Added: 5 years ago
From: Sissco
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  • A gold medal at the next Olympics is certainly a possibility, Great sport.

  • 1:25 I play staccato.

  • lol his expression at 0:09!!!!

  • Comment removed

  • His technique is amazing~ such facility and nuance is something that I strive for as I work on this piece.

  • lol i like how he scratches his nose while playing the piano at 1:14...

  • This Scherzo seems very different from other three. But, I find it very nice and "dolce".

  • I think his career could get more interesting than Valentina Lisitsa....

    We will see.... I prefer him to Kissin. He is very econome in movements, he is very rationnel. He does not exagerate, just makes music. As I see he was worth winning the Chopin competition... He also uses a very good piano here....

  • @joshua88241 aye fuck u!

  • I get tired of the musical "purists" who comment on youtube. I don't hear your performances of these pieces. Just because you know every note of the score doesn't mean you have taste or musical intelligence. You are simply smug, trying to show your superiority. Any idiot with half an ear can hear a wrong note. You have no interest in the joy of a performance but rather have interest in your own cleverness to find fault. Why bother listening? No one will ever meet your superficial standards.

  • 6:50 that is a badass part lol

  • fish. lips.

  • ajjajaajaj this part is funny 7:31

  • This man has a beautiful soul. His piano playing is more representative of all the noble traditional Chinese qualities than that other guy.

  • His fingers are moonwalking. :)

  • Je suis absolument d'accord avec le commentaire de bicurjon;

  • way better then hororwitz.

  • @schmitty135 ur stupid G@Y parents play better.

    no they don't what the hell am i saying u ain't got any

  • @schmitty135

    omg criticism idiot

  • @schmitty135 ok, well learn some music and then say that again. I've studied it since what? kindergarten or preschool.

  • @schmitty135 Thought your neighbour's kid just played the 4 ballades (he plays so well that none knows him tho). he also plays this? Awesome.

  • he missed a note in the first measure. good god can you butcher the song any more please!

  • @765lbsquat yes one could... but I don't think they will just for your sake.

  • Missed a note in the first measure..... You idiot the first measure is just octave Bs pretty sure he didn't miss them. These comments make me sick.

  • In his aberrant last Scherzo, Chopin's famous talent for mimicry and light dramatics surfaces, the light sardonic tone of his letters in the peculiar early 19th century Polish.In the side sections he is narrating a story he remembers, probably about some Polish Jews; he liked impersonating them and was good at it too. How compelling is Yundi Li's storytelling? He has an effecive competitor in Richter, whose take you want take in.

  • I like he's move at 00:13 :D

  • I dont know if i love or i hate it... but there's a part of music that can make me feel and be in the past, when i hear the same song i used to listen then.

    Now, this is that case. It feels cold and hot at the same time, really, and suddenly you are in other place: where you were when you heard this song.

    Really odd, am i mad or does somebody feel the same?

  • i was the 182,182 person to watch this. :D ive seen it a few thousand times ahah but i just hit the jackpot. :D

  • Butchery at its most pretentious.

  • @organboi Yeah. totally painful. i wonder why that happens. he does this kind of thing often. he made a horrible mistake in a chopin concerto where he went to the wrong section. my guess is that he's so self important that he doesn't feel he needs to practice, and that he doesn't understand the musical structure, that he doesn't really know the music.

  • In my humble opinion Yundi Li back then was at his best.

    Nowadays i think he is more laid-back....don't feel the same magic anymore.

  • @ItachiGT Sadly, I agree. I loved his playing during the 2000-2006-ish years. After that... I kind of lost something. T_T

    Come back, Yundi Li... T____T I miss the beautiful playing from back then.

  • @SeitanoShuuki Sure it's not subjective? =) I was on a concert with early this year, and he played excellent. Touching performance! =)

  • @bb0ysmiley Hm. Totally could be. I haven't been able to hear him play for a while. I wonder when he'll release another CD? It's rather difficult for me to get his music otherwise.

  • @SeitanoShuuki I bought the new CD where he plays the complete nocturnes, at the concert, and I'm pretty satisfied with the recordings. It's from EMI Classics if my memory dosen't fail me :p

  • @bb0ysmiley Really now?! Must go track down that CD and own it now. =D Thanks for letting me know about it~!

  • @SeitanoShuuki No problem! =)

  • His hands are beauties ! China to Poland : what a trip !

  • If I could play like that...that is, not only with technical perfection but also with the same passion and emotional understanding of the music (I struggle greatly with the former), I would die a happy man. Today.

  • Gah what a sexy piano... I'd kill to have a Steinway...

  • i find it funny how gaga's videos have over 200 million views while this has less than 200k... or its just sad. o well yundi your awesome!!

  • He can get his fingers moving fast, but he's a bit of a show off in my opinion, 7:28

  • @llllShArPllll you can get your hands working fast when you masturbate; but you're just a loser.

  • consider modern music. justin bieber for example does not hit the right tune every time. but he is the best living musician of our times! so pls stop critzizing and just enjoy music.

  • People pay to listen to his mistakessssssssssss

  • fck y'all who keep pointing out his mistakes. I'm so entranced by the awesomeness of this guy's piano playing that I can't even hear the mistakes. So go shove your perfection up yours.

  • Wrong notes?! WTF!!! I love the passion that he puts in the musics i dont care about the wrong notes!

  • so many chords, i bet i couldn't even finish the first page of this... = =

  • Ohmygod he played all the scherzos in one concert don't expect it to be perfect...he's famous because he can do that with heart passion and reasonable accuracy and he won the chopin so don't flame his one wrong note

  • I find it interesting how his fingers slide on the keys while he is holding them down. I'm not sure if other pianists do this and I haven't noticed, or if it's something unique to Li. Either way, it certainly shows that he isn't pushing unnecessary weight onto his fingers. Must be a clue into how he gets such clear sound!

  • @potvi19 Your on to it. It's CHI not muscle power. The bones emit a strong electormagnetic field, improving the blood and optimizing the organs. The field intensity around the skin becomes more dense. One can manipulate the keys by directing the field. The less muscle you use, the more the field will transmit. To increase field intensity from bones you must study tai chi, chi kung, and some form of meditation. tai chi uses gravity to induce piezoelectric efffect.

  • @K43TOC

    What a load of mumbo jumbo.

  • this is intense.. the hand movement, the facial expressions, the body language. this is love. pure love of music.

  • 9:10 orgasmic

  • Make sure u can play better thn him b4 u judge him, dude

  • how about all you critics offer your analysis after you've posted a response of yourself playing the same piece. haters.

  • @majicalways Haters will always hate even if they can't play piano for shits. They just like feeling superior by abusing their invisibility on the internet. Too bad these critics can't appreciate Yundi Li's beautiful interpretation of Chopin's composition. And his facial expressions and movements add on to the feel and the emotion of the music.

  • This guy makes WAY too many facial expressions and body movements...

  • @1Lisztener1 This guy????? This guy is Yundi Li, the youngest person to have ever won International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition. He also was the first participant to be awarded First Prize in 15 years and you mock his expressions and movements? How about you just enjoy he genious interpritation of this classic music rather than point out flaws?

  • @schaefer1697 Lol, it actually worked. Thanks for being a part of my experiment. :) I'm glad that you don't pay attention to facial expressions and body movements. We all have to appreciate artists for their work, not how they do it.

  • tired? unconcentrated?? (which is very understandable)

  • 7:30 jajajajajajajajaja

  • So musical, so flawless. This guy is nuts.

  • i wanted to hear the applause he deserves...

  • @snuffypoo me too. but this is happening in the country where the true emotions have been repressed for a quite time, it is rather a historical/cultural/political issue at hand. It is sad anyway because Yundi Li deserves a highest ovations ever. 

  • He's the best pianist of the new generation

  • this is Chopin!!

  • SUPERB! MAGNIFICIENT! BRAVO

  • Found a wrong note?! Ahh, how clever, you must know the music so well then...So bloody what? Is that all you noticed? Don't you try to look at the overall structure, phrasing, musicality and style etc. You are like one of those mothers that there is always something wrong or imperfect and can't appreciate the nice side of things. Wait till you play for somebody else and you could come up with an excuse for your wrong noteS. What a sad person you are...

  • @bicurjon so from two words, you can conclude the person i am?

  • @bicurjon He means, that this note has wrong touch or velocity))))

  • @OlegGultayev why don't you let him speak for himself? You're not his mother.

  • @bicurjon well, wrong notes are a sign of poor practice. and the problem with Yundi Li is he plays everything so fast. He's just and egotistical pianist. He likes to show off. I don't think there is a musical fiber in his whole body.

  • @cellobuddy I agree partially. If you look at the sheet music, you'll notice there are mistakes he's making, but the interpretation is ok.

  • @cellobuddy

    Wrong notes aren't a sign of poor practice, unless you're playing more wrong notes than right ones. A mistake here or there is a sign of not being a boring, perfectionist, non-musical robot. Everyone makes a mistake here or there, but it doesn't matter as long as you're playing with emotion and making music.

  • @cellobuddy

    "To sing a wrong note is insignificant, but to sing without passion is unforgivable."

    I think Yundi Li's performance is actually very musical, and I think most critics in the world would agree with me. And remember he's not 30 yet -- he needs time to be mature further.

    Speaking of egotistical musicians, so were Liszt, Chopin, Wagner, Beethoven, Mozart, and many others. We are not electing the President are we?

  • @bicurjon exactly..... even Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven, Brahms would hit wrong notes

  • @bicurjon I'm pretty sure the people who say it are kidding. Either that or they're trying to sound clever. Nobody is dumb enough to suggest that a single bad note ruined the piece of music.

  • and all the simpletons in here that listen to heavy metal and punk rock but listen to this to help the creative process in writing an English, paper (AKA me) didnt notice, nor did they care.... because the rest kicks ass

  • Mr. Li truly enjoys playing Mr. Chopin's music and makes it seem as easy to play it. Well, done.

  • fbager, I agree with what you're saying. Thanks for your comment. Just yesterday, I was surprised to find out that Yundi Li is only 27. When Mikhail Pletnev was 27, maybe he was already playing with a distinctive personal style and interpretation. I don't know your thought on Pletnev, if any?

  • SO GOOD

  • Yes it's impressive, and yes he's MILLIONS of times better than Lang Lang...

    But I hear Yundi Li, not Chopin. The great interpreters, such as Rubinstein, know how to make it sound their own and yet take a "step back" and let the music speak for itself at the same time. It's very hard of course, like anything that is special.

    I don't feel the sheer, simple happiness that this piece should express. The impressive runs should be played with a smile, metaphorically speaking.

  • @fbager Yes an artist is judged by his musical integrity not his ego or showing off his skills, when it comes down to it and Yundi Li has been upstaged in the media and music world by a clown at the piano not an artist like Yundi Li is.

  • Yundi li is not a butcher or a psychotic killer.

  • HAHAHA I used to visit this page for the video, but now I visit it for the comments, they're hilarious! that said, i'd like to conclude by not imposing my opinions on everyone lmao

  • i reckon. lol. not even allowing someone to talk without down thumbing them. If their a troll then yeah but wow everyone is entitled to their own opinion without a mob jumping the person. @fbager, everyone has their own interpretations, and regardless of what you think yundi li is famous, and that speaks for itself

  • I think he puts too much attention to the fact that it is a scherzo. Though well performed, he miss that it is one of Chopins most mature and lovely works; vivid and joyful as well as sublime and intimate. Rubinstein is doubtless the most lyric and honest interpreter of this work.

  • A different interpretation that is more scherzo-like doesn't make Li's performance more dishonest than Rubinstein's. I love Rubinstein's, too. His B section is sublime.

  • it's great playing - i just wish he could cut out all the grimacing and fake orgasm face routines

    having said that, he's not as bad as lang lang in that department, and 1000x better pianist

  • organman52 is just a blowhard....just give him a thumbs down or ignore him and he goes away.

  • I must be the only one who hears how incredibly SLOPPY this playing is. Therefore, those who endorse this man's butchery are just as guilty for being DEAF.

  • discrimination!! Being deaf is not something to be guilty of, just as you are not guilty of being stubborn and blind (well....metaphorically)

  • why don't you provide evidence for a change? Making claims and not backing them up could be done by any fool

  • @organman52 That wasn´t sloppy!

  • Organman should just shut the fuk up! He is so dam annoying! He hates Yundi Li, and no doubt he thinks Yundi Li doesn't deserve to win the Chopin Competition. I would say if Yundi Li doesn't have the quality to win the Chopin Competition, Martha Argerich would not let him win. Organman, so you think Martha was deaf when she was judging!? Are you doubting about Martha's decision and musicianship? Organman, and i am sure both Martha's and Yundi's musicianship is way better than yours!

  • Ooooh - oliverylchan appears to be unhappy. I wonder - has he ever heard of politics and corruption?

  • you are thinking about sex with the girl in first line ???

  • I just read "Are you actually saying that without a 'good' pianist, Chopin's music would not exist?"

    NO SHIT. Sheet music can't play itself. The pianist gives the ink on the paper LIFE. Music is alive. Christ, any half decent musician knows this. You can have the record speed in piano playing, but if you don't invest your own emotions upon the instrument, you will only deliver speed and a power nap. NO instrumentalist plays the same piece of music the same way twice.

    Stupid.

  • 7:28-7:32 Yundi Li impresses himself by how well he drops the sound as if he wants to burst out laughing "Can you dig that! I'm the shit! Can you do that man! Nope Only me! I'm Yundi Li! Oh and who are you again?"

  • haha true!  I see it! genius!

  • He's so pissed that he smudge and fucked up the chord at :12 that he doesn't know whether to laugh it off or be pissed!

  • Yundi Li is INCREDIBLE at playing Chopin~ this is wonderful!

  • maybe he played it the way that up to him

    really amazing

    He is the best in my mind

    Love Mr Li the most ^^

  • by the way, organman, it is good u have ur own interpretation, but not everyone needs to agree with u. Also in the chopin competition, Martha Argerich was there too. She watched Yundi Li's every single performance in the competition. She acknowledged Li's ability, and musicianship.

  • I agree with you, olivery. Marta is in a pefoect position to judge ability, having often played alongisde Kissin. In my humble opinion, Marta is a great talent in her own right. I think she is up there with the greats like Barenboim.

  • organman, just stfu ! everyone gives you a negative respond. i would wonder if anyone agrees with ur ideas, or maybe ur theory. By the way, it's good to follow the score, but let me tell u, lot's of pianists don't follow every singe directions ( i.e. dynamic changes, etc). Even zimerman won't. Chopin taught his students to have their own interpretation, and chopin himself NEVER followed the directions he wrote on his score. He played the same piece differently in different performances.

  • why are we even comparing lang lang and yundi li? Both are good in there own unique ways and thats why they are both very well known

  • but li is better :)

  • ill. He won the Chopin competition as a recognition of his greatness. Yundi Li plays beatifully, and you know it. Come on. Admit it! :)

  • erm. . . . no it is not. he's obviously fantastic. you just made this comment to cause controversy.

  • Organman52 is just a HATER of Yundi Li. He bashes all of Li's performances, yet I dont see any performances from Organman52... wierd. Hey Organman52, what makes you the ultimate judge of interpretation? Untill you post something of yourself doing better than the performances you bash... SHUT THE F UP!!!!

  • I know he s.cks

  • i think it becoz of envy

  • no one cares. yundi li is haterproof :P

  • Just for the hell of it, I am going to rebut each of your concerns.  Not sloppy: except for the slip at the opening in this live concert, his playing is cleaner that many of the greatest Chopin interpreters of the 20th century. Not frantic: this is a scherzo of the Romantic period and this performance is playful, dramatic, and (in the B section) serenely beautiful. Not too many mannerisms: he is not as reserved as Rubinstein, to be sure, but he has fewer mannerisms than many others.

  • Only a pedant would point out every inaccuracy - or want to. I doubt either of us would itemize the mistakes in concert performances of Rubinstein or Horowitz. Why? Because they, like Yundi Li, are great musicians. If anything, Li is a cleaner player than either R or H and sticks closer to the score. On the whole, though, I'll just side with the internationally-respected Chopin Competition judges and the adoring public who do appreciate Li for the artist that he is.

  • Glad you could benefit. For someone so obsessed with accuracy, it's ironic that you don't understand fidelity to a score. It has nothing to do with occasional wrong notes & everything to do with knowing a score intimately, as Li does: every detail of it in the contexts of the work among others like it, of the composer's works, of performance practice, and even of cultural/historical environments. I see nothing hypocritical in my comments. I do have some extra clues to spare though. Want one?

  • @organman52 Emphasis on being a professor and reviewer; egotism... claims "nothing more than the bantering of someone who doesn't think for him/herself".. possibly misanthropic... Either you are deluded enough to seriously believe that your position is right and that everyone who thinks otherwise is beneath you, or you just enjoy going around flaming for no apparent reason... either way, seeing a psychotherapist is the best course of action for you. (oh btw, you just got owned by a 14-year old.)

  • fuck you u arrogant twat. Stubbornly arrogant aswell, it's obviously gonna take more than everyone on youtube to bring you back to earth aswell, worst luck.

  • Another lovely youtube lecture. Thank you so much, friend.

  • dont call me friend, we wouldn't get on.

  • I will call you anything I damn well please, pal.

  • Hahaha! "Kissin plays circles around Li".

    1st of all, Kissin is a great pianist, but that is all. A genius? Not in my opinion, just simply very gifted. Same goes for Li, an extremely gifted pianist, who is capable of doing wonders. Li's interpretations of the romatic era composers such as Chopin Liszt, are only surpassed by very few, and only in the slightest. Organman, please revisit your gross opinions, and tell me that what I am saying really isn't true.

  • Trying to get through to folks such as yourself is like trying to 'convert' someone from, say, Presbyterian to Muslim. Let's just leave it at that. You are dazzled by all the fanfare, but what do you really HEAR? In the case of yundi li, all I hear is an impetuous child, with almost adult technique, banging his way through these masterworks. And not that I would try to convert you, but in my view, there is no comparison between Maestro Kissin and this impersonator.

  • There is indeed an element of genius in some musicians's playing. It has to do with their complete awareness of the conception, scope and structure of the music. Kissin plays as if Chopin himself is playing - he DOES nothing to the music. Your friend mr. yundi li does the opposite - putting 'his own personal take' on each and every note, but somehow, it doesn't sound any different or better. In fact, it doesn't sound good to me at all. Kissin's accuracy is light years better by the way.

  • For God's sake, you're saying this about the winner of a Chopin competition. I mean, you've heard Yundi play there at the age of 18, he's absolutely stunning, and really, has only improved. Kissin, in my knowledge has never won this competition, or any other major competitions. I have heard Kissin play some magnificent Chopin, however, I have felt and heard his 'own take' on the music clearly. What Chopin 'wrote' is simply a guide, the rest is up to a good pianist.

  • How dare you try to tell me that what Chopin 'wrote' is 'simply a guide' and that 'the rest is up to a good pianist.' That is the sickest thing I have ever heard. Are you actually saying that without a 'good' pianist, Chopin's music would not exist? How utterly demented.

  • Perhaps that is not what I meant. What I am really trying to say, is that a performer's own take on the music if what gives the music character and life. It is what drives the wonderous melodies and harmonies of a good composer into something that is not only wonderful, but also unique. After all, there is a pianist on that bench, not a robot capable of playing only the composer and leaving him or herself out of the music. A pianist's take on the music is vital to the success of the performance.

  • hell yes Chopin's music would not have existed nowadays without a good pianist. Considering that Chopin died a few hundred years ago, who do you think carried on his music?

  • Try Yevgeny Kissin for starters. He plays light years better than this impersonator.

  • What an insane assertion. Do you honestly think that Chopin - and the other master composers - created their works so that the likes of yundi li could win competitions. What a revolting thought.

  • stop asserting what you pretend not to think but bursting to say aloud through me, I never said Chopin composed it for people to win competitions. What I DID say and implied, however, was that you fail to recognize the importance of the pianist. What a revolting thought

  • Can you consider music without performers? Chopin composed this TO BE PLAYED, yet you blatantly disagreed with him by saying performers are COMPLETELY unimportant. Who are you to say that the composer's view is important?

  • Oh no you cannot. Did it occur to you that composition comes from improvisation? Mozart was noted for this seemingly dictated music on the score, but not Chopin. He may or may not have heard it internally, but he must have played it out on the piano before confirming his composition. Moreover, there is no such thing as hearing internally, there is only imagination.

    And stop contradicting yourself, telling someone to go away while retreating back to your blindness to reason

  • vincentws03-

    With all due respect, it would surprise you how many even 19th Century romantic pianist composers composed at the desk and not at the piano. Yes, there are improvisatory passages and the flowery melodic musings that he wrote that today we assume was done at the piano. However, the history of composition tells us otherwise, and there is an incredible amount of freedom that comes from composing in one's mind--not at the piano.

    We both agree, though, that organman needs tact.

  • Kissin never take part in any competition, ok?? Not he never win any competition ......

    you need to distinguish between this .

  • Exactly. Not taking part in, means not winning. I am correct, Kissin has NEVER won a competition, because he has NEVER taken part in one. Li on the other hand....

  • Speaking of lectures, I actually though maybe you could teach me something about music, but it seems every I go, I see you posting absolutely horrific and bogus comments. I think it is YOU who needs lectures, not us. Especially regarding music and composition. Perhaps you ARE who you claim to be, but then it is all the sadder that someone as 'educated' as you, has been raised a misinformed, and rude man.

  • You call it 'misinformed' and 'rude.' I call it honest.

  • Bravo 3cplantin. A voice of reason in what is all too frequently childish youtube banter among jealous wannabes.

  • I agree with schaefer1697. post something of urself playing this better than yundi li. then critisize him.

  • just because u want to see him do better doesnt mean u can say "li's playing is awful, sloppy, and frantic. hes even worse than last year. blah blah blah". If u want to see him do better, go give him a few lessons. See how he turns out.

  • he is better than lang lang...

    i like his interpretation...

    poetic,clarity..

  • @musicsinyee he is definitly better than BANGBANG

  • Lol love the "Whos there?!" look at 7:30

  • lol It fits in with the piece so well. Hes amazing!

  • he's so poetic with this piece

    i just love it

    as for the whole lang lang vs. yundi,...

    yundi, for me, is the total antithesis of lang lang. in other words, yundi is everything lang lang is not which is maybe why he relates much better with real artists but not the general public.

    this is not however to bash lang lang, whom i also enjoy hearing from time to time

  • i luv yundi!!! plus, he's cute :]

  • How can Lang Lang be more famous than Yundi?

  • Because Lang Lang is more of a showman than a pianist.

  • On the one hand , Lang Lang's performance style tend to entertainment , On the other hand , Yundi Li request his skill almost perfect , this leads he decline many company ,