Ashkenazy plays Chopin Etude op.10-1

[sleepingdogable]

Note to myself: stop watching this video everytime you think you've finally managed to be able to play this piece - depressing!

[10032John]

Someone's gonna need to put that piano back together!!!

[sbenitor]

Though I prefer Cziffra, Ashkenazy has his own and magnificent style. Clap.

[pianist7722]

what a virtuosooo! perfect note clarity! Chopin must be proud of such a wonderful pianist :)

[KyndalSarah]

This makes me wet.

[iWillBlockYou]

he knows what this is all about, man

[rogelio2ify]

Ashkenazy is always my Hero of the Piano. I heard him in the old Ambassador Auditorium in downtown LA when he first came over. It was just like this clip. Strode onto stage. Quick bow. Sat down. Incredible piano performance followed.

[ams5995]

amazing



[lemecdupc]

c'est la meilleure et la meilleure version de cette étude redoutable ! superbe vidéo !

[royalhunt0603]

すげえｗ

[OrbvsTomarvm]

I grew up on his chopin recordings, developed my love of music and piano on those memories: which makes him my piano hero :)

[yusuke11367]

ペダル薄くして音の粒を出すところは鳥肌もの…



[ShipperS7]

How did you fit this movie in the Youtubes?

[Cartoonsbystan]

He plays like a f**king MAN!

[itismusic4life]

Great Video, thank you. Brings back plenty of wonderful memories.

What year was this and where?

[MrStrangeSensation]

Walks on stage.

Shreds his piano to pieces.

Walks off stage.

[maxyroo]

bieber could play that blinfolded using his right little toe

[97aaroniscool97]

@maxyroo WTF?? Bieber can't play piano worth shit, and even if he could, you wouldn't notice because you would be covering your ears from the terrible singing that goes with it.

[maxyroo]

@97aaroniscool97 of course he cant. im not a beiber fan, but i am a chopin fan :)

[lotuselliseisblack]

This song has left me aurally satisfied.

[mkaudio9]

this is eargasmic!

[10kNmHh2L]

Contrary to all other interpretations I have seen on YT this one really rocks. True, it is not at all subtle, but can we not, for once, forget about being cautious and refined and just enjoy and play away, especially in a live performance in front of thousands of fans? Pure joy, and praise of life and humanity.

[ofakar]

@10kNmHh2L a bit like lang lang then :p (possible troll face if you happen to be one of them who dislikes his style)

[Aeoliandorian]

SHRED.

[jakoson7]

did anyone noticed later in the video the camera wasn't fast enough to catch his fingers playing all the keys?

[paultreselli]

wow. and the staccato passages were perfect! 

[invertedworldd]

AMAZING

[dragmio]

Fantastic!

[rsklmn]

WHAT an amazing performance ! Просто замечательно.!!!

[majornewb]

Powerful playing

[kingofqwerty]

Mind sucessfully blown O_o

[halomoe]

It seems like it's in fast forward >.<

[yOungmOzart22]

best interpretation ever!:)

[NprogresiveR]

awesome playing !!1

i like this tempo !!

:)

[00Kie00]

it just sounds like arpeggios.

[invertedworldd]

@00Kie00 LOL

[NYYfangirl]

I love the way Ashkenazy plays this etude. It actually does sound like a waterfall :)

[ewgrummons]

@clborg88 HA and im sure you play this piece so well...

jerk

have some respect and unless you can play this piece better than him you have no right to criticize him.

[iansdigby]

I love the way he attacks this and gets it done in a really manly and powerful fashion

[shadockman]

The best on Youtube and on the world too !

[NiriuqK]

Grand performance!

.. poor piano ;)

[dlfunky1]

you can always sit back and enjoy with him playing i never feel uncomfortable because you know you are watching a master at work. This is from a documentary about his life and the blonde woman is his wife.

[Trupozerca]

nice blonde at the beginning

[eddjcaine]

what on earth is with the lady?

[metak71]

and croatians



[metak71]

and croatians

[IonBeamXXIV]

holy fuck... how the hell did he do this... my hands would be sweating so much theyd slide of the keys

[chrishan43168]

@IonBeamXXIV He did with his study and technique, as the musicianship and the interpretation are not new stuff for him. Marvellous performance!! :-)

[MaguindanaoBoy]

@IonBeamXXIV I had a teacher who played like that in Fairbanks, Alaska. My first lesson with him, he said: swing your arms onto the keyboard, letting the arms/elbows hang all slack, just barely letting your fingers hold onto the keys. Only enough pressure is better, then he split a Bach Prelude into 22 sections with a red marker and said: never, ever go onto the 2nd section until the first bit is perfect. He liked picturing perfection b4 u g on stage. Works. See Billy Mills in Tokyo.

[shakychevy]

Of course it's hard/difficult.....his attitude is tops, the pedal and fingering are too agressive at points, just a tenth too fast

[tworedjacks]

@shakychevy this is what they call an "interpretation". -_-

[mocdeathcall]

i just jizzed....



[spartan007pat]

This etude is HARD to play. I know I am playing it, and by the time I get to the end, ny arm is about to fall off :).

[rubright02]

@spartan007pat yes... i'm playing this etude too... and it IS really hard haha... but you REALLY have to make sure that you have good technique! or you WILL hurt yourself playing through the whole thing. I don't know if you already know this but.... but make sure your arm is very soft and loose and that your (right) hand closes as you go up and down the arpeggios. That makes sure that the hand is relaxed and prevents straining... Good luck!

[petercastor]

Your audio is out of synch with the video.

[RWinkley02124]

@petercastor Regardless of the audio and video being out of synch, what impresses me most about this performance is the variety of sounds - use of pedal, finger strength, shaping of left hand, all create a masterful rendition

[StanleyDonwood]

@petercastor

It's youtube. Don't be picky.

[TheLyricalMuse]

Bravo! Marvelous!

[tjdes81]

I love his finish. NAILED IT!

[isabelprado1978]

Speechless....  :O

[NdersHostrup]

1:52 His staccato is just ridiculous. Awesome!

[MrRaphaelBM]

Dont you think the left hand was to strong?

[ohverrmynd]

@MrRaphaelBM Actually, I thought that it was supposed to be very strong, while the right hand is not the heart of this piece... Correct me if I'm wrong

[MrRaphaelBM]

@ohverrmynd Well I am not an expert but I agree that the left hand need to be stronger then the right hand but in my taste I think Ashkenazi left hand playing is too strong.

[ohverrmynd]

@MrRaphaelBM ahh I see, sorry then haha I agree

[TheSupermaurizio]

diciamo! Ma non è assolutamente il massimo!

[lllllllllllllll88]

Lose the dame.  This is awesome playing!

( :

[ipoodaily]

what movie

[Seracinfinity]

So cool.

[huangyunghu1]

震撼...很不同



[cezaryolszewski]

Paderewski - Polish, Rubinstein- Polish, Horowitz-Russian, Kissin-Russian, Lisitsa-Ukrainian, Ashkenazy-Russian, Sokolov-Russian, Bunin-Russian etc etc etc.

[rudigreen]

@cezaryolszewski you're a moron.

rubinstein, horowitz, kissin, ashkenazy are all jews (from eastern europe respectively of course). if you don't believe read a wikipedia page.

[lsbrother]

@rudigreen Rubinstein professed to being an agnostic (according to wikip) and as far as I know Horowitz displayed no religious tendencies.

Calling a person xyz just because their parents were xyz is silly.

[kayenta33]

@lsbrother jewish is an ethnic group as well as a religion

[Pianoguy32]

I think the thunderinng chords make the melody far more difficult to discern

[MrYujinio]

@imrich6

[Elisheval]

his fingers touch the keys faster than my mind grasps a musical note....

[elev84u]

And the dislikes are because?... seriously.

[kokomanation]

i have heard many pianists but i believe ashkenazy has the most perfect sound i have ever heard and he has played almost all the composers

[GlimpseInTheLife]

0:41

[GlimpseInTheLife]

His wife is amazing

[leah77310]

Merveilleux...

[Mikael8335]

the best live performance of this piece ever recorded

[gladtidings4all]

Don't like this kind of piano music it sounds like he is pounding on the keys and no rhythm to it can't find anything about it to like. And I love piano playing but surely no this kind!

[mindoes1983]

@gladtidings4all Sure, try to download the piece yourself and try playing it. Then , try to play before 3000 people with professional background of classical music. If you could come up with a performance even just express a slight level of emotion out of it, with satisfying finger strength and flawlessness, then I will agree with you.

And by the way, Ashkenazy is just like Scriabin when it comes to hand size, they are known to have compromisingly small hands.

[tombennettpiano]

@mindoes1983 so true...do it in front of a crowd of pernicious critics then you can talk! These guys are so good that to criticize them is to truly split hairs in the worst of ways.

[mapoyt]

Jews - top pianists(Ashkenazy, Horowitz, Rubinstein....)

[adelfiano]

@mapoyt What about Richter(greatest 20th century pianist), Glenn Gould(greatest interpreter of Bach), Michelangeli(Debussy), Cortot(Chopin), Brendel(Haydn)?

[mapoyt]

@adelfiano Richter isn't as good as Horowitz for exemple. As for the others you mentioned, they were better at playing well only certain composers. But as Horowitz said, there aren't better or worse pianists, only good or bad ones.

And by the way, i should have said Jews-top artists (not only pianists)

[adelfiano]

Horowitz was certainly a great virtuoso but a mediocre ("bad" as you would say) musician (artist) in my opinion (and in the opinion of Richter either) who happened to say something quite stupid since at the very least we have to admit that a bad pianist is evidently worse than a good one.

[leoniddead]

@adelfiano

I disagree one hundred percent.. why do you think that horowitz is a bad pianist? ...? how can anyone possibly think that???

[adelfiano]

@leoniddead Because he was the 100% virtuosity/teatricality 0% music kind of pianist (the antecedent of Lang Lang in some way), while Richter was the exact opposite, a stunning technical ability but always in the service of music and beauty. I must confess that I wasn't in the least surprised when I read in Richter's diary that he didn't appreciate Horowitz's performances as well.

[bobbphysics]

@adelfiano Argerich is better than both Richter and Horowitz.

[Theonedue]

Hahah, mabey at making more mistakes than Richter! Horowtiz had more skill but def wasnt as good a interpretations as Argerich...at least for composers like Chopin.

[refuseit]

@bobbphysics lol no.

[leoniddead]

@adelfiano 0% music kind of pianist?? whaaaaaat? and 100% theatricality? have you ever watched horowitz play something? he looks so chilled from the outside, not theatrical. man, how can you think all that? for me it's like you're describing me a circle which actually is obviously a square. Are we talking about the same person? Horowitz is one of the most sensible pianists EVER man.. I mean take anything by horowitz.. the mephisto waltz by horowitz.. it's like the devil himself is speaking!!!

[cezaryolszewski]

Russians, Polish, Ukrainians - top pianists.

[PublicLibraryx]

@cezaryolszewski Europeans - top composers

[hungrylittlepuppy]

@cezaryolszewski what about Hungarians? Like Frans Liszt for example?

[TripleRhu]

@hungrylittlepuppy should cziffra be hungarian or french

[chrupcjusz]

@cezaryolszewski Russians, POLES, Ukrainians.

[Mara15roma]

@cezaryolszewski and jews)))

[pianogus]

Oh yeah, only think of the best ever: Murray Perahia...

[cezaryolszewski]

@Mara15roma Vladimir Horowitz was Russian

[rudigreen]

@cezaryolszewski read his wikipedia page dumbass.

[ipoodaily]

@Mara15roma man fuck jews

[Vesivian]

@Mara15roma and Indians.

[TheElite3740]

@cezaryolszewski Forgot Germans? Beethoven & Bach, and Austrians Mozart?

[proteas1992]

@cezaryolszewski

Yes, maybe you are from Poland, what else can you say...



[cezaryolszewski]

@MrRaphaelBM and Copernicus was a woman.

[refuseit]

@MrRaphaelBM Since when Jew is a nationality? And Richter was not a jew. Rubinstein and Horowitz were a Polish and a Russian jew, respectively.

[rudigreen]

@refuseit it's definitely not a nationality. it's an ethnicity though. sort of like being a gypsy.

[cezaryolszewski]

@cezaryolszewski and one Italian, one Argentinian, one Brasilian and thats is it.

[TripleRhu]

@cezaryolszewski hungarians

[cityoflaw]

@cezaryolszewski And the Chinese.

[SardonicFox1994]

@cezaryolszewski fuck yeah third worlders!!!

[30inventionman]

@cezaryolszewski Americans, too?

[lsbrother]

@cezaryolszewski all of them?

[corner559]

@cezaryolszewski and Asians.

[cowheadcow]

@corner559 no, he said pianists, not "pianists" ;-)

[STOOPIDTIME]

@cezaryolszewski Throw in Germans as well and I agree with you.

[utubuser10]

@cezaryolszewski yuja wang-ski?

[lallerooo1]

so slow compared to argerich version, but you vlad use a lot less pedal (and a lot more balls..) and here.. mi piaci da mori'

[TheHyenaKing]

Groupie Alert at 0:16 !!!!!

[bubu102]

another version of this song : watch?v=UkApPrdfW_U

[yvawoo]

I am practicing this for three months now. In the beginning it seemed impossible to play it with human hands. Mr. A plays it beautifully, giving me lots of hope that I may play it someday. If I play it very slowly I can manage it through, well at nearly half of Mr.A's speed, my fingers get lost, and hitting one miss note affects the rests of downward arpeggio. If I increase speed a little more, my right hand blocks the view and I can't see the keys. This is 4th etude for me, and very difficult.

[CaramelMarshmallow]

@yvawoo I've been working on Liebestraume by Liszt for a few months, and I think I finally got it. All I can say is good luck and keep practicing.

[diabloanti]

@yvawoo That piece is technically extremely difficult. You need strong arms, flawless technique, playing it wrong may hurt you more then giving you pleasure to play it. I would strongly recommend you to practice other easier pieces to improve your control over the instrument before trying that one. But still i wish you good luck mastering this etude.

[Nathan826]

@fr3d420 Your original reply to 1Thompsonmusic is akin to the following:

Commenter 1: This performance is too mechanical.

Commenter 2: Did somebody just use "mechanical" as if it's a derogatory term???? How dare you insult machines, you retarded Amish nutcase!

Clearly 1Thompsonmusic wasn't using "atheist" as a general derogatory term (your use of "retarded" would be an example of such a term). It seems like people on both extremes of the religious spectrum just like to stir up controversy.

[0blacone]

Why don't we all just relax and listen too the music instead, i know some of you may not like this version, but it's all subjective, so let's all take a chill pill and make peace :)

[fredericfranc]

...if you compare this to other Op10/1 jobs here, including by Mr.A. himself...and, yes, you want to do this...because everybody sounds sort of different if they are any good...this is really too rough for Ashkenazy...who much of the time was awfully polished...but you get a bit of the young A. ferocity here...which is neat...because you still pick up his "sense of authority"...beneath the roghness...

[koreanjeenyus]

what.. the piano didn't set on fire..

[arcanezerobad]

@1Tompsonmusic Fuck you retard

[sevcik2]

Magnificent!!!

Bravo!!

[fr3d420]

Did somebody just use "atheist" as if its a derogatory term???? Fuck you retarded religious nutcase.

[1Thompsonmusic]

@fr3d420

It's ok for you to use the word retarded though? My brother is mentally handicapped. Hypocrite.

[fr3d420]

@1Thompsonmusic You are probably lying , but anyway, fuck your dumb little brother, and fuck you... retarded is only offensive if you are an incredibly huge pussy... Atheists however make up a large majority of the Elite scientific community. The smartest people in the world.

[1Thompsonmusic]

@fr3d420

You are right. I apologise for using the word athiest. I know it's a little late to apologise. Athiests do make some of the smartest minds in the world. But I'm not going to be a hypocrite and pretend I like this performance, because I don't. But I like most of Ashkenazy's performances of Chopin.

[1Thompsonmusic]

@juiceforjoe

I'm just being honest. 

[1Thompsonmusic]

Too mechanical. This is not Chopin. This is athiest Chopin. Rubenstein is better. 

[TuviaGering]

@1Thompsonmusic bullshit. this is awesome

[manoeltheophilo]

1, 2, 3 bows...

[CoolWJL]

I'm always coming back to this rendition. This is just so good! Thank you for posting.

Sure there are faster versions but none of them are as convincing as this.

[MrRaphaelBM]

He remind me David Schwimmer.

[fiadoneable]

Une vague une mer prodigieuses !

[cwcpr]

proof that there is a God

[radstainforth]

@cwcpr Proof that there isn't ...

[cwcpr]

@radstainforth stop being a moronic troll. Not enough loud breathing and eccentric tempo variations for you?

[radstainforth]

@cwcpr Let's have lunch ... in, say, ten years' time, when you're 21 ...

[radstainforth]

Remember he shared first prize in the 1962 Tchaikovsky Competition with John Ogdon ...

[noutube]

this made me cry

[josefkesselring]

He looks like Peter Sellers

[halogenfox]

My Dad had a cassette tape of Ashkenazy playing a bunch of the Chopin Etudes. He used to to love to listen to it on the way to the cottage. When he passed away,I grabbed that tape, I have nothing to play it on but I'll keep it forever, cuz it was my Dad's. This video just brought that memory back to me and made me start bawling and wishing he were here to enjoy it with me.

[stockcar5472]

@halogenfox I have the same tape a brown Decca one with an old lithograph of Chopin on the front. Anyway what a brillint set of recordings of these etudes and sorry for for your Dad.

[halogenfox]

@stockcar5472 thanks for your kind words! It's funny - I inherited my dad's collection of LPs and the day after my last post I went rummaging thru them and found the original Decca LP - same old Litho of Chopin! I just love Ashkenazy's technique! I have been meaning to start converting some of them to MP3 and then to cd, perhaps this will be the boot in the arse I needed! I just better have a box of tissues handy!

[Hunterpwned]

THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!

[Hunterpwned]

@Hunterpwned Oh yeah, sorry me, I just remembered that this is one of the most talented piano players of all time tat he is played for like 20 years, so I guess i should punch myself.

[Ravel87]

great playing, great presence

[Gibson29]

Very good. Although I do prefer the Godowsky transcription of this particular etude, I thought Vlad was quite good here, unique way of playing it thats for sure hehe.

I think Askenazy does Beethoven best though.

[NAT0922SEI]

Ashkenazy video is a very valuable.

Thank you.

[arfurlife]

I got my grade 5 on piano so you better watch out Vladimir... I m not that far behind you now !!! bet he d be knocked out by my chopsticks.

[1234567bryce]

@MrFortepianist Seriously?? That’s retarded...

Actually, I think that I see his point... this must be the only recording that he’s heard ;)

[sttar1982]

very good®