Volodos-Horowitz: Stars and Stripes

[superhokutoNO2]

まさに神業です！すばらしい！！

[superhokutoNO2]

bravo！

[jefftam1234]

Mother of God..... Those thirds-trill in the end...... This is beyond human.

[Jim341046]

Nobody has mentioned Cziffra. He would of torn this piece apart with no mistakes. Have a listen to Volodos playing Cziffra's Sabre dance. He can't cope.

[Kapomafioso]

@Jim341046 Volodos has played Cziffra's Sabre Dance? I couldn't find it....

[costanzomusicworld]

I have never seen a pianist make such facial expressions the whole time he is playing. The expressions are not necessarily amusing - actually, they are frightening - but it is amusing to see how much he contorts his face as he plays. None of my piano professors in college would have allowed that.

[amazing763]

@costanzomusicworld Did you notice that the hall is apparently not air-conditioned? People in the audience are fanning themselves with their programmes. Volodos may be holding back on his expressions, the better to avoid having sweat flow from his brow onto the keys! I'll bet the temperature is over 30C.

[TheSJeon]

Horowitz is better.

[louswire]

THE Ultimate Rag Rag time!

[steinwaygrande1]

Brilliant - what else can one say about this unbeliveably difficult piece of music to play . Volodos certainly does and amazing job here

[grandcanyonhyker]

Astonishing!!!!!!

[Chopin1974l]

Mistakes or not this piece is bloody difficult to play and Volodos does an amazing job, as for the camera work, it drives me crazy when there are so many shots and angles all in rapid succession.

[otherjoe1234]

this is such a win of a transcription

[madison0wilkes]

This would be perfect if he slowed down and played it like horowitz wanted it to be played like a real millitary march

[MrRicksStudio]

@madison0wilkes You have a point, but he is playing it at Sousa's tempo. And before you ask me how I know this, there are NUMEROUS 78 rpm recordings of the Sousa Band playing this during Sousa's lifetime. Although assistant conductor Arthur Pryor usually conducted the recording sessions, we can assume that they followed Sousa's wishes as to tempo.

[SteinwayMan13]

Jesus Mother!!!

[ph4nt0mf1ng3rs]

VOLODOS IS AMERICAN?

[belialah]

@ph4nt0mf1ng3rs He´s Russian

[AmericanCars101]

Who's cares if he flubs, if he made a dozen mistakes i wouldn't care! He's awsome!

[Miskowy]

Is it just me, or he plays a bit inacurrate? Amazingly fast, i'd say a bit too fast!

[pinkfloyddwc]

Someone needs to tell these folks about the A/C

[oxxide]

Nice flycam work..

[wisehare]

Hi guys, what is a flub ?

[JupiterIV]

@wisehare A Slip of the Fingers

[iRolledAshaman]

Horowitz was a genius to transpose this

[deathbymunkey]

Badass

[elpianista11]

and indeed, this is not the master ricardo ray?

[spartan1081990]

I love this russian song!

[wjsado]

@spartan1081990 hahahah thats funny

[wjsado]

@spartan1081990 

[dadnapt24]

@spartan1081990 Its not russian!!

[chutdigadut]

ha, who needs an orchestra, wind ensemble or marching when you've got Horowitz and Volodos

[demosj]

Volodos should just play this all over the place in the Middle-East. :D It'd be hilarious.

[mooneyexecutive]

Needs a sweat band.....fingers sliping around a bit.

[sergiomats]

Volodos is better than Horowitz, as far as I can hear.

[Haaggus]

@sergiomats u kidding?

[warriorcybok]

HOLY OCTAVES BATMAN!!

[MrSuavita]

After listening to both the recordings from Volodos and Horowitz, I must claim that, at least in the recording, Volodos did a better job with the piece. He misses less notes, and overall plays with a bit more clarity than Horowitz's recording. This is not to go without saying they both are playing the same version, so Horowitz played it how he intended. I however will give this one to Volodos for the clarity shown.

[geertdehoux]

@MrSuavita

I heard Arcadi play this as an encore in Rotterdam, 1999.

And that was ABSOLUTELY perfect!!

Cordially,

Geert Dehoux, pianist.

[demosj]

@MrSuavita I'm comparing this to the 1945 Horowitz recording. Volodos still misses notes as does Horowitz, but the electricity generated in H's performance is greater. What I don't like in Volodos's performance is that he chooses a ridiculous tempo at the beginning which he can't sustain later, so slips down to around Horowitz's tempo, just to give the appearance of more virtuosity

His performance of the H transcriptions in general don't match up, the Liszt Rhapsody, Danse Macabre, and Carmen.

[Jerrez]

@demosj I know people that know Volodos personally and it's not in his nature to impress people, the problem is ofcourse that once you play transcriptions and make transcriptions people start to stigmatize you. That's a shame because a lot of people forget that Volodos is a musician with a very good technique, not the other way around. As for his abilities, his memory, the ease of learning new pieces, the harmonic hearing, the ease with which he improvises in different styles even jazz,

[Jerrez]

@demosj is of such a kind that he can be easily considered as one of the greatest pianist that ever lived. I love Horowitz his playing but they are completely different people, so you can't compare them at all...Horowitz never played prokoviev 2nd pc. Volodos did would it be fair to say that Horowitz didn't have the technical abilitie to play that piece? No, he just had no connection, no feeling with it I am not gonna attack him on that fact

[guti61668]

Volodos the best (after horowitz)

[seamonkeyfan90]

He plays with emotion! what a pianist....

[stevemaster247]

3:20 "aah too easy lets get to the 2nd difficult part."

3:34 "whoa here it is!"

3:42 "yeah you should clap!"

VOLODOS YOU RULE!!!! ^^ :D

[lovesGenet]

children comparing unhealthy personality of Horowitz with what i dontknow about Volodos is silly.This man has everything color and mental acuity (witness hisschubertand Schumann) but lets not compare to other pianists.Why children always want to compare .why do i care about uninformed behavior.thats da question?

[ewallt]

Man this piece is hard! It doesn't seem hard when you watch it, but getting the three things going at the same time, the base, melody, and piccolo, is very challenging.

[vladimirhorowitz]

I like both interpretations, but Volodos did an amazing job with this piece. Whoever is talking about how Volodos played it "better" than Horowitz is misguided. Horowitz could duplicate this performance if he was still alive, no problem. Could Volodos do the reverse? I'm not so sure.

[thablackman]

Volodos is wayyyy better than Horowitz!!!

[tpbricknw]

And your a fucking phsyco

[hihellocute]

volodos isnt fit enough to lick the sweat off horowitz's balls

[geertdehoux]

@hihellocute

Why so vulgar ?

What is your 'message', here ??

[michaelrcallahan]

This is astonishing.

[hjiuhfhrehui]

if you'd ask me, i'd say Volodos playd it much better then Horowitz

[tpbricknw]

Nobody has ever played it like Horowitz did.  SLOW THE FUCK DOWN.

[LT8Ctox]

@tpbricknw ; i think they are right . i needed time to admit it but Volodos on another video makes a better job than horowitz especially in the second part .

[vincentws03]

virtuoso

[cody55909]

Ummmm. This is too fast and not enough dynamics.

[gert0174]

Horowitz was excellent. Volodos even better!

[demosj]

I thought Horowitz explicitly explained that the Stars and Stripes Forever was to be played at a marching pace. Wish Volodos hadn't ignored that.

[p6rn6g6thic]

@demosj it is marching pace.

[robertslistening]

Volodos has been claimed as being a modern-day Horowitz, with his flawless technical ability and his renditions of notoriously difficult arrangements of pieces. Another notable transcription written by Volodos was his arrangement of Polka Italienne, a lesser known duet by Sergei Rachmaninov which is a commonly requested encore piece at his recitals. Despite the fact that this piece is a duet, he is more than capable of playing both parts at an extremely rapid pace. (wikipedia) I'm a fan now. WOW

[klieserber]

No, this deserves 50 stars!

[azntanan]

And 13 stripes.

[bsam20uk]

This deserves 10 stars.

[tadpoles4ever]

HAHA I love his face at 3:42.

What an amazing piece, happy veterans day to all americans out there.

[phentex]

at this precise moment he looks like actor Jack Blake :D

[p0rel]

Amazing he is A BEAST!

[ihrtmusic12334]

I love how clear the 'piccolo' part is in the upper register. Just incredible

[arx68]

a great pianist...

[cocolasticot06]

2:10 to2:40 breathtaking

what an incredible technique

[mylocker0001]

I would even think there are four hands playing that part if I just hear the performance.

[tommy9882]

well its the thalberg three hands effect

the audience will always look forward to see what happens

[daeviydt]

Horowitz didn't necessarily bang the bass notes -- that piano he used (on purpose) was an absolute beast/monster, if you even whisper above a key it booms so loud you can hear it 5 miles away...

[nfsmwrox]

How do you mean that? Is it cos it's a steinway? Are they really that good?

[trigalg693]

Nah, that was total exaggeration.

[nfsmwrox]

What i meant was: Why do so many pianists prefer steinways to, say, yamaha or what-have-you? Just clarifying here, thx.

[nathanfornash]

There's a clear difference in the tone. Steinway is capable of such a large range in each piano, and every Model D is it's own, handbuilt, instrument. Yamaha is more sterile (to me), is just a product of a machine, and is very twangy and 'nasal'. Search youtube for "the making of steinway" documentary, you might get a good idea what concert pianists are looking for in their instruments. Not all like Steinways, many play on Yamahas, Baldwins, Bosendorfers, etc.

[nfsmwrox]

Thanks a lot. Cleared up stuff for me.

[trigalg693]

Well that's a really good question. In fact the action on a New York Steinway is inferior to many European pianos. Their workmanship is somewhat inferior to European pianos as well. Steinway does have the largest production volume for high end pianos though, which lead to its more widespread use.

[wsp67326]

that's incredibly difficult! Kudos to Arcadi.

[Maroonmug59]

I can't believe it, he actually made a mistake! (1:29)

[NeoMalikov]

*GASP* :O :O :O NO WAY!!!

[muniz452]

客あおぎ過ぎだろw

どんだけ室内熱いんだ？

[prodesica]

Questo brano suonato da Horowitz ha senso, perché fatto in un particolare periodo storico e da un interprete che è diretto erede della vecchia scuola ottocentesca... Oggi il suonare Stars and Stripes è solo un vuoto sfoggio di virtuosismo emulativo, volgare e pompieristico... Le doti tecniche di Volodos non si discutono, fa spavento!!!

[SimonTrader]

Grazie per l'aggettivo 'pompieristico'. Fa cortocircuitare due o tre aree semantiche e ciò è molto 'lol' divertente.

[ComTh0m]

Bahh =O.... jest varto sobatytz... super!

[brunowalterjp]

wow what an amazing movie3

[crapman999]

my granie is from poland a seent the vid on tv

[jobohabannebes]

Er spielt den gesamten Blasverein inklusive Glockenspiel, Piccolo und Triangel...

[Maroonmug59]

The Stars and Stripes forever... in Poland?

Regardless, a great performance.

[crapman999]

nice... im to from poland :)

[partgreen]

Anyone else hear the flub at :52?

[albert2stein]

What flub? Check your ears!

[DontForgetOldKolobok]

i hear the flub

[1steadman1]

@albert2stein he means the one between 53-54. might wanna clean your ears, Albert.

[Y3k666]

i don't hear it too...but i may be wrong...left or right hand flub? or both?

[DBSwofford]

Yuppers - right hand flub - small but noticeable - not that I could play this piece any better. This goes in my "Don't Even Try" category. :p

[vincentws03]

heh, good point, same goes to his version of Mozart's turkish march and wedding march...

[DBSwofford]

Absolutely. Very few pianists can play these pieces well. I suspect Hamelin could play them quite well if he wanted and I wish he would, but yeah - if Volodos himself gives a look saying, "That was not easy" after his performance, it's a pretty safe bet it's impossible for 99.9% of us! :p

[pammusai]

Except Horowitz himself lol, you should listen to his version. But really nice job guy who played, nice interpretation, infact i like yours more than Horowitz because your not banging the bass notes with your left hand... Thx person who uploaded it too.

[nickthegreat989]

uhm, who gives a shit?

[trianglechokeU]

lol

[maxjamesorgans]

@partgreen It's more like :53 and who cares, he's still the best pianist in the universe

[amadeus829]

@partgreen u r right. there is a flub. But don't act like a kid. He's great!

[BenjyTehJet]

@partgreen I did  ha ha.

[elpianista11]

@partgreen but it was only a note, thats not any problem, all masters make mistakes sometimes

[pinedapopi]

yeah right, like you know it like the back of your own hand.

[animalmother1065]

I have watched many a video with Volodos as the performer, and I must say that he consistently gives flawless performances.

Bravo!

[drjekyll66]

I´m stupe fried with horror when I read the critics.

Horrowitz is the most overpriced pianist in history.

He was never ever able to play with such a brilliant technic like Volodos or other great virtuosis.

I don´t really know where his legend comming from.

David Gray is very right when he wrote: Never compare them !

With musically greetings !

[314503]

hm.. "I don´t really know where his legend comming from."

how about starting from his 1920-1950s recordings. or how about this very piece Mr Volodos is playing which is a transcription by Horowitz?

Volodos is nothing compared to Horowitz when the latter was at the same age. in terms of articulation, precision, cleanliness, speed, firepower, or pretty much just everything.

oh and i don't quite get what you mean by " stupe fried".

[lscully2]

Horowitz is seen as having one of the best piano technique's in the history and to deny that fact when he perfected the Rach 3 leaves us asking questions about your own ability?

[hcube3000]

wow his right hand is like listening to birds

[GHChopin]

best version i've heard so far, i just wish i could learn this song, i have the score, but its too hard

[davidgray2]

I don't like it when people compare Volodos to Horowitz-He's nothing like him. He's Volodos, Horowitz is Horowitz. Nobody's the "new Horowitz" just as nobody's gonna be the "new Volodos". Everyone's their own musician.

[geertdehoux]

@davidgray2

I fully agree with you.

Comparing Gilels with Gould, Haebler with Berman, Kempff with Cziffra... what's the point ?

A cordial greeting,

Geert Dehoux, pianist.

[OrangeSodaKing]

Takes crazy rapid-wrist technique, and it sounds perfectly like a march! Love the "piccolo solo", too.

[hjiuhfhrehui]

volodos is a master :P

i found his interpetation of this pice the best

[Cabexudo51]

1:46 Waht's the name of this song??

[zkool5]

That camera cuts are quite annoying, and totally unnecessary.

[tchebinai71]

pfff 0.28 bloody difficult....

cute pianist :)

[astronomo16]

pure sobriety

[madlutist]

Like, Tonka trucks?

[madlutist]

I may have a lot of things, good and bad, to say about this, but first of all: Stop moving the damned camera around! I want to see his hands!

[watcher613]

oh please you mighty clever guy edit this video for us lousy folks such that cameras aren't moving around! pleease!!!

[madlutist]

Don't I wish...

[celach]

Why is this on Polish TV lol

[jerrytomball]

This was great!

I wonder how Yuja Wang would do performing this. She seems to have a penchant for playing virtuosic arrangements of well-known pieces. Come to think of it, she performed the Volodos arrangement of Mozart's Turkish March.

[musicwrest]

volodos is the closest thing that we have to horowitz.

[byAGM]

musicwrest.... ... how to say... HAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAH

MUSICALY.... no... nothing more to say... YOU DONT HAVE EARS?? PLEASE, LISTEN AND FEEL HOROWITZ.

[eriksf250]

i think the reason why people think it sounds different is becaust there's been alot of two part (two playing) versions out that make it sound a little different

[ZXC5000]

Brilliant performance no doubt, but there is a wrong note at 1:30

[MIKE1238673]

True - I closed my eyes to listen at that point and you're right! Mind you, I'm not going to take issue with it... particularly since it was in one of the 'easier' (a relative term) sections of the piece... hehe

[almitydave]

He makes a lot of other mistakes, too.  This piece is just so hard, even at the top level of professional pianists, it would take a lot of luck to play a perfect live performance. I play this piece now and it's probably the hardest thing I've ever played. I can fully appreciate the tremendous skill of this guy, and I bet he could make a near-perfect recording in a studio.

Also, the "easy" part is not that easy.

[lisztbest]

TO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!YOU ARE THE BEST!

[SweetMusic223]

Brilliant!

[josepharimathea]

Where's the joy in this performance? I've been lucky enough to see both Horowitz and Gibbons play this version in the flesh, and both had far more joie de vivre and sheer fun than this guy, for all his heavy technique. Sorry to say, but sadly I feel he's rather missing the point of this piece!

[r3hubbard]

But keep in mind that he plays it cleaner and faster, so come on and give volodos a few points. You shouldnt even be allowed to critize this guy to be honest, hes a genius

[Obaysch]

Cut the guy some slack - look around the audience, it's probably 85+ degrees f in the room. How much joy would you find in playing this while sweating your ass off?

[steinwaygrande1]

Why was there no air-conditioning in that room or auditorium. It would seem logical for the audience and the pianist to be playing and seated in an air-conditioned venue

[concerto35]

This is a tremendeous performance. Everything is just right. Volodos is phenomenal and unbelieveably secure as always.

[hotty198]

i dont think he rushed this at all. to the other posters who said he did I could hear the music's voice just fine

[Shumeshi]

Well Horowitz said in his interview that he once played it with a band and the band was playing it too fast, then he played it himself and it wasn't slower than Volodos is playin in this video.

[EmperorOfWei]

He plays like Kissin...you know...bangbangbang, and rushing so quickly you can't hear the music...

[diebsound]

I hear a lot of music in Volodos version of this piece... Its just a different of way of playing it: more virtuoso manner as Horowitz shows. And maybe you know that russian virtuosos are well known for a style, which is in your mind just "bangbangbang and rushing". But that does not mean, that there is no music.

[xInsaneXPropanex]

at 1:46 he is supossed to technically start lower. and wtf at 1:54? the notes down don't sound like that.

[kiitoob]

this is too fast!!!

[frehchamp]

i disagree

[samyooljackson]

i disagree too the orchestral version is faster then this and thats the way it should be played

[kiitoob]

the piano arrangement according to horowits

is ment to be a little slower,if you listen to him play it you will know the difference.

it's much better than this.

you should all listen to it...it's the 11th

video on your right...

[46497]

OOOPS!sorry,Not b"L"avo but b"r"avo.haha,my country was disclosed.

Anyway,b"R"avo plus b"r"illiant!

[victorbite]

haha xd

[FrankMazeppa]

love the camera placement.

[46497]

追加。BLAVO!!!

[46497]

まさに超絶技巧。聴き惚れました。楽譜持ってるけど、弾けないん­だろうなぁ私には無理だ。

[blazerr]

I'd swear that the last chorus is a duet for four hands...

[busylifemeto]

Without doubt one of the greatest pianist's that ever lived.

[tadpoles4ever]

isnt volodos still alive??

[busylifemeto]

Yes I meant the greatest living pianiat.  Sorry was very late and had also posted one on Gilese who is definately in the herafter

[tadpoles4ever]

haha alright. i wasnt sure if he had died recently and i just hadnt heard =x

[DonFrankos]

thank jesus he´s alive.. I´ll see him live two times near the ending of this year!!! in the Concert Gebouw in Amsterdam and in Rotterdam I believe.. he will perform the 3rd piano concerto by rachmaninoff there.. he's my favourite pianist by far.

cheers!

[koentje567]

December 1. in Amsterdam, i'll be there too.

[13243546576879808079]

hell yeah.... that is so awsome..

[monkeybizniss6]

amazing...i love fun pieces like this. it might not have as much musical value as something from beethoven or chopin but it's still exciting as hell to listen to!

[evifnoskcaj]

Gosh I love Volodos. He's always in a massive sweat whenever he plays. He's the best interpreter of Horowitz though.

[ChrisWatch]

lol now that you mention it he sure is lol

[pinedapopi]

you all commentes. i agree that he is the most magnificent piano player that ever lived.

[0B0a0c0h0]

Does anyone find it funny that he is playing such a piece as Stars and Stripes Forever in Poland, and with him not being American either?