Added: 5 years ago
From: reguer
Views: 193,232
Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:
see all

All Comments (259)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • Not the best example of Kissin, rather hasty & snatched opening with clunky basses missing the will-o-the-wisp character entirely. Probably tired or jetlagged. He's played this much better elsewhere.

  • @NOSEhow2LIV Im pretty sure its just the camera quality to be honest.

  • Awesome.TY r for posting

  • @ericrouach it's impossible not to get crazy after a while when u play that kind of music and dress like that and all the odd old ladies mumbling on their sits, that's why you end up with an hair cut like that

  • i m quite sure liszt himself didn't play it that well

  • @ericrouach Probably not that fast, but with more imagination for sure.

  • @masamune81 thanks for reacting to my comment- how can you be so sure? first of all, kissin's interpretation is far beyond speed, control and clarity - otherwise how do you explain that millions of pianists can play that as fast as clean and clear but they don't reach our hearts?

    besides, you might be disappointed by hearing liszt himself who would probably agree with me and knee before kissin? i think we people of the 21st century have just discovered liszt's music thanks to kissin unique gift.

  • @ericrouach Liszt was a complete genius, not only a pianist, while Kissin is "only" a genius of the keyboard. I'm quite sure Liszt's playing was something else.

    Of course , that's only my opinion, we'll never know.

  • @masamune81 that's true but i mean that being a complete genius doesn't necessarily make you a better performer, for example, chopin would have liked to be able to play his own etudes as well as liszt - if kissin would have lived 150 years ago, would that make him a truer legend than he is today? one might like kissin or not but i keep thinking we have all reasons to believe he is by far the most unbelievable performer of all times...please help me to find him an equal...

  • @ericrouach I don't agree with "by far the most unbelievable performer of all time". I think Kissin is a great pianist (although I prefer the young Kissin, 15-16 years old), but in my opinion he lacks originality and freedom. I enjoy a lot more pianists like Friedman, Cortot, Horowitz, or Kemal Gekic. After hearing Kissin for ten years, is too predictable to me. My personal view.

  • @masamune81 i can understand your point of view, thanks for the interesting conversation

  • @masamune81 thanks for recalling gekic, just heard his version which is beautiful!

  • @masamune81 You prefer Horowitz over Kissin?? Really? Try listening to the same piece back to back of Horowitz, then Kissin. You will notice a HUGE difference. Unfortunately Horowitz is rather dry in comparison. I'm really surprised you would say that.

  • @shalom968 I've been doing that kind of comparitions for more than 15 years, and my taste goes for Horowitz, but that's me, of course.

  • @ericrouach i'm positive he played it better

  • 18 people can't play this piece in their <3

  • This is absurdly difficult... LOVE IT!

  • its hard to decide whether Cziffra or Kissin is Liszts reincarnation because this is just not human at all..

  • @CziffraTheThird I prefer berezovsky over both :l

  • @CziffraTheThird neither- they are just technicians at the keyboard Liszt was the musician

  • this is abuse....lol......so above the rest

  • If you want to hear the transcendental etudes played really well, Boris Berezovsky is your guy

  • Kissin è uno dei pochi pianisti che hanno il coraggio e le capacità di suonare Liszt (e poi les etudes) in concerto....grandieuse

  • Am I the only one who thinks he resembles Jamie Foxx in The Soloist a little...? Anywho, beautiful interpretation.

  • @Suny807 Given that Kissin has been concertizing in the U.S. since 1990, the question is who resembles whom? ;-)'

  • @philipvanlidth I think you mean 1890

  • @yousaiditzero No, I mean that Evgeny Kissin has been concertizing in the U.S. since 1990. He isn't a centenarian, you know... ;-)'

  • Evgeny Kissin is one of the greatest pianists ever. Russian pianists FTW

  • omg. i think i'm having a heart attack!

  • I am really enjoying this--when I studied it with Adele Marcus, a pupil of Josef Lhevinne, and I had the big hair and looked similar in my youth to Evgeny, Adele said I looked and sounded like Lhevinne when he played it--I think Evgeny does too!! But Adele warned me, that Lhevinne did not play it so fast, and I get older, Allegretto suits my hands just fine. But with Evgeny here, when we're young, we love the ability to do this. Bravo, Evgeny!

  • how can someone play this good!!

  • Pure genius. Not only can he play the piece, but he can make it sound like more than gibberish. Amazing. Often misunderstood, one of the greatest pianists of all time.

  • @GrotrianSeiler I agree, he really is misunderstood by many.

  • by far the best interpretation of this piece. Arrau is a joke in comparison.

  • @gbshalev Arrau a joke? are you measuring speed or what? you understand a shit of interpretation. When Arrau was young he played by far faster than this version, but as he matured this piece he played it a bit slower but now with expression, every phrase can be understood. In this version Kissin is saying "Hey people try to play faster than me", it's like just a only 3 seconds blowjob, Sorry no other example at this very moment. bye

  • @rodstartube Dude chill, everybody likes their own interpretation, you prefer Arrau apparently, he prefers Kissin, and so do I. You can't say Arrau's is better than Kissin's or vice-versa. They're both virtuosi so It all depends on personal taste, like how all have our own favorite foods, color, etc. for example. It's never gonna be the same.

  • look up Feux Follets... will-o'-wisp, corpse candle, jack-o'-lantern, to me this piece always makes me think of leaves blowing in autumn amidst the trees, very odd dark humor, whimsical... so i'd say Liszt achieved a great piece of impressionism.

  • clearly this is the moment when impressionism was actually born... when Liszt composed this etude, if you don't get it then your brain can't comprehend impressionism. If you brain doesn't function on this wavelength then nothing can be done to make you understand the harmonic language.

  • wow, i like some of liszt's works, but this hasn't even a defined chord, huh?

  • Mah....what is of interesting in this ??? I cannot find anything.

  • Liszt just loved to compose ridiculously technical pieces, and this song is a testament to that. Well played!

  • very nice, i like Nojima's version too... it really must have been magic to hear Liszt himself cast these spells over his audience.

  • This is one of the hardest etude in the world (if not the hardest one!)

  • This is hard core gifted. Just effortless genius.

  • OK! MA NON SUONA LE NOTE!-.-"

  • LIszt = The dominance of form over the page's content.

  • Well done.

  • Yes, OMG!!!! Kissin possessed, and perfect.

  • OMG!!!

  • if i close my eyes, i feel like im watching an old casper cartoon or an old cartoon : )

  • @weruletheschool lol yeah reminds me of tom and jerry for some reason

  • ok this is sick

  • i think no others brave to challege Kissin to this song. This song's tempo is so damn fast , really difficult to play well....

  • Foi aqui no Brasil!!! XP

  • Gracias por subir este video, sube más videos de Kissin por favor...esto es en serio, estoy locamente enamorda de él.

    TE AMO KISSIN!!!

  • This is so sick, wow.

  • come to edinburgh!

  • very painful for 3 4 and 5 O.o

  • Uh perhaps that's what he was aiming for? Aren't those names for etudes just preconcieved ideas on what they should played as by other pianists and not the composer? Or perhaps thats just the Chopin etudes...hmm....

  • This kind of piece has to be played effortlessly so that it sounds easy. Kissin sounds like he's struggling half the time and one definitely gets a sense of how difficult this etude is. Will o' the wisps this is not - more like a raging forest fire!

  • I agree. Not one of Kissin's finest performances. The thing is, he has it in him to be far more expressive.

  • wow i feel stupid... i always thought feux follets was #7.

  • Laser beam fingers, bravo!!!

  • Kissin's interpretations are always of exceptional quality, whether or not the public likes them artistically. This particular performance seems to suggest that he wanted to convey a particular virtuosic idea, but it's still musically valid! The depth of musicality is lacking, not it's presence.

  • This is absolutely a one of a kind performance. I'm quite sure even Hamelin couldn't pull this off.

  • heresy...claire huang ci did better...and she's no hamelin. i like evgeny, but i wouldn't, or rather realistically, CANNOT compare him with hamelin.

  • amazing

  • I think I can manage the last arpeggio!!!

  • nice ;)

  • that's true. i just had problem with someone up there saying that difficulty was his only interest. "etude" itself means something like practice piece for fingers. so, yes; it is most accurate to say that providing difficulty was their primary purpose.

  • Liszt was a punk, I mean, why would anyone write that kind of music except to dare pianists to play them? :P

  • Liszt music is amazing. You have to realise that this is an étude, but Liszt's style is different from Chopin's, so maybe it doesn't sound as much as a étude de concert by Chopin.

    You should look at pieces like his Hungarian Rhapsodies ( #6 and #2, for example ) or his Sonata in B-minor. These pieces do not only sound brilliant, but they are by no means easy to play for most pianists.

  • Do you know the history of the suite of etudes? Why he wrote them? He did write them specifically for that purpose, and even devised fiendish, unnatural fingerings for the same purpose.

    But of course, on YouTube, everyone's oh-so-serious and knee-jerk negative reps when someone makes a tongue-in-cheek statement.

  • lacking proper seriousness is not something you want to brag about

  • Fail? Serious face--> :(

    Composers have a sense of humor, too.

  • But that tradition drastically changed its direction right after Chopin, and Liszt and Chopin were best friends. Do you know when this piece was written? unless it was far before Chopin started composing his etudes as gifts to his friends, Liszt, certainly, would have had other intentions than just the difficluty of the piece.

  • interestingly enough, ravel went into writing gaspard de la nuit with the intentions of writing something 'harder than islamey'

  • yes, i have noticed how several composers did intend to write "the most difficult" pieces; however, i am certain that they did not only mean to compose a difficult piece. it may have been one of their goals, but without their love and passion toward music, would that have been possible for anyone to write such pieces? i don't agree. my point was that difficulty was not the only purpose of those etudes of liszt.

  • of course not, when talking about such works by ravel. i guess you could say difficulty wasn't the only purpose, but i would think by their denotation as 'etude' (they're certainly musical enough to call them something else) i would guess that was liszt's main intent. pure guessing

  • "Lacking proper seriousness is not something you want to brag about."

    You sir, are a dribbling buffoon. One might summon the forbearance to overlook your muddled prose and tenuous grasp of the English language, had you anything of substance to say.

    One might even forgive your vacuous and invidious lack of the mildest musical acumen, were you not apparently blind as well as tone deaf.

    What one cannot possibly excuse is your conspicuous unawareness that Kissin has funny hair.

  • well, i was guessing that it is because english is a foreign language to me. and i disagree with chopin having a funny hairstyle.

  • I tell you the man had funny hair, and I have the equations to prove it.

  • Ah. You contrast List and Chopin.

    It happens I've seen a portrait of Chopin, painted by Delecroix, who it must be admitted was nothing like the virtuoso Ingres was; moreover the painting is unfinished.

    Nonetheless the verdict is disconcertingly unequivocal: funny hair.

  • there are PHOTOS of Chopin...

  • Yeah, I'd forgotten. Unless I'm mistaken, there is in fact only one extant photo of Chopin (to which the oil sketch by Delacroix beards almost no resemblance) that shows him striking a quasi-Napoleonic pose, looking both dandified and morose.

    Lest anyone think I am disparaging Delacroix, I should mention on an aside that I consider him a far greater artist than Ingres, despite his comparatively clumsy draftsmanship.

  • Well, either ways, his hair looks fine to me.

  • You got that I was just fooling, around right?

    I really don't give a damn what Chopin's hair looked like.

  • Don't insult my intelligence, sir. I mean you no harm.

  • I may be wrong, but I've seen another photo of Chopin. It's not as clear as the one you describe, but you can just see his face. Its a picture because he looks exactly the same as the picture you describe. I forget on what book I saw it, but ill look for it again and tell you so you can look for it. I'm very sure it was a picture. Thanks

  • There is one known photo of Chopin, attributed to Louis Bisson, circa 1849.

  • How does one respond to this?

    Are you expecting me to truculently retort, "make me!"

  • I've yet to form a settled opinion of lLiszt myself. I one say portrait of him drawn by Ingres, who was famed for the accuracy of his likenesses, and in it I suppose Liszt's hair looks more or less acceptable...

  • i, instead, thought kissin kept his hairstyle for the recognition. it's quite noticable even for the people who are completely indifferent and uninterested in pianists.

  • Indifferent? Uninterested? I invite you to peruse my favorites, and see if you can repeat this invidious slur with any conviction or sincerity.

    Sir, I challenge you to a duel!

    Please know that I will have satisfaction whatevr the cost.

    Now then; will it be pistols or sabers?

  • why are you trying to look young and childish? you have gone too far beyond where you should be. in fact, you're not even arguing against me. grow up. i see you are at least 10 years older than me. this is getting stupid.

  • Forgive me; I've been pulling your leg the whole time. Once in a while, I like to pretend to be a moron, just to see what sort of reaction this will provoke.

  • i am mostly serious on the internet: especially american ones. i've seen many people reveal their inner self too much in a foolish way. well, now i do not know how i should react to your response. just enjoy your life. have fun with it. there is no reason for me to scorn you anyways . . .

  • This is not ordinarily my own mode either; Im usually quite serious and do thius only once in a while. 

    Cheers.

  • {This is not a comment}

    Why do we post so many comments on whether we agree or not this musical piece is beautiful?

    Are our point of views really relevant to the purpose of the listening?

    How are they going to affect us in any way?

    Why do we crave green thumb-ups or red thumb-downs?

    Validation by others wont change my perspective of the musical piece I'm listening.

    Even if many would agree with that statement, still few are ontollogically consistent with it.

    {This is a paradox}

  • Simply amazing. =)

  • Always at the top KISSIN!!!!! Definitely my favourite in the 20th Century (with a very few others)

  • vladimir ovchinikov is better

  • its just a frightening piece for any pianist to play... amazing technique... not sure about the hair though

  • he's sure about the hair though.

    hahaa...

  • haha, i laughed

    Yeah, I was suspicious of the hair when I first saw a video of him, I thought it was mostly for show. Well, he does like to entertain, but he's also a "serious" musician.

  • Quand on aime on est porté à pardonner tous les manques,n'est-ce pas!

    Ce gamin génial qui pouvait tout faire s'est noyé dans la virtuosité creuse.

  • This man is a god, definitely !

  • Another incredible performance by Kissin.

  • Liszt is my favorite classical composer with Prokofiev, and he plays them both really good !

  • thats just kissin, and his hair, wow.

  • get a hearing aid please.

  • Please take an IQ test, I think your must be a genious

  • get a life oorvakan

  • hahahaha!!!! XD

  • Incredible virtuosity!

  • papasito......

  • I believe he recorded this on the CD with Schumann's Op. 17 Fantasy, a couple other Liszt etudes (including chasse niege) and possibly another piece or two. Incredible disc, especially the Schumann.

  • ok first lets astablish what ALL of the performors HAVE to do. ok first, they have to find a song, second, they have to learn it well, third, which is the one we all forget about, the have to MEMORIZE IT! its one thing to play it but to MEMORIZE IT thats another. Remeber to to take that into account when you critic someone because have you ever had to memorize something then play it for a BUNCH of people? No? didn't think so. his technique is outstanding i dont know how he doesit but he does it!

  • "second, they have to learn it well, third, which is the one we all forget about, the have to MEMORIZE IT!"

    Wow, I personally can only shake my head in disbelief at this comment.

    I personally am an "advanced amateur" at the very best, my technique is yet very deficient and my nervous state in performance condition pretty much sucks right now.

    Yet, I have NO PROBLEM AT ALL to memorize a piece. Learning and memorizing goes hand in hand to me - I listen to it enough, I play it enough...

  • ... and at some point (not that far away), I've memorized it with 100% certainty.

    Long after I know a piece through and through, I can still have problems with technique, phrasing and let alone all of this under performance conditions.

    It's funny that you're basically implying someone is beyond critique for memorizing a piece (which comes way before MASTERING it). Look around - every professional pianist you see out there plays from memory and with technical mastery.

  • I myself have performed a lot as a kid, and have played EVERYTHING from memory, except for the few ensemble pieces I played.

    It's not that impressive.

  • I memorise all my peices for when I play them in a concert. It's not such a big deal.

  • Even you can memorize the pieces? Wow! Then it's surely not a big feat! :)))

  • When you play it over and over and over...ect. again you start to memorise parts, then you memorise other parts and eventualy you remember it all. You play without telling yourself the notes to play. You've kinda memorised the positions. It's hard to explain, kinda like breathing, you don't tell yourself to do it. I do sometimes have the music there just for safety, and some dynamics I may forget about.

  • You summerized the process quite well.

    But the point is, that this is something not just hard to explain (as you said), but it doesnt need any explaining at all, because it's so obvious and inevitable.

  • All this ytpiano7 comments are starting me to want to be a serial killer.

  • Exactly!! I was listening and adoring how the guy is playing, ended up reading comments messes up my head. The last comment made me a good laugh, breath through. Real serious guys up there.Pedro, you have a sense of humor. That's the essence of art~ :)

  • Thank you, Zindy =)

    (pedroprokofiev = pedrobesteiras)

  • It's funny, where ever I watch a piano-video here, if it is gould, kissin, doesn't matter, there is a comment of "smithsherman" copy and pasting his "A winner for my Horrible Performances Hall of Fame list."

    Hey, if you don't like classical music, turn to pop(-;

  • I adore Classical music..that's my profession...BUT I hate it cut-rate!

  • sorry, my english is not the best: what means "cut-rate"!?

  • Kissin is like the best piano player EVER! Well maybe not ever but you get my point: He's really good. I love his hair too.

  • Lol Haeronthegreat you're funny dude, lol, what the hell are you talking about man? XD

  • Oh my gosh, if you watch that movie carefully you can see that he is growing a third arm somewhere the first few seconds and the end. ;)

  • fro of distruction

  • It's always satisfying to hear him play.

    I want to enjoy music, not "study" it or have it be the reason for some scholastic discussion because it's "different"

  • ytpiano7... enough with the long-winded comments. are you very lonely?

  • Lack of control? You're the one sounding like a retard. This guy is considered one of the best pianists of our time. And the "circus style" you refer to pertains to virtuousic flamboyance, not to caliope. Chopin's music was not written with flashiness in mind. That was Liszt... yes, the same guy that wrote this piece.

  • I am sounded as a retard, but your are a retard. There is the point.

    You know: Nothing

    ytpiano7

  • Liszt was a circus performer. You want music for the sake of beauty... listen to Chopin. I'm not saying Liszt was incapable of it, but it was till after Chopin's death that Liszt learned to value subtlety. If Kissin is a circus performer in your eyes... so was the composer.

  • Your analogy is that of a kindergarten little kid.

    He can play a Chopin music in a circus fashion style , so , what is have to do with the music? or i have to assume chopin music is for circus? come on..... Kissin looks like a jerk when he is playing. It´s have it own name: Lack of control.

    ytpiano7

  • Liszt was a great composer. Of course you can't notice it with versions like this one, but you listen to Arrau and you will see what richness lies behind the, apparently, empty notes that, in this case, come out as a combination of Mickey Mouse music and speed contest to match Liberace's Guiness record of number of notes pro second. Liszt wasn't that. He was a magnificent musician and Arrau shows it.

  • Uhmmm. i hopr you already read my previous posting. Concerning Liszt a think he was "Genial" and in some aspect a genious, but in other asptects not. Most of his music is just "Fireworks", I like a lot but a lot very few music of him. First place is the B minor Sonata...on the oposite side is the cheap and vulgar "Dante Sonata" (to continue..

  • cotninung....an alos most of his "Serious music" was the most circus music, and as a paradox, the trascendental etudes (supposed to be just a mechanical pieces)is one of most finest and beautiful works written by him. The Polonaises, Ballades are just a disgrace (for me). The poaetiques Capprices (specialy "La Leggierezza" is plenty of superior beauty. The piano concerti.. i play the 1st and the 2nd (to continue)

  • i enjoyed them, but i take them as a divertemnet pieces with the exceptio of the slow movement of the 1st concerto, and in general terms the 2nd one is by the musical point of view: superior. The other pieces for piano and orchestra are a disgrace...of course plenty of some isolated beatiful excerpts and vortousity, but no more. well i could continue with that, but i think you already understnad my point of view.(to continue...

  • Concerning Arrau recording of the T.E. i think in his version he "Re-edited" them. Is like a new air intake after so many mega -virtouso versions but most of them empty. In that side i agrre completely with you. And her is an example of an exception. M. Pollini version of some T.E. is terrible, like the No10 (F minor). Despite Pollini for me is one of the real greatests living pianists, he plays it so ugly,

  • continunig...of course at an speed i never listen nobody playing before. Not even argerich, not even Czsifra and company. But he makes of course REAL crystal clear sound like always he does own to his REAL perfect technique, but the musical result: UGLY. It menas nobody is the king in everything. Arrau version is one if not (for me) the best version of them.

  • From the last versions i listened of this etude, that whio really impressed me more than a lot, is that of Claire Huangci, which is just brutally amazing, fron the tecnical and musical point of view. She is the really first oriental pianist who make change the opinion y had about them. She is by far superior to Kissin.

    ytpiano7

  • I happen to like th "cheap and vulgar" Dante sonata. It is a first rate piece of program music and full of great expression. If anything, I believe it is a more sincere work than the b minor, but that is just my opinion.

  • Kissin's playing is ALWAYS crystal clear - he simply can't play otherwise. He's cursed with brilliant technique and flawless playing. He's to piano what Joan Sutherland is to opera - technical prefection.

  • his technique is brilliant. However, this is one of the most unflavored interpretations of this piece.

  • His techinique is very bad, despite his weird movements..because his sound is completely unclear. As i wrote in other comentary he was great until he was 13 or 14 years. not any more, and with that UNCLEAR technique he never will be the same. he should take technique lessons with Argerich, Pollini, and watch michellangeli and Horowitz videos, and learn concepts about "Clear sound emission"

    ytpiano7

  • you need your ears checked buddy. kissin's technique and sound are dead accurate and crystal clear. you do realize he's one of the most wanted pianists these days...

  • You are totally wrong. Use some drops for your ears, and the listen to it again.

    At the beggining in the little chromatic excerpts you will realize he contracted his fingers and the sound is completely glued. Is jut an objetive fact of listening accurately

  • His technique is not brilliant since all his sound is "glued" he cannot plays notes clear.

    ytpiano7

  • Here are a few facts to know:

    1. Kissin plays this the best - 50 million times better than Arrau whose technique is subpar

    2. Kissin has one of the best techniques ever

    3. One of the hardest pieces ever written

  • Arrau's technique is subpar? I won't answer to such an obscenity with another one, although you would deserve it.

    No, friend, Arrau's technique was superb and he used it to make music, not to satisfy those primitive, superficial ignorants that favor circus over music making. Fortunately, not many of them are so stupid to post comments about it.

  • Completely true. Despite Arrau´s technique was not the best, and it is proved by the fact in his last years his playing get worst, But..despite it, his technique was always to serve music. Not one of his acts were to satisfy primitive taste of virtuosity in itself. For me Arrau was by far superior to Kissin

    ytpiano7

  • ytpiano7, I hate to argue with someone who agrees with me, but have a look at Liszt's Trascendental Etudes by Arrau and then try to explain to me what do you mean by "his technique was not the best".

    Besides, his playing got worse (I presume that's what you meant)? You mean at 85?

  • You didn´t understand my point. The trascendental Liszt estudes by Arrau is on of the best versions i listened in my life. He give nobility to that music which is supposed "Only technical". But his version in terms of mechanic visrtousity is far than others...as an example Gyorgi Cziffra, Gyorgi Sandor. Marthja Argerich (not the complete because as far as i know she dind´t recording all of them.) etc.(to continue)

  • continuning...Continuing with the technical side: Despite not too much virtousity, his sound emission is REAL cristal clear, an not like the glued Kissin´s sonorities. And the balance and prhasing is superb (to continue. But it doesnñt mean a great technique neccearily. Arrau was a born gifted virtuoso. But his technical aproach was not irrational, but also was not to rational too. to continue

  • continuing...Arrau whit some of his musical conceptions + a Rubinstein technique, could play fantastic up to the last year of his life, as Rubisntein did. When you abuse of your muscles and your anatomy playing in a no rational way, later you get the receipt or the bill in your later years. continue..

  • continunig..In the case of Kissin is a pitty to watch a person with so big talent playing in that disastrous way. He is terrible stiff, and recently specially in consecutive sounds, he can´t play it clear. And his musicianship begins to be limited to his technical limitation. It has nothing to do with his "technical capcacity or potencial". Is unbeleivable how he can play with that technique.

    ytpiano7

  • I'm afraid you are a little misinformed. Claudio Arrau spent decades developing and teaching his technique based on the philosophy of relaxation and weight, that helped him keep playing the most difficult peaces even in his very advanced years. The fact that his play became slower has nothing to do with technical problems but with his concept about music. And, sorry, the comparison with Rubinstein in his later years is not well taken. I leave it here because I respect Rubinstein too much.

  • He was studying realxation BUT in a wrong way. If you are an accurate being, just observe how he uses his thumb. Just that. Later i can talk to you many other tips to demosnstrate to you how irrational was his technique. BUT also some of his aproaches to it were OK too, THAT's is what save him. I don't care about what you think about Rubinstein. As a "Pianistic animal" Rubinstein was by far superior. Abuot musicianship, it depends on your own taste.

    ytpiano7

  • I wonder if you have the slightest idea how wrong you are. That with the thumb is the final proof that you truly have no way to understand Arrau's technique. You probably play the piano and try to compare Arrau's thumb with yours, or your teachers, but it doesn't work that way. I don't think that too many more explanations can get us any further. Nice talking to you.

  • Except for the "not too much virtuosity" part (do you know how fricken difficult is to play these etudes like Arrau does, instead of spitting it out at hundred miles per hour, without any musical value or concept other than finger speed, which Arrau had more than any other anyway?), for the rest I agree with you.

  • Uhmmm, i forgot to commnet on your conmment: "other than finger speed, which Arrau had more than any other anyway ". Here you make an absolutedly great mistake. Arrau when was young, as i told you had a very fast fingers, but no more than real big virtuosos who were just unbelivable. Did you listen Joseph Levine Chopin double thirds etude? Did you listen old recording of the Appsionatta played by Rubisntein (year 1,937), etc. ? and i have more samples. continue

  • conitnuing... That kind of finger speed, is just unreachable by most human beings, It surpassed techinque also. Is like a kind of "Overdrive" coneccted to the brain of those monsters. Arrau had not that kind of overdrive. I listen tons of Arrau´s recordings, and many live performances. continue..

  • continuing...And i had been in contact with many people related to him (trhee of them were their pupils) and also in the country where i am from, he spent almost two years of big deppresion (very few people knows it) around his fifty years old, and he canceled most of his engagements at that time, and he considered once, to quit from his career. continue