrow" ideas from pre-existing pieces and often long dead composers. Most people would agree that John Williams (Star wars and Superman, etc.) ripped of a lot of his ideas from Brahms.
Really good, but what a showoff he is. Raising hands so high while you jump is technically redundant, if not to say irritating. But the audience loves it, and so do I..
Hehe, I admit I haven't checked out the score yet. I left the comment right after the first listen, which you can imagine, was very impressive. Later by listening again, I admit there is a minor mistake. Lusgansky seldom makes mistakes, that's for sure. He plays well Liszt, better than Chopin(his Chopin is quite cold and boring with constant pedal).
I don't know if it's the best performance,but it's certainly one of the best! Lugansky makes no faults in difficult pieces, by the way, have you ever found him play a wrong note? When I watched this video, impressed by the acrobatic moves and music, I can't helping think that he who wrote all this was certainly the greatest genius!
A true bravura performance! fab octaves. Is it just me or is his pedalling a little strange - sounded like a few discordant overhangs.
I'm nit picking of course - he's a stellar player. Funny tho, I've yet to hear anyone play chasse neige - or no. 10 - as well as I believe the piece requires. There always seems to be more in Liszt's music than anyone has been able to draw out. Of the recordings I have heard I think I like Claudio Arrau's best.
Le me after watching this : "HANDS ! WHY AREN'T YOU CAPABLE ? IT SEEMED SO EASY !"
bfeyalcin 2 months ago
Ganz einfach fabelhaft. Der beste Chasse-neige den ich je gehört habe. Wie ein Lebewesen entwickelt und gestaltet sich das Stück unter seinen Händen.
Die Aufnahme von Arrau ist auch himmlisch, aber diest ist etwas ganz sonderbares.
Florestan1207 3 months ago
Amazing. I think anyone who plays this piece, let alone who plays it this well, deserves the utmost respect from the music community.
For those of you who are wondering about the chromatic scale fingering:
RH: B-D# (1-5), E-F# (1-3), G-A# (1-4), etc; yes, the pinky...the 1313 fingering wasn't fast enough for Liszt, and apparently not for Lugansky/Berezovsky either! Try this fingering, within a few min you'll be as fast as them! lol
LH: Gb-A (4-1), Bb-C (3-1), Db-D (3,1), Eb-F (3-1), etc
jdog25140 4 months ago
The first performance of this piece that I've heard that I like as much as Berezovsky's.
MrHeyheyhey27 4 months ago
@MrHeyheyhey27 What about Arrau? His is my favorite.
OriginalBasaliskos 4 months ago
@OriginalBasaliskos Arrau does great justice to the piece, but I honestly believe that pieces like Chasse-neige and Mazeppa NEED a ton of speed, or else you don't hear the "fire" driving these pieces like you should. That's why I like berezovsky's interpretations of those harder TE pieces so much. It was said that Liszt and his students played Wilde Jagd in about FOUR MINUTES.
MrHeyheyhey27 4 months ago
Did anyone else get terrified and think of Slenderman when the video skipped at around 0:48?
MrHeyheyhey27 4 months ago
He's a genius! 02/10/2011 was a concert in Minsk, it was just brilliant!
MrBargain512 5 months ago
I heard him play this in an old monastery in Mallorca on a very hot August night. Simply riveting. He looks like he stepped from a Tolstoy novel.
JaneZupan 6 months ago
omo he plays so great on a Yamaha ?
dzeljpiano 7 months ago
Incredible interpretation! I prefer the Berezovsky's one too (but not those you can listen on youtube).
oxsaphiraxo 8 months ago
@oxsaphiraxo I've always thought of Lugansky and Berezovsky as two friends like Chopin and Liszt. Chopin was more poetic and light in his playing, Liszt had more of the power" and bravura. Luganksy practically worships Rachmaninoff, who in turn followed more in the style of Chopin. Berezovsky, has huge stubby hands like Anton Rubinstein (Beethoven reincarnate?) and deeply likes Liszt, Beethoven and performs Chopin like Liszt probably would. Both are different and offer great music.
tchykovsky 7 months ago 5
@tchykovsky
What a silly dichotomy.
First of all, while I don't know much about Liszt's own playing, this "rather powerful than poetic" certainly doesn't translate to his body of compositions, so it's entirely irrelevant when talking about pianists performing these composers.
Then, some would object to your point that Rach was "more like Chopin", considering he was also a fan of "hammy" runs and sentimental extensions - so maybe he was more like Liszt?
This is silly.
twooffour 2 weeks ago
Interestingly enough, they're both chess buds apparently.
tchykovsky 7 months ago
this piece is perfectly written, one of Liszt better compositions as a whole, especially considering the substance and color changes within a short 5 minutes
anonymousQ45 8 months ago
Yay left hand cross overs! I found that a good tip for doing them is, even for those who still are more comfortable with looking at your hands while you play, don't look. Your brain will be able to feel it work together if you just space your hands well and look at the music. ;)
wishingonthemoon1 10 months ago
I have been at a Lugansky concert just yesterday. He played this piece as an encore.
Simply breathtaking and staggeringly beautiful piano playing!!!
BugattiJoe 11 months ago
beautiful playing. much more musical then some interpretations.
davidbaker03 1 year ago
Bravo! great performance! beautiful Chasseneige... this work seems to be extremely difficult to play, but he put sensibility and gave the proper emotional load on his performance.
Ray0X0 1 year ago
He is really talented, superb playing! Such a difficult piece.
However I do prefer Berezovsky's interpretation over this one.
MrOliverKjaerulff 1 year ago
If you ever learn this piece, don't play with Lugansky or Berezovsky's fingering at 3:30 on those octaves. Use your second fingers instead of your thumbs there. It makes it so much easier.
hellomate639 1 year ago
He really can understand Liszt like Arrau did it....
Raulcarbone1 1 year ago
This performance definitely redefines the Transcendental meaning in Liszt. This piece just gets to me. It is one of the finest examples of how incredible technique is utilized perfectly to break expressive boundaries
babymaniac 1 year ago 2
1:22-1:33 is the hardest part to play right after memorizing and learning it. Giant jumps. I can tell he practiced it more than other parts because of how accurately and quickly he played it. He kind of neglected a few areas if he can play that part perfectly and screw up a bit in some other areas.
Not that I didn't do that with this piece worse. Hardest but most gratifying piece I've ever learned, by far.
hellomate639 1 year ago
absolutely amazing!! such a great pianist...
DorianGray2005 1 year ago
i truly love this piece from him, i have kissin's and otter's and arrau's but he gives everything and he is sucha great performer....i like him very much
useke74 2 years ago
Comment removed
PeterYJM 2 years ago
very deep...
lagnyim 2 years ago
He makes what he wants with this piece.
leomulder 2 years ago
4:07 Why many pianists neglect Liszt's indication "ritardando" in that small episode?
DesAbends 2 years ago
@DesAbends
Berezovsky completely ignored it. Lugansky here did it fine.
hellomate639 1 year ago
@FranzFerencLiszt
ou vecio! un esempio di geniale concezione lisztiana. a 3:16 c'è una scala cromatica. Liszt ha diteggiato 12345-123-1234 il che produce una velocità quasi doppia rispetto a una diteggiatura normale.
DesAbends 2 years ago
The amount of technical skill is over NINETY thousaaaaaaaaaand!
Robotman42 2 years ago
BEST!!!
PSHEYACOOL 2 years ago
ZOMG, No sound required to be entertained (JUMPS!!), But make it much nicer.
kastlesucks 2 years ago
This is excellent! Thank you for video!
Lenochka1107 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Lugansky always amazes me!
Paulo78180 2 years ago
Comment removed
zelyoko2800 2 years ago
Now that I'm into this piece, I gotta say, for Lugansky, this is a bit sloppy. His Feux Follets was under par for him as well in this concert. The other recording of his Feux Follets was a lot better. Something was up with him that day, I bet.
hellomate639 2 years ago
So beautiful...Lugansky and Berezovsky are very amazing.Playing Liszt is a present of heaven...Really transcendental...
Nganguen 3 years ago 2
someone had said he was showing off by raising his hands so high... but im learning this right now... and was having so much trouble with those fast leaps, until i started imitating how lugansky raises his hands so high... almost instantly my accuracy got a lot better ... so maybe he isnt showing off
gorbonaut 3 years ago
I don't think the height is the thing, but the arm has to be totally free and loose to move very fast to prepare the notes. The height is just a by-product of very relaxed, elastic movements.
englishplayer40 3 years ago 3
I would really like to see your performance, would you post it to youtube, when you are done?
Desmonddd2002 2 years ago
In terms of chromatics, it depends. If you're playing a slowish one (e.g piano entry in the Emperor concerto) 13 13 123 etc works, but for hyper-fast (this) fingerings with 4 work better
Haeronthegreat 3 years ago 2
in my music for this piece, it has 123 1234 12345. it works very well
davidbaker03 3 years ago
God. Listening him, piano sounds so easy to play. This music is amazing.. Liszt is amazing. So rich, full and dense like a gigantic river.
Lugansky: great pianist.
BirdsBrasil 3 years ago 16
Is he using a different chromatic fingering than is standard on those in order to allow for that speed? Or is it just so fast it creates that illusion...
hellomate639 3 years ago
its five finger chromatics, very hard to get smooth but faster than normal fingering. start with thumb on e, its 123 1234 12345. the thumb under the little finger from eb to e is the stinker.
eddiechilvers 3 years ago
Yeah, thanks, I want to add that to things I know. I play the third movement of the moonlight sonata, and I want that chromatic at the end to be a bit smoother.
hellomate639 3 years ago
I think 1313123 is best starting from c to upward. It works well with me and seems like many other pianist use it too.
Aul1kki 3 years ago
To play really fast chromatics, it's best to play both.
13131231313123 is good for changing direction, but when you're just throwing in an extremely fast chromatic, the other fingering is designed for it.
Are you doing chromatics that fast?
hellomate639 3 years ago
Maybe I can't do chromatic scale yet that fast, but I will. Berezovsky use that fingering and it's lightning fast.
Aul1kki 3 years ago
I looked, he definitely used at least four, possibly five.
Lugansky uses even his fifth, and the score I have says to use your fifth finger. Makes sense where you place it too.
You won't get 900 notes per minute with the standard fingering. It's not possible, lol. Going three quarters that speed is significantly fast for it already. Apparently, Liszt may have created it for these types of chromatics. Don't repeat that though because it's unreliable.
hellomate639 3 years ago
Actually I haven't played super fast chromatic pieces like bumblebee or some parts of this piece, so maybe if I play them I would realize that with 1313123 fingering I can't play it enough fast. But why to figure that out by yourself and spend a lot of time to do that, when you can just watch videos and ask around, like you did. Which really makes sense. I would do that too if I should play a piece like this.
Aul1kki 3 years ago
it is possible to do that with 1313... and the notes will be way more equal just if you want to work on your technique.
JakWho92 2 years ago
So, can you play around 1100 notes per minute doing 13123? Thats how fast you should be able to do it if you want to to be nice and blended. Lugansky does it slower, at around normal tempo, so like 900 per minute.
Berezovsky goes way faster.
hellomate639 2 years ago
I dont understand what you are trying to tell me but since im 4 i learned 1313123etc from my teacher. i tried other fingerings too but i couldnt reach the equality of the notes compared to the normal fingering
JakWho92 2 years ago
It's not as equal, which is why you use 1313123 when you're not playing at 800+ notes per minute.
In this piece, the sheet music itself has this fingering for chromatic:
Starting on B natural: 12345 1234 123 12345 and so on and so fourth.
hellomate639 2 years ago
Wow, I once tried to come up with different fingering variants for chromatic scales, but couldn't think of this one.
Looks great.
Btw, what do you think of 12341234 (starting from any note)? The apparent advantage is that it requires much less thought or coordination (esp. when both hands play chromatics in contrary motion, like in the climax of Chasse-Neige), but technically it's much less convenient
What do you think, is this fingering realistic for smooth playing in fast tempos?
twooffour 3 years ago
I honestly think 12341234 on any note isnt really possible, at most its inefficient.
sirvio666 3 years ago
Oh, it is possible, and it's getting smoother already, but I'm really not that sure about the efficiency question.
If it's played entirely "inside" the keyboard, i.e. inbetween the black keys, it's quite doable in middle tempo.
Time and practice will tell how it looks with faster tempos.
I'm just currently experimenting with alternate fingering variants - don't mind my question, I guess.
twooffour 3 years ago
This piece is going on my bucket list.
I will play it some day...
hellomate639 3 years ago
This piece is great... Really great...
I don't know why it's called an etude... It's one of the hardest things to play....
hellomate639 3 years ago
Etudes can be hard...they build technique lol.
trigalg693 3 years ago
Yeah, I know they can be and are for building technique, but this one is so hard it's more of a piece that you use Etudes to get to, rather than an Etude itself...
hellomate639 3 years ago
Nah, but yeh it certainly is hard
123eldest 3 years ago
This is pretty much the first "tremolo" piece I've ever played, and I definitely disagree with you.
While I'm far from having "mastered" it, I don't get a feeling like "omg so hard, I should've played a tremolo study before starting this".
The more I practise all these tremolos, jumps and chromatics, the cleaner and faster does it get.
Why do you think it's not appropriate as a study for these technical difficulties?
twooffour 3 years ago
Oh don't mind me: I'm fairly inexperienced. I talk a lot and its usually for my own progression.
hellomate639 3 years ago
I heard Nikolai perform this live in Moscow in 2007, it was amazing... He can make a piano sound like the Berin Filarmony. Incredible!!!
nkrutova 3 years ago
Where was this ?
proko514 3 years ago
I much prefer Berezovsky's interpretation.
123eldest 3 years ago
Another kind of comment:
For those who know the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, a passage from the "Lothlorien" track (watch?v=dCLOtIzUQXs, 1:17-1:40) strongly resembles a short part of this Etude (same harmonies), namely 0:53.
Just an interesting detail I wanted to point out.
twooffour 3 years ago
It wouldn't surprise me. Film music composers often "borrow" ideas from pre-existing pieces and often long dead composers. Most people would agree that John Williams (Star wars and Superman, etc.) ripped of a lot of his ideas from Brahms.
Anyway, this is a quite nice performance!
Lisztianpiano 3 years ago
Composers have always been building on the music of their predecessors. That's just how art works.
freshechidna 2 years ago 2
Jesus....I hope I can play the piano as easy as him...
pianowendy 3 years ago
Bellissimo brano!!
NanuParma 3 years ago
Best execution!!!
PSHEYACOOL 3 years ago
me parece una excelente interpretación
e1g0nz41i70 3 years ago
Brilliant, brilliant interpretation.......
kidodragon 3 years ago
It's so good to see guys like this one. He loves what hee's doing....
yeya2802 3 years ago 3
Really good, but what a showoff he is. Raising hands so high while you jump is technically redundant, if not to say irritating. But the audience loves it, and so do I..
unsichtbar007 3 years ago
Comment removed
gorbonaut 3 years ago
What facility!
koobird 3 years ago
Hehe, I admit I haven't checked out the score yet. I left the comment right after the first listen, which you can imagine, was very impressive. Later by listening again, I admit there is a minor mistake. Lusgansky seldom makes mistakes, that's for sure. He plays well Liszt, better than Chopin(his Chopin is quite cold and boring with constant pedal).
xujia1001 3 years ago
I don't know if it's the best performance,but it's certainly one of the best! Lugansky makes no faults in difficult pieces, by the way, have you ever found him play a wrong note? When I watched this video, impressed by the acrobatic moves and music, I can't helping think that he who wrote all this was certainly the greatest genius!
xujia1001 3 years ago
i've seen him last year playing this piece.
I think lugansky is one the actually best pianist in the world along with Kissin, Volodo.. for his generation. On rachmaninoff, he is the best.
rhadamanthes82 3 years ago
Liszt wrote this, its part of his 12 transcendental etudes.
xiangyik 3 years ago
Genius!
ravel1109 3 years ago 2
hot damn!
atticus10090 3 years ago 2
Amazing playing. Oh, it's a yamaha piano, maybe that's why there's a few discordant overhangs... ;)
AlexPxr8 4 years ago 3
Great! Speechless!
horowitzvs 4 years ago
Wonderful!!!
mimilovesmusic 4 years ago
I prefer Kemal Gekic's Chasse Neige.
His interpretation is beyond to compare!!!
stringendo 4 years ago
outstanding. can't wait for the commercial recording
seanrcollins 4 years ago
A true bravura performance! fab octaves. Is it just me or is his pedalling a little strange - sounded like a few discordant overhangs.
I'm nit picking of course - he's a stellar player. Funny tho, I've yet to hear anyone play chasse neige - or no. 10 - as well as I believe the piece requires. There always seems to be more in Liszt's music than anyone has been able to draw out. Of the recordings I have heard I think I like Claudio Arrau's best.
alcyone77777 4 years ago
Lugansky is a master! Simply amazing! Please tell me that he is working on a recording of all of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes.
lensherr82 4 years ago 14
@lensherr82 nos 5, 10 11 and 12 only :(
4785689 1 year ago
Amazing. Could be the best Chasse-neige I ever heard Live.
classicalthema 4 years ago 3
wow..
filthysoap 4 years ago 3
Bravo!
Lisztscriabin 4 years ago 2