In this video, I wanted to show the more "romantic" aspect of Chopin etudes through pianists born in the 19th century. Robert Schumann had heard of Chopin playing the etudes, he described Opus 25. No. 1 as "A poem rather than a study". Mikuli, Chopin's pupils and assistant, summarizes Chopin's view of technique: "Chopin invented a completely new method of piano playing that permitted him to reduce technical exercises to a minimum." The pianists here mostly played the etudes not like a pure technical piece; they played like a Chopin piece with full tone, vocal phrasing, perfect legato, contrast structure, embellishments, individual approaches, spontaneity, gracefully, feelings... These etudes were aimed at some technical improvements, but Chopin's intention was not only technical mechanism development, it seems that he did it with his own aesthetic and Chopin saw technique as a tool. Alfred Cortot said: "Here's the miracle: every étude, while showing off the specific technical requirement systematically, also demonstrates that irrepressible desire for perfection with a melodic fertility and aesthetic sense which vibrate thru great works of art, poetic imagination always giving a sense of spontaneity." I agree with this view. It is clear that Chopin approached the piano technique differently from other names. Chopin completely forbade his students to overwork, Chopin's pupil Dubois said: "He feared above all. . . the abrutissement (stupefaction by overwork) the pupils. One day he heard me say that I practiced six hours a day. He became quite angry, and forbade me to practice more than three hours." or Mikuli: "He never tired of inculcating that the appropriate exercises are not merely mechanical but claim the intelligence and entire will of the pupil, so that a twentyfold or fortyfold repetition (even nowadays the worshipped arcanum of so many schools) does no good at all." We have dozens of such data. I don't think Chopin created etudes as basic mechanical exercises. As reported by Chopin's students, Chopin made various expressions in these works. For example, when Chopin heard his 3rd etude (Op. 10), he exclaimed: "0, my fatherland!". Chopin explained to one of his pupils the manner in which this study should be executed (For Etude op. 25/1): 'Imagine,' he said, "a little shepherd who takes refuge in a peaceful grotto from an approaching storm. In the distance rushes the wind and the rain, while the shepherd gently plays a melody on his flute." Such descriptions reinforce the claim that etudes are not mere studies. On playing Chopin's second etude (Op. 25), Schumann said: "So charming, dreamy, and soft that it could be the song of a sleeping child." Schumann, explaining that Chopin played Chopin's Opus 25 etude, stated that Chopin played his etudes softly, embellished and cantilena: "I have heard Chopin play most of them - and very much al a Chopin. . . Imagine an Aeolian harp capable of all sonorous levels, and an artist's hand Interpretation of Chopin's works animating it, adding here and there all kinds of fantastic embellishments, always, however, with a strong bass audible and, in the treble, a softly flowing cantilena, and you have some idea of his playing." So, in my view, Chopin was playing his etudes in a similar way to his other works. The teachers of many pianists featured in the video knew Chopin's playing. Some were trained directly by Chopin's students (Rosenthal, Cortot, Michalowski Risler, Koczalski, Pachmann). Some were students of Franz Liszt (Rosenthal, d'Albert, Sauer) or people who knew Liszt (Plante, Busoni, Pachmann), which Chopin had dedicated his etudes to Liszt, and Chopin admired Liszt's playing of the etudes. Contrary to urban legends, Francis Plante never saw Chopin (he said so in a letter), but he knew Chopin's friends (Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Liszt) and his students intimately. Theodor Leschetizky was the closest friend of Chopin's favorite student, Carl Filtsch; his students are also in this video: Ignaz Friedman,Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Mieczysław Horszowski, Mark Hambourg, Aline van Barentzen, Ignacy Tiegerman. Anton Rubinstein had heard of Chopin once, and Josef Hofmann and Josef Lhevinne associated with him are also here. The teachers of Wilhelm Backhaus, Robert Lortat, Guiomar Novaes and Heinrich Neuhaus also worked with people who knew Chopin (Backhaus's teacher d'Albert was a Liszt's pupil, Lortat's teacher Diemer was a Marmontel's pupil, Novaes's teacher Isidor Philipp was a Georges Mathias's pupil and Neuhaus's teacher Michalowski was a Mikuli's pupil). I don't mean to say that all these pianists play exactly like Chopin, but they are much closer to Chopin than the modern understanding of etudes.
Many many thanks for this and your other priceless videos! One minor but important question about your comments here: You write "Robert Schumann had heard of Chopin playing the etudes" and later you write "It is an urban legend that Francis Plante heard of Chopin...". In both these cases, I believe you mean "heard," which implies direct (first-hand) hearing of the playing, rather than "heard of," which means "knew second-hand via someone else's reporting."
Francis Plante was 89 when he recorded the 4th Chopin etude. I’ve never heard something so interesting to an interpretation than this. Very very interesting
I had to search for Francis Planté and read up about him to verify his birth year is real and not just a typo. He was indeed born in 1839 and was 89 years old when the recording was made. 😮
Great!! That's it! They don't rush to show techniques, they don't play the piano like percussion, they don't forget poetry. Really like you said, they play Chopin etudes like Chopin work.
not entirely true, Op 25 no1 was a simplification of the score (cheating but this is very common on this etude), Op 25 no 2 was rushed, Op 25 no 3, 4, 5 were great, Op 25 n 8 was executed with improper (simplified) articulation technique when it should be legato. Op 10 no 7 (Friedman) was rushed swallowing a good many notes in the process, totally unacceptable both musically and technically.
@@ericastier1646 I also find Friedman playing etudes too fast, but I thought a great Chopin piano performer like Friedman should be on the list and wanted to get it. But Friedman's waltz, mazurkas and nocturne recordings are more successful in my opinion.
@@OzanFabienGuvener Oh no doubt, Ozan you did well to include Friedman in the list to get the full range of pianists in those years. I don't remember which in this list were regular "students" at Liszt villa in Germany in his older days. I know Emil Sauer was but i think it must have been Friedmann whom Liszt was displeased with and said "i don't want to hear you showing off how fast you can play octaves but if your can evoke the cavalry charge that Chopin depicted in this etude". I am paraphrasing i don't remember the exact words but Liszt plastered Friedmann.
@@ericastier1646 the comment you are referring to comes from Lamond's BBC interview, but he does not state the culprit. There is no record of Friedman having had lessons with Liszt.
@@jorislejeune Nobody officially took lessons with Liszt, he refused to be called a teacher. These were gatherings of aspiring pianists under Liszt patriarchal guidance at his residence villa. This might be were masterclasses originated. Lachmund was not the only one who told stories there were others. In any case Friedman rushed technique is obvious.
Wonderful. You have captured in this collection of great "old school" pianists the primary reasons why I find so many of the current era to be shallow, bombastic bangers, overly fixated on technique. The old timers understood that technical proficiency is not an end in itself, and that it also requires interpretive excellence to achieve a truly great performance. Many thanks.
While Ozan Fabien did a great job - grazie mille because Italian is the language of music annotation - in this compilation and his introduction and pinned comment introduction, and in that provides historical context with these pianists whose names may have become meaningless to most, here's my version of similar context. I sorted pianists by year of birth and with each there is a hint of the importance of their musical network they grew up in, developed in, lived in. > Francis Planté. [1839, recorded at age 89]. Friend of Liszt. > Vladimir de Pachmann. [1848, recorded at age 64]. Father violinist had met with Van Beethoven and Weber. Studied with Bruckner. > Aleksander Michałowski. [1851, recorded at age 61]. Studied with Chopin's friend Moscheles. Befriended Chopin pupils Mikuli and Princess Marcelina Czartoryska-née Radziwiłł. > Ignacy Jan Paderewski. [1860, recorded at age ]. died in New York > Moriz Rosenthal. [1862, recorded at age 67]. Liszt's pupil. Died in New York > Emil von Sauer. [1862, recorded at age 78]. Liszt's pupil. Died in Vienna > Eugen d'Albert. [1864, recorded at age 46]. Liszt's pupil. Friend of Richard Strauss, Humperdinck. > Ferruccio Busoni. [1866, recorded at age 56]. Heard, and met with, Franz Liszt. Met with Brahms. Friend of Sibelius. > Édouard Risler. [1873, recorded at age 44]. Works dedicated to him by Chabrier and Granados. > Josef Hofmann. [1873, recorded at age 64]. Heard recitals by Von Bülow, Brahms and Rubinstein, and commented on their radically different playing. > Josef Lhévinne . [1874, recorded at age 61]. Live. Died in USA from heart attack. Graduated top of class that included Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. > Alfred Cortot. [1877, recorded at age 75]. Cousin of Varèse and pupil of Chopin pupil Decombes. > Ignaz Friedman. [1882, recorded at age 43]. Participated in Busoni's master classes. Admired by Rachmaninoff. Friedman's Chopin interpretations, especially mazurkas, considered by many unsurpassed. > Percy Grainger. [1882, recorded at age 46]. Friend of Delius and Grieg. > Wilhelm Backhaus. [1884, recorded at age 44]. Student of Eugen d'Albert whom he heard playing Brahms' Piano Concertos with Brahms directing himself. > Raoul Koczalski. [1884, recorded at age 64]. Studied with Chopin's favorite Polish student and assisttant Miuli, and with Anton Rubinstein. > Leo Sirota. [1885, recorded at age ]. Studied with Paderewski and Busoni. > Robert Lortat. [1885, recorded at age 46]. Admired by Fauré. Won prize from jury of Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Von Sauer, Rosenthal, Moszkowski, and Granados. > Arthur Rubinstein. [1887, recorded at age 72]. Studied with Barth who studied with Liszt, who studied with Czerny who studied with Van Beethoven. Played and met Saint-Saëns. > Benno Moiseiwitsch. [1890, recorded at age 37]. Rachmaninoff admired his playing and called him his "spiritual heir". > Mieczysław Horszowski. [1892, recorded at age 91]. Pupil first of his mother, who was pupil of Mikuli, who was pupil of Chopin. Pupil of Leschetizky who was pupil of Czerny who was pupil of Beethoven. > Ignacy Tiegerman. [1893, recorded at age 64]. Pupil of Leschetizky who was pupil of Czerny who was pupil of Beethoven. > Ms. Guiomar Novaes. [1895, recorded at age 58]. Won first place playing for a jury with Debussy, Fauré, Moszkowski, and Widor. > Wilhelm Kempff. [1895, recorded at age 80]. Pupil of Barth. > Ms. Aline van Barentzen. [1897, recorded at age 60]. Age 11, won 1st Prize at the Paris Conservatory piano competition (1909). Pupil of Barth and Von Dohnanyi. Surrounded by composers of the time, played Enesco, Poulenc, Messiaen, Roussel, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. As some of these pianists died in the 1939-1946 darkest period of history, I wondered if they had succumbed to its cruelties. Hence the mention of where they died - none of them. These pianists lived between 53 and 101 years with average 79 - seems relatively long for the age they were in. While most women did not live beyond 35 because of birth pregnancy/related complications, the lady pianists both turned 84. So its a healthy business :) , music.
I totally agree, mumps59. It is too easy to lose historic perspective and to slight geniuses from a an earlier era. . . less familiar to us. This set is instructive and artistry! Thank you, OzanFabienG!!
Ozan, this is astounding. Your channel deserves a review in the NY Times. What this video has done for me is to understand my own objections to the countless recordings of these works that are tedious and shallow. I strongly agree that these are more than technical proficiency drills, and would suggest that they may also be thought of as composition etudes; What can I do with a whole piece in thirds, octaves, chromaticism, off beats, and so on. These are the basics of music brought to the highest level.
Oh thank you so much for this wonderful compliment! The argument that this is also a kind of compositional study makes perfect sense. Indeed, all etudes involve completely different piano techniques, emotions and compositional techniques; It's like Chopin thought of them all together.
Horszowski is the only pianist I feel I've ever listened to who plays the rhythm correctly for Op. 25, No. 3. Definitely my favorite performer of that etude. Great taste and selection of interpretations!
Thank you very much, I feel the same. In fact, while preparing the video, I chose the alternatives of most recordings and made alternative lists that I changed their places; but that didn't apply to Horszowski :). Also, his recordings of Trois nouvelles études are beautiful and very convincing. I wish he had recorded all Chopin's etudies.
I'm practically embarrassed to be living in a time when it's possible for someone to catalogue and freely publish so much humanity like you are doing! Well done, and thanks for making this! Putting it on for my pre-sunrise stroll in. 🎧🚶
Love these. Thanks for compiling and posting. ps - I had the great fortune to hear Horszowski live at Curtis c1980 and Rubenstein at the S.F. Opera House in the 60's.
I also heard him in San Francisco at that time..... this etude is exceptional..how he phrases and that distinctive touch.... love them all..these artists.
Its incredibly interesting that of the pianists I haven't really heard of much (all of them except Cortot, Hambourg, Rubinstein, Busoni, Hofmann and Kempff), and even counting the ones of which I HAD heard of, the most interesting interpretations were all from ones born before 1870. I especially love Plante's 10/4, Pachmann's 10/12 and Sauer's 25/12. Great video!!
I definitely agree with you on your favourite performances, but would also include Lhevinne's op. 25 no. 11. I'd recommend listening to his op. 25 no. 6 too, because nothing else is like it in my opinion:)
Every time I click onto Ozan Fabien Guvener I'm mesmorised. What a joy these etudes are. So far, and I'm only a third of the way through, Cortot and Hambourg are my favourites. Many thanks to the uploader of genius.
And just one more word ..... thank you for giving us Rosenthal at the first place, for his pianissimo subito at 0:09 and 1:18,... ..... Ok, I know, ... everybody knows these two legendary moments, it's a common place for everyone. But it's always so fantastic ............ (and the photography ... !! .... the old lion looking at the beautiful gazelle on his side .......... )
The Dream Team ........ thank you. All of them, my revered masters, .... and when I was young, most of them were already dead, but I had the chance to hear some of them in my young years : Rubinstein, Horszowski .... and the others were already legends .... After them came they great followers, Horowitz, Richter, Katchen, Haskil, François, Lipatti, Stefan Askenase ... I could hear most of them live ........ such evenings ..... !! Sometimes I came back to my home completely wet in my clothes so it was intense .... Richter playing the Fourth Sonata of Scrjiabin ...hysteria, madness .... I can remember this just like the first time I kissed a women. And the electricity in the concert hall when Horowitz came on the stage before playing any note on the keyboard ...... What for a golden era ..... Inequaled emotion, elegance, noble phrasing, greatness of the messages, sheer and agressive beauty, every note a discovering, and hypnotic sonorities, pain, and sudden revelations ..... And today : I prefer not to comment, I would like to stay polite this evening. { you forgot Rosita Renard, I think ...}
Yes, unfortunately I remembered Rosita Renard after making the video, for some reason I thought she was born in the early 1900s. What a chance to hear the last masters of the golden age in live concert. Unfortunately, when I was younger, I didn't like the piano very much because of academic pianists. But pianists like Lipatti and Cortot opened my eyes...
@@OzanFabienGuvener Lipatti .... there is a photography with several women on the stage at a concert, just behind him, listening to every note with passionate eyes .... I don't know if women are the greatest "musicologists" on earth (but who cares, certainly not me, ... we need human beings today, not the f...... musicologists), but women can feel, they have this sense of emotion .... And Cortot, his hands were full of poetry, not of technique. Poor Kissin, poor Hamelin, the pianists of vacuum ........
I’m only 5 etudes in when I write this, but what strikes me is how sparing these pianists are with the use of pedal. Everything is so crisp and clean as a result. I think contemporary pianists rely on the pedal much more. I love Beatrice Rana’s recording of 25, but it is saturated in pedal.
I totally agree with you. Using the pedal a lot is beneficial for today's pianists, I think they abuse it because it reduces the technical requirement and makes it less risky. It is very difficult to use the pedal cautiously and play mostly legato. Chopin also forbids the pedal to his students until they master their finger techniques; because polyphony, separation of melodic lines, clarity and legato-based tone are very important for Chopin. And incorrect and excessive use of the pedal damages this structure. Using the pedal too much also suffocates the music. Debussy had a nice article on this subject. According to Debussy, Liszt used the pedal like breathing, never drowning it.
@@OzanFabienGuvener Debussy and Liszt also often drown in pedal. Regarding Chopin playing I had previously thought that Rubinstein and Arrau were outliers, but it turns out that they were actually the norm! Thanks again for this terrific compilation. Really instructive and enjoyable.
@@OzanFabienGuvener Also, most of these pianists are so contrapuntal compared to most of the contemporary pianists. I love Rana's Chopin because it is very contrapuntal, but her interpretation (putting the pedal aside) is completely within the norm here. So interesting.
Just listen to Rubinstein's phrasing was incredible... and that touch is so distinctive!!! Valuable! I also heard him in concert in San Francisco, Ca...
Thank you so much for this wonderful compilation. What a pleasure, and those photos. Great photos of the young Paderewski and Pachmann. Who knew that Pachmann was once young?🙂 The young Moiseiwitch too. A real work of love, and your notes too.
Ferrucio Busoni absolutely marvelous in Op 25 n 5. His tempo totally makes sense in every part. So sad that he didn't record the whole two sets. It seems there existed a trend for pianist to smoke cigaretts at the turn of the 20th century.
I can't thank you enough for this. I know the work of most of these pianists, but not all. And not all of the performances of this set of masterpieces of Chopin, e.g., d'Albert in 25/2. I am, by the way, a direct pianistic descendant of Busoni, having studied with his last student, Vladimir Padwa. Unfortunately, I don't play nearly as well as Busoni or Padwa 🙂
@@donaldallen1771 While listening to violinist Mischa Elman's recordings years ago, the pianist who accompanied him caught my attention, he was a very successful accompanist, but I had not heard of it before, I researched it, yes that person is your teacher Padwa :). Good to hear that from you! Busoni's Chopin recordings are also weird in my opinion, but somehow convincing and very beautiful!
While Plante is always playing slowly, it's very nice that it suddenly explodes in Coda, the surprise is awesome. I am not surprised by any record today. I used to think Paderewski was a little overrated, but it's great here, very soulful and well-sounded. Pachmann played this etude differently than anyone else, and I think it's beautiful.
Such a thoughtful and precious selection ❤️. I’d love to see a Part 2 containing performances that were left out of this one, as I’m sure choosing wasn’t easy!
Thank you very much, yes, I was very undecided on many points. Maybe I can make an alternative list or a similar concept as 20th century born pianists. Some of the pianists born in the 19th century who recorded the Chopin etude that I could not include in the video: Leopold Godowsky, Walter Gieseking, Egon Petri, Simon Barere, José Iturbi, Leff Pouishnoff, David Saperton, Dirk Schäfer, Mischa Levitzki, Jan Smeterlin, Alexander Goldenweiser, Wassily Sapellnikoff, Youra Guller, Leonid Kreutzer, Irene Scharrer, Harriet Cohen, Alexander Brailowsky, Zbigniew Drzewiecki, Michael Zadora, Nikolai Orloff, York Bowen, Ethel Leginska, Leah Effenbach, Edward Weiss...
We can only assume that Francis Planté knows what he’s doing and why. He obviously has the technique to play it as he wants it. When you let go of modern standards and just listen, it’s a very interesting interpretation. It takes on a different kind of life. Sudden tempo changes and [added] fermatas have a way of emphasizing statements that may well have been Chopin’s intentions, but exaggerated Ike crazy. I know one thing: it’s got me interested in working on that etude now, which I’ve avoided for a long time.
An anecdote about Françis Plante allow us to understand his spontaneous and unpredictable character: "And when it came to the ‘unexpected,’“ Vincent D’Indy, French composer- conductor and head of the Schola Cantorum reminisced to me, “you most certainly could count on Planté. I admired him greatly and a number of times conducted concertos for him, though I must confess that I was always a bit nervous when I worked with him because, as I just said, Planté delighted in doing the most unpredictable things.” “For example?” I asked. “I remember one such occasion,” D’Indy complied, “when I was conducting for him in Bordeaux. It was a concerto to which someone had appended a long, oh, extremely long, cadenza. Vous me suivez, n’est-ce pas? Très bien alors, just before the end of the cadenza I made ready, as the custom is, to signal the orchestra to come in, when, to my and everybody’s amazement, Planté ignored the signal and repeated the cadenza from first note to last, when he allowed the orchestra to take over. The performance brought him an ovation. After the concert - the green room was packed with his admirers - I ever so gently chided Planté for his petite manque de memoire in the concerto. ‘Lapse of memory,’ he chuckled, ‘who ever heard such nonsense? I never forget a note, cher ami, which you know as well as I. But the way in which I played that cadenza was so utterly enchanting, I simply could not resist the temptation to repeat it!’“
From the sound you hear for each performance you can clearly see which of them are actual recordings and which are piano-roll recorded by the artist on the piano and later reproduced and recorded. The problem with the latter is that you cannot be sure of the actual tempo of the recording (pianola's can be set at different tempos with respect to the recorded one). In some cases also dynamics and pedals were added by hand on the roll by a technician. Great compilation, though. Thank you.
The theory that "it was played slowly in the past" has no basis in reality. Composers' metronome values are also written. There is also a recording of a very important violinist named Joseph Joachim, who was born in 1833 and was closely acquainted with composers such as Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Berlioz and Brahms. Additionally, a claim of "pseudo" musicologists is this: "The recordings had a limited time, they were playing faster than that." It's very simple to prove this wrong: Piano rolls with no time constraints. There are high tempos there too. Rolls of Carl Reinecke, who was born in 1824 and admired by many composers, are also available, they are pretty fast by today's standards.
@@OzanFabienGuvener I agree with you completely. As far as I have been able to see people were playing faster than today if anything. It is unfortunate that there are youtubers putting forward the theory that tempi in the past were slower. I don't know if you know who I am referring to, but I certainly think their ideas are very misleading.
I know a few TH-camrs who claim this (for example Wim Winters), but there are probably many more. They are really misleading people. @@charityshopguitar8790
Thank you. I've been listening to pianists for years, so I don't specifically discover and acquire them for video; I usually make the video with the recordings I have heard and have. I have full recording albums and records of some pianists; but a few recordings were not published, for example I got Lhevinne's concert recording and Horszowski's recording from other TH-cam channels :).
I wonder how much of Plante's performance was due to age, and how much was due to 19th Century musical sensibilities. He plays it in a very interesting way, like an argument complete with slamming doors and thrown dinner plates. It's much more theatrical, if a bit uneven. It's an eccentric take of the etude, but it has certain elements that I find to be very effective.
@@peter5.056 If you search his name, you'll find the 23-minute video of his playing on TH-cam. It's definitely very interesting for the historical record. They aren't great, as it's made with 1920s recording technology, and Planté is playing pieces you'd think would be beyond the technical ability of a pianist nearly 90 years old. And he does it at the "first sitting" without any editing.
Yes, he is very old, but Plante always had an unexpected and spontaneous movement. An anecdote: “And when it came to the ‘unexpected,’“ Vincent D’Indy, French composer- conductor and head of the Schola Cantorum reminisced to me, “you most certainly could count on Planté. I admired him greatly and a number of times conducted concertos for him, though I must confess that I was always a bit nervous when I worked with him because, as I just said, Planté delighted in doing the most unpredictable things.” “For example?” I asked. “I remember one such occasion,” D’Indy complied, “when I was conducting for him in Bordeaux. It was a concerto to which someone had appended a long, oh, extremely long, cadenza. Vous me suivez, n’est-ce pas? Très bien alors, just before the end of the cadenza I made ready, as the custom is, to signal the orchestra to come in, when, to my and everybody’s amazement, Planté ignored the signal and repeated the cadenza from first note to last, when he allowed the orchestra to take over. The performance brought him an ovation. After the concert - the green room was packed with his admirers - I ever so gently chided Planté for his petite manque de memoire in the concerto. ‘Lapse of memory,’ he chuckled, ‘who ever heard such nonsense? I never forget a note, cher ami, which you know as well as I. But the way in which I played that cadenza was so utterly enchanting, I simply could not resist the temptation to repeat it!’“
The future will get you there where you love being with your heart and feelings, in this life. I know that i will soon be with the young liszt, rachmaninov and chopin and schubert and we will all be even better than last time. Cause we know now what we can do better this time. See you and Thanks for the magic time travel music.
Lortat Sixth Etude! Raul Sunshine Etude! Also Cortot and Hoffman play so well too! A lot to be learned from this kind of playing, this is not piano playing! This is art.
Can anyone explain to me how it would be possible to play Op. 10, No. 3 without intense feeling? It cries out for passion. Simply cannot imagine treating it as only a study in technique.
I think the title “Etude” give these pieces a different description of what they really are. The Chopin etudes are not studies. They are full pieces that utilize one or two main techniques.
I agree. But interestingly Emil von Sauer plays it like a pure study, especially the middle section and it's not bad. But it still wouldn't be my choice.
Listening to these much over time- there is some desired difference between 19th and 20th century playing, as a whole -> pianists don't play like this anymore, and the exceptions are the championed What's more remarkable is that many of these pianists were...experienced, heh - and so, what we have in some sense is concentrated musicianship > they well may have played these same pieces differently in their rising years as time tends to allow artists to make subtle beautiful changes, at a glaciers pace...
My hypothesis is that there was a lot more variety and originality in interpretation back in the 19th century, when there were no CDs, no LPs, artists who lived far away from each other didn't really listened to each other, so they all played in a style according to their own tastes. When recordings became widely available, people just copied from each other, and there became a convergence in style and technique, to the point where someone who is more eccentric and plays differently gets rejected by the public because their performance doesn't fulfill expectations. Maybe it was a more interesting world 100 years ago before we all became interconnected.
I had it verified by the official institutions of Poland (Polskie Radio, Archiwa Panstwowe) and I think it looks pretty similar to Rosenthal. audiovis.nac.gov.pl/obraz/183683/ www.polskieradio.pl/377/9357/Artykul/2999323
It was actually my first choice for video, Op. No. 25 At 11 there was also Cortot's 1923 record. But then I wanted to use the lesser known live recording of Lhevinne.
Two more. Raoul Pugno 1852 - 1914 and Xaver Scharwenka 1950 - 1924. Here they are th-cam.com/video/tkTzA2rqAfE/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/7N5D1IZVoBI/w-d-xo.html
In this video, I wanted to show the more "romantic" aspect of Chopin etudes through pianists born in the 19th century. Robert Schumann had heard of Chopin playing the etudes, he described Opus 25. No. 1 as "A poem rather than a study". Mikuli, Chopin's pupils and assistant, summarizes Chopin's view of technique: "Chopin invented a completely new method of piano playing that permitted him to reduce technical exercises to a minimum."
The pianists here mostly played the etudes not like a pure technical piece; they played like a Chopin piece with full tone, vocal phrasing, perfect legato, contrast structure, embellishments, individual approaches, spontaneity, gracefully, feelings... These etudes were aimed at some technical improvements, but Chopin's intention was not only technical mechanism development, it seems that he did it with his own aesthetic and Chopin saw technique as a tool. Alfred Cortot said: "Here's the miracle: every étude, while showing off the specific technical requirement systematically, also demonstrates that irrepressible desire for perfection with a melodic fertility and aesthetic sense which vibrate thru great works of art, poetic imagination always giving a sense of spontaneity."
I agree with this view. It is clear that Chopin approached the piano technique differently from other names. Chopin completely forbade his students to overwork, Chopin's pupil Dubois said: "He feared above all. . . the abrutissement (stupefaction by overwork) the pupils. One day he heard me say that I practiced six hours a day. He became quite angry, and forbade me to practice more than three hours." or Mikuli: "He never tired of inculcating that the appropriate exercises are not merely mechanical but claim the intelligence and entire will of the pupil, so that a twentyfold or fortyfold repetition (even nowadays the worshipped arcanum of so many schools) does no good at all."
We have dozens of such data. I don't think Chopin created etudes as basic mechanical exercises. As reported by Chopin's students, Chopin made various expressions in these works. For example, when Chopin heard his 3rd etude (Op. 10), he exclaimed: "0, my fatherland!". Chopin explained to one of his pupils the manner in which this study should be executed (For Etude op. 25/1): 'Imagine,' he said, "a little shepherd who takes refuge in a peaceful grotto from an approaching storm. In the distance rushes the wind and the rain, while the shepherd gently plays a melody on his flute." Such descriptions reinforce the claim that etudes are not mere studies.
On playing Chopin's second etude (Op. 25), Schumann said: "So charming, dreamy, and soft that it could be the song of a sleeping child." Schumann, explaining that Chopin played Chopin's Opus 25 etude, stated that Chopin played his etudes softly, embellished and cantilena: "I have heard Chopin play most of them - and very much al a Chopin. . . Imagine an Aeolian harp capable of all sonorous levels, and an artist's hand Interpretation of Chopin's works animating it, adding here and there all kinds of fantastic embellishments, always, however, with a strong bass audible and, in the treble, a softly flowing cantilena, and you have some idea of his playing."
So, in my view, Chopin was playing his etudes in a similar way to his other works.
The teachers of many pianists featured in the video knew Chopin's playing. Some were trained directly by Chopin's students (Rosenthal, Cortot, Michalowski Risler, Koczalski, Pachmann). Some were students of Franz Liszt (Rosenthal, d'Albert, Sauer) or people who knew Liszt (Plante, Busoni, Pachmann), which Chopin had dedicated his etudes to Liszt, and Chopin admired Liszt's playing of the etudes. Contrary to urban legends, Francis Plante never saw Chopin (he said so in a letter), but he knew Chopin's friends (Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Liszt) and his students intimately. Theodor Leschetizky was the closest friend of Chopin's favorite student, Carl Filtsch; his students are also in this video: Ignaz Friedman,Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Mieczysław Horszowski, Mark Hambourg, Aline van Barentzen, Ignacy Tiegerman. Anton Rubinstein had heard of Chopin once, and Josef Hofmann and Josef Lhevinne associated with him are also here. The teachers of Wilhelm Backhaus, Robert Lortat, Guiomar Novaes and Heinrich Neuhaus also worked with people who knew Chopin (Backhaus's teacher d'Albert was a Liszt's pupil, Lortat's teacher Diemer was a Marmontel's pupil, Novaes's teacher Isidor Philipp was a Georges Mathias's pupil and Neuhaus's teacher Michalowski was a Mikuli's pupil).
I don't mean to say that all these pianists play exactly like Chopin, but they are much closer to Chopin than the modern understanding of etudes.
I admire the amount of research you put into these videos. Thank you.
Again and again: thanks a lot for the possibility to listen to the poets and not to the countless robots.
🙏🙏🙏
@@user-po1uk2of6g Thank you!
Thanks, thanks and thanks for this, I admire you for your work about Chopin. 🙏💗
Many many thanks for this and your other priceless videos! One minor but important question about your comments here: You write "Robert Schumann had heard of Chopin playing the etudes" and later you write "It is an urban legend that Francis Plante heard of Chopin...". In both these cases, I believe you mean "heard," which implies direct (first-hand) hearing of the playing, rather than "heard of," which means "knew second-hand via someone else's reporting."
Francis Plante was 89 when he recorded the 4th Chopin etude. I’ve never heard something so interesting to an interpretation than this. Very very interesting
Chopin was still alive when he was born omg
I had to search for Francis Planté and read up about him to verify his birth year is real and not just a typo. He was indeed born in 1839 and was 89 years old when the recording was made. 😮
@@gederkhrisalensleonidovitz3145 He was 10 y/o when Chopin died and that just blows my mind
Interessantissimo infatti!
Horzowsky was also 91 when he recorded op 25 no 3. And he lived to see 100...
Great!! That's it! They don't rush to show techniques, they don't play the piano like percussion, they don't forget poetry. Really like you said, they play Chopin etudes like Chopin work.
not entirely true, Op 25 no1 was a simplification of the score (cheating but this is very common on this etude), Op 25 no 2 was rushed, Op 25 no 3, 4, 5 were great, Op 25 n 8 was executed with improper (simplified) articulation technique when it should be legato. Op 10 no 7 (Friedman) was rushed swallowing a good many notes in the process, totally unacceptable both musically and technically.
@@ericastier1646 I also find Friedman playing etudes too fast, but I thought a great Chopin piano performer like Friedman should be on the list and wanted to get it. But Friedman's waltz, mazurkas and nocturne recordings are more successful in my opinion.
@@OzanFabienGuvener Oh no doubt, Ozan you did well to include Friedman in the list to get the full range of pianists in those years. I don't remember which in this list were regular "students" at Liszt villa in Germany in his older days. I know Emil Sauer was but i think it must have been Friedmann whom Liszt was displeased with and said "i don't want to hear you showing off how fast you can play octaves but if your can evoke the cavalry charge that Chopin depicted in this etude". I am paraphrasing i don't remember the exact words but Liszt plastered Friedmann.
@@ericastier1646 the comment you are referring to comes from Lamond's BBC interview, but he does not state the culprit. There is no record of Friedman having had lessons with Liszt.
@@jorislejeune Nobody officially took lessons with Liszt, he refused to be called a teacher. These were gatherings of aspiring pianists under Liszt patriarchal guidance at his residence villa. This might be were masterclasses originated. Lachmund was not the only one who told stories there were others. In any case Friedman rushed technique is obvious.
Wonderful. You have captured in this collection of great "old school" pianists the primary reasons why I find so many of the current era to be shallow, bombastic bangers, overly fixated on technique. The old timers understood that technical proficiency is not an end in itself, and that it also requires interpretive excellence to achieve a truly great performance. Many thanks.
Thank you very much for your comment too!
No llegaban a México. 🙋🤩👏👏👏👏👏👏🎶🎶🎶🎶
While Ozan Fabien did a great job - grazie mille because Italian is the language of music annotation - in this compilation and his introduction and pinned comment introduction, and in that provides historical context with these pianists whose names may have become meaningless to most, here's my version of similar context.
I sorted pianists by year of birth and with each there is a hint of the importance of their musical network they grew up in, developed in, lived in.
> Francis Planté. [1839, recorded at age 89]. Friend of Liszt.
> Vladimir de Pachmann. [1848, recorded at age 64]. Father violinist had met with Van Beethoven and Weber. Studied with Bruckner.
> Aleksander Michałowski. [1851, recorded at age 61]. Studied with Chopin's friend Moscheles. Befriended Chopin pupils Mikuli and Princess Marcelina Czartoryska-née Radziwiłł.
> Ignacy Jan Paderewski. [1860, recorded at age ]. died in New York
> Moriz Rosenthal. [1862, recorded at age 67]. Liszt's pupil. Died in New York
> Emil von Sauer. [1862, recorded at age 78]. Liszt's pupil. Died in Vienna
> Eugen d'Albert. [1864, recorded at age 46]. Liszt's pupil. Friend of Richard Strauss, Humperdinck.
> Ferruccio Busoni. [1866, recorded at age 56]. Heard, and met with, Franz Liszt. Met with Brahms. Friend of Sibelius.
> Édouard Risler. [1873, recorded at age 44]. Works dedicated to him by Chabrier and Granados.
> Josef Hofmann. [1873, recorded at age 64]. Heard recitals by Von Bülow, Brahms and Rubinstein, and commented on their radically different playing.
> Josef Lhévinne . [1874, recorded at age 61]. Live. Died in USA from heart attack. Graduated top of class that included Rachmaninoff and Scriabin.
> Alfred Cortot. [1877, recorded at age 75]. Cousin of Varèse and pupil of Chopin pupil Decombes.
> Ignaz Friedman. [1882, recorded at age 43]. Participated in Busoni's master classes. Admired by Rachmaninoff. Friedman's Chopin interpretations, especially mazurkas, considered by many unsurpassed.
> Percy Grainger. [1882, recorded at age 46]. Friend of Delius and Grieg.
> Wilhelm Backhaus. [1884, recorded at age 44]. Student of Eugen d'Albert whom he heard playing Brahms' Piano Concertos with Brahms directing himself.
> Raoul Koczalski. [1884, recorded at age 64]. Studied with Chopin's favorite Polish student and assisttant Miuli, and with Anton Rubinstein.
> Leo Sirota. [1885, recorded at age ]. Studied with Paderewski and Busoni.
> Robert Lortat. [1885, recorded at age 46]. Admired by Fauré. Won prize from jury of Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Von Sauer, Rosenthal, Moszkowski, and Granados.
> Arthur Rubinstein. [1887, recorded at age 72]. Studied with Barth who studied with Liszt, who studied with Czerny who studied with Van Beethoven. Played and met Saint-Saëns.
> Benno Moiseiwitsch. [1890, recorded at age 37]. Rachmaninoff admired his playing and called him his "spiritual heir".
> Mieczysław Horszowski. [1892, recorded at age 91]. Pupil first of his mother, who was pupil of Mikuli, who was pupil of Chopin. Pupil of Leschetizky who was pupil of Czerny who was pupil of Beethoven.
> Ignacy Tiegerman. [1893, recorded at age 64]. Pupil of Leschetizky who was pupil of Czerny who was pupil of Beethoven.
> Ms. Guiomar Novaes. [1895, recorded at age 58]. Won first place playing for a jury with Debussy, Fauré, Moszkowski, and Widor.
> Wilhelm Kempff. [1895, recorded at age 80]. Pupil of Barth.
> Ms. Aline van Barentzen. [1897, recorded at age 60]. Age 11, won 1st Prize at the Paris Conservatory piano competition (1909). Pupil of Barth and Von Dohnanyi. Surrounded by composers of the time, played Enesco, Poulenc, Messiaen, Roussel, and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
As some of these pianists died in the 1939-1946 darkest period of history, I wondered if they had succumbed to its cruelties. Hence the mention of where they died - none of them. These pianists lived between 53 and 101 years with average 79 - seems relatively long for the age they were in. While most women did not live beyond 35 because of birth pregnancy/related complications, the lady pianists both turned 84.
So its a healthy business :) , music.
Oh you made a very informative compilation, thank you very much! I had forgotten that Horszowski's mother was working with a pupil of Chopin.
Thanks for this research.
Spechless... Poems to my ears. How great! Your efforts deserve more, cheers
Thank you!
Unbelievable. This may be one of the most valuable single piano-related posts on TH-cam...thank you for posting!
Thank you very much!
I totally agree, mumps59. It is too easy to lose historic perspective and to slight geniuses from a an earlier era. . . less familiar to us. This set is instructive and artistry! Thank you, OzanFabienG!!
Rubinstein played the 9th etude like I never heard before, so poetic. Such a shame he didn’t record more etudes. Thanks for that list🙏
Ozan, this is astounding. Your channel deserves a review in the NY Times. What this video has done for me is to understand my own objections to the countless recordings of these works that are tedious and shallow. I strongly agree that these are more than technical proficiency drills, and would suggest that they may also be thought of as composition etudes; What can I do with a whole piece in thirds, octaves, chromaticism, off beats, and so on. These are the basics of music brought to the highest level.
Oh thank you so much for this wonderful compliment! The argument that this is also a kind of compositional study makes perfect sense. Indeed, all etudes involve completely different piano techniques, emotions and compositional techniques; It's like Chopin thought of them all together.
Horszowski is the only pianist I feel I've ever listened to who plays the rhythm correctly for Op. 25, No. 3. Definitely my favorite performer of that etude. Great taste and selection of interpretations!
Thank you very much, I feel the same. In fact, while preparing the video, I chose the alternatives of most recordings and made alternative lists that I changed their places; but that didn't apply to Horszowski :). Also, his recordings of Trois nouvelles études are beautiful and very convincing. I wish he had recorded all Chopin's etudies.
I'm practically embarrassed to be living in a time when it's possible for someone to catalogue and freely publish so much humanity like you are doing! Well done, and thanks for making this! Putting it on for my pre-sunrise stroll in. 🎧🚶
Thank you Mr Guvener. These are keepsakes and a thread to Chopin's music in his own time. Organic and so beautiful. It all feels like yesterday.
Love these. Thanks for compiling and posting. ps - I had the great fortune to hear Horszowski live at Curtis c1980 and Rubenstein at the S.F. Opera House in the 60's.
I also heard him in San Francisco at that time..... this etude is exceptional..how he phrases and that distinctive touch.... love them all..these artists.
These performances of earlier times seem to be more musicologically sophisticated - yet also more heartfelt - more moving - than modern performances.
Also listen to old violin playing such as Joachim’s 1903 Hungarian Dances 1 and 2 recordings. In another league compared to modern performers.
Its incredibly interesting that of the pianists I haven't really heard of much (all of them except Cortot, Hambourg, Rubinstein, Busoni, Hofmann and Kempff), and even counting the ones of which I HAD heard of, the most interesting interpretations were all from ones born before 1870. I especially love Plante's 10/4, Pachmann's 10/12 and Sauer's 25/12. Great video!!
Pianists born before 1870 seemed more original to me. Interesting but beautiful.
Thank you! :)
I definitely agree with you on your favourite performances, but would also include Lhevinne's op. 25 no. 11. I'd recommend listening to his op. 25 no. 6 too, because nothing else is like it in my opinion:)
Every time I click onto Ozan Fabien Guvener I'm mesmorised. What a joy these etudes are. So far, and I'm only a third of the way through, Cortot and Hambourg are my favourites. Many thanks to the uploader of genius.
Thank you very much Stephen!
And just one more word ..... thank you for giving us Rosenthal at the first place, for his pianissimo subito at 0:09 and 1:18,... ..... Ok, I know, ... everybody knows these two legendary moments, it's a common place for everyone. But it's always so fantastic ............ (and the photography ... !! .... the old lion looking at the beautiful gazelle on his side .......... )
What an accomplishment to put all these recordings together. Thank you so much
PRECIOSA SELECCIÓN CON ESTOS MARAVILLOSOS PIANISTAS DEL PASADO. MUCHAS GRACIAS.
The Dream Team ........ thank you. All of them, my revered masters, .... and when I was young, most of them were already dead, but I had the chance to hear some of them in my young years : Rubinstein, Horszowski .... and the others were already legends ....
After them came they great followers, Horowitz, Richter, Katchen, Haskil, François, Lipatti, Stefan Askenase ... I could hear most of them live ........ such evenings ..... !! Sometimes I came back to my home completely wet in my clothes so it was intense .... Richter playing the Fourth Sonata of Scrjiabin ...hysteria, madness .... I can remember this just like the first time I kissed a women. And the electricity in the concert hall when Horowitz came on the stage before playing any note on the keyboard ......
What for a golden era .....
Inequaled emotion, elegance, noble phrasing, greatness of the messages, sheer and agressive beauty, every note a discovering, and hypnotic sonorities, pain, and sudden revelations .....
And today : I prefer not to comment, I would like to stay polite this evening.
{ you forgot Rosita Renard, I think ...}
Yes, unfortunately I remembered Rosita Renard after making the video, for some reason I thought she was born in the early 1900s.
What a chance to hear the last masters of the golden age in live concert. Unfortunately, when I was younger, I didn't like the piano very much because of academic pianists. But pianists like Lipatti and Cortot opened my eyes...
@@OzanFabienGuvener
Lipatti .... there is a photography with several women on the stage at a concert, just behind him, listening to every note with passionate eyes .... I don't know if women are the greatest "musicologists" on earth (but who cares, certainly not me, ... we need human beings today, not the f...... musicologists), but women can feel, they have this sense of emotion ....
And Cortot, his hands were full of poetry, not of technique. Poor Kissin, poor Hamelin, the pianists of vacuum ........
@@OzanFabienGuvener
By the way, how old are you ?
@@Fritz_Maisenbacher Cortot's touch was magical, but don't denigrate Hamelin and Kissin. They're wonderful musicians in their own right.
@@lisztomaniac2718
No. They are not.
I’m only 5 etudes in when I write this, but what strikes me is how sparing these pianists are with the use of pedal. Everything is so crisp and clean as a result. I think contemporary pianists rely on the pedal much more. I love Beatrice Rana’s recording of 25, but it is saturated in pedal.
I totally agree with you. Using the pedal a lot is beneficial for today's pianists, I think they abuse it because it reduces the technical requirement and makes it less risky. It is very difficult to use the pedal cautiously and play mostly legato. Chopin also forbids the pedal to his students until they master their finger techniques; because polyphony, separation of melodic lines, clarity and legato-based tone are very important for Chopin. And incorrect and excessive use of the pedal damages this structure. Using the pedal too much also suffocates the music. Debussy had a nice article on this subject. According to Debussy, Liszt used the pedal like breathing, never drowning it.
@@OzanFabienGuvener Debussy and Liszt also often drown in pedal. Regarding Chopin playing I had previously thought that Rubinstein and Arrau were outliers, but it turns out that they were actually the norm! Thanks again for this terrific compilation. Really instructive and enjoyable.
@@OzanFabienGuvener Also, most of these pianists are so contrapuntal compared to most of the contemporary pianists. I love Rana's Chopin because it is very contrapuntal, but her interpretation (putting the pedal aside) is completely within the norm here. So interesting.
In the early 90's I was at a Eugne Istomin masterclass and he was showing them all how to do it without relying on the pedal. He was the real deal.
Just listen to Rubinstein's phrasing was incredible... and that touch is so distinctive!!! Valuable! I also heard him in concert in San Francisco, Ca...
If there were a Nobel prize for compiling videos, you should win it!
Oh thank you for that compliment! You are kind.
La interpretación conmueve. 💒. 💯. 🏆. México. 🎶🎶
Esquisito. ☘️🍀🙋🎶🎶🎶🤺👆
Perfecto exelente. México. 🎇🎇🎇🎇🎇🎇🎇
Si conozco tu rostro. 🤔👆🙋🎶🎶🎶🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤩
Thank you so much for this wonderful compilation. What a pleasure, and those photos. Great photos of the young Paderewski and Pachmann. Who knew that Pachmann was once young?🙂 The young Moiseiwitch too. A real work of love, and your notes too.
Ferrucio Busoni absolutely marvelous in Op 25 n 5. His tempo totally makes sense in every part.
So sad that he didn't record the whole two sets.
It seems there existed a trend for pianist to smoke cigaretts at the turn of the 20th century.
God damn, that waterfall etude. The decision to use that tiny amount of pedal is ballsy
I can't thank you enough for this. I know the work of most of these pianists, but not all. And not all of the performances of this set of masterpieces of Chopin, e.g., d'Albert in 25/2.
I am, by the way, a direct pianistic descendant of Busoni, having studied with his last student, Vladimir Padwa. Unfortunately, I don't play nearly as well as Busoni or Padwa 🙂
I would add that Busoni's performance here is the most bizarre of all of them, in my opinion.
@@donaldallen1771 While listening to violinist Mischa Elman's recordings years ago, the pianist who accompanied him caught my attention, he was a very successful accompanist, but I had not heard of it before, I researched it, yes that person is your teacher Padwa :). Good to hear that from you!
Busoni's Chopin recordings are also weird in my opinion, but somehow convincing and very beautiful!
While Plante is always playing slowly, it's very nice that it suddenly explodes in Coda, the surprise is awesome. I am not surprised by any record today. I used to think Paderewski was a little overrated, but it's great here, very soulful and well-sounded. Pachmann played this etude differently than anyone else, and I think it's beautiful.
Plante was seemingly 89 years old at the time of this recording, if the date of the recording written in the description is correct
You can just LOVE this channel❤🍭
Un travail absolument extraordinaire ! Bravo à Ozan Fabien Guvener !!!
Merci beaucoup!
Precious uploading! OMG!! Thanks❤
Greatest compilation. All of my deceased great grand teachers.
Beautiful Work! That's the way I Imagined the etudes need to be interpreted.
Thanks, so many gems!
Such a thoughtful and precious selection ❤️. I’d love to see a Part 2 containing performances that were left out of this one, as I’m sure choosing wasn’t easy!
Thank you very much, yes, I was very undecided on many points. Maybe I can make an alternative list or a similar concept as 20th century born pianists. Some of the pianists born in the 19th century who recorded the Chopin etude that I could not include in the video: Leopold Godowsky, Walter Gieseking, Egon Petri, Simon Barere, José Iturbi, Leff Pouishnoff, David Saperton, Dirk Schäfer, Mischa Levitzki, Jan Smeterlin, Alexander Goldenweiser, Wassily Sapellnikoff, Youra Guller, Leonid Kreutzer, Irene Scharrer, Harriet Cohen, Alexander Brailowsky, Zbigniew Drzewiecki, Michael Zadora, Nikolai Orloff, York Bowen, Ethel Leginska, Leah Effenbach, Edward Weiss...
I have Leo Ornstein’s Black Key Etude…
That’s incredible to be back in time and to compare their musicality with nowadays robotic “technique “…
💝💝💝 ... Great upload ... Thank you so very much for your dedicated work ... 🌹
Another beautiful exploration thank you!
Guvener, your channel is the best, so exciting to see/hear. I am on cloud 9.
Thank you so much!
Ozan- Salute you Salute you.. Thank you Thank you Thank you❤❤❤
We can only assume that Francis Planté knows what he’s doing and why. He obviously has the technique to play it as he wants it. When you let go of modern standards and just listen, it’s a very interesting interpretation. It takes on a different kind of life. Sudden tempo changes and [added] fermatas have a way of emphasizing statements that may well have been Chopin’s intentions, but exaggerated Ike crazy. I know one thing: it’s got me interested in working on that etude now, which I’ve avoided for a long time.
An anecdote about Françis Plante allow us to understand his spontaneous and unpredictable character:
"And when it came to the ‘unexpected,’“ Vincent D’Indy, French composer- conductor and head of the Schola Cantorum reminisced to me, “you most certainly could count on Planté. I admired him greatly and a number of times conducted concertos for him, though I must confess that I was always a bit nervous when I worked with him because, as I just said, Planté delighted in doing the most unpredictable things.”
“For example?” I asked.
“I remember one such occasion,” D’Indy complied, “when I was conducting for him in Bordeaux. It was a concerto to which someone had appended a long, oh, extremely long, cadenza. Vous me suivez, n’est-ce pas? Très bien alors, just before the end of the cadenza I made ready, as the custom is, to signal the orchestra to come in, when, to my and everybody’s amazement, Planté ignored the signal and repeated the cadenza from first note to last, when he allowed the orchestra to take over. The performance brought him an ovation. After the concert - the green room was packed with his admirers - I ever so gently chided Planté for his petite manque de memoire in the concerto. ‘Lapse of memory,’ he chuckled, ‘who ever heard such nonsense? I never forget a note, cher ami, which you know as well as I. But the way in which I played that cadenza was so utterly enchanting, I simply could not resist the temptation to repeat it!’“
@@OzanFabienGuvener Planté was a funny guy
Another triumphant collection - excellent choices.
Thanks a lot!
Etude 15 is flawless! That musicality and tone is out of my understanding
Wow, what an interesting perspective
Thank you for your dedication and care!
Thank you very much OZAN ❤❤❤❤❤
Best contents in TH-cam
To say that I am grateful means to say nothing!
♥️💞❤️
What else to say : perfection !
Lhevinne's op25 n11 is nothing short of sublime.
Lhevinne is nothing short of sublime.
Wow! Rosenthal uses very little pedal in Etude No.1. Yet his legato playing is superb with the ascending arpeggios.
Thanks for this treasure .
From the sound you hear for each performance you can clearly see which of them are actual recordings and which are piano-roll recorded by the artist on the piano and later reproduced and recorded. The problem with the latter is that you cannot be sure of the actual tempo of the recording (pianola's can be set at different tempos with respect to the recorded one). In some cases also dynamics and pedals were added by hand on the roll by a technician. Great compilation, though. Thank you.
Thanks for this most valuable collection.
So much for the theory that back then people played more slowly.
The theory that "it was played slowly in the past" has no basis in reality. Composers' metronome values are also written. There is also a recording of a very important violinist named Joseph Joachim, who was born in 1833 and was closely acquainted with composers such as Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Berlioz and Brahms. Additionally, a claim of "pseudo" musicologists is this: "The recordings had a limited time, they were playing faster than that." It's very simple to prove this wrong: Piano rolls with no time constraints. There are high tempos there too. Rolls of Carl Reinecke, who was born in 1824 and admired by many composers, are also available, they are pretty fast by today's standards.
@@OzanFabienGuvener I agree with you completely. As far as I have been able to see people were playing faster than today if anything. It is unfortunate that there are youtubers putting forward the theory that tempi in the past were slower. I don't know if you know who I am referring to, but I certainly think their ideas are very misleading.
I know a few TH-camrs who claim this (for example Wim Winters), but there are probably many more. They are really misleading people. @@charityshopguitar8790
Love the sparse damper pedal on Op. 10 No. 1!!
My favorite performances from this video: no.13 I didn't know this girl, no.25 Heinrich Neuhaus is insurmountable.
Thank you for this! Out of these pianists I think I like Josef Lhevinne the most.
Agreed, Josef Lhevinne is my favourite too! I reckon you've listened to his op. 25 no. 6 already. If not, you have to!
Une très belle idée, de faire entendre ces études par un florilège de pianistes nés au XIXe siècle, avec une grande qualité d'enregistrements.
Brilliant, very very interesting, Thanks !
I really enjoy your videos, I would like to know where do you find the recordings
Thank you. I've been listening to pianists for years, so I don't specifically discover and acquire them for video; I usually make the video with the recordings I have heard and have. I have full recording albums and records of some pianists; but a few recordings were not published, for example I got Lhevinne's concert recording and Horszowski's recording from other TH-cam channels :).
What a great and important document!
All of them are special!
That legato of Backhaus in the second is insanely difficult to pully of like that.
Hofmann's interpretation was brilliant!
Interesting to hear Op. 10 #1 as scintillating as this, and not bombastic with too much pedalling!
Wilheim Backaus is truly astonishing
Thank you for the compilation! Whose hands were in the thumbnail?
Paderewski:)
Koczalski...amazing....
I wonder how much of Plante's performance was due to age, and how much was due to 19th Century musical sensibilities. He plays it in a very interesting way, like an argument complete with slamming doors and thrown dinner plates. It's much more theatrical, if a bit uneven. It's an eccentric take of the etude, but it has certain elements that I find to be very effective.
Wikipedia says his style is considered very different from modern recordings, and that his performance here seems to be his standard.
@@pineapplesareyummy6352 very interesting. i will have to read about it
@@peter5.056 If you search his name, you'll find the 23-minute video of his playing on TH-cam. It's definitely very interesting for the historical record. They aren't great, as it's made with 1920s recording technology, and Planté is playing pieces you'd think would be beyond the technical ability of a pianist nearly 90 years old. And he does it at the "first sitting" without any editing.
Yes, he is very old, but Plante always had an unexpected and spontaneous movement. An anecdote:
“And when it came to the ‘unexpected,’“ Vincent D’Indy, French composer- conductor and head of the Schola Cantorum reminisced to me, “you most certainly could count on Planté. I admired him greatly and a number of times conducted concertos for him, though I must confess that I was always a bit nervous when I worked with him because, as I just said, Planté delighted in doing the most unpredictable things.”
“For example?” I asked.
“I remember one such occasion,” D’Indy complied, “when I was conducting for him in Bordeaux. It was a concerto to which someone had appended a long, oh, extremely long, cadenza. Vous me suivez, n’est-ce pas? Très bien alors, just before the end of the cadenza I made ready, as the custom is, to signal the orchestra to come in, when, to my and everybody’s amazement, Planté ignored the signal and repeated the cadenza from first note to last, when he allowed the orchestra to take over. The performance brought him an ovation. After the concert - the green room was packed with his admirers - I ever so gently chided Planté for his petite manque de memoire in the concerto. ‘Lapse of memory,’ he chuckled, ‘who ever heard such nonsense? I never forget a note, cher ami, which you know as well as I. But the way in which I played that cadenza was so utterly enchanting, I simply could not resist the temptation to repeat it!’“
@@OzanFabienGuvener I try to play with such spontaneity, too;) Thanks for the response.
Amazing
Will have to mentally subtract 12 to figure out which etude those numbers refer to in Op. 25.
Hmm, you're right. Do you have a suggestion? Would it be better like 1/10, 2/10 and 1/25?
I find the older the recording of the 10/1 is, the more it has a "Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum" feel.
Sensationa collection! (Too bad Patreon makes it impossible to contribute......)
The future will get you there where you love being with your heart and feelings, in this life. I know that i will soon be with the young liszt, rachmaninov and chopin and schubert and we will all be even better than last time.
Cause we know now what we can do better this time.
See you and
Thanks for the magic time travel music.
Fantastic video
Lortat Sixth Etude!
Raul Sunshine Etude!
Also Cortot and Hoffman play so well too!
A lot to be learned from this kind of playing, this is not piano playing! This is art.
Well said! Thanks.
41:45 that a major double down is pure flex xd
Mark Hambourg......WILD, man.....Wow!......from Acapulco!
A truly original and individual pianist!
This is great!
Can anyone explain to me how it would be possible to play Op. 10, No. 3 without intense feeling? It cries out for passion. Simply cannot imagine treating it as only a study in technique.
I think the title “Etude” give these pieces a different description of what they really are. The Chopin etudes are not studies. They are full pieces that utilize one or two main techniques.
I agree. But interestingly Emil von Sauer plays it like a pure study, especially the middle section and it's not bad. But it still wouldn't be my choice.
sounds really unique for some etudes, what was the difference? was it the piano? or was the playing style different back then?
Listening to these much over time- there is some desired difference between 19th and 20th century playing, as a whole -> pianists don't play like this anymore, and the exceptions are the championed
What's more remarkable is that many of these pianists were...experienced, heh - and so, what we have in some sense is concentrated musicianship > they well may have played these same pieces differently in their rising years as time tends to allow artists to make subtle beautiful changes, at a glaciers pace...
My hypothesis is that there was a lot more variety and originality in interpretation back in the 19th century, when there were no CDs, no LPs, artists who lived far away from each other didn't really listened to each other, so they all played in a style according to their own tastes. When recordings became widely available, people just copied from each other, and there became a convergence in style and technique, to the point where someone who is more eccentric and plays differently gets rejected by the public because their performance doesn't fulfill expectations. Maybe it was a more interesting world 100 years ago before we all became interconnected.
19 Ignacy ❤ & 21 Josef ❤
Yes!!
33:03 I'm stealing that performance, lol. so delicious!
Yes! :)
Cortot is very interesting. He seems to improvise changes,
Is that first photo Rosenthal? Doesn’t look like him
I had it verified by the official institutions of Poland (Polskie Radio, Archiwa Panstwowe) and I think it looks pretty similar to Rosenthal.
audiovis.nac.gov.pl/obraz/183683/
www.polskieradio.pl/377/9357/Artykul/2999323
Backhaus...dang.
Why did Hoffmann begin like that?
ooh, fun video
though i thought the Lhevinne entry would've surely been the op 25 no 6
It was actually my first choice for video, Op. No. 25 At 11 there was also Cortot's 1923 record. But then I wanted to use the lesser known live recording of Lhevinne.
marvel! thank you
Etude 16 very good legato
❤
7:24 89 years old
10:10 almost sounds like Art Tatum. This is the energy that’s missing in the classical world today! Let’s bring back the Romanticism
Schnell spielen können alle, aber auch schöner, gesanglicher ?
exactement.
Whose are those hands?
of Paderewski
Of Paderewski
Yes Paderewski!
Two more. Raoul Pugno 1852 - 1914 and Xaver Scharwenka 1950 - 1924. Here they are th-cam.com/video/tkTzA2rqAfE/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/7N5D1IZVoBI/w-d-xo.html
🎶👍