Marc-Andre Hamelin at the Grammys

Marc-Andre Hamelin at the Grammys, receiving his award for the Chopin-Godowsky Studies. The announcer needs a lesson in pronunciation...

Interview comments:

EI: You performance of the first Godowsky/Chopin study at the Grammys a couple of years ago must have been the first time Godowsky was heard on American TV.

MAH: It was also the first time that Jon Stewart announced Godowsky!

That was a very difficult situation because after playing one chord you want to jump back ten feet because its amplified a thousand-fold. And your first reaction is to tone down your playing. But wait a minute, Im playing for television, I dont want to sound like milquetoast, you know? So you just have to play normally, and wish you had earplugs. Youre just unleashing this torrent of sound...

The first number in the evening was Madonna's "Music," and I sure wish I had earplugs then. Im a traditionalist. Even if its like a feel-good sort of stomp or a headbanger, I want to hear the words. And theres no hope of hearing the words at that volume. The only rock concert I ever went to was Frank Zappa, You Are What You Is. That was in 81. It was at the Montreal Forum, and I didnt hear a single word. It was phenomenally earsplitting.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• grammys
• hamelin
• marc-andre
• piano
• godowsky
• chopin
• etude
• study

[Likeafoxow]

0:06

that idiot just insulted the raindrops prelude! thats one of chopins best!

[Theo333222111]

they don't know how lucky they are to be in his presence.

[georgie7777888]

@endofthecorridor I played for the PM...so don't assume anything honey

[endofthecorridor]

@georgie7777888 how about if you were playing it at the grammys?

[georgie7777888]

if i played with this many mistakes my dad would lead me to suicide

[utubuser10]

a godowsky transcrription always brings up the qustion in my mind, "what's the point?"

[peteseattle]

@anonymousQ45 I don't think that applause was weak at all! Great playing, but also lots of cheers!

[twooffour]

@Gibson29

Well, he (and most others) constantly makes mistakes in live performances of extremely difficult pieces ;)

[Eztoez]

playing classical at the grammys is like a slug on a rose. Chopin-Godowsky-Hamelin are too good for the Grammy cretins.

[xtfcr7]

@RomanianOrphansLOL Actually, the original isn't that hard with the right technique. But I agree about the Godowsky.

[Larousse27192]

Probably, it was more chords and armonic content in this single piece than in all the other pop music that won a grammy that day...

[cmautnerable]

As a pianist, I think there's no point in getting upset and pretentious over Jon Stewart's joke, hosting is stressful enough already...there is a point in getting upset over some of the "artists", with such shallow music, (not to diss the sincere pop musicians), who are paraded around as heroes at the grammys, while real musicians like hamelin are half-assedly tagged on the end