I agree with how people feel artificial about this performance. Her skills and technique are great and superb. But her sound sounds bothing different from Zimmerman or Horowitz. Plus, too much movement makes me sick..
@ralralraha123 If she sounded like Zimmerman or Horowitz, she'd be doing it wrong. This is her OWN performance, and it is brilliant and well inspired. You seem to have no idea what an interpretation means.
she brings a wonderful improvisitory quality to the performance which for me is at the heart of chopin's piano music, and she has the skill to pull it off, from the clouds...
I think this is better than Zimerman and Horowitz, at least the ones I've seen on YouTube. I wish I will be able to perform it as good as she does before the summer this year!
I was going to add comments but franzrivo tioo them already.. I can only repeat ... I am familiar with Elena's work and assure that she plays 100% from the heart and the nuance and emotion is her own. Yes the acoustics are bad but that doesn't denigrate the performance.
I think it is beautifully done with layers of emotion within. Perhaps one's lifetime experiences do alter how he/she perceives description of such emotions in music.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Sorry to disagree with some people, but Ms. Kuschnerova's artistry in this performance is artificial. Nowhere in this performance where one could feel GENUINE emotions required by the music: grief, terror, dread, sadness, anger. Sweetness, she's able to project, but nothing else. If this is the Russian way of playing Chopin, as puncherdeath commented, then it's an artificial understanding of this great conposer.
if you can tell the difference between genuine and artificial emotions in the way a few notes a strung together, then you are some kind of god. can you also sense irony in music?...
Expression has never been an inherent property of music. That is by no means the purpose of its existence. If, as is nearly always the case, music appears to express something, this is only an illusion and not a reality. It is simply an additional attribute which, by tacit and inveterate agreement, we have lent it, thrust upon it, as a label, a convention - in short, an aspect unconsciously or by force of habit, we have come to confuse with its essential being. Igor Stravinsky.
Expression shows itself through music as it does through a person's eyes when looking through them. If it's there, you will see it-in eyes. If it's there you will hear it-in music. You don't have to be a god-just a sensitive human being...
grief, terror, dread, sadness, anger--are categories of the infinite emotions. I think music is more than something that can be talked about--that's kind of the point.
El sonido no es limpio, no se si es por la cámara de grabación, o porque mantenga mucho el pedal.
Por una parte su sonido transmite mucha fuerza, brío, dominio... pero por el otro, creo que a veces corre demasiado y no es consecuente con el tiempo que llevaba, posiblemente consecuencia de la motivación que transmite la música al que la interpreta. En cualquier cosa me gustó.
To be honest I think its the acoustics of the room in which it was recorded. Very hollow, sounds as if it was played in a lobby of a hotel (not very likely though, just sounds like it).
She should also be in no fear of dying. Therefore she should take all the time it takes to play the piece with musicality, unless she is rushed by some call of nature. It happens to pianists too.
The scherzando is one of my favorite parts in this ballade. I almot thought she had forgotten to play the scherzando it was played so fast. I would of liked to hear the scherzando more musically slower then blurry fast.
slobo1987, you feel appropriate to say something negative about an independent artist but you don't find anything to say apart of silly nonmusical things.
wow... this is pretty much the best recording of this i've heard. it actually has emotion in it as opposed to some of the other pianists that play it, especially in the coda.
Right on the point! This is a well-like hall with a boomy acoustics. I know this because I have recorded this recital. It is funny to read all these beginner's comments on pedaling of a pianist who graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, played all Chopin Ballades in one recital, recieved awards for CDs etc.
Yes, i've heard Peter Schmalfuss, and I don't think that he balances thecnique/emotion like Elena...
Schmalfuss plays wonderfully too, but sometimes he rushes over Chopin, and doesn't shows much poetry. Even makes some details mistakes on some records, like altered tempo.
How much does she weigh? I love her powerful way of playing of this piece. Extremely great performance, and the last "coda" portion was especially breathtaking!!
I agree with how people feel artificial about this performance. Her skills and technique are great and superb. But her sound sounds bothing different from Zimmerman or Horowitz. Plus, too much movement makes me sick..
ralralraha123 2 years ago
@ralralraha123 If she sounded like Zimmerman or Horowitz, she'd be doing it wrong. This is her OWN performance, and it is brilliant and well inspired. You seem to have no idea what an interpretation means.
cfwpiano 1 year ago
she brings a wonderful improvisitory quality to the performance which for me is at the heart of chopin's piano music, and she has the skill to pull it off, from the clouds...
0dot0 2 years ago 2
Too fast... need more consistence.
pepeyjack 2 years ago
sorry, of course not AS good as her, I meant HALF as good as her!
thisisLinn 3 years ago
I think this is better than Zimerman and Horowitz, at least the ones I've seen on YouTube. I wish I will be able to perform it as good as she does before the summer this year!
thisisLinn 3 years ago 2
I was going to add comments but franzrivo tioo them already.. I can only repeat ... I am familiar with Elena's work and assure that she plays 100% from the heart and the nuance and emotion is her own. Yes the acoustics are bad but that doesn't denigrate the performance.
danleywolfe 3 years ago
ELENA is so perfectly performe her genuie feeling of Chopin Ballade No.1. Never I have seen such a Storming Ending like this, So Special
tuyentube 3 years ago 4
I think it is beautifully done with layers of emotion within. Perhaps one's lifetime experiences do alter how he/she perceives description of such emotions in music.
Sammysteinway 3 years ago 3
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Sorry to disagree with some people, but Ms. Kuschnerova's artistry in this performance is artificial. Nowhere in this performance where one could feel GENUINE emotions required by the music: grief, terror, dread, sadness, anger. Sweetness, she's able to project, but nothing else. If this is the Russian way of playing Chopin, as puncherdeath commented, then it's an artificial understanding of this great conposer.
torontochopin 3 years ago
if you can tell the difference between genuine and artificial emotions in the way a few notes a strung together, then you are some kind of god. can you also sense irony in music?...
ljoekelsoey4 3 years ago
Expression has never been an inherent property of music. That is by no means the purpose of its existence. If, as is nearly always the case, music appears to express something, this is only an illusion and not a reality. It is simply an additional attribute which, by tacit and inveterate agreement, we have lent it, thrust upon it, as a label, a convention - in short, an aspect unconsciously or by force of habit, we have come to confuse with its essential being. Igor Stravinsky.
michael1608 3 years ago
Expression shows itself through music as it does through a person's eyes when looking through them. If it's there, you will see it-in eyes. If it's there you will hear it-in music. You don't have to be a god-just a sensitive human being...
blakeada999 3 years ago
grief, terror, dread, sadness, anger--are categories of the infinite emotions. I think music is more than something that can be talked about--that's kind of the point.
blakeada999 3 years ago 3
BELLO...♥
sensibilidadplena 3 years ago
El sonido no es limpio, no se si es por la cámara de grabación, o porque mantenga mucho el pedal.
Por una parte su sonido transmite mucha fuerza, brío, dominio... pero por el otro, creo que a veces corre demasiado y no es consecuente con el tiempo que llevaba, posiblemente consecuencia de la motivación que transmite la música al que la interpreta. En cualquier cosa me gustó.
astronomo16 3 years ago
It was a beautiful execution... IMHO one of the best I've heard, and much better than
several others of much more acclaimed performers.
That said, pity the acoustics didn't render her tribute.
franzrivo 3 years ago
Comment removed
jero13595 3 years ago
To be honest I think its the acoustics of the room in which it was recorded. Very hollow, sounds as if it was played in a lobby of a hotel (not very likely though, just sounds like it).
Tifosi2003 3 years ago
This is a like a lobby in a hotel, there is no ceiling. The acoustics is very hollow, indeed.
dgaranin 3 years ago
Comment removed
jero13595 3 years ago
Elena Kuschnerova! Hers was the first video I saw of Chopin's first ballade; I'll never forget it..
andrewwarmen 4 years ago
phenomenal, Elena is TRUE ARTIST , she makes Piano Performance
tuyentube 4 years ago
Russian school dominates, Best Chopin's understanding for me, fluid clear inerpret.Nice. Kruto!
puncherdeath 4 years ago
ahe makes me cry, she always comunicate
jazzero20 4 years ago
i like her hair, she looks like a retro-graded woman on the verge on of making herself 60's!!!!!!!!!!!
marrieter08 4 years ago
fast, clean, perfect but speed kills the piece and soul
speed gets beethoven in my mind :D
cool anyways
313313 4 years ago
Hey, Elena Kuschnerova is not a dead pianist. She still plays fast.
dgaranin 4 years ago
She should also be in no fear of dying. Therefore she should take all the time it takes to play the piece with musicality, unless she is rushed by some call of nature. It happens to pianists too.
Ernesto7608 4 years ago
Very nice, but I still prefer Kissin
dtnguyenvn 4 years ago
fckn beautifull
ichadzis 4 years ago
Kuschnerova is a beast.
Solstasis 4 years ago
This is great. I also like the way Gomez-Moran
plays this on an 1840's pianoforte. The file
can be heard on the net @ ClassicalMusicArchives
for free. You'll like it.
robotnik77 4 years ago
she looks like ms. swan
cacabeans 4 years ago
Those who comment on looks of musicians appear shallow to the others.
dgaranin 4 years ago 2
She should definitely listen to Ashkenazy and Horowitz play this. This girl is on coke or something..
kwaaksnavel 4 years ago
I think her Scherzando was quite playful and in a nice speed....
vscanzi 4 years ago
amazingly fast, too fast
filthysoap 4 years ago
This was great. I just wish she took more time and was more expressive in the slower parts.
PianoManSteve 4 years ago
truly outstanding!
ganymed45 4 years ago
No escucho las notas con claridad hay mucho pasticho de sonido.
jersyabrahan 4 years ago
The scherzando is one of my favorite parts in this ballade. I almot thought she had forgotten to play the scherzando it was played so fast. I would of liked to hear the scherzando more musically slower then blurry fast.
aiuhepdos 4 years ago
slobo1987, you feel appropriate to say something negative about an independent artist but you don't find anything to say apart of silly nonmusical things.
dgaranin 4 years ago
What's wrong with silly nonmusical things?
PianoManSteve 4 years ago
She plays beautiful, but the hairlook, that's another thing :)
slobo1987 4 years ago
agreed...
mazltov 4 years ago
agreed
mazltov 4 years ago
what a great pianinst with overflowing emotions under proper control
dreewch2001 4 years ago
wow... this is pretty much the best recording of this i've heard. it actually has emotion in it as opposed to some of the other pianists that play it, especially in the coda.
Laxori666 4 years ago
Best version I've ever heard. By the way... the hall has nothing to do with the pedal, it depens on the room.
Chopin1986 4 years ago
Right on the point! This is a well-like hall with a boomy acoustics. I know this because I have recorded this recital. It is funny to read all these beginner's comments on pedaling of a pianist who graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, played all Chopin Ballades in one recital, recieved awards for CDs etc.
dgaranin 4 years ago
too much pedal here ... horrible
MaggusM79 4 years ago
Peter Schmalfuss has to small feet ...
MaggusM79 4 years ago
Yes, i've heard Peter Schmalfuss, and I don't think that he balances thecnique/emotion like Elena...
Schmalfuss plays wonderfully too, but sometimes he rushes over Chopin, and doesn't shows much poetry. Even makes some details mistakes on some records, like altered tempo.
vscanzi 5 years ago
this was the first song i ever learned on piano, and this video was the reason why... she is unbelievable...
alimalik1223 5 years ago
!!! do you mean this is the first song you heard on piano? cuz it'd be pretty insane if it was the first song you learned...
ez910503 5 years ago
Bravo Elena!Outstanding! You are a piano poet...
boromir2011 5 years ago
you guys haven't listen to Peter Schmalfuss yet...
zems02555 5 years ago
wow sounds just amazing and so emotional
even chopin would approve of this version
ganymed45 5 years ago
STUNNING....One of the greatest Performances out there..!
ergudmun2 5 years ago
How much does she weigh? I love her powerful way of playing of this piece. Extremely great performance, and the last "coda" portion was especially breathtaking!!
lisalisa0926 5 years ago
poet of the piano
dowse90 5 years ago
Absolutely amazing!
pianochick1 5 years ago
OH !! How that woman plays !! and Chopin... my favorite
piece for the Piano, the Ballade No. 1. This drew tears from my eyes. Wonderful...simply wonderful. Thank you.
robotnik77 5 years ago
e GENIALA interpretarea ... !!!
neesp 5 years ago
Wow, this was rily good. i prefer this one to Ferrati.
Ieopardragon 5 years ago