Chopin Winter Wind Etude (age 8)

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Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition - Prize Winner Recital, New York City 2008. This is the most difficult piece Anna has worked on and the most risky to perform. The technical challenges are compounded by her small hand, which can barely reach an octave. Indeed, we had to change some of the fingerings, which makes the execution clumsy in a few places. For this performance, Anna found the piano action very stiff, and struggled at times to get clean articulation. Overall, we were very pleased with her effort. Let us know what you think!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Anna
• Larsen
• Chopin
• Etude
• Winter
• Wind
• Classical
• Piano

[eazygoingbloke]

Yeah - when you watch an adult perform it doesn't come with a label "This is Martha, age 62" or whatever. The age is COMPLETELY IRRELEVENT to the music.

Whether the child is 4...8...12...16...it tells you absolutely nothing unless the performance is musical.

Hate parents that always pushing their children forward just for the sake of it.

She's a clever girl (obviously). Now get over that fact please and give her the time to musically mature without pressure or adulation please!

[LarsenPiano]

@eazygoingbloke Well, I don't quite agree with that. Most people, myself included, go to absolute mush when we see Horowitz playing his famous Moscow homecoming recital when he was 90, or the Rubinstein videos, when he was 100. The age there is relevant and makes the performance more poignant than the same pieces in their prime.

[folkflutist]

I'm actually starting to get tired of all of these child prodigies and such. I'm not saying that she's not really good, or that she is a normal piano player or anything like that, she is very good, but I have yet to see someone like her that can attempt something of this caliber and keep emotion in it while successfully getting through, and still let the melody shine. I would rather hear something played with good technique and with mistakes, than something flashy with poor technique.

[LarsenPiano]

@folkflutist  I looked at your channel, you're 13 right?

[Vesivian]

How can you expect an 8 year old to understand Chopin's emotions?! Even Chopin himself didn't understand his emotions completely!

[LarsenPiano]

@Vesivian Yeah - lots of people pay thousands of dollars to therapists to try and understand their emotions! 

[mrpianist15]

@eazygoingbloke Hi . I want to say that age is not completely irrelevant to the music. I say this 'cause I'm 17 old and I play piano since 12 and I play better now than before. You don't know what you're saying , because it is a fact: the older a child is more musical perception it will! Unless you want a child like her, play it more than Horowitz or Rubinstein, which already do this for over 20 years, for sure!!!

Thx , mrpianist15.

[Peroo85]

SHE IS USING STEROIDS !!!

[vivvpprof]

@LarsenPiano Just as a matter of fact, Rubinstein never played when he was 100, since he died shortly before his 96th birthday, having went almost completely blind a few years previously :) Nevertheless, I do not agree with those claiming the girl is too young to learn this Etude, because the sooner you learn something, the more time this thing has to mature. Obviously she made a great job and no sane person is going to compare her to Cziffra...

[eazygoingbloke]

Tip - look at Benjamin Grosvenor's order of learning from age 11 to 18.

e.g. At 11: watch?v=3FJeOaRjZaE

Nothing too hard. Two scarlatti sonatas + The Lark by Balakirev. But emphasis is on musicality (because the pieces are within his grasp he can expand as musician. Playing at the limit of technique never allows that. it's empty).

e.g. At 18: watch?v=M5gAhVZx0pk

Britten Concerto at Proms. Absolutely remarkable performance. World class.

Good things come to those that wait...

[eazygoingbloke]

Oh yeah, and if you have the resources, get the best possible piano to learn on. Nothing worse than trying to learn a sparkling technique on a duff instrument.

PS I got loads of prizes for different things as a kid but nearly had a breakdown mid20s. Unless you do truly break through, the come down after too much early childhood adulation can be utterly crushing. You have been warned. I'm happy now, with science PhD, and performing piano as a much-loved hobby is cool. :-) x.

[eazygoingbloke]

PS ok could not resist one more thing. Articulation of touch seems to me to be what was most missing from this and other videos (not surprising since all her powers are dedicated to getting the right notes in the over-difficult pieces chosen).

You wouldn't put a 10 year old boy up against Usain Bolt in the 100m so why do so for a young pianist?

Which composers teach TOUCH the best.

1. Scarlatti!

2. Debussy. Remarkable ideas on dynamics and touch.

Awakens childhood imagination, too!!

[eazygoingbloke]

@LarsenPiano

Final advise. Please, please remember it doesn't matter if it takes her 8 - 10 years to master them. The point is not her age but whether she ever does master pieces to become virtuoso.

This is the kind of thing that can be learned very quietly, slowly, thoughtfully, privately, deeply. Music of course is complemented by life so you need the right "atmosphere" around the learning process (one of happiness, curiosity, encouragement, variety...).

k, All the best.

[eazygoingbloke]

@LarsenPiano

Concert pianism requires being able to maintain a substantial repertoire, which is built out of hundreds of "elements" of technique (combined in an infinity of combinations to give a complete repertoire).

Now would be a good age to start treating the matter scientifically & systematically e.g. via a complete Op10 Chopin Etudes, learnt in order from most to least manageable. In each, aim for the the most articulate, expressionate, flawless delivery, BEFORE moving on..!

[eazygoingbloke]

@LarsenPiano

PPS Actually the perfect study for her would be Op10 No5. It's delicate throughout and fits under the hands better. She could probably learn that one perfectly. Much better than learning the really bravura ones. Haven't her parents watched Shine lol?

[eazygoingbloke]

@LarsenPiano

And instead of thinking "what age can a child play X albeit slowly" think instead "what course of pieces would lead her to mature as a concert pianist at the right age to enter a career i.e. 16 - 20." If she's 8 now, she wouldn't need to be able to play Winter Wind (properly) for minimum 8 years more. It's one of the hardest studies. The force/intensity is much greater than her little hands will permit.

PS Rubenstein didn't make it to 100, but i take your point!