Cherkassky when asked about todays pianists replied: 'Everyone plays very well but you know what they are going to do - I like surprises.' His views on the whole are correct as young pianists entering competitions tend to play it safe. Anything away from a standard interpretation wouldn't go down well with the majority of the judges. I like to think of musical interpretation as being like speech. No two people talk alike. Sometimes we speak in a confiding way, we stress a syllable, our tone may go up or down, we may suddenly speak faster or slower. This adds interest to our conversations and it is the same with music. That's why a purist Urtext approach to music can be tasteful yet dull. It is too predictable.
I remember speaking to him at the Hotel Pierre in NYC and he asked me who I liked among the contemporary pianists and then he told me that he liked Argerich the best.
Do I love surprises too! I got them tonight over and over. A true master at work. I read once how he practiced very slowly and deep into the keys. He said with enough of that it made memorizing easy.
Shura Cherkassky is in my mind the greatest pianist of the 20th century, and leaves me in awe of his musicianship and artistry every time. I was extremely fortunate to hear him live once, and that would pave the way to my understanding and true appreciation of music to a level that I didn't know beforehand
Listened again to this historic recital; it's still MAGIC! Cherkassky knew how to handle the piano. He produced his own wonderful sound from each piano he played on.
I had the good fortune to meet this pianist many, many years ago. A powerful man with such faithfulness to the music he undertook to present. No affectation, no pianistic showmanship, simply deep feeling for the music and great artful honesty in offering it to us.
Yes he was most certainly one of the greatest pianist of the 20th century. A master of cantabile playing and like Horowitz (who Cherkassky adored alongside Josef Hofmann) a master of light and shade and colouring. His tone was always rich and deep with a full toned bass - non of your trebly right tinkling favoured by others. He could play everything from Baroque to Boulez and learned contemporary works even in his eighties.
“Deep w/ a full-toned bass- none of trebly right tinking favored by the others.” 😮 I noticed that as well. Thanks for bringing that one up! Though with that deep touch, his tone is also ‘floating’. I would liken his tone to an August Förster piano then!
Thanks very much for your comments. Let's hope that the more talented piano students can learn something from Shura's playing especially regarding tone quality and a personal communication of what lies behind the notes.
Cherkassky is the consummate musician. His genius is truly a wonder. But note what his total lack of any signs of physical stress on his face in even the most demanding passages will tell you. Like Hofmann, his entire body is always open and free, allowing him to express freely and without any physical impediment, his most intimate feelings.
This is why he was able to play a huge repertoire of pieces all his long life. He died aged 86 in 1995 and still playing modern works from memory. I don't know of any pianist who was able to play Rachmaninoff 3, Prokofiev 2, Tchaikovsky 1 & 2 etc in his eighties.
Just finished listening to this recital. I have always rated Sura as one of the most poetic of pianists and certainly one the greatest. These are monumental performances of these sublime works, which pierce the heart. I will certainly listen to this many more times.
what a wonderful little man .... I had the privilege of getting to know him when he would come to NYC for concerts and recitals. My best memory is the night he played his "pedagogical grandfather's (Anton Rubinstein) concerto in F with the NYPhil.
Yes - Anton Rubinstein, Josef Hofmann and then Shura Cherkassky. I recall hearing Cherkassky play the Rubinstein Concerto 4 in a BBC radio broadcast. He became very poplular in NYC late in his career. I agree he was a 'little man' but what a huge pianist and character. Adored his playing since I heard him play Tchaikovsky's second concerto in my teens.
A very great rendeering by the famous pianist SHURA CHERKASSKY. He rendered every detail with sensitivity within an approach making sensible the overarching architecture.
I remember, around age 14, in Edmonton, hearing this artist play the Tchaikovsky #2 with the ESO. It was my first exposure to that piece, and to Cherkassky. Heading backstage, I was surprised to see that he was shorter than I, and remember his warm handshake. We were lucky to get people like that playing for us live!
I am blown away by Mr. Churkassky's playing. I always have thought of him highly but for whatever reason his playing in this concert made me listen to these pieces I've heard hundreds of times over in a new light. What wonderful phrasing! I've never heard these pieces played quite like he does it. His tempo is perfect. He is reserved early and brings it on late for maximum effect. What marvelous playing! And those short stubby fingers! They take away all my excuses.:) Thank You for posting this. Best Regards.
This pianist is new to me, but bc of TH-cam and my love of keyboard music (organ, etc.) he showed up on my recommendations! His hand position is so different, but it obviously creates the beautiful sound he has. There are times YT drives me crazy, but I’m so grateful to have learned about Cherkassy and György Cziffra and Fou Ts’ong from the recommendations I’ve received. I watched one of the Allegro Films about Vladimir Ashkenazy and Daniel Barenboim (Mozart Double Concerto, I think) and saw the segment when they took an Asian man out to celebrate his birthday, but I was never able to figure out who he was until Ts’ong showed up in my recommendations! I now listen to so many pianists that I hardly pay attention to musth else, lol!
Thanks for uploading this beautiful recital by Cherkassky. His artistry was on a higher level than most. In this recital, he was at his best and I am so pleased this recital is now being shared with the world.
Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful live concerts of Cherkassky. I was fortunate to have been to practically all of his London recitals. In particular I remember his performance of the Kachaturian concerto and Rubinstein's 4th piano concerto. I actually had tickets for the Wigmore Hall recital which was cancelled due to illness - he died shortly after that. He never failed to create a wonderful world of sound and inspiration, a truly great artist! Very much missed.
Very individual and deeply felt interpretation, full of surprises which in some orthodox circles would be unacceptable, but it is this unpredictable element, lacking in many performances today, which keeps one hanging on to every note.
I would say Cherkassky was certainly at least one the dozen best pianists of the 20th Century, and for the last quarter of that past Century, perhaps one of the 3 or 4 best. Of course my opinion is subjective. Such a controlled variety of beautiful sound! Maybe age diminished, a little, his virtuosic side - I can clearly remember his Chopin 3rd Scherzo performed in 1962 - the coda like a demon. Similarly to Horowitz, his playing was always different each time for the same piece. He pierced all armor to, invariably, reach the heart.
+palmerplantagenet Yes, beauty of sound and variety of touch and tonal shading were essential to Cherkassky's art as it was to Horowitz. Also they could both produce an enormous volume of sound when required - and without banging. i agree that with age both Cherkassky and Horowitz lost some of their virtuosity but not the individuality of their performances.
Considering Mr. Cherkassky is almost 84 at this point and would be dead in 8 months, this is truly inspiring and technically superior playing. Individual interpretation aside, not that it is bad in any way, beautiful.
It is funny for me, I never care too much about Cherkassky. But I am listen too him more carefully, and he as, indeed, a phenomenal pianist with a golden, wonderful sound. I am discovering him, and he teaches me how too play the piano. Thanks, Maestro.
Glad to hear you are discovering the Cherkassky magic. He once said that 'today's pianists never think about sound.' Cantabile, light and shade and tone quality were essential to his art.
Russian bear hands too! Yes Shura always insisted on the importance of tone quality and a rich cantabile tone. He never liked the idea of teaching 'I might do them more harm than good,' he said in an interview but pianists and students can learn from listening and watching him play.
There are a lot of criticisms here of Shura not playing the dotted rhythms correctly or getting the tempo 'wrong' at such and such a point. But, my critical friends, you have missed the point. the point is the amazing sweep of the work as a whole. This is playing of an earlier time - less obsessed with tiny details and interested only in the work as a coherent whole. Shura was the last of the Romantics- a breed which is sorely missed in a world of today, a world where technocrat pianists become famous by wearing bikinis or f**k me shoes. Pianists who couldn't hold a candle to Shura. A performance like this is something to be experienced and wondered at.
Shura Cherkassky played many, many times in Amsterdam and I was lucky to visit his concerts every time he played here. His touch was wonderful and very special. This concert in Japan was in the year of his death, and in October of this year he appeared for the last time in our famous concerthall. I still remember this last concert as a great present!
THE most beautiful singing tone I've ever heard bar none. A great master of bringing out colorful inner voices, and subordinating secondary vices and accompaniment figurations almost to a whisper. His mastery of tone color is never less than spellbinding. In these particular performances, however, his rhythm seems a bit too erratic, which would be all right if only he hadn't clipped off the end of so many phrases -- particularly in the Chopin. Also his choice of tempi and the juxtaposition of varying speed between segments can seem downright jarring at times. The second movement of the Schumann lacked the kind of energy and firmly marching exuberance I've come to expect, but despite its eccentricities it never stopped being fascinating. Perhaps that's all that really matters, nest-ce-pas?
I really don't want to diminish Cherkasskys artistry at all. And yes, great pianists can make "any" piano sing. I also tell my students not to make themselves dependent on the quality of the piano. But we shouldn't forget that the instruments of our time can't compete with instruments of mid/end of the last century in terms of singing tone. Our instruments lose at almost all levels. So I don't think that we really can compare last century instruments with those from our time. Besides this is a recording and also in this matter I believe the sound asthetics of the sound engineers of the golden times could produce better recordings in terms of clarity and singing tone than sound engineers with modern recording equipment from today.
I have only just come across these performances and would like to thank you sincerely for them. Of course I have listened to this master's L.P. recordings in my collection. Cherkassky paid great attention to his piano sound, legato and pedalling. A very great pianist, and pretty much the last connection to an era of pianism which will never return. What wonderful, musical sounds he always made.
Thanks for your comments. I agree with everything you say. For Shura sound, tone quality and light and shade were essential to his performances. He always found something new to communicate in the pieces he played especially in 'live' recitals before enthusiastic audiences.
Shura's Chopin Fantasie is the most lovely and elegant I've ever heard, head and shoulders above any other interpretation. It's probably the single most Chopin work that usually sounds hackneyed and mundane, but not from Shura. This is absolutely scintillating and inspired and with that gorgeous tone and voicing. I believe this is the way Chopin intended it because Chopin was no hack.
In addition he played his own Prelude Pathetique, which he composed when he was 11 years old. And after that the played the Swan in an arrangement by Godowsky. A very difficult piece in order to bring out the melody. Cherkassky mastered this piece as no one else!
I'm "hard-pressed" to think of another pianist I've heard who is more communicative or speaking. I find his playing so lovely. Such a pleasure to listen to.
In the 1980s Shura was surprised to see Horowtiz in a box above the stage of London's Royal Festival Hall during his performance of Rachmaninoff's third piano concerto. How nerve racking is that?
I also attended many of his London recitals. Although I missed the Khachaturian concerto I have listened to a Japanese performance. I also enjoyed his recording of the Rubinstein 4th concerto and a 'live' broadcast of the work. Yes he is very much missed and we will never see his like again. I realised that there was something seriously wrong when he was indisposed for his December 1995 BBC lunchtime concert as Shura never cancelled concerts.
Moments ago, to my amazement, I realised that all this time I had never noticed the second "k" in Cherkassky's name and always until this point read it as "Cherkassy".
I think that must be the same recital that was issued by Ivory Classics. The sonata was Tchaikovsky's Grand Sonata in G major. One of the few pianists to play this work. As you know, Tchaikovsky's second piano concerto in G major was a regular staple of Shura's repertoire (I've uploaded a performance with Svetlanov from 1993 in Japan).
It's a pity that many Cherkassky videos are slightly out of sync. just enough so to lose the understanding of how exactly he creates those many-faceted colors by means of movements (which as a pianist I am immensely interested in) An easy workaround to see a synced version is to download the clip on clipconverter.cc, run it on VLC player and press the button "J" six times
So many of the oldsters and golden-agers are actually not that good, musically or technically, and especially in their dotage, but this is just wonderful in all respects --- such sound and shapeliness from such gruesome-appearing technique! Wow.
The concert pianist has a problem, in that despite his or hers great technique, they are limited by the lack of great pieces available to play. To develop a huge technique is far easier than to compose great music.
Disagree, i think there is an abundance of great works to play.. in fact theres plenty of hidden repertoire& more should be exposed....and this is done by more pianists playing these.. so it depends on people's taste and how it's delivered...Shura did a lot of this with great effect! Some critic once spoke of his playing as ' fusion of vitality and virtuosity...' So in short , not a problem but a challenge...
I've been comparing various renditions of the Chopin f minor fantasie for some time now, and this one was highly recommended. I'm sorry to say that I'm disappointed. I found the performance too "mannered", that is that choices in articulation or tempo made for their own sake, without consideration of internal cohesion that I could ascertain, and in some ways showing what seemed to me no clear understanding of Chopin's musical vocabulary. For example, in the chorale section, Cherassky chose a tempo and legato style appropriate for a "meditation", but what Chopin wrote was a hymn, and it should have been presented in a singable tempo, with clear phrases, as written. Then, to place a rubato in the middle of a cavalry march, which he did both times, made me feel like I was going to fall off my horse! I really didn't get some of his decisions to play extended passages detaché, except to show that he could. Different for different's sake does not make for excellent music, alas.
+jegraham440 i agree to a certain extant, however dont judge just based on this, this was played in a concert hall, to me the fantasie is a deeply personal work and studio recordings are much better(this is true for almost all non heroic late chopin (therefore of outer beauty, (not implying that the fantasie does not have the heroic element in places, but im talking of the heroic polonaise, polon.fan even though i love it to death)) so you should check out his studio recording, it although feels not "cared for" enough in places, is haunting and surely one of the bests, also, if you could, check out ptoir palecznys, though unorthodox, is unbelievably imaginative and one of my favourite interpretation of this chopin masterwork. i would not recommend the ballades however, they are one of the worst i ever heard apart from amateur intepretations
JEG-I would totally disagree. Different for differences' sake is what great performance and artistic endeavour are really all about. Think of Liszt, A. Rubinstein, Busoni, Michelangeli, Richter, Argerich. All themselves and no-one else.
Yes, of course great artists create their own styles and interpretation, but to be successful they have to make sense musically, but I don't think that this performance does make sense musically, for the reasons I stated above. Of course, that is just my opinion, and you are welcome to yours. Listen to what you enjoy! That's what's important. But it's still good to be open to different ideas--I'm glad I heard this, even if I don't particularly like it.
jegraham440 And indeed that is what all of us experience, I suppose. There are a whole group of "leading pianists" of today that I don't care for. But at the end of the day I suppose every person hears something different in the course of each performance. Many people enjoy their playing so that is what matters.
I know Cherkassky is held to be a pianistic god, but his Schumann here shows him to be all too mortal. Throughout, he has a tendency to ignore the actual rhythm whenever it suits, such as ironing out dotted rhythms and turning semiquavers into quavers, or vice versa. But I am delighted he's one of only two on TH-cam that recognise the notes from bar 58 to 60 are still triplets, not groups of four. The Im lebhaften Tempo afterwards isn't lively, but stodgy and muddled, and where the main theme returns is where he makes the first couple of numerous note mistakes to follow. Along the way, of course, much of his sheer class as a player does shine through, such as that wonderful tone quality and sense of line, and a perfectly weighted LH through the passage leading to the pause in bar 212. The Im Legendenton section is way too slow, and I prefer the An die ferne Geliebte quotes even more semplice than this, though again we're treated to that special tone. Perhaps I should kindly refrain from comment on the second movement, except to say that even Horowitz played several wrong notes in the Coda in his concert performance at a similar age. Perhaps Cherkassky was more ill at the time than was said, and was prevented from doing his usual amount of preparation. I note that he observes the LH chromatic crotchets which happen several times in the dotted sections (e.g. bar 29 - 30), which few others bring out. Though the start of the final movement appears dragging, actually I think he's about the only performer I've heard who has bothered to follow Schumann's direction. Whilst this movement is undoubtedly full of beautiful, expressive playing, I can't help feeling that Cherkassky takes Schumann's deleted title of Constellation for it as his basis for this reading. My view is that the real meaning is less mystical and all about fantasising about perfect love-making with the distant beloved Clara, which is why the ending is totally wrong. Cherkassky chooses to include accelerandi leading up to two climaxes, at bars 68 and 119, and seems to regard the whole Coda as the post-coital cigarette ! I see the Coda as the most precisely-drawn depiction of the male climax in any art form, and only Horowitz judges it to perfection, though Argerich is pretty convincing too ! The encores are beyond magnificent, especially his 'Swan song'. Thank you very much for uploading this memorable piece of film archive.
+colin crothers I shook those hands once when I was a youngster after attending his recital in Amsterdam. They were hairy indeed. But they made great music.
the tempo changes and irregularities is crazy especially in the beginning! That was horrible, it was too much and removed a lot of effect from the atmosphere of the atmosphere. after that part, he went in too fast, not how Chopin wrote it! he clearly could not control the passages after ,with the left hand being overwhelming, and he could not control the speed of the right to match the phrasing of the melodies. as for the dynamics, very static, even the technique was not flowing enough. ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL and an embarassemtn to the fantasise and piano itself. At his age and pedigree you would assume much much better
Holy cow, he plays op. 49 as if he were playing in a tavern... OMG, completely wrong rhythm, inaccuracies, plays legato the first two notes of the piece... -1/10
Cherkassky when asked about todays pianists replied: 'Everyone plays very well but you know what they are going to do - I like surprises.' His views on the whole are correct as young pianists entering competitions tend to play it safe. Anything away from a standard interpretation wouldn't go down well with the majority of the judges. I like to think of musical interpretation as being like speech. No two people talk alike. Sometimes we speak in a confiding way, we stress a syllable, our tone may go up or down, we may suddenly speak faster or slower. This adds interest to our conversations and it is the same with music. That's why a purist Urtext approach to music can be tasteful yet dull. It is too predictable.
Well said, my friend :)
I remember speaking to him at the Hotel Pierre in NYC and he asked me who I liked among the contemporary pianists and then he told me that he liked Argerich the best.
Do I love surprises too! I got them tonight over and over. A true master at work.
I read once how he practiced very slowly and deep into the keys. He said with enough of that it made memorizing easy.
this is an interesting thought! I would like to try it out.
Indeed.. never a truer word said!!
Shura Cherkassky is in my mind the greatest pianist of the 20th century, and leaves me in awe of his musicianship and artistry every time. I was extremely fortunate to hear him live once, and that would pave the way to my understanding and true appreciation of music to a level that I didn't know beforehand
Agree - one of the greatest ;-) . Also he was very underestimated. Lucky you that you heard him. I was not that fortunate.
Pete Ska thanks for your comment :) His musicianship and amazing touch draws you in that you are brought aware of every detail of the music
You are indeed lucky to have heard a legend.
I agree, he was amazing! there was such a palpable communicative element in his playing that simply held audiences spellbound.
d
この年の12月になくなってまうとは思っていませんでした。
彼こそホフマンとホロヴィッツの継承者でした。
予定調和的な演奏の対極にある、本来の偉大なピアニストだと思います。
Listened again to this historic recital; it's still MAGIC! Cherkassky knew how to handle the piano. He produced his own wonderful sound from each piano he played on.
He was one of the best among the greatest pianists. A genius of color, fantasy ... everything sounds new in his hands.
Yes, I totally agree and I hope that he won't become one of the forgotten pianists as he was never appreciated like Horowitz and others.
I definitely agree, also.
I had the good fortune to meet this pianist many, many years ago. A powerful man with such faithfulness to the music he undertook to present. No affectation, no pianistic showmanship, simply deep feeling for the music and great artful honesty in offering it to us.
CHOPIN:
00:26 Fantaisie op 49
SCHUMANN:
13:01 Fantaisie op 17
CHERKASSKY:
46:09 Prelude pathetique
SAINT-SAENS/GODOWSKY:
49:52 The swan
Yes he was most certainly one of the greatest pianist of the 20th century. A master of cantabile playing and like Horowitz (who Cherkassky adored alongside Josef Hofmann) a master of light and shade and colouring. His tone was always rich and deep with a full toned bass - non of your trebly right tinkling favoured by others. He could play everything from Baroque to Boulez and learned contemporary works even in his eighties.
wow, i did not know that he appreciated contemporary works too! What a great pianist! Thank you for sharing it
“Deep w/ a full-toned bass- none of trebly right tinking favored by the others.” 😮 I noticed that as well. Thanks for bringing that one up! Though with that deep touch, his tone is also ‘floating’. I would liken his tone to an August Förster piano then!
Thanks very much for your comments. Let's hope that the more talented piano students can learn something from Shura's playing especially regarding tone quality and a personal communication of what lies behind the notes.
Wonderful pianist❤️
Cherkassky is the consummate musician. His genius is truly a wonder. But note what his total lack of any signs of physical stress on his face in even the most demanding passages will tell you. Like Hofmann, his entire body is always open and free, allowing him to express freely and without any physical impediment, his most intimate feelings.
This is why he was able to play a huge repertoire of pieces all his long life. He died aged 86 in 1995 and still playing modern works from memory. I don't know of any pianist who was able to play Rachmaninoff 3, Prokofiev 2, Tchaikovsky 1 & 2 etc in his eighties.
Amazing beauty, one the greatest ever: what a touch...
Amazing. Round about 84 years! And what a great Fantasy in C. Delightful sensitive tone. I am deeply moved by this performance.
"Life is bearable at times." Thanks to such artists. Cheers, mr. Cherkassky.
Samuel Wildberg Yes, they remind us of what is beautiful in life.
Just finished listening to this recital. I have always rated Sura as one of the most poetic of pianists and certainly one the greatest. These are monumental performances of these sublime works, which pierce the heart. I will certainly listen to this many more times.
Never an ugly sound from the great much missed Cherkassky.
The unassuming shura....fusion of vitality and virtuosity
How great is the music and how great is the player !!!
It lives me in gratitude for both !!!!
Amen!
what a wonderful little man .... I had the privilege of getting to know him when he would come to NYC for concerts and recitals. My best memory is the night he played his "pedagogical grandfather's (Anton Rubinstein) concerto in F with the NYPhil.
Yes - Anton Rubinstein, Josef Hofmann and then Shura Cherkassky. I recall hearing Cherkassky play the Rubinstein Concerto 4 in a BBC radio broadcast. He became very poplular in NYC late in his career. I agree he was a 'little man' but what a huge pianist and character. Adored his playing since I heard him play Tchaikovsky's second concerto in my teens.
he played it marvelously with the NYPHIL
A very great rendeering by the famous pianist SHURA CHERKASSKY. He rendered every detail with sensitivity within an approach making sensible the overarching architecture.
I remember, around age 14, in Edmonton, hearing this artist play the Tchaikovsky #2 with the ESO. It was my first exposure to that piece, and to Cherkassky. Heading backstage, I was surprised to see that he was shorter than I, and remember his warm handshake. We were lucky to get people like that playing for us live!
I am blown away by Mr. Churkassky's playing. I always have thought of him highly but for whatever reason his playing in this concert made me listen to these pieces I've heard hundreds of times over in a new light. What wonderful phrasing! I've never heard these pieces played quite like he does it. His tempo is perfect. He is reserved early and brings it on late for maximum effect. What marvelous playing!
And those short stubby fingers! They take away all my excuses.:)
Thank You for posting this. Best Regards.
This pianist is new to me, but bc of TH-cam and my love of keyboard music (organ, etc.) he showed up on my recommendations! His hand position is so different, but it obviously creates the beautiful sound he has. There are times YT drives me crazy, but I’m so grateful to have learned about Cherkassy and György Cziffra and Fou Ts’ong from the recommendations I’ve received. I watched one of the Allegro Films about Vladimir Ashkenazy and Daniel Barenboim (Mozart Double Concerto, I think) and saw the segment when they took an Asian man out to celebrate his birthday, but I was never able to figure out who he was until Ts’ong showed up in my recommendations! I now listen to so many pianists that I hardly pay attention to musth else, lol!
That cantabile... And sensitivity... One of a handful of truly legendary pianists of the 20th century
この演奏会行きました。その色彩の豊かさに驚かされました。ピアノでの色彩感覚はこの時のチェルカスキーに教わったと思っています。レコードでもなかなかこの色彩感覚を捉えられた物は少ないです。
Thanks for uploading this beautiful recital by Cherkassky. His artistry was on a higher level than most. In this recital, he was at his best and I am so pleased this recital is now being shared with the world.
I listened to this performance on live.Especially moved with his gently embracing pianissimo.
Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful live concerts of Cherkassky. I was fortunate to have been to practically all of his London recitals. In particular I remember his performance of the Kachaturian concerto and Rubinstein's 4th piano concerto. I actually had tickets for the Wigmore Hall recital which was cancelled due to illness - he died shortly after that. He never failed to create a wonderful world of sound and inspiration, a truly great artist! Very much missed.
Very individual and deeply felt interpretation, full of surprises which in some orthodox circles would be unacceptable, but it is this unpredictable element, lacking in many performances today, which keeps one hanging on to every note.
Aftere he had gone there was a gap in the musical world which will never be filled in.
I would say Cherkassky was certainly at least one the dozen best pianists of the 20th Century, and for the last quarter of that past Century, perhaps one of the 3 or 4 best. Of course my opinion is subjective. Such a controlled variety of beautiful sound! Maybe age diminished, a little, his virtuosic side - I can clearly remember his Chopin 3rd Scherzo performed in 1962 - the coda like a demon. Similarly to Horowitz, his playing was always different each time for the same piece. He pierced all armor to, invariably, reach the heart.
+palmerplantagenet Yes, beauty of sound and variety of touch and tonal shading were essential to Cherkassky's art as it was to Horowitz. Also they could both produce an enormous volume of sound when required - and without banging. i agree that with age both Cherkassky and Horowitz lost some of their virtuosity but not the individuality of their performances.
Considering Mr. Cherkassky is almost 84 at this point and would be dead in 8 months, this is truly inspiring and technically superior playing. Individual interpretation aside, not that it is bad in any way, beautiful.
incredible
He was 85, almost 86
Yes I agree - always the most wonderful sound quality and voicing of parts. As you say - fascinating pedalling.
It is funny for me, I never care too much about Cherkassky. But I am listen too him more carefully, and he as, indeed, a phenomenal pianist with a golden, wonderful sound. I am discovering him, and he teaches me how too play the piano. Thanks, Maestro.
Glad to hear you are discovering the Cherkassky magic. He once said that 'today's pianists never think about sound.' Cantabile, light and shade and tone quality were essential to his art.
Well, it is true. Today pianists care more about speed and no mistakes that get a beautiful sound and experimentation with the pieces.
True, and the competition circuit doesn't favour 'interpretive' performances so contestants stay safe with standard playing.
At least Arcadi Volodos also has the same opinion and hates piano competitions.
Russian bear hands too! Yes Shura always insisted on the importance of tone quality and a rich cantabile tone. He never liked the idea of teaching 'I might do them more harm than good,' he said in an interview but pianists and students can learn from listening and watching him play.
There are a lot of criticisms here of Shura not playing the dotted rhythms correctly or getting the tempo 'wrong' at such and such a point. But, my critical friends, you have missed the point. the point is the amazing sweep of the work as a whole. This is playing of an earlier time - less obsessed with tiny details and interested only in the work as a coherent whole. Shura was the last of the Romantics- a breed which is sorely missed in a world of today, a world where technocrat pianists become famous by wearing bikinis or f**k me shoes. Pianists who couldn't hold a candle to Shura. A performance like this is something to be experienced and wondered at.
Exactly...
Shura's imagination, colour and sound is unique and truly great.
They is.
Shura Cherkassky played many, many times in Amsterdam and I was lucky to visit his concerts every time he played here. His touch was wonderful and very special. This concert in Japan was in the year of his death, and in October of this year he appeared for the last time in our famous concerthall. I still remember this last concert as a great present!
Yes - I agree. Cherkassky always seemed to find hidden details in every performance.
THE most beautiful singing tone I've ever heard bar none. A great master of bringing out colorful inner voices, and subordinating secondary vices and accompaniment figurations almost to a whisper. His mastery of tone color is never less than spellbinding. In these particular performances, however, his rhythm seems a bit too erratic, which would be all right if only he hadn't clipped off the end of so many phrases -- particularly in the Chopin. Also his choice of tempi and the juxtaposition of varying speed between segments can seem downright jarring at times. The second movement of the Schumann lacked the kind of energy and firmly marching exuberance I've come to expect, but despite its eccentricities it never stopped being fascinating. Perhaps that's all that really matters, nest-ce-pas?
I really don't want to diminish Cherkasskys artistry at all. And yes, great pianists can make "any" piano sing. I also tell my students not to make themselves dependent on the quality of the piano. But we shouldn't forget that the instruments of our time can't compete with instruments of mid/end of the last century in terms of singing tone. Our instruments lose at almost all levels. So I don't think that we really can compare last century instruments with those from our time. Besides this is a recording and also in this matter I believe the sound asthetics of the sound engineers of the golden times could produce better recordings in terms of clarity and singing tone than sound engineers with modern recording equipment from today.
Beautiful played, amazing!
Ah, when pianists could make such beautiful sound. His recording of the Chopin Preludes is still unsurpassed, in my opinion.
I have only just come across these performances and would like to thank you sincerely for them. Of course I have listened to this master's L.P. recordings in my collection. Cherkassky paid great attention to his piano sound, legato and pedalling. A very great pianist, and pretty much the last connection to an era of pianism which will never return. What wonderful, musical sounds he always made.
Thanks for your comments. I agree with everything you say. For Shura sound, tone quality and light and shade were essential to his performances. He always found something new to communicate in the pieces he played especially in 'live' recitals before enthusiastic audiences.
Thanks for this piano345. A truly wonderful recital, as were so many, by this great musician.
Shura's Chopin Fantasie is the most lovely and elegant I've ever heard, head and shoulders above any other interpretation. It's probably the single most Chopin work that usually sounds hackneyed and mundane, but not from Shura. This is absolutely scintillating and inspired and with that gorgeous tone and voicing. I believe this is the way Chopin intended it because Chopin was no hack.
I agree. It's the best performance I've heard too.
Before I heard him live, I didn't know that the piano could make such diverse colorful tones like kaleidoscope. I really miss him.
In addition he played his own Prelude Pathetique, which he composed when he was 11 years old. And after that the played the Swan in an arrangement by Godowsky. A very difficult piece in order to bring out the melody. Cherkassky mastered this piece as no one else!
PRECIOSOS / pianista, música e vídeo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for uploading this!
Grande Cherkassky!Quanti concerti a Roma al teatro Ghione!
I'm "hard-pressed" to think of another pianist I've heard who is more communicative or speaking. I find his playing so lovely. Such a pleasure to listen to.
Very true - he was a great artist and virtuoso.
MR HOROWITZ ONCE SAID THAT THE ONLY PIANIST HE WOULD THINK OF INVITING TO PLAY FOR HIM WOULD BE SHURA CHERKASSKY!!
In the 1980s Shura was surprised to see Horowtiz in a box above the stage of London's Royal Festival Hall during his performance of Rachmaninoff's third piano concerto. How nerve racking is that?
😊
I just copy the music sheet of Cherkassky's prelude and I'm going to learn it. Sounds charming.
Muchas gracias
werewolf hands, Angelic tone. Unbelievable tone!
Потрясающий пианист!
I also attended many of his London recitals. Although I missed the Khachaturian concerto I have listened to a Japanese performance. I also enjoyed his recording of the Rubinstein 4th concerto and a 'live' broadcast of the work. Yes he is very much missed and we will never see his like again. I realised that there was something seriously wrong when he was indisposed for his December 1995 BBC lunchtime concert as Shura never cancelled concerts.
Moments ago, to my amazement, I realised that all this time I had never noticed the second "k" in Cherkassky's name and always until this point read it as "Cherkassy".
+Gerbil Jim Read as Tchaikovsky and Cherkassky.
Amazing beautiful.
Mai sentito un pianista come Cherkasski !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think that must be the same recital that was issued by Ivory Classics. The sonata was Tchaikovsky's Grand Sonata in G major. One of the few pianists to play this work. As you know, Tchaikovsky's second piano concerto in G major was a regular staple of Shura's repertoire (I've uploaded a performance with Svetlanov from 1993 in Japan).
Très instructif
A true revelation
Michelangeli's version is the beautiful and great
Bravissimo. Grazie! ❤
It's a pity that many Cherkassky videos are slightly out of sync. just enough so to lose the understanding of how exactly he creates those many-faceted colors by means of movements (which as a pianist I am immensely interested in)
An easy workaround to see a synced version is to download the clip on clipconverter.cc, run it on VLC player and press the button "J" six times
Beware; clipconverter famously comes with a virus
Where did this recital occur?
So many of the oldsters and golden-agers are actually not that good, musically or technically, and especially in their dotage, but this is just wonderful in all respects --- such sound and shapeliness from such gruesome-appearing technique! Wow.
Maravilha, 12082018-Domingo-12:47hs.-
He could make music with the hair on the back of his hands.
Hello.Excuse me
Watch this videocarefully、out of sync sound.>
In 6 months from that recital he would be dead... just six months away from Eternity.
The concert pianist has a problem, in that despite his or hers great technique, they are limited by the lack of great pieces available to play.
To develop a huge technique is far easier than to compose great music.
Disagree, i think there is an abundance of great works to play.. in fact theres plenty of hidden repertoire& more should be exposed....and this is done by more pianists playing these.. so it depends on people's taste and how it's delivered...Shura did a lot of this with great effect! Some critic once spoke of his playing as ' fusion of vitality and virtuosity...'
So in short , not a problem but a challenge...
I've been comparing various renditions of the Chopin f minor fantasie for some time now, and this one was highly recommended. I'm sorry to say that I'm disappointed. I found the performance too "mannered", that is that choices in articulation or tempo made for their own sake, without consideration of internal cohesion that I could ascertain, and in some ways showing what seemed to me no clear understanding of Chopin's musical vocabulary. For example, in the chorale section, Cherassky chose a tempo and legato style appropriate for a "meditation", but what Chopin wrote was a hymn, and it should have been presented in a singable tempo, with clear phrases, as written. Then, to place a rubato in the middle of a cavalry march, which he did both times, made me feel like I was going to fall off my horse! I really didn't get some of his decisions to play extended passages detaché, except to show that he could. Different for different's sake does not make for excellent music, alas.
+jegraham440 i agree to a certain extant, however dont judge just based on this, this was played in a concert hall, to me the fantasie is a deeply personal work and studio recordings are much better(this is true for almost all non heroic late chopin (therefore of outer beauty, (not implying that the fantasie does not have the heroic element in places, but im talking of the heroic polonaise, polon.fan even though i love it to death)) so you should check out his studio recording, it although feels not "cared for" enough in places, is haunting and surely one of the bests, also, if you could, check out ptoir palecznys, though unorthodox, is unbelievably imaginative and one of my favourite interpretation of this chopin masterwork. i would not recommend the ballades however, they are one of the worst i ever heard apart from amateur intepretations
JEG-I would totally disagree. Different for differences' sake is what great performance and artistic endeavour are really all about. Think of Liszt, A. Rubinstein, Busoni, Michelangeli, Richter, Argerich. All themselves and no-one else.
Yes, of course great artists create their own styles and interpretation, but to be successful they have to make sense musically, but I don't think that this performance does make sense musically, for the reasons I stated above. Of course, that is just my opinion, and you are welcome to yours. Listen to what you enjoy! That's what's important. But it's still good to be open to different ideas--I'm glad I heard this, even if I don't particularly like it.
jegraham440 And indeed that is what all of us experience, I suppose. There are a whole group of "leading pianists" of today that I don't care for. But at the end of the day I suppose every person hears something different in the course of each performance. Many people enjoy their playing so that is what matters.
Reads like irrelevance for its own sake.
I know Cherkassky is held to be a pianistic god, but his Schumann here shows him to be all too mortal. Throughout, he has a tendency to ignore the actual rhythm whenever it suits, such as ironing out dotted rhythms and turning semiquavers into quavers, or vice versa. But I am delighted he's one of only two on TH-cam that recognise the notes from bar 58 to 60 are still triplets, not groups of four. The Im lebhaften Tempo afterwards isn't lively, but stodgy and muddled, and where the main theme returns is where he makes the first couple of numerous note mistakes to follow. Along the way, of course, much of his sheer class as a player does shine through, such as that wonderful tone quality and sense of line, and a perfectly weighted LH through the passage leading to the pause in bar 212. The Im Legendenton section is way too slow, and I prefer the An die ferne Geliebte quotes even more semplice than this, though again we're treated to that special tone. Perhaps I should kindly refrain from comment on the second movement, except to say that even Horowitz played several wrong notes in the Coda in his concert performance at a similar age. Perhaps Cherkassky was more ill at the time than was said, and was prevented from doing his usual amount of preparation. I note that he observes the LH chromatic crotchets which happen several times in the dotted sections (e.g. bar 29 - 30), which few others bring out. Though the start of the final movement appears dragging, actually I think he's about the only performer I've heard who has bothered to follow Schumann's direction. Whilst this movement is undoubtedly full of beautiful, expressive playing, I can't help feeling that Cherkassky takes Schumann's deleted title of Constellation for it as his basis for this reading. My view is that the real meaning is less mystical and all about fantasising about perfect love-making with the distant beloved Clara, which is why the ending is totally wrong. Cherkassky chooses to include accelerandi leading up to two climaxes, at bars 68 and 119, and seems to regard the whole Coda as the post-coital cigarette ! I see the Coda as the most precisely-drawn depiction of the male climax in any art form, and only Horowitz judges it to perfection, though Argerich is pretty convincing too ! The encores are beyond magnificent, especially his 'Swan song'. Thank you very much for uploading this memorable piece of film archive.
He was a great pianist and artist, but I think parts if the Chopin Ballade have too much sustaining pedal. ..
whats with the hairy hands
+colin crothers I shook those hands once when I was a youngster after attending his recital in Amsterdam. They were hairy indeed. But they made great music.
Frank Nijhoff lol
+colin crothers They produce a wonderful sound.
funklover24 true
+colin crothers I shook Rubinstein's as well, twice even. I was quite a handshaker when I was young. But most of those hands survived.
the tempo changes and irregularities is crazy especially in the beginning! That was horrible, it was too much and removed a lot of effect from the atmosphere of the atmosphere. after that part, he went in too fast, not how Chopin wrote it! he clearly could not control the passages after ,with the left hand being overwhelming, and he could not control the speed of the right to match the phrasing of the melodies. as for the dynamics, very static, even the technique was not flowing enough. ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL and an embarassemtn to the fantasise and piano itself. At his age and pedigree you would assume much much better
Who cares
Holy cow, he plays op. 49 as if he were playing in a tavern... OMG, completely wrong rhythm, inaccuracies, plays legato the first two notes of the piece... -1/10
@robert aroyo And all caps is for…? 😂