I don't like Barenboim, but I love his description of Cortot searching for the "opium" in the music. I also found very interesting Cortot's technique: flat, taut fingers, with wrists occasionally digging inward/downward. Much like Horowitz.
Fundamental attribution error lives on! His technic is superb, better than my own as I have not even attempted most of the works he has on recording. And infact despite wrong notes his recordings are generally sublime and definately unique interpretations. I wonder if he did those recordings in 1 take, as though to give it the "live" element.
Génie musical, mais homme de petite stature : il arbore la francisque du gouvernement de Vichy. Ces images font partie d'un long documentaire réalisé sur le pianiste pendant la guerre et dont on ne voit jamais le reste.
I do so agree with the comments on technique below. This genius Cortot had a musicianship so transcendental that anything physical would be challenged- the technique itself is superb. The remarks in the video by the wonderful musicians Gyorgy Sandor, Barenboim, Anderszewski are to be applauded. Add to that list just about any serious pianist alive today. The only thing that disturbs me about Cortot is his involvement with the Vichy regime.
I've been working to curve my pinkies. I am so amazed and relieved that Cortot also straighten his pinkies too... I'm not the only one, and I don't have to worry about it anymore. Horay...
whats this bullshit about "technically unreliable". Cortot's technique is right up there with any of the top technique's or our day: volodos, prats, and others. Just because you hit a wrong note doesnt mean there is a technical "flaw". People fail to realize this. Flawed technique is hitting wrong notes because you are incapable of hitting the right ones, due to any number of causes: bad posture, untrained hands, tension. Cortot had none of these things, and had a phenomenal technique.
Surely that's just what 'technically unreliable' means, they might well be capable of hitting the right notes but quite often, for whatever reason, they don't!
You haven't heard one of his trainwrecks yet. He had them semi-frequently but nobody really cares because his playing is phenomenal. It's all there mind, body and spirit.
I think that's sort of true - Cortot was a lot less gifted technically than many other pianists, but as a consequence worked much harder to try and understand (and overcome) his technical deficiencies. He identified 5 fundamental difficulties in playing the piano, and came up with ways to overcome the problems. This technique (the 'Cortot Technique') is the basis of a lot of French piano teaching...
@nickthegreat998 Exactly. Few pianists in history can claim a more comprehensive technique, put at the service of art, than Cortot. Technique is one of the most abused and misunderstood concepts of all, as it embraces a great deal more than physical dexterity. It concerns rhythm, balance, articulation, affect, and much more.
@nickthegreat998 Thank you, Nick, for stating the truth: Cortot had tons of technique. Cortot also had a noble tone, and among the boldly original interpretations of Chopin every recorded. And I really don't care very much about occasional inaccurate notes when listening to great artists.
that's damn true. and this video proves it! he enters the keys like butter and the sound that comes out is amazing. you can learn so much just by watching him.
Since the sound is a semitone sharper than on today's piano, that means that today's A is a semitone LOWER than it was in this recording, i.e. today's A would sound like a B flat on his piano. I wonder if the sound track and video are running a bit too fast? Because from what I've read, pitches have been steadily rising over time, and this discrepancy here would indicate the opposite.
You mentioned TEACHER...without Cortot would we have had Lipatti or Haskil? If there was a greater interpreter of Chopin, I have yet to discover him (or her). His Chopin was the REAL Chopin (though I couldn't do without his student Lipatti's Chopin, or that of Novaes, Friedman, or Hofmann--all of them ARISTOCRATS of the keyboard).
Thanks for your concern. The other half of the video was cut into another part. Unluckily, the quality is what we can have from the DVD which a lot of people have now. Looking back, this video was put more than 2 years ago and there were virtually no other Cortot music files. Now things have changed, people still can appreciate old masters.
Barenboim is such an over produced fart. Cortot was the opposite of Barenboim. He didn't edit his recordings! All new pianist can learn from Cortot. It is about the truth of the music.
Sorry, but i don't know which Chopin Etude is played in the second part of the video. It should be the same as the one performed by Horowitz in the silent movie.
Uno dei brani più toccanti, commoventi e romantici dell'intero panorama classico di ogni tempo. Interpretato da un folle pazzoide geniale Alfred Cortot.
May be his fingers were nor at the top.. But what kind of interpretation he made !!!! Music at the maximum level .... I love Cortot ..... I don care so much for the mistakes nor other all defaults .... But what heart and brain he had !!!!!
Chopin preferred Pleyel for its delicacy of sound to the rival Erard:too solid, too "insistent". Pleyel,when sold was never made in Czechia but in Braunschweig,Germany, in the factory of......Schimmel! What irony. Pleyel has since returned to France and is currently attempting to retrieve its identity while modernising its style,tache difficile!On "technik":Horowitz asked Cortot for lessons precisely on the thirds in S-Saens'Etude en forme de valse!(Alf refused)
Cortot didn't refuse, but the young Horowitz was too much "on his own way".By the way, Horowitz was always on his own way, sometimes it worked well, other times it doesn't.
I think wht people poked fun of his technique was that it was just not always secure because of his psche. he actually had one of the greatest techniques.
Actually I agree, I think Cortot had a pretty good technique, regardless of the slips he makes which aren't important to me. But, it's his interpretations (ESPECIALLY in Chopin) that I have a problem with! Sorry - just my opinion!
What a genius. Like he said in another video posted here, "you have to dream the piece, not to play it". If in order to do so he had to re-create Chopin, then I prefer Cortot-Chopin to "Chopin ad litteram".
Opinions of Cortot vary greatly. Rubinstein, according to Daniel Barenboim, always spoke quite negatively about Cortot, and Rachmaninoff often poked fun at Cortot's technique, or lack of it. If you want to read about Cortot by one of his students, read Ruth Slenczynska's Forbidden Childhood, which contains a wealth of anecdotes about Cortot and Rachmaninoff, both of whom she was studying with at the same time, and neither of whom realized that the other was teaching her.
I should point out that the book Forbidden Childhood by Ruth Slenczynska is out of print and can be extremely hard to find, but if you can get hold of it from a library, you will be fascinated by the stories she tells about some of the greatest pianists in history.
This dreadful, over sentimentalized and insincere performance would have made Chopin turn in his grave. As would the knowledge that Cortot was a sympathizer of the Nazi party and "who went so far as to serve as Vichy's High Commissioner of Fine Arts and to perform in Nazi Germany". I'm sorry to say this but there is no escaping the fact that this kind of debased human being shows his true character in his playing, and in his treatment of the young Clara Haskil.
Well obvious signs of over sentimentalization are Cortot's exaggerated and inappropriate rubatos (which Chopin hated - see his letters for his exasperation at pupils who could't keep time) plus Cortot's annoying habit of playing the right hand out of sync with the left hand. But in the end it's the lack of sincere feeling that really bothers me. I can usually forgive a bad performance if the feeling is genuine but I'm sorry, for me at least Cortot just destroys this wonderful music.
chopin didnt even know who the nazi were, nor does political affiliation count for anything or perhaps shouldnt in teh musical spectrum, are we to have teh preconcieved opinion of any one performer based on there political standing, e.g. to this day there are many who think dreadful of Karajan, who did have an affiliation with teh nazi's yet would he be the Karajan we know today if he did not exploit the given options taht did ultimatley shape him to be one of teh foremost conductors of our era.
Well maybe I feel it differently to other people but Wagner's anti-semitism DOES reflect itself in a negative way in his music IMO. But obviously it doesn't mean he wasn't talented. After all even Hitler was a pretty good painter!! In the end I always naively think someone's personality shows in their work, which is why I am convinced if I could meet J.S. Bach or Fred. Chopin I would get on with both of them!
yeah he adresses her a touching condolescence when she was famous. But when she was just a student unknow, and shie, and romanian, he was nasty with her. And it was before the war, it was a shame to be ansemit
There has been a misunderstanding. When Clara died at the age of 60,which is a tragic loss, Cortot addressed a touching condolescence speach at the burial.
There has been a misunderstanding. When Clara died at the age of 60,which is a tragic loss, Cortot addressed a touching condolescence speach at the burial.
I think he's playing very weel, like the chopin soul. But, there is one thing which's disturbing me, is that he treated very badly Clara Haskil when she was studing in "l'école normale" because she was jew. And for this thing I can completly like him.
grotrian and bechstein. the best for creating your own textures and colors. They are not bottomless like steinway but this means that you must be more dynamically sensitive when it comes to voicing and contrast.
These other pianos seem to have a more shallow sound whilr the steinway has much more depth, resonance and projection. On a really good one this depth can seem "bottomless", as though there is always more tone available. I hope this explains
Cortot gets unfair singled out for being technically unreliable. On the other hand Gieseking (whom I like a lot) was accused of having the most precise fingers in the business and having an infallible memory. Gieseking in fact played lots of wrong notes, throughout his entire career and had memory slips. Both are expert legendary pianists yet one gets singled out. Media incompetence?
My teacher was a student of Cortot. Wonderful to see and hear this here. I adore his playing. What a sound! His tone was so beautiful and the thought behind everything he did was so refined. Very very beautiful! Cheers...
Speaking of Pleyel,today no more Pleyels are made in France. The craftmanship, the know-how is lost forever.Reasons are quite long to explain,but just remember if you see a brand new Pleyel, it's surely made in Czech.
Are you sure they're made in Czech? if that's the case then do you think they have an influence from Petrof? if that's the case then we've got nothing to worry about
The Pleyel mecanic craftmanship is gone.I know this from an expert in France. Now the mecanic structure of Pleyel is maybe petrof or other things,but surely not the same as what Chopin or Cortot had played.
At the end 60s',Pleyel was bought by an insurance company.But since people prefered to buy a car and frigeraters and so on,no investment was put on the table to assure the continuity of workers and artisans.Pleyel was then sold to a German piano company.
Timbre is a french word,I don't know how to describe it.You can listen to Cortot's london recordings at early 30s' to have a taste of yourself. Steinway had a very successful commercial policy at the debut of its US factory.And since pianists went to US,we all know the after.
I've played both a friend's D and tried a B and S intensively, and I've come to the conclusion that other brands I like more, such as Bosendorfer, Grotian, Sauter, and C. Bechstein.
Yes, exactly Libetta. Richter after all played on a Yamaha and made it sound great (check out his live TOKYO prfmns.), so sometimes it's the player -- and playing -- that counts, not the instrument! sd goh (malaysia)
if you realy want to hear a great pianosound, listen to french piano's: gaveau, erard, pleyel... steinway and bosendorfer have a very good sound, but they have no charm.
yeah, they're great specially for something really romantic, like italian pianos, too. i just think steinway and other german pianos don't have a characteristic of their own.
See also my own contribution on Cortot from two distictive phases in his development: 1927 when still relatively young (50!) and 1954 (77!). I'm preparing a second one with his very last 1957 recording with an étude inside at the age of 80. So there was nothing wrong with his technique, he just focussed more on expression. And taught many pupils of his the same. Nowadays it's all about technique though, we should recapture his spirit instead
Many stories about Chopin... Biographies say different things. Anyways, one of them says that Chopin used to choose the piano he played according to his physical condition (mental too, for sure). There was one easier to play, but if he felt strong enough, he favoured the one harder to play because of it's sound qualities. I suppose that the character of the compositions played a role too. Pleyel must have been one of these. But he could not always choose the instrument freely...
Cortot was really a Virtuoso... In the 40's he had Rachmaninov's 3rd concerto in his repertoire and he was considered one of the best in that piece. It sounds strange!
Actually, my great teacher Pnina Salzman, who was a student of cortot, told me that she attended a concert in which Rachmaninoff Played his third concerto, and Cortot conducted.
also his technique was much better than you have heard of or mayby listened to,if i were to juxtapose his technique and cziffras i think their virtually the same but of coarse they both have their own styles and interpretations ,and for mishan your simply not accustomed to piano playing of this earlier age and neither am i and i find his playing absolutely unique in that respect
i disagree with you guys about his technique i think it was brilliant and much more unique than many pianist of today just listen to how many pianist play chopin's etudes compared to him reguardless of wrong notes
I agree with you about Cortot's technique! But I disagree with your conclusion in comparison with Cziffra- Cortot had much more accomplished and diverse technique than Cziffra
Isn't that a bitch when someone with an official voice on a video says something so ridiculouse as "technically unreliable" about someone so great, and influences all kinds of people who are dying to have an opinion on what they know nothing about. Cortot's Chopin to me is the most inspiring of all.
That "bitch" was probably referring to the late/last recordings of Cortot (like the studies of Chopin), not the early ones. It's the narrow-minded difinition of technique, the audible mistakes etc.
I agree with MASTERCLASSES about technique, originally a Greek word meaning "art".
BRAVO!!!!!!!!!! I agree with you. Cortot was great. People who know the least about music are always the laudest and fastest to criticise greats........
That simply isn't always the case; it takes a musician and performer of many years' experience to be able to make discerning comments about even the "greats" of music. There is an unfortunate tendency for many people to "hero worship," shutting out all discriminating listening because of the performers' great reputations. I have heard Horowitz makes blunders, and Furtwangler miscalculations; it doesn't mean I don't respect their overall work and contribution to the art.
I said the people who know the least about music are fastest and loudest speakers against greats. Once one understands the particular essence of someone's artistry, it doesn't matter if there are blunders or not. We can discard some particular performance as not being so successful, but we can not discard the artist
Thanks for the clarification; yes, I never discard or disrespect the artists, as is so often the case here on YouTube, but I sometimes point out matters of style, taste, performance traditions, and even blunders among the greats.
AGREED!!!!! For Cortot and for the mucisians of that time was more important to make music then palying all right notes. They could do it if they wanted. Today most pianist pip-boring!!!!
Perfectly agree with you.Cortot had one of the very best techniques of all time,which is fairly evident or by his early recordings or through his "editions de travail".When he gave recitals in the early 20s' in New York,the critical NY press said he was one of the best,"some egal,but no one better".In terms of stly,he is so personal and noble,caracterised by his incomparable timbre and phrasing.
Later,the musical world was dominated by a bunch of normal leveled critics and pianists who considered themselves as God,and plagued the generations after by their standard way of playing,which had never been mentioned by neither Chopin,Liszt,or whoever in the 19th century.
Take note, yes, but do not try to imitate. Cortot, like contemporaries, represents a style and sentiment of playing rooted in the 19th century. It is an "extraordinary" style of playing: altering rhytms and tempo almost constantly, and should only be attempted after many years of study, if at all. I even wonder how much of it Chopin would approve!
I agree with you that Cortot had a very personal playing,with is of highest taste and acristocratic,and so,"extraordinary",technically extremely demanding,which was the reason he could not play without wrong notes in his late years.Why bother anyway?
I couldn't agree at all. This type of sound take a lot of perfecting. If you don't attempt to understand this style when younger then it won't magically reveal itself in later life. The attitude of 'saving things for later' is almost certainly the reason why most pianists are boring today. They never even tried to do this sort of thing.
I agree with cziffra1980. If teachers today would expose young students to pianist like Friedberg, Lhevinne, Hoffman,Feinberg,ect.. Maybe we wouldn't have so many boring pianists in the future.
I don't like Barenboim, but I love his description of Cortot searching for the "opium" in the music. I also found very interesting Cortot's technique: flat, taut fingers, with wrists occasionally digging inward/downward. Much like Horowitz.
hymntonight 4 months ago
I love how often Chopin used the chromatic scale
TwelfthRoot2 5 months ago
Cortot vorbește la Pian... exprimă Adevărul său...
sdxs49 6 months ago
Un beau document d'archive d'un grand artiste.
StephaneMartineau 9 months ago
who's the guy from 3:22? i remember him with lang lang...
coolasianbrian 10 months ago
@coolasianbrian Daniel Barendoim
Attila19101960 9 months ago
He was vivian florian's teacher. Check her out as a current octogenarian pianist.
susanmyra 1 year ago
wow the last guy was really trying to sound smart!hahahaha
sir1920 1 year ago
Cortot is just not paying attention to hitting right notes. He has great technique, just unreliable execution.
teccomin 1 year ago
Fundamental attribution error lives on! His technic is superb, better than my own as I have not even attempted most of the works he has on recording. And infact despite wrong notes his recordings are generally sublime and definately unique interpretations. I wonder if he did those recordings in 1 take, as though to give it the "live" element.
bummy33 1 year ago
I have yet to hear a more insightful, more probing interpretation of this etude. It is one of my favorite recordings of any solo piece.
calcmandan 1 year ago
Wonderful pianist who played the right notes in the wrong order. His protegie was Horowitz.
TheCourtwick 1 year ago
1:38-1:48 <3
OriginalBasaliskos 1 year ago
Génie musical, mais homme de petite stature : il arbore la francisque du gouvernement de Vichy. Ces images font partie d'un long documentaire réalisé sur le pianiste pendant la guerre et dont on ne voit jamais le reste.
pianotonton 1 year ago
What is Cortot playing in the very first part of this video?
SnoopThom 1 year ago
Chopin Waltz No.9 in A flat major, Op.69 No.1
xujia1001 1 year ago
Thats a good piano. I wish they make them like that now
pianoorganman 1 year ago
definitely my favorite interpreter of chopin. too bad he is so underated..
CrapHoesActNdGo 1 year ago
Comment removed
FryderykFChopin 1 year ago
He combined passion with poetry, elegant.
PhillipLWilcher 1 year ago 2
so beautiful~~
nabaobao 1 year ago
I do so agree with the comments on technique below. This genius Cortot had a musicianship so transcendental that anything physical would be challenged- the technique itself is superb. The remarks in the video by the wonderful musicians Gyorgy Sandor, Barenboim, Anderszewski are to be applauded. Add to that list just about any serious pianist alive today. The only thing that disturbs me about Cortot is his involvement with the Vichy regime.
vivienmerchant 2 years ago
I've been working to curve my pinkies. I am so amazed and relieved that Cortot also straighten his pinkies too... I'm not the only one, and I don't have to worry about it anymore. Horay...
kristinzx 2 years ago
Does anyone know what is the make of that Piano? The writing above the keys appears to say ---YLI or ---YRI.
ostenrt 2 years ago
@ostenrt Never mind, from earlier comments I see it is a Pleyel.
ostenrt 2 years ago
@ostenrt I believe that he's playing a Pleyel.
AllegroTempo 4 months ago
whats this bullshit about "technically unreliable". Cortot's technique is right up there with any of the top technique's or our day: volodos, prats, and others. Just because you hit a wrong note doesnt mean there is a technical "flaw". People fail to realize this. Flawed technique is hitting wrong notes because you are incapable of hitting the right ones, due to any number of causes: bad posture, untrained hands, tension. Cortot had none of these things, and had a phenomenal technique.
nickthegreat998 2 years ago 17
Surely that's just what 'technically unreliable' means, they might well be capable of hitting the right notes but quite often, for whatever reason, they don't!
lsbrother 2 years ago 2
you must be joking!
musikguru1 2 years ago
this is so true
0bambi0deer0 2 years ago
by the way, if you have a moment listen to fazil say....
lubantsi 2 years ago
You haven't heard one of his trainwrecks yet. He had them semi-frequently but nobody really cares because his playing is phenomenal. It's all there mind, body and spirit.
jdbrown371 2 years ago
@nickthegreat998
I think that's sort of true - Cortot was a lot less gifted technically than many other pianists, but as a consequence worked much harder to try and understand (and overcome) his technical deficiencies. He identified 5 fundamental difficulties in playing the piano, and came up with ways to overcome the problems. This technique (the 'Cortot Technique') is the basis of a lot of French piano teaching...
MarkHeller13 1 year ago
@nickthegreat998 Exactly. Few pianists in history can claim a more comprehensive technique, put at the service of art, than Cortot. Technique is one of the most abused and misunderstood concepts of all, as it embraces a great deal more than physical dexterity. It concerns rhythm, balance, articulation, affect, and much more.
guirlandes3 1 year ago 2
@nickthegreat998 Thank you, Nick, for stating the truth: Cortot had tons of technique. Cortot also had a noble tone, and among the boldly original interpretations of Chopin every recorded. And I really don't care very much about occasional inaccurate notes when listening to great artists.
rekab7070 2 months ago
that's damn true. and this video proves it! he enters the keys like butter and the sound that comes out is amazing. you can learn so much just by watching him.
innbi 2 weeks ago in playlist Chopin
@nickthegreat998 amen
dkurgano 1 week ago
Great!! Where did you find the video?
maxbigazzi 2 years ago
its from "The art of piano"
tommy9882 2 years ago
the guy at the end looks like an old Horowitz
Liebromeistal 2 years ago
...you mean György Sándor ?
classicalmusicbox 2 years ago
if that's his name then yea
Liebromeistal 2 years ago
the best musician,,,,
lindegg 2 years ago
so wonderful
jfsangora 2 years ago
wow he was really hott.
I love the way he plays this <3 *siigh* so relaxing
BambooLulu 2 years ago 2
by far my favorite performance of this piece by anyone.(the chopin waltz)Probably one of the most beautiful tones ever .wrong notes or not
bassshred37 2 years ago
from where is this video taken?
StrmUndDrng 2 years ago
cool! the sound is actually one full-semitone sharper (today's A is one full semitone higher than the A of Cortot/Chopin's time.). Pretty amazing...
jsbach777 2 years ago
I am not saying this is not true... It is just the first time I have heard this.
Could you explain to me where you learned this, and it would be even better if you could send me a link of where I could check this out.
EuphoricDan 2 years ago
Since the sound is a semitone sharper than on today's piano, that means that today's A is a semitone LOWER than it was in this recording, i.e. today's A would sound like a B flat on his piano. I wonder if the sound track and video are running a bit too fast? Because from what I've read, pitches have been steadily rising over time, and this discrepancy here would indicate the opposite.
HarpoMarx22 2 years ago
he was simply a genius!! he lived in an other world
petrof4056 2 years ago 3
He is not only a great pianist also a great artist , teacher , poet . Thank you for sharing this precious video
yilingseele 2 years ago 3
You mentioned TEACHER...without Cortot would we have had Lipatti or Haskil? If there was a greater interpreter of Chopin, I have yet to discover him (or her). His Chopin was the REAL Chopin (though I couldn't do without his student Lipatti's Chopin, or that of Novaes, Friedman, or Hofmann--all of them ARISTOCRATS of the keyboard).
soami2u 2 years ago
Hihi, funny last sentence from Barenboim there. I adore that waltz in Cortot´s hands. He really touches the core of it.
Piacevole 2 years ago
Would i be stupid to say that (in my opinion) i prefer other artist?!
gyseegy 2 years ago
yes!
bassodivo 2 years ago
Lovely touch, great control of a Master.
franklindavid 2 years ago
Thanks for sharing this vid.
My friend's piano instructor was apparently the last student of Cortot's, so this was nice to see and listen.
zakspeedf1 2 years ago
Rare and high definition '__'
bunnyoneedge 2 years ago
Comment removed
rollingcube 3 years ago
Thanks for your concern. The other half of the video was cut into another part. Unluckily, the quality is what we can have from the DVD which a lot of people have now. Looking back, this video was put more than 2 years ago and there were virtually no other Cortot music files. Now things have changed, people still can appreciate old masters.
xujia1001 3 years ago
I like so much CORTOT, one of the best pianist!
Thank you!
ThroughMusic 3 years ago
Alfred Cortot is my choice for both Chopin and Schubert - truly musical and a very fine pianist in his own right!
beintelegant 3 years ago
I don't think you understand what Barenboim is trying to say. He understands, as he too is a great musician.
swanningaround 3 years ago
what the hell is barenboim trying to say in the end?!
StrmUndDrng 3 years ago
i think he just tries to stop him self from farting all over...
hands down to Cortot he's so honest in he's music.
darkmaides 3 years ago
sound very beatiful.
rubato very vivid move
JJuny7 3 years ago
Why does Barenboim dare to comment on Cortot ???? is he out of his mind ?
jaroussky1 3 years ago
Barenboim is such an over produced fart. Cortot was the opposite of Barenboim. He didn't edit his recordings! All new pianist can learn from Cortot. It is about the truth of the music.
viewbody 3 years ago 6
Sorry, but i don't know which Chopin Etude is played in the second part of the video. It should be the same as the one performed by Horowitz in the silent movie.
dpkaiser 3 years ago
Cortot plays Etude op. 10 no.1, Horowitz plays Etude op.10 no.8
xujia1001 3 years ago
does somebody know, in which year he played this music？
zriberan 3 years ago
Non aveva una grandissimimissima tecnica,certi suoi vecchi dischi,sono un po' sporchi,ma era magico,unico,grandissimo,e sottovalutato.
Ellinidara 3 years ago
Uno dei brani più toccanti, commoventi e romantici dell'intero panorama classico di ogni tempo. Interpretato da un folle pazzoide geniale Alfred Cortot.
ernievizzo 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Collaborator. Like most Frenchmen.
joeyjojo4 3 years ago
which piece is that ?
manishbabu 3 years ago
C'est une Valse de Chopin. Op69/1
jazzmove 3 years ago
May be his fingers were nor at the top.. But what kind of interpretation he made !!!! Music at the maximum level .... I love Cortot ..... I don care so much for the mistakes nor other all defaults .... But what heart and brain he had !!!!!
ilovescarlatti 3 years ago
Chopin preferred Pleyel for its delicacy of sound to the rival Erard:too solid, too "insistent". Pleyel,when sold was never made in Czechia but in Braunschweig,Germany, in the factory of......Schimmel! What irony. Pleyel has since returned to France and is currently attempting to retrieve its identity while modernising its style,tache difficile!On "technik":Horowitz asked Cortot for lessons precisely on the thirds in S-Saens'Etude en forme de valse!(Alf refused)
fartlestucks 3 years ago
Cortot didn't refuse, but the young Horowitz was too much "on his own way".By the way, Horowitz was always on his own way, sometimes it worked well, other times it doesn't.
xujia1001 3 years ago
I think wht people poked fun of his technique was that it was just not always secure because of his psche. he actually had one of the greatest techniques.
chad410 3 years ago
his what? psche. whats that? tell me plz.
fortune32 3 years ago
Actually I agree, I think Cortot had a pretty good technique, regardless of the slips he makes which aren't important to me. But, it's his interpretations (ESPECIALLY in Chopin) that I have a problem with! Sorry - just my opinion!
josepharimathea 3 years ago
Merci, xujia1001 !
What a genius. Like he said in another video posted here, "you have to dream the piece, not to play it". If in order to do so he had to re-create Chopin, then I prefer Cortot-Chopin to "Chopin ad litteram".
tublevistic 3 years ago
I dont like his extremely unsteady tempo
utubeuser50 3 years ago
Opinions of Cortot vary greatly. Rubinstein, according to Daniel Barenboim, always spoke quite negatively about Cortot, and Rachmaninoff often poked fun at Cortot's technique, or lack of it. If you want to read about Cortot by one of his students, read Ruth Slenczynska's Forbidden Childhood, which contains a wealth of anecdotes about Cortot and Rachmaninoff, both of whom she was studying with at the same time, and neither of whom realized that the other was teaching her.
karlakor 3 years ago
Thank you for the Ruth Slenczynska's Forbidden Childhood suggestion. I very much look forward to reading it before shooting my mouth off further!
josepharimathea 3 years ago
I should point out that the book Forbidden Childhood by Ruth Slenczynska is out of print and can be extremely hard to find, but if you can get hold of it from a library, you will be fascinated by the stories she tells about some of the greatest pianists in history.
karlakor 3 years ago
This dreadful, over sentimentalized and insincere performance would have made Chopin turn in his grave. As would the knowledge that Cortot was a sympathizer of the Nazi party and "who went so far as to serve as Vichy's High Commissioner of Fine Arts and to perform in Nazi Germany". I'm sorry to say this but there is no escaping the fact that this kind of debased human being shows his true character in his playing, and in his treatment of the young Clara Haskil.
josepharimathea 3 years ago
"Over sentimentalized ???" are you crazyyyyy ????
harald144 3 years ago
Well obvious signs of over sentimentalization are Cortot's exaggerated and inappropriate rubatos (which Chopin hated - see his letters for his exasperation at pupils who could't keep time) plus Cortot's annoying habit of playing the right hand out of sync with the left hand. But in the end it's the lack of sincere feeling that really bothers me. I can usually forgive a bad performance if the feeling is genuine but I'm sorry, for me at least Cortot just destroys this wonderful music.
josepharimathea 3 years ago
chopin didnt even know who the nazi were, nor does political affiliation count for anything or perhaps shouldnt in teh musical spectrum, are we to have teh preconcieved opinion of any one performer based on there political standing, e.g. to this day there are many who think dreadful of Karajan, who did have an affiliation with teh nazi's yet would he be the Karajan we know today if he did not exploit the given options taht did ultimatley shape him to be one of teh foremost conductors of our era.
namarcil 3 years ago
Well maybe I feel it differently to other people but Wagner's anti-semitism DOES reflect itself in a negative way in his music IMO. But obviously it doesn't mean he wasn't talented. After all even Hitler was a pretty good painter!! In the end I always naively think someone's personality shows in their work, which is why I am convinced if I could meet J.S. Bach or Fred. Chopin I would get on with both of them!
josepharimathea 3 years ago
Agreed. I find most of his harmonies are too racist for me to appreciate.
cziffra1980 3 years ago 4
Nice!
mauglika 3 years ago 2
Beautiful!!!!
I adore Chopin.... What a playing!
Thank you very much for the video!
BachLoveNat 3 years ago
again, men I forgot all the "not", so before the war It was not a shame to be antisemit
But, he was playing very very well,
Chapelleobo 3 years ago
yeah he adresses her a touching condolescence when she was famous. But when she was just a student unknow, and shie, and romanian, he was nasty with her. And it was before the war, it was a shame to be ansemit
Chapelleobo 3 years ago
Well, I guess he realised he was wrong.
xujia1001 3 years ago
again, for the end, for this thing I cannot completly like him.
Chapelleobo 3 years ago
There has been a misunderstanding. When Clara died at the age of 60,which is a tragic loss, Cortot addressed a touching condolescence speach at the burial.
xujia1001 3 years ago
There has been a misunderstanding. When Clara died at the age of 60,which is a tragic loss, Cortot addressed a touching condolescence speach at the burial.
xujia1001 3 years ago
I think he's playing very weel, like the chopin soul. But, there is one thing which's disturbing me, is that he treated very badly Clara Haskil when she was studing in "l'école normale" because she was jew. And for this thing I can completly like him.
Chapelleobo 3 years ago
grotrian and bechstein. the best for creating your own textures and colors. They are not bottomless like steinway but this means that you must be more dynamically sensitive when it comes to voicing and contrast.
aardvaark069 3 years ago
what do you mean by "Bottomless"?
libetta 3 years ago
These other pianos seem to have a more shallow sound whilr the steinway has much more depth, resonance and projection. On a really good one this depth can seem "bottomless", as though there is always more tone available. I hope this explains
aardvaark069 3 years ago
are you francesco libetta? I love your playing.
aardvaark069 3 years ago
Cortot gets unfair singled out for being technically unreliable. On the other hand Gieseking (whom I like a lot) was accused of having the most precise fingers in the business and having an infallible memory. Gieseking in fact played lots of wrong notes, throughout his entire career and had memory slips. Both are expert legendary pianists yet one gets singled out. Media incompetence?
jdbrown371 4 years ago
My teacher was a student of Cortot. Wonderful to see and hear this here. I adore his playing. What a sound! His tone was so beautiful and the thought behind everything he did was so refined. Very very beautiful! Cheers...
Phillip Wilcher
PhillipLWilcher 4 years ago
Speaking of Pleyel,today no more Pleyels are made in France. The craftmanship, the know-how is lost forever.Reasons are quite long to explain,but just remember if you see a brand new Pleyel, it's surely made in Czech.
xujia1001 4 years ago
Are you sure they're made in Czech? if that's the case then do you think they have an influence from Petrof? if that's the case then we've got nothing to worry about
libetta 4 years ago
The Pleyel mecanic craftmanship is gone.I know this from an expert in France. Now the mecanic structure of Pleyel is maybe petrof or other things,but surely not the same as what Chopin or Cortot had played.
xujia1001 4 years ago
since what year? how do you compare those original pleyels from those made today?
libetta 4 years ago
At the end 60s',Pleyel was bought by an insurance company.But since people prefered to buy a car and frigeraters and so on,no investment was put on the table to assure the continuity of workers and artisans.Pleyel was then sold to a German piano company.
xujia1001 4 years ago
how does the sound and touch of the original compare with those made today?
libetta 4 years ago
I haven't really heard an old one,a part from those in Cortot's recordings.The new ones are just so so,but damn expensive.
xujia1001 4 years ago
how does the new ones sound like? delicate?
libetta 4 years ago
so so. Like a normal Czech piano.
xujia1001 4 years ago
oh,by the way, Pleyel was reputated for its beautiful timbre,we can find it in Cortot's London recordings.
xujia1001 4 years ago
how do you characterize its timbre? then how come steinway is the only piano they ever give attention to?
libetta 4 years ago
Timbre is a french word,I don't know how to describe it.You can listen to Cortot's london recordings at early 30s' to have a taste of yourself. Steinway had a very successful commercial policy at the debut of its US factory.And since pianists went to US,we all know the after.
xujia1001 4 years ago
so does that mean steinway is superior compared to all other makes?
libetta 4 years ago
Steinway has a number of series,among which D and B are really professional and are the best.The others are so so.
xujia1001 4 years ago
i don't think steinway is the best at all. most people tend to be affected physocoligally about the name, not openly with the sound
libetta 4 years ago
This I agree.
xujia1001 4 years ago
libetta, stfu and stop being an idiot.
I've played both a friend's D and tried a B and S intensively, and I've come to the conclusion that other brands I like more, such as Bosendorfer, Grotian, Sauter, and C. Bechstein.
RustyRagnarok 4 years ago
you like these other brands better than steinway?
libetta 4 years ago
Yes, exactly Libetta. Richter after all played on a Yamaha and made it sound great (check out his live TOKYO prfmns.), so sometimes it's the player -- and playing -- that counts, not the instrument! sd goh (malaysia)
301250 4 years ago
yeah, he was the endorser for yamaha. he also has a video where he used an Estonia
libetta 4 years ago
if you realy want to hear a great pianosound, listen to french piano's: gaveau, erard, pleyel... steinway and bosendorfer have a very good sound, but they have no charm.
marcelmombeek 4 years ago
yeah, they're great specially for something really romantic, like italian pianos, too. i just think steinway and other german pianos don't have a characteristic of their own.
libetta 3 years ago
I like it.... thank you!
beautiful
BachLoveNat 4 years ago 2
See also my own contribution on Cortot from two distictive phases in his development: 1927 when still relatively young (50!) and 1954 (77!). I'm preparing a second one with his very last 1957 recording with an étude inside at the age of 80. So there was nothing wrong with his technique, he just focussed more on expression. And taught many pupils of his the same. Nowadays it's all about technique though, we should recapture his spirit instead
donthuis 4 years ago
Many stories about Chopin... Biographies say different things. Anyways, one of them says that Chopin used to choose the piano he played according to his physical condition (mental too, for sure). There was one easier to play, but if he felt strong enough, he favoured the one harder to play because of it's sound qualities. I suppose that the character of the compositions played a role too. Pleyel must have been one of these. But he could not always choose the instrument freely...
joumietko 4 years ago
Yes definitely a Pleyel. "The Piano of Chopin"
ihrtmusic12334 4 years ago
yes, because he didn't know Bechstein or Schimmel pianos ^^.
K189T 4 years ago
I think, Chopin himself favoured Pleyel pianos.
shela2 4 years ago
Did he play on period instruments?
MJGriftz 4 years ago
what a fantastic musician. thank you for posting such a great thing
danielito1979 4 years ago
inst this from the art of piano?
i seem to remember him saying something like chopin is not to be played but dreamed or something like that
scottbos68 4 years ago
yes you're right. and he was teaching some students a schumann piece. he was using a Pleyel piano!
libetta 4 years ago
i have Arrau's performance and it's great but it sounds very different; as if the two had completely different styles. i wish i had this on cd.
ibclappin 4 years ago
Such an unusual looking man - but what an artist!
winrx 4 years ago
I really learned alot from Maestro Cortot's editions. He was really a great artist.
Bruce88keys 4 years ago
beautifullllllllll!!!
panaosei 4 years ago
"He looked for the opium in music" - marvellous turn of phrase.
DraculaVision 4 years ago
Cortot was really a Virtuoso... In the 40's he had Rachmaninov's 3rd concerto in his repertoire and he was considered one of the best in that piece. It sounds strange!
Delac82pd 4 years ago
Really? That does sound strange....Rachmaninoff 3rd? Are you sure?
BachFong11 4 years ago
Yes. Rachmaninoff himself was in attendance when Cortot performed it.
beakly 4 years ago
Actually, my great teacher Pnina Salzman, who was a student of cortot, told me that she attended a concert in which Rachmaninoff Played his third concerto, and Cortot conducted.
nimroddavidpfeffer 4 years ago
True, he hit wrong notes quite frequently - but paradoxically enough, there are virtually no wrong notes in the waltz...
hblhblhbl 5 years ago
not just virtually. they aren't.
oneginee 4 years ago
also his technique was much better than you have heard of or mayby listened to,if i were to juxtapose his technique and cziffras i think their virtually the same but of coarse they both have their own styles and interpretations ,and for mishan your simply not accustomed to piano playing of this earlier age and neither am i and i find his playing absolutely unique in that respect
dlg111 5 years ago
"if i were to juxtapose his technique and cziffras i think their virtually the same"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH CLAZZIC TUBE
datruzepp 4 years ago
i disagree with you guys about his technique i think it was brilliant and much more unique than many pianist of today just listen to how many pianist play chopin's etudes compared to him reguardless of wrong notes
dlg111 5 years ago
I agree with you about Cortot's technique! But I disagree with your conclusion in comparison with Cziffra- Cortot had much more accomplished and diverse technique than Cziffra
billabongxv 2 years ago
Annoying playing in the Waltz (op. 69 no. 1), in my opinion. I hated it.
Mishan92 5 years ago
Listen to his Chopin etudes.Does that sound unreliable?His memory might`ve been unreliable due to laudanum? but his fingers were top shelf.
VanoPitersky 5 years ago
It was his mind, not his fingers, that was remarkable. I agree with you - he was musically reliable, not a note-accuracy fethishist.
luciferkybrd 5 years ago
I would take Cortot's unreliable Chopin or today's robotic supervirtuosi any hour of any day.
rmo2128 5 years ago
Isn't that a bitch when someone with an official voice on a video says something so ridiculouse as "technically unreliable" about someone so great, and influences all kinds of people who are dying to have an opinion on what they know nothing about. Cortot's Chopin to me is the most inspiring of all.
ilyalushtak 5 years ago
That "bitch" was probably referring to the late/last recordings of Cortot (like the studies of Chopin), not the early ones. It's the narrow-minded difinition of technique, the audible mistakes etc.
I agree with MASTERCLASSES about technique, originally a Greek word meaning "art".
Pianowrestler 5 years ago
BRAVO!!!!!!!!!! I agree with you. Cortot was great. People who know the least about music are always the laudest and fastest to criticise greats........
billabongxv 2 years ago 10
That simply isn't always the case; it takes a musician and performer of many years' experience to be able to make discerning comments about even the "greats" of music. There is an unfortunate tendency for many people to "hero worship," shutting out all discriminating listening because of the performers' great reputations. I have heard Horowitz makes blunders, and Furtwangler miscalculations; it doesn't mean I don't respect their overall work and contribution to the art.
billyguns2 2 years ago 2
I said the people who know the least about music are fastest and loudest speakers against greats. Once one understands the particular essence of someone's artistry, it doesn't matter if there are blunders or not. We can discard some particular performance as not being so successful, but we can not discard the artist
billabongxv 2 years ago 2
Thanks for the clarification; yes, I never discard or disrespect the artists, as is so often the case here on YouTube, but I sometimes point out matters of style, taste, performance traditions, and even blunders among the greats.
billyguns2 2 years ago
@billabongxv -Well said.
paulostroff99 5 months ago
@billabongxv
AGREED!!!!! For Cortot and for the mucisians of that time was more important to make music then palying all right notes. They could do it if they wanted. Today most pianist pip-boring!!!!
AntaresCortinas 1 month ago
Cortot was a poet at the piano and technically outstanding.
chad410 5 years ago
Perfectly agree with you.Cortot had one of the very best techniques of all time,which is fairly evident or by his early recordings or through his "editions de travail".When he gave recitals in the early 20s' in New York,the critical NY press said he was one of the best,"some egal,but no one better".In terms of stly,he is so personal and noble,caracterised by his incomparable timbre and phrasing.
xujia1001 5 years ago
Later,the musical world was dominated by a bunch of normal leveled critics and pianists who considered themselves as God,and plagued the generations after by their standard way of playing,which had never been mentioned by neither Chopin,Liszt,or whoever in the 19th century.
xujia1001 5 years ago
exactly!
remember that chopin, liszt, as well as every other significant pianist already had a developed style in their teens..
you will learn whatever you study..
if you study like a machine, you will play like a machine..
schools have ruined music.
acortot 5 years ago
This is the truth. I second that.
oneginee 4 years ago
Take note, yes, but do not try to imitate. Cortot, like contemporaries, represents a style and sentiment of playing rooted in the 19th century. It is an "extraordinary" style of playing: altering rhytms and tempo almost constantly, and should only be attempted after many years of study, if at all. I even wonder how much of it Chopin would approve!
joeyjojo4 5 years ago
I agree with you that Cortot had a very personal playing,with is of highest taste and acristocratic,and so,"extraordinary",technically extremely demanding,which was the reason he could not play without wrong notes in his late years.Why bother anyway?
xujia1001 5 years ago
Very true!
joeyjojo4 5 years ago
I couldn't agree at all. This type of sound take a lot of perfecting. If you don't attempt to understand this style when younger then it won't magically reveal itself in later life. The attitude of 'saving things for later' is almost certainly the reason why most pianists are boring today. They never even tried to do this sort of thing.
cziffra1980 5 years ago
I agree with cziffra1980. If teachers today would expose young students to pianist like Friedberg, Lhevinne, Hoffman,Feinberg,ect.. Maybe we wouldn't have so many boring pianists in the future.
LVB1770 5 years ago
You mean Friedman and Hofmann. I would add Rosenthal, Rachmaninoff, Godowsky and Busoni as the most important historical recordings to listen to.
Pianowrestler 5 years ago
Sorry Pianowrestler, I was speaking of Carl Friedberg who studied with Clara Schumann and Brahms.
LVB1770