Steven Spooner plays Schubert/Liszt Erlking

[kanfyetka]

it's amaaazing!!!

[Lawliet3843]

It was a fantastic performance accuracy wise and overall playing. BUT he didn't have much emotion as one should have while playing this piece. But like I said, really good playing :)

[MusicPredominates]

... Mister Spooner ... this is terrific stuff ... thankyou ... ! ... yes ... you have legitimised the grand pianforte ... in a way you have become a teacher of mine ... you play the singing line very well ... !

[DJponkthispartay]

omg its such a pain on your right hand to play this honestly .... this piece requires intense endurance

[MrBassSinger]

He was one of the teachers at the Missouri Fine Arts Academy!! Him and his wife, too bad they are thinking of cutting the academy from the budget.

[glance777]

oh mann ich habe so etwas geniales noch nie auf dem Klaviere gehöhrt, I never hear some genial piece anywherer

[ShlomoBarOn]

Wonderful!!!!!! amazing!

[HerrHansCastorp1]

Too slow...Is he practising?

[twistoph]

@HerrHansCastorp1

Have you tried playing it yourself? It's got to be one of the most taxing pieces for a pianist (even the original accompaniment, never mind the Liszt transcription). Think of the repetition of all thos fast notes.

[OrangeSodaKing]

@HerrHansCastorp1 I think so. There's nobody in the audience. Probably just doing a relaxed runthrough to get used to the piano for a later performance where he'll unleash all the fury! I've seen him live, and he's very capable of it. ;)

[TheBilly0101]

People should be watching him!!! Where are you peoples?!?!

[paytoplaynj]

BRAVO!!!!! DAMN!!!!

[mistressmozart]

bravo! i have tried to learn this piece...it's so difficult

[onecrazdorito]

isnt this solely by schubert?

[OrangeSodaKing]

I take it that the solo piano version is very difficult. I've also met him. =) He's a really cool guy.

He can play Alkan's "Le Chemin de Fer!"

[goobleglob]

Come on, dude. He did it so us pianists who can't sing for shit and who can't hire a singer whenever it takes our fancy can play this whenever we want. No, Liszt isn't saying "here's how I would've done it." He's saying "here, now we can sing (play) this gorgeous music too." This isn't the only Schubert song he transcribed, I think he did almost all of them.

[goobleglob]

Yes, it's better as Schubert wrote it, but I do think Liszt's transcription has its merits and is a good compromise. I hope we can agree on this? :)

[goobleglob]

Well, likewise I'll disagree with you and respect your opinion. I actually love Liszt, playing his music is exciting and comfortable for me (since he was a pianist's pianist, so to speak, his music fits my hand nicely). I love his ouvre. (And yes I'll admit some of it it is a bit superficial...)

I think his motivation was to bring Schubert's music home to more people, and the same goes for the Beethoven symphonies.

But to each his own, the world is better when populated by individuals :)

[EpicF4ilure]

pretty intense

[rhapsodyinblue18]

Tempo slows down (e.g. compare 0:44 with 0:00). Other than that, well played.

[rosesrebecca]

Amazing! *-*

[tnifty]

Bravo!

[Pian0playa22]

ok yeah my last comment was retarded, but i played this piece for a competition, the judge said i had marvelous talent but i should have picked a song the was writen for the piano, sure this song was written to be sang, but honestly the way u play it, it should have been written for the piano, and i wanna show that judge this video cause this was amazing, i ended up getting a second place on the solo because of her opinion of my song choice, good job

[tnifty]

man, that sucks.

[Pian0playa22]

ok it is very cool and fast, but the arragangement im playing is in triplelets to really emphasize the horse, which really adds to the story, here i dont get the feeling, and in the middle its supposed to be dolce, i dont feel that here, but, really really nice job

[EpicF4ilure]

yeah, its not like the horse was running for the whole song.

[Sora572]

I like the opening piano playing, but I hate the story of the song. A kid dying while riding in the woods with his dad kinda sucks.

[phantasma616]

most lieder end with someone dying or going insane. :D

[djjosor]

love this composition :D

[Raylj318]

there needs to be a guitar cover that would be tght

[wolfisloose]

i thought the same thing. im probably gonna transcribe it for 2 guitars.

[japanawon]

yo--josh ritter with hilary hahn

[JupiterIV]

Liszt, as well as Berlioz, also orchestrated the original piano accompaniment.

[MrWasab1]

nicee

[pianonerd]

If you like this, go see the real one (another youtube clip) where he plays it at tempo...this is a rehearsal but still very good.

[geoslav]

this is his slow practice...

[cookiemonstercrazy]

amazing. my Advanced Ladies choir is singing this piece in German at our next concert; i loved the enthusiasm and feeling put into the piano. verrryy well done.

[IMGTheBomber]

How do you want to play it much faster? A Lang-Lang can do that... it is so difficult...i once tried it but soon failed i must admitt.

[Grigor99]

The real technique for keeping the RH going is to use the 4th and 5th fingers alternately for the repeated octaves and just "flap" the hand back and forth. Cziffra uses this technique.

[olivierochanine]

I agree. The whole performance is very far from being a chase in the forest. Check out Slavchev's.

[Xahmbi]

looks like this shit'll give you CT in your right wrist

[camdaddy09]

too bad the kid dies at the end. such a wonderful piece.

[SyLviialuvsNiCkj]

omgosh that is the most awesome song ever!! my piano teacher taught me how to play that today and i thought i was going to die with the speed and the chords but i thought i did well. but now after seeing this guy i just feel like i did horrable haha.

[xxGarraSandofWindxx]

My hand was sore after two minutes at the Erlking's major mode of cajoling. It's not bad, but he's beat's a little off here and there for the right hand. But bravo anyways

[Klaus126]

Man, it's hard to believe human hands can play this Schubert masterpiece...

[IMGTheBomber]

it is not hard to believe they can do so, it is hard to believe how a human being can write such an incredibly difficult piece... a real masterpiece

[COCONUTB00BS]

why does it say liszt, its by schubert?

[wolfesw]

The original piece was by Schubert for choir. Liszt did the piano arrangement.

[londonparisny]

this one of liszt is not easy but you are brilliant :) amazing!!!

[kevint412007]

you're amazingly excellent!

[effelunga]

Bravo!

[3NUNS]

das schubertismus thus

[3NUNS]

das noisie at first but then BEAUTIFUL

[lsmithbauer88]

Very well done!

(The energy and feeling sometimes derives from the crowd and the energy from there enthusiasm. I'm no expert, nor can I play piano, but throughout performances on stage, I can say that energy does come directly from your audience.

[mib1996]

i do think he could put a little more feeling and mystery in it, though he's really good. and it's a really beautiful piece!

[DAISUKITYOUUN]

This is very good.

[wujujufu]

I think the recurring bass-motive in octaves is smudged by bad pedalling and a weak tonal control...where is the 'mystery'?it should rather be a menacing whisper-(yatata-tatata-tam-tam­-tam...)

I like the resonant melody line, he brings out pathos...but I find the whole performance in general too loud and messy...it needs a more refined approach...

[3NUNS]

das ist guht point

[shusarik]

This is a very good rendering--obviously not as good as the live concert performance by Lazaar Berman--but still really good. Thanks, much.

[mltube]

It is probably encore, because the public has already left :-). Just kidding, I rather liked it, even if it is a little slow.

[Heroman310]

The song isnt technical hard. But to play always the staccato on the right and left hand ist very hard! I played this song not in this tempo.. little bit slower, but it was hard enough :)

[comosicusguitar]

aaaaaaaa

.......

dont know what to say

first time i listen this song

i'm.....i think

wow...wow...

[cchengviolinist]

wat the hell r u doing man..wow ruined the whole piece

[jdw8705]

Such an emotional piece, look up the lyrics, this is my favorite piece of Schubert's

[poisonalien]

no line at left hand, no idea of legato

what he could do is just "HIT" the keys.

it's the wrong way to play forte...

[Pumatz]

did you ever try to play erlkönig on the piano???? your a fool man

[kaltst]

Terrific! Great control!

[Rednecksnapples]

Pure virtousity

[eragonrules1234]

I can only play the first page of this song.

[pinkfloydfaneclipse]

Wow, I heard Steven Spooner play live at a Music camp I was at. He really is fantastic. He wrote a song called Etude-Toccatta that is the hardest piece I have ever heard played.

[xxrasputinaxx]

amazing.

[Eltima]

Good, good! I'm really impressed... however...

You can't sing Erlkönig while listening to this version. It's too slow.

[geoslav]

can you sing to my tempo? Or is it too fast?

[Eltima]

Yas I can. A bit faster than usually, but I can ^__^

[pianonerd]

It's a bit slower, yes, but also extremely refined, polished, and shaped. It's easier to bang through it and not shape anything--this is professional playing

[geoslav]

Schubert was only 18 when he composed it.

[1hmm2]

To be exact... 17 lol =P

[creamofcardstv]

Your video clip is great and I've rated it as awesome. Please check out mine on an old trading card set of classical music composers: Schubert, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and many more included.

[picapin]

I love your performance!!

[PEACendwarWORLDpeace]

very tough piece. gr8 job/thank you!

[urdaaj4]

Personally I love the forte...makes it a very powerful lieder

[TheAngelOfMusic1]

I love the Erl King. It takes loads of talent to play a piece that well. This is truly deserving of the Angel's approval.

APPROVED BY THE ANGEL OF MUSIC

[lordlactose]

I neevr heard this song before but i just taught my self the first two first pages i am goanna learn the whole thing

[geoslav]

By the time you get to the last two last pages, you might get tired! You'd better skip the middle two pages! This is great!

[bigefe777]

very nice! i've gotta learn this one! ty for the video!

[lordlactose]

5 stars man you play it like a rock star!

[SpontaneousDude]

You are amazing!

[lordlactose]

wow 5 stars u play like a rock star!

[lordlactose]

5 stars dude u play likea rock star!

[pianojoe123]

i love this piece! you play it well!

[camilocuesta]

Great technique. But all the time so forte! There is needed a piano to make contrast

[tommyk77]

i love this track! so dramatic! schubert; a true genius and all this work in just 31 years of his life!

[NubianKingofHearts]

Pretty good dude, I love Erlkönig and Die Forelle, they both have similar musical themes at least to me they do! Pretty good playing! I've sang Die Forelle, but yet to sing Erlkönig gotta get a little older!

[wikketheking]

Schubert: Erlkönig

[sonicv3]

Cool, I really heard the different personas from the song come through in your playing.

[Beckers99]

I love this poem/song! it's awesome, and you pulled it off well.. great job!

[Burnsomatic]

Very good, Mr. Spooner! All them fuckin octaves boy!You must preparing for the

Potato Piano Competition.