Added: 4 years ago
From: solti79
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  • 32 people who are idiots regretfully! Kissin is one of best piano players today!!

  • I wonder if he had to practice much in order to do this from memory.

  • what makes this piece so intersting? 

  • @oterdverg have you heard the end???!!! rofl parts 3 and 4 are amazing

  • is it wrong to like the hungarian rhapsodies better than this?

  • it's the most incredible, powerfull and the most beautiful piano piece ever!! 

  • I like how he's all serious playing the first two notes.

  • I think Liszt was like the first piano solist , just seeing someone play a Listz piece without hearing it is dazzling to watch

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  • @1Thompsonmusic Romantic music needs to be listened to in a different way than Classical Music. That's because it's not so much based on melodies or themes. It may just not be the type of music you prefer, but if you can listen to the music in the way Liszt composed it, you would understand the emotions and geniality in this piece. You may never like it, but that doesn't make Liszt a bad composer. In that case just stick to classical and be happy, Mozart is indeed also fabulous.

  • 2:40 ~ 3:18 may sound no big deal

    but actually it is extremely difficult not to make mistake

    those oct are like hell to me XD

  • @hatersjustshutup lmao this ENTIRE sonata is hell to play for me but I loves it!

  • I rather incline to the strict following of the score. But then what are we to make of Glenn Gould?

  • @purplepeoplepurple Thank god for diversity..

  • hey guys VVVVVV

    you're wasting time arguing. improve yourself by watching the video?

  • Listening to him play this tonight in Sydney! Looking forward to it

  • Why do people these days deify music playing talent over composing talent? Yeah, he plays brilliantly- a genius. But he didnt write it. To me, the composition is the bigger artwork here (as always).

  • @Statarb1 I think when it comes to orchestral works we tend to glorify the composer whereas when it comes to solo works the attention is focused on a single performer.

  • @OriginalBasaliskos That's my point. We should always glorify the composer first. Music doesn't come out of thin air...yes someone has to play the damn thing, but to me playing is the mechanical part.

  • @Statarb1 I respectfully disagree. Many different pianists will take many different approaches to a given work, especially one as large as the B minor sonata. I think were you to listen to 10 consecutive performances of the sonata and come away mainly thinking what a genius Liszt was it does a great disservice to the performer who has slightly molded the work in their own way. Playing is an artform just like composing. It is by no means "mechanical".

  • @OriginalBasaliskos with great respect, I totally disagree. This is the same debate we see in literature: authorial intent vs interpretation. I am a beliver in Toscanini's 'come e scrito'... there is only the score, and nothing else. Call me old school but  the concept of a "slight moudling" of a work of art is a travesty, an oxymoron and an outright disaster. Very likely 9 out of your 10 Liszt players are commiting such criminal acts.

  • @Statarb1 I'm guessing you hate jazz? : P

  • @Statarb1 Well, now that you have drawn a parallel to the argument of intent vs interp. in literature I think there are always exceptions. I'm always one to say, "It's not your interpretation, it's your misinterpretation of the authors intent!" However, there are some works of literature that are intentionally ambiguous and the author has left it open for interpretation. Would musical works that aren't heavily annotated be works permissible for interpretation and slight liberties?

  • @OriginalBasaliskos Don't get postmodern on me...i'm talking about pre-Cage, ie "classical" music. Here, it is pretty clear from the score or from a reasonable construction of it, what the composer set out to achieve. Hence why we have such "standard", entrenched approaches to the great work. In such a case, the player can embelish, and "mould", do whatever, but let's not pretend they are playing the piece. Jazz is probably a good word for it...

  • @Statarb1 YES. My thoughts finally put into perfect words! Thank god for conservatories etc. for keeping this music alive (I'm grateful for that), but never forget the source. Appreciate everything and the whole.

  • Kissin = King

  • ahhh yess, the european pianist is back

  • What a handsome young man Kissin is...and also absolutely fabulous playing! When is this man not in top form???

  • wow... fantastic!

  • This is really good, I still like Horowitz's better.

  • or they missed the like button lol

  • 29 people don't like Franz Liszt or Kissin, that's all.

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  • this guy is someone i'd lik to knw.

  • 27 people are...oh wait, these jokes aren't funny.

  • @nng555 :D

  • @nng555 finally someone doesnt like it

  • @nng555 your not funny

  • @Ambient1100 nobody is asking you to laugh

  • @Ambient1100 You're...

  • @Lordcharlie80 LordCharlie80*

  • @nng555

    I LOVE YOU.... god i was so tired of these jokes

  • 27 people are noobs

  • 27 people need to get their ears checked...

  • why dont he cut his head hair, look weird

  • @figensco

    it's his trademark

  • yundi li version is more powerful.

  • @figensco Horowitz's version is the most powerful

  • Kissin is one musician who knows how to play the base differently than all others.

  • The minute after 3'20" is pure love and passion!

  • Learning this peace right now!!! pretty hard, got to admit XD

  • That forte at the beginning caught me off guard the first time I heard this.

  • Incredible concert at Carnegie hall last night

    everyone in the hall was in tears

    amazing work.

  • Saw him play this live in Boston /brag. People were literally crying around me. Perfection personified. Yes it was the all Liszt show. 4 encores!!

  • @bigwav3 saw him in carnegie hall last night. we only got 3 encores :(

    i did witness kissin himself wiping away a couple tears at the end of the sonata! incredibly touching.

  • I went to his concert a week ago!!... there is nothing like this in the world!!! such an amazing player!!!!!

  • @lisedaton Fantastic!! Unfortunately I think Im too late for his Carnegie Hall show coming up :(, oh well, Ill definitely be seeing him in either Quebec City or Montreal in 2012, CANT WAIT! I don't suppose you've seen Marc-Andre Hamelin in concert? I may have tickets to one of his shows coming in the next few months- they are the two pianists I'm determined to see in person most of all.

  • @lisedaton was it the all-liszt program (with this piece included)? im seeing him with that program next week!

  • @lisedaton I am going to watch his Liszt Recital Concert in Sydney this year in September along with a Concerto by Chopin! Cant wait!!

  • Incredible since the first G in the beginnig, which only kissin could "touch" like that

  • I find a deep complex insanity to his work, thats why hes among the greats

  • @sydneydowful

    I agree with you...Kissin is a category itself

  • Is it just me or does it almost feel to you as if you are watching Liszt himself play? As if we have been offered an incredibly rare glimpse of what it would have been like to see Liszt play?

    Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong place at the wrong time....

  • does any one Know if there is an original DVD recording on sale of this concert?and where could I buy it? I'd really appreciate

  • Is that the Digital concert hall ?

  • @SirGlennGould ?? No, the digital concert hall is the pay-per-view website of the berliner philharmoniker, where you can watch (I think live) the concert during the season

  • I just love 2:05 to 2:17. Most dramatic..

  • 21 people like Britney Spears... sorry

  • he has the hair for a peice like this XD

  • @ladymess1 It's perfect hair for Liszt. Reminds me of the character in "Eraser Head."

  • 3:53 to 4:34

  • This Liszt's Sonata concludes a major landmark in the entire history of music.

    Marvellous Kissin !

  • I love this piece!!!!! My favorite Liszt work! It's so deep, beautiful, emotional, and dramatic, and Kissin plays it well!

  • He also knows this is gonna be video taped.

  • Kissin captures the sinister, spellbinding magic of Liszt in this 1998 Tokyo performance of the first part of Sonata in B for piano.

  • from 6:32 to 6;48 it reminds me of Chopin,one of the nocturne maybe.....

    can you help me?

    Thanks

  • @penchak36 watch?v=6cxkLZoEFEk

  • @penchak36 I think you mean scherzo no. 2

  • great

  • can someone help me?

    From 6;32 to 9:48 it reminds me of Chopin maybe one of the Nocturne or...another pianist.

    Well i don't know but if you know what i mean,what i feel about this part then you can help.

    Thanks

  • @penchak36 Maybe you mean Chopin's First Ballade, Opus 23, the Meno Mosso section; though the resemblance is very slight.

  • can someone help me?

    From 6;32 to 9:48 it reminds me of Chopin maybe one of the Nocturne or...another pianist.

    Well i don't know but if you know what i mean,what i feel about this part then you can help.

    Thanks

  • @penchak36

    Listen this from 2:10 I think this is what you mean.

    watch?v=gilNaeUsPNQ

  • can someone help me? from 6:32 to 6:48 it reminds me of chopin.... or maybe it's another pianist .If you feel like me about this part of this sonata, maybe you can help.

    Thx

  • how do you get to that level of playing....

  • what a great performance!!!!!!!!liszt would be proud!

  • so difficult omg

  • think he can type fast?

  • I love 3:55. Sigh.

  • It's one of the hardest piano pieces ever

  • its my dream to learn to play this and the liebestraum in the piano...

  • @ElenitsaKriti Gooooooooooooooood luck! :) Post your video when ya do.

  • Is this piece hard?

    Like is it easier then his Hungarian rhapsodies?

  • I had this on in the background. A few minutes in I went to iTunes to pause it.

    This sounds like a recording, it's so good.

  • He must really hate that piano!

  • Yes, this is an amazing work and performed brilliantly. I don't play, but I subscribed to a service just so I can download the music and watch it while he plays. Ok, I admit it...I'm playing vicariously but the music takes on a new dimension when you try to follow it while he's playing! This is one of the best interpretations I've ever heard and I've heard this work of genius many times!

  • good

  • more indulgent than Kissin usually is, which is saying a lot -- wish he could keep some form of tempo just a bit more on this performance.

  • @lister1nePaz Yeah, he should have gone the whole hog and put on a steady drum beat to accompany, it I suppose? If you think this is too free, you really know nothing about Liszt

  • Hay demasiadas versiones muy calificadas para comparar, Arrau, Zimerman, Gilels, Richter, actuales como la de Berezovsky (virtuoso y notable interprete de Liszt). Algo que me llama la atención de esta versión (y de Kissin principalmente) es la articulación tan expresamente limpia 2:05 2:25

  • this is like a cross between a ridiculously elaborate, bastardised version of the pink panther theme and 'the entertainer' for a good deal of its running time.

  • khatia buniatishviliiis sonata mirchevniia gacilebit

  • perfect....... that hands ou u speed-----

  • 3:50-4:34 Amazing, All of it is but this really caught my attention.

  • HOLY CRAP

  • amo liszt!

  • another great performance is from yianni hallecker

  • Un-f**king-beleivable! This sets the marker for every pianist. The symbiosis of emotion and ration, two views of the same thing... Wow!

  • so epic!

  • Some parts remind me of the second movement of Alkan's Grande Sonate. But the Liszt seems to be a little more memorable, especially the first five minutes.

  • felina98v estas viendo esto? soy inge_melomano saludos

  • Clara thought Franz had lost his mind when she heard this sonata lol

    Greaqt Liszt performance!

    I like the one from Argerich and Richter as well

  • @quinto34 Clara? I think you're thinking of Schumann...

  • Yes, I ment Clara Schumann...

    in her diary (about Liszt his B minor sonata). It's just senseless noise - without any meaning, a total mess, there is no pure harmonic progress to find - - but I must thank him. Really too bad for words

  • WOW clara schumann is the best, and shes right ! this is a mess, she is the most amazing female pianist in the world :)<3 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  • @solrock220

    I saw her perform this piece and she really stunk up the joint!

  • @quinto34 honestly you have to be kidding this work is amazing. harmonic progress means a fat nothing if the music is worthless and invokes no emotions or feelings. I cannot remember who said it but "Music that we dislike is almost always music we do not fully understand." The B minor sonata is a wonderful piece of the standard piano rep for a reason, because it is amazing. If you do research you might find this piece has a deeper meaning you might want to start with the Faust Legend ;)

  • @bknight917 You misunderstood, I was quoting Clara Schumann, sorry if I wasn't clear.. I like this sonata a lot myself, especially when played by Argerich :)

    I disagree with the 'what you don't like you don't understand' idea though..

    There must be a personal connection with the music you hear, but this connection hasn't much to do with reason IMO, music goes straight to the heart, that's why it is a universal language..

  • @quinto34 Listen to Larrocha play this sonata. It is superb.

  • astonishing performance !

  • unforgettable perfomance.... Bravo Kissin....

  • this one has been dedicated to Schumann

  • this work parallel's Chopin's own B minor Sonata Op.58 and they are among the greatest achievements in piano literature

  • this is absolutely perfect!!!!

    kissin is the best!

    Ty.

  • i'm speechless. this is perfect!! i wish i could play like this!

  • une des plus belles pages de Liszt et des plus difficiles, fort bien interprétée

  • Parts of this remind me of the ending to Mahler's 8th symphony. Am I wrong?

  • this man understands what it means to play liszt

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  • if I could play any piece ever written...

  • Can anyone tell me where this video or DVD can be purchased? And not just where - but which CD/DVD - I've had a lot of trouble finding a list of the actual pieces he plays on his CDs.

    Thanks so much if you can help out-

    ~Z

  • Nothing better then Kissin's fro

  • he is talented, i can play, but not like him

  • how old is this guy that played this

  • Kissin was 27 at the time.

  • This Sonata is strangely attractive. I can't help but listen to Liszt. His vistuosity reflected upon his work is impeccable!

  • @Rachmanomaniac Indeed, and nobody has the touch to play Liszt as beautifully as Kissin either.

  • @Gibson29 heard of Steven Spooner?

  • @Gibson29 That would be your opinion. 

  • I've always liked how Kissin is a raw pianist; a little evil and beautiful all at once. It fits very well with the Sonata in my opinion.

  • this is legendary

  • i like yundi's interpretation just a bit more.

    my opinion! so plz dont start a whole argument, its not cool

    imagine argerich with this piece!

  • her recording of the liszt sonata has been uploaded here on youtube!

  • of course they despise it, because they HATE TO PRACTICE!

  • Don't jump all over me, it's just a thought. But does anyone think that sometimes Kissin gives his dynamic range up right up front, i.e. he plays at maximum volume early and often, and in doing so does not allow himself to save anything for the truly climactic moments.

    This is not meant to belittle a wonderful interpretation of a wonderful work. There is, however, always something to be critiqued in everyone's playing.

  • I've long thought kissin gets a little boomy from time to time. I suppose it behooves us to keep in mind that this was in 1998, when he was just in his 20s... perhaps he's tempered with age. But I don't follow him so closely anymore, so I shouldn't be talking.

  • Supreme Masterpiece

  • Where others might play the piano Mr. Kissin can play music . I have never heard this sonata played so preciously and musically idiosynchratic(ally). Thanx for the delightful video.

  • To think Brahms himself fell asleep to this! But, he was not a real admirer of Liszt's and vice-versa. A wonderful interpretation by Mr. Kissin as usual.

  • Maybe Brams feel asleep because the beaty lulled him to sleep! Lol, idk.

  • Yeah, I guess so. Lol

  • maybe brahms was jealous and spazzed out in pure envy :p

  • Doubt it. Agree with David. Brahms hated Liszt's music, and Liszt (as well as myself) hated Brahms's music. Personally I don't think Brahms composed anything that can compare with this sonata. As Argerich said, this sonata is the greatest work left to us by Liszt.

  • SUPERB interpreter! Tantalizing MUSIC!

    For those nothings who think they can, out of their sheer nothingness, criticize Liszt:

    Write out anything and let's wait to see if in 200 years anyone will be interested in listening to it!

  • This piece alone proves Liszt to not only to be a great composer, but a composer of very likely the greatest piece of piano literature, and even perhaps piece of music, of all time. Period.

  • I find hypocrisy in a pianist who asks why Liszt is such a great composer, while I should even ask why a manic-depressive suicidal named Chopin should also be considered mediocore.

  • What does his mental health have to do with his music?

  • It has to do with his personality.

  • Which still has nothing to do with his music.

  • no shit

  • So he can have manic depression and still be a great composer. Which he is.

  • but Liszt isn't...

  • How I see this argument:

    jasonextreme is an ignorant, arrogant, prick.

    PianoForteAndrew has weird taste in piano music (based off my own tastes, and I like Liszt).

    Jason is criticizing Andrew for having different tastes in music, pretty much.

    So, now, really, stop arguing. Holy shit. Arguing on YouTube can really make people feel retarded.

  • PianoForteAndrew: "listening to liszt is like eating cotton candy. some tastes good, but too much and it gets disgusting. greatest pianist, mediocre composer."

    Me: I think you should go kill yourself and never lay a finger on the keyboard ever again, you ignorant, arrogant, Prick.

    Good luck becoming a famous composer like him. Your gonna need it.

  • wow man...just wow...

  • The same goes for you too.

  • you're a cool guy. getting all worked up about someone not liking Liszt.

  • It is astounding that anyone can be so dumb as to declare that the composer of such a masterpiece is mediocre. No serious pianist would EVER make such a claim. Why should a mere commenter think of doing so.

  • There are very few works that equal this sonata in scope, beauty and logic of the architecture. I wonder how many critics of this piece have failed to see the amazing relationship between the various themes.

    The greatness of this piece can only be matched by Beethoven's op. 111, or the the Rach 3, Prokofiev no. 7 and Ravel's Gaspard.

    But considering all these great pieces, I see none that equal its architectural beauty. This is like the grandest of cathedrals.

  • the work was criticized by conservative critics, including Brahms, who slept when Liszt played the work for him. In my opinion, it is wonderful.

  • am i the only person who notices the fact that almost all really great musicians have crazy hair?

    =O maybe that's how they get their magic powers! they don't practice, they just pick up signals with their crazy hair!