I’ve listened to almost all of his pieces that have been discovered and he’s one of the few composers where no two pieces sound alike. Pure originality and thought put into his compositions. Even the bad ones have a sort of charm to them.
Hello Allen, I am glad you recognize that Chopin has NO bad compositions; every piece he composed has been in print since it was first published. I think Chopin was incapable of composing bad music. No composer other than Chopin composed music which wrenches the heart as much as Chopin’s music does - especially the ballades. Listen to the first ballade in G minor: just a triplet plus one more note penetrates the heart over and over again. I better shut up here; l am getting carried away…
Never heard that quote before. Interesting since Debussy is my other favorite piano composer. No one plays Chopin like Arthur, and nobody plays Debussy like Walter Gieseking. Yet I never hear an FM station play Gieseking.
If you focus just on the main melodic line it actually becomes a 9/8 polyrhythm, which is even more incredible how effortless it sounds, this video by David Bruce explains it krplus.net/bidio/o9qagnt8dIHeaXo
6:04 is a masterstroke, and shows how thoughtfully he planned the piece, like a game of chess. How the first theme and the introduction share repeated notes, which doesn't seem remarkable at first, but allows a miraculous transition from one to the other at 6:04, in such an unexpected but natural way.
Yes! I always think the same. He did that a lot in almost every piece he wrote though, it's always amazing to see how he connects different parts, he was truly a genius with that too.
When someone plays this, everyone is so amazed at the person that performs is, but what's always overlooked is that someone wrote this. The fact that such a piece can come from a human mind is beyond my understanding of human beings.
Chopin learned piano by looking at the keys and finding out what sounded good together. He later learned how to write down music so he could share it with the world. People that perform pieces like this spend years practicing those singular pieces. Piano played like this is a lost art nowadays. Hard to respect a fake. Have to respect the origibal
@@davidp6913, sorry, but no. Chopin wasn’t in any way self-taught, or learned the piano by “looking at the keys and seeing what sounded good.” He spent decades learning and developing his own music theory, perfecting his technique. While it might seem more elegant and mystical to say that he learned everything by himself, that is simply and utterly false. The truth is, while yes, he was talented, any normal lad could reach a professional level of piano and composition by just learning the theory and practicing. Chopin, of course, surpasses that due to his innate talent- any famous composer does, but he wasn’t self taught, he studied long and hard for decades to get to where he was. I hate comments like this because they imply that Chopin didn’t have to work to be a great composer, and that the only way someone can be a great composer is through immense talent, and that simply isn’t true.
@@davidp6913, your source is... google? Yes we know that everything on the internet is accurate, like how articles claim that Liszt could easily break a string on any piano he wished. I’m coming from a 900 page biography of Chopin and over 9 years in piano and composition. Before he started taking piano lessons at a young age, his father taught him. He was not self taught, no composer pianist every is, at least not for an extended period. After he completed all the music theory that was invented at the time, THEN he started his own stuff, but that isn’t being “self-taught,” that is discovering new concepts that haven’t been invented yet. Chopin and similar composers were the pioneers of the romantic era, and they defined what music was for centuries to come, but they wouldn’t have even come close to their full potential if they hadn’t been taught what was already known.
@@davidp6913, furthermore, when I did look it up, the only sources I found that agreed with you are ridden with spelling and grammar mistakes, and provide no source of their own. Also, what you said about Rubinstein in your original comment was also false. Professional concert pianists don’t take years to learn a piece for performance; that simply isn’t commercially viable. Only performing around once or twice a year would launch them into bankruptcy. They may spend decades perfecting a piece and playing it many times, but their initial performance of it will be a couple months after they start learning it for the first time, and they will only work on such a piece intermittently, while learning and focusing on others to perform. I also don’t understand what you mean about “fakes,” as the way people learn prices and perform piano hasn’t changed in centuries.
Other pieces tell who the Chopin is as a composer but this one tells who the Chopin as a human. He achieved to express what cannot be explained by language. Not to mention anything more. Just listen, and share the soul of Chopin.
@@gearyg5649 those kind of work (4th ballade), like chopin's sonata and concertos, need a lot of works... Structure are so complex, and you need a lot of maturity. I don't like so much chopin's scherzos, or mazurkas, or valzer, or polanaises actually 😂 yeah, I'm studying it to...
@@TheOne-pq4ph he disliked playing in concert halls and preferred to play in private concerts in the salons of Paris. Once a year, he would perform at Salle Pleyel. Altogether fewer than thirty concerts. So you are perhaps right, that he never performed this piece in public. But I was thinking of his music in general. What is certain is that they had never heard anything like it before.
Yes, you are right, He didn't like to play in Public. But for a small cycle. There are even a few paintings, that show him playing. I can imagine, how those upper class ladies broke up in tears listening to this😊
Bucky Love So true. The work in which this is most evident is in the Fantasia in F Minor, considered by some the epitome of the Romantic era, though that, I think, is to be found in Schumann. And it is also true of some of the nocturnes, and even the mazurkas. Certainly in the scherzos. In short, in all the forms he chose to express himself. The preludes show how much he can express in one page!
Philip Amos cool ill check that out. what do you think shumanns best works were? i always thought of him as a lesser composer compared to chopin but i only know a little about him
Hello Bucky. Pleasure to meet you. Schumann's mode of composition was so distinctive and so different from Chopin's that I don't think a comparison is possible. One must also bear in mind that Schumann had a severe mental illness, possibly schizophrenia, and died in an asylum. One thing that perhaps the two composers had in common, I should say, is that both expressed aspects of their own lives in some compositions. Chopin was essentially a classicist, whereas I and some others regard Schumann as the apotheosis of of Romanticism. His best works? Always first, his great Fantasie in C (spelling of that varies, by the way). Then Carnaval, in whch we most clearly see how his mental condition affected his compositions. The wonderful Piano Concerto in A minor. Papillons. Symphonic Etudes. Fantasiestuke. Davidsbundlertanze. Kreisleriana. And the two song cycles: Frauenliebe und Leben and Dichterliebe. The Piano Quintet in E Flat and the Piano Quartet. The symphonies are controversial, but lovely in the right performances. Well, that's enough to start! I'm a great Schumann admirer, as you can perhaps tell, and there are other works I similarly think marvellous. One other thing, and a very Romantic characteristic: many works were inspired by and often reflected the literature of the time. Knowing what literature and how enhances appreciation of Schumann's works.All the best. I'm always around if you have any other questions. Philip
A thought struck me the other day. In Chopin's days there were no cd's, records, streaming audio or whatever. The live recitals were very few and inaccessible to most people. So the only way they could know how a composition of Chopin sounded was to go to a shop, buy the score and and play it him/herself. Like buying a book and reading it to know what's in it. What an experience it must have been to explore the score at home, bar after bar, and gradually discover its beauty.
Also there are certain Chopin and Brahm's pieces which do well with an older, or a more mature performer. One needs to breathe in this piece at places for it to be effective.
Chopin’s music completely absorbs me. Actually, it totally dominates my my heart and mind and makes me forget everything. Arthur Rubinstein plays Chopin as if he were improvising it.
This is without a doubt my favorite ballade out of the four-and I absolutely love Rubinstein's rendition of it. Chopin is a musical genius in my eyes, and his music ceaselessly brings me to tears...This ballade is simply just haunting, desolate, torturous, mind-boggling, beautifully chaotic, powerful, and the list goes on. Even the first theme is enough to leave me with watery eyes, and one cannot go about describing such a wondrous piece in words. It is rather impossible to convey such fluid and musical emotion with words.
this song gives me so much nostalgia. my dad used to play it for me when i was really young (like 4) and just recently ive started learning to play it. its such a gorgeous and calm sounding piece yet so complicated and impressive and i love it to my very core
Superb artistry - both composer and performer. What a collaboration! One of Chopin's most timeless and passionate compositions and Mr. Rubinstein's interpretation one of his best recordings. Puzzled why 54 listeners don't 'like' it
@@WesCoastPiano A melody with an oom-pah-pah accompaniment isn't counterpoint. It's a melody with an accompaniment. There are a few sections where it actually gets contrapuntal, but "one of the greatest achievements of mankind" in counterpoint? Compared with Bach? Compared with the finale of the Jupiter Symphony or the double fugue in Mozart's Requiem? With Beethoven's fugues? And I could name a bunch of other examples by different composers. And in any case, I'd say the finale of Chopin's b minor sonata has this beat by far anyway on that count--by far!
Right know I can't stop listening to this Ballade again. I've listened so much Chopin for years and I got bored of him a few years ago and went for Liszt and Rachmaninoff which I adore as spiritual fathers. But honestly, Chopin may be the master of piano. When you listen to his music, it's like he was made to be a pianist and nothing else. I've achieved learning Liszt's "Après une lecture de Dante" a few weeks ago, it took me months. After that, I thought Chopin's Ballades were easier. Not at all. This Ballade is, excuse me, fucking huge.
@@dude6685 Debussy is great but i shy away from it because the intensity of the bitter sweetness is so great that i fear for my mental health lol. Its like a Tyson haymaker to the feels.
Chopin is the master composer for piano, in my view. This piece is a favorite; could listen to it again and again. Love the diverse changes in mood, tone, it ranges from melancholy to lighthearted; so thrilling!
Man what I wouldn’t give to hear Rubinstein and Chopin play live. Also I know it’s obviously impossible before people do hate comments but just theoretically it’d be an absolutely incredible experience.
every motion, every nuance... every slight pause... every slight acceleration forward... makes PERFECT sense... what a master Rubinstein was... sooo missed
0:31 Waltz 1:21 More waltz 2:11 Slower Op 10/5 in the left hand 3:11 Bach 7:31 Nocturne 8:00 Concerto Op 11 8:12 Softer version of Op 10/12 8:51 More Op 10/12 8:58 Op 25/12 9:39 Op 10/7 9:50 Op 25/6
Intensely profound music beyond all language deep from the abyss of Chopin's soul. Most definitely among the greatest of all Chopin's output. I personally think that if even this piece is musically surpassed it has to be none other than his Sonata in B minor Op.58. And Artur Rubinstein will remain my pianistic hero for as long as I live. Bravissimo forever!
So profound. . . so beautiful. . . so sublimely perfect. . . has there been a single piece of piano music so exhalted? It defies words, categorization, definition, explanation -- it speaks the unspeakable. If there is civilization a thousand years from now, they will wonder at this work, and be in awe.
The coda starts at 9:41 and the parallel 3rds between 9:51-9:58 sound so tragic and energetic as if the main character of this ballade is being defeated (which also applies to the codas of ballades 1 and 2).
every time I listen to this piece, I want to cry over how amazing it is. a couple months ago I started an attempt at learning it (I’ve been playing for 7 years), but I dropped it when I learned up to around 2:55. I’m saving it for another time in the future when I’m more experienced and where I can really spend my time with it as I’m going away for college this year and I don’t want to half-ass it. It truly has become one of my favorite pieces in such a short amount of time
@@derekpintozzi2498 ik it’s not one of the hardest parts, it’s just the part where it *starts* to get more difficult, and i need to practice my technique *much* more and have a couple years more experience before i try to learn further
La mas excepcional de las baladas, la mas misteriosa, la mas inquietante, meditativa, y profunda de la serie. Nadie como Arthur Rubinstein transmite con nobleza, solidez, desafectación (tan común en interpretes de Chopin), arrojo y pasión ( a diferencia del controlado y prolijo Zimmermann) el estilo chopeniano. Unico e irrepetible maestro.
Of all the performances here - this is the best. Hands down the interpretation to study, to get what Chopin was expressing. This Ballade I feel is a man's Ballade. I love hearing it from a man's perspective. Some pianists play this with an urgent almost anger release. Some play it with much more gentility. But, leave it to Artur Rubinstein to express a life lived. I love this. I love his artistry. For me, Rubinstein sets the bar. Others are fantastic - technically brilliant, and full of expressive emotion. But, Rubinstein always satisfies, and his music flies like an eagle.
@@benbroverman5150 Thank you for this suggestion. I wasn't particularly head over heels in love with the song, but after hearing her play... Wow, the difference the pianist makes with their own interpretations...
A splendid rendering of this 4th ballad. In fact it is simple. Arthur Rubinstein played the "final version" of the four ballads of Chopin. I've been listening to his interpretation for years. Literally no pianist has ever been able to match Rubenstein's dedicated virtuosity and emotional intensity that these ballads require. Thanks also for showing the score simultaneously. It makes clear that I don't have what the playing of these ballads need: BIG HANDS!
@@currentlyspeakingbmwmusic1793 Their question was about anything more beautiful. Chopin was a master at piano writing but his music doesn't move me like some other composers, except occasionally (Raindrop Prelude, for example). I'm enjoying him more now than when I made my comment, though, which is a bit odd considering I've known his music for 30+ years.
and in THIS "feat" Rubinstein - imo - outshines everyone else in NEVER sacrificing the TONAL beauty and fullness (not merely loud) of the final dash after the long pause ..and note by note , phrase by phrase makes it sound like one long breath of singing...amazing, imo. he NEVER sounds forced in his speed, crescendos, accelerandos...and things just "pile up" so logically...and never makes it sound like "here comes the difficult part to play" but rather : here is the ENDING of the Story.
Endlich höre ich dieses Werk als ein grosses Stück in einem fliessenden Tempo. Das ist unglaublich schön, wenn man Musik einfach sprechen lässt ohne sie zu viel zu interpretieren. Die meisten Pianisten wechseln die Tempos je nach Laune und Gefühl oder "weil man so spielt". Chopin hat sehr deutlich seine Wünsche betreffend Tempo artikuliert. Rubinstein baut die Ballade grossartig und gleichzeitig sehr natürlich auf.
Rubinstein's interpretation is astonishingly good. It may be wrong to speak of "greatest" here, where so many all-time great pianists (Hofmann, Cortot, Horowitz, Richter and so on) have given their best. But I'm tempted to. The music emerges so pure. Everything is in its place, every detail is rendered perfectly, with total textual fidelity, and always embedded in the overall architecture. The tone is shockingly beautiful (perhaps the most beautiful tone of any romantic piano recording I know, with the possible exception of Rubinstein's Barcarolle recording), yet his playing never becomes self-enamored. There is high drama and technical fireworks, yet never virtuosity for its own sake. Overall, he really explains what this piece is all about. Definitely one of the great piano recordings.
The intro always reminds me of an early morning drive I had in New Hampshire along the eastern coast, among the light of the morning sun, smell of the ocean, and the greens
it really is enchanting. i don’t know much about reading music but if i’m looking at the right part of the sheet it looks like he’s playing a 9 against 7 rhythm at that part which is just insane
@@mitchellbarr2115 the piece is in 6/8. Chopin actually divided the left-hand part into 2 big beats (which is a common way to divide the time signature 6/8) in every bar (you can see how he connected the semiquavers). I divide the bar into 4 big beats (each contains 3 normal semiquavers), so in that 2 bars, there are 8. Compare that to the right-hand, where every fourth note in a bunch of triplet semiquavers has a stem, so there are 9 big beats, so we have 9:8
The chord progression in that transition is a series of falling fifths. It's a technique used throughout the history of music composition and always make beautiful transitions. I can't appreciate enough when they appear in these great works.
I think in the same way, but I guess you just need to keep practicing as everyone always says. I keep this piece in mind as I practice, because I desire to play this one day as well. Eventually, even if you fall short, you'll still be able to play many other great Chopin pieces.
Rico Suave Thank you Rico :) Maybe when I have mastered some of the Debussy I'm currently learning, I might think about trying some Chopin. I think you are right that you have to keep practising, but it does sometimes seem to me that certain technical feats are achievable only with born talent. Perhaps I'm wrong...
macronencer I'll agree with you in that regard. It does seem that some people have a greater potential when it comes to technical feats, and even several other aspects such as sight reading ability, theory comprehension, muscle memory, etc. I often find myself lamenting about my lack of musical training in my youth, (I just started at the age of 17) but that only makes me more frustrated. What I've come to realize is that you must seek to achieve your maximum potential, whatever that may be. I changed my attitude, and because of that I was able to play Chopin's Nocturne no. 20 after only eight months of playing the instrument. Be sure to give that one a go as your first Chopin piece, it's incredible.
I'm sure u can do it if u work ur best! True, born talent gets u somewhere, but ultimately it's abt the effort u put in :) I'm a pianist too so I understand XD
macronencer I'm sure if I worked for a couple months I could get the notes right, but I don't think I'll ever be able to play this piece with the emotion it deserves to be played with.
I used to put classical on in the background, it used to help me focus now it does the exact opposite, all i can focus on is how in the world did they just do that and wow this is so beautiful i have to process what just happened, man I love "classical" music. (we all know this isn't in the time period but this is when music was all building off each other and not trying to be rebellious like today's music and just disregarding everything we learned for hundreds of years about music)
For the coda, be sure to have very relaxed wrists. It's the only way to do those intervals at that speed. Also practice both that section and the two scales at the end in broken rhythms. First as dotted-eighth sixteenth note rhythm and then switch it. Also play the right hand intervals together actually by "blocking" them. Helps tremendously. Lastly, I found the best way to practice the left hand was to get to the point where you can play it with your eyes closed. It's the only way really.
in 39 years Chopin achieved too much for his age. It's incredible that such a man even existed in the universe
I’ve listened to almost all of his pieces that have been discovered and he’s one of the few composers where no two pieces sound alike. Pure originality and thought put into his compositions. Even the bad ones have a sort of charm to them.
@@johnsonzelop4259 there aren’t any bad ones
@@helloolleh4861 bad compared to his other works* we can’t pretend the fugue was anything special but I still like it a little bit
Hello Allen,
I am glad you recognize that Chopin has NO bad compositions; every piece he composed has been in print since it was first published. I think Chopin was incapable of composing bad music. No composer other than Chopin composed music which wrenches the heart as much as Chopin’s music does - especially the ballades.
Listen to the first ballade in G minor: just a triplet plus one more note penetrates the heart over and over again.
I better shut up here; l am getting carried away…
@@zuhairbakdoud1360 it’s incredible really, all his works show genius
"Chopin is the greatest of them all, for with the piano alone he discovered everything."
-Claude Debussy
Never heard that quote before. Interesting since Debussy is my other favorite piano composer. No one plays Chopin like Arthur, and nobody plays Debussy like Walter Gieseking. Yet I never hear an FM station play Gieseking.
8:26 The top melody floating on top of every 4th note of the triplets with a 9/6 polyrhythm is just incredible
If you focus just on the main melodic line it actually becomes a 9/8 polyrhythm, which is even more incredible how effortless it sounds, this video by David Bruce explains it krplus.net/bidio/o9qagnt8dIHeaXo
I agree Floppa
based floppa uwu
And I thought the 5/6 polyrhythm in ballade one was hard 😰 its gonna be tough learning this lmao
frederick viner made a video on this part!! i knew which part you were referring to before i clicked, its my favorite part of the whole ballade LOL
6:04 is a masterstroke, and shows how thoughtfully he planned the piece, like a game of chess. How the first theme and the introduction share repeated notes, which doesn't seem remarkable at first, but allows a miraculous transition from one to the other at 6:04, in such an unexpected but natural way.
Yes! I always think the same. He did that a lot in almost every piece he wrote though, it's always amazing to see how he connects different parts, he was truly a genius with that too.
This piece is all Chopin: Sonata, Variation, Etudes, Fantaisie, Nocturne, Valse. All. This piece is the piano. Top masterpiece.
Intro (0:00) - A (0:31) - A1 (1:21)- trans.(2:11) - A2(3:12) - B (Bb)(4:02)- Intro (A) (6:03)- A (canon; mod.) (6:37) - A (nocturne-like) (7:31)- B1 (CLIMAX, Db) (8:11) - Coda (9:39)
L
+Ako Tai He/she listens to it. Plus, the sheet is right there.
+Mun Fei Chor yes thank you I needed that info
+Mun Fei Chor 0:31 ... heartbreaking...
+Haley Belanger lmao you made my day
Chopin was one of the greatest composers of all time.He revolutionized the piano with his own style and with his wonderful pieces
Samuel Motta ok weeb
@@jamesbetti9002 I don't really see how anime has anything to do with this
@@dmc8129 your lie in april
@@mariamitrea4423 yeah I know that, but what does it have to do with his comment
@@dmc8129 low iq
When someone plays this, everyone is so amazed at the person that performs is, but what's always overlooked is that someone wrote this. The fact that such a piece can come from a human mind is beyond my understanding of human beings.
Chopin learned piano by looking at the keys and finding out what sounded good together. He later learned how to write down music so he could share it with the world.
People that perform pieces like this spend years practicing those singular pieces.
Piano played like this is a lost art nowadays. Hard to respect a fake. Have to respect the origibal
@@davidp6913, sorry, but no. Chopin wasn’t in any way self-taught, or learned the piano by “looking at the keys and seeing what sounded good.” He spent decades learning and developing his own music theory, perfecting his technique. While it might seem more elegant and mystical to say that he learned everything by himself, that is simply and utterly false. The truth is, while yes, he was talented, any normal lad could reach a professional level of piano and composition by just learning the theory and practicing. Chopin, of course, surpasses that due to his innate talent- any famous composer does, but he wasn’t self taught, he studied long and hard for decades to get to where he was. I hate comments like this because they imply that Chopin didn’t have to work to be a great composer, and that the only way someone can be a great composer is through immense talent, and that simply isn’t true.
@@Coby-K ...look it up. He taught himself from a young age. You'd think you'd know how to type into google
@@davidp6913, your source is... google? Yes we know that everything on the internet is accurate, like how articles claim that Liszt could easily break a string on any piano he wished. I’m coming from a 900 page biography of Chopin and over 9 years in piano and composition. Before he started taking piano lessons at a young age, his father taught him. He was not self taught, no composer pianist every is, at least not for an extended period. After he completed all the music theory that was invented at the time, THEN he started his own stuff, but that isn’t being “self-taught,” that is discovering new concepts that haven’t been invented yet. Chopin and similar composers were the pioneers of the romantic era, and they defined what music was for centuries to come, but they wouldn’t have even come close to their full potential if they hadn’t been taught what was already known.
@@davidp6913, furthermore, when I did look it up, the only sources I found that agreed with you are ridden with spelling and grammar mistakes, and provide no source of their own.
Also, what you said about Rubinstein in your original comment was also false. Professional concert pianists don’t take years to learn a piece for performance; that simply isn’t commercially viable. Only performing around once or twice a year would launch them into bankruptcy. They may spend decades perfecting a piece and playing it many times, but their initial performance of it will be a couple months after they start learning it for the first time, and they will only work on such a piece intermittently, while learning and focusing on others to perform. I also don’t understand what you mean about “fakes,” as the way people learn prices and perform piano hasn’t changed in centuries.
Other pieces tell who the Chopin is as a composer but this one tells who the Chopin as a human. He achieved to express what cannot be explained by language. Not to mention anything more. Just listen, and share the soul of Chopin.
how can something as beautiful as this even exist? how can something like this come from a human being? I really dont understand...
+burchison because god speaks through him
It's why it is called the work of a genius. We may also be grateful for this recording, which is considered by many to be the finest.
+Uli Albrecht Absolutely nothing to do with God, you moron
+Brew Time How can you justify calling someone a moron for having beliefs that are different from yours?
+NJInfinite internet.... people talk
this is like every chopin etude condensed into one ballade
Steef it’s the final boss level after defeating each etude grunt
@@gearyg5649 loll truuu
@@gearyg5649 final boss after defeating each etude and scherzos and other 3 ballades😂
Daniele T. I started playing this piece 2 weeks ago, up to the finale it actually isn’t to bad, honestly had more trouble with the scherzi
@@gearyg5649 those kind of work (4th ballade), like chopin's sonata and concertos, need a lot of works... Structure are so complex, and you need a lot of maturity. I don't like so much chopin's scherzos, or mazurkas, or valzer, or polanaises actually 😂 yeah, I'm studying it to...
That ballade is inexplicable. It’s alien. Nothing ever composed by anyone can be compared to this.
Oh Rubinstein, for me the best Chopin interpreter
Totalmente de acuerdo
Zimmerman would make a frown and concentrate on this. Rubinstein would be bored.
Samson François is great too
Polini...
@@floragutierrez538 humpf polino wins ok?
Heads must have exploded when this was first played in Paris
I don’t think Chopin played this he only had a few performances
@@TheOne-pq4ph he disliked playing in concert halls and preferred to play in private concerts in the salons of Paris. Once a year, he would perform at Salle Pleyel. Altogether fewer than thirty concerts. So you are perhaps right, that he never performed this piece in public. But I was thinking of his music in general.
What is certain is that they had never heard anything like it before.
Yes, you are right, He didn't like to play in Public. But for a small cycle. There are even a few paintings, that show him playing. I can imagine, how those upper class ladies broke up in tears listening to this😊
And when he played it in Scotland.
@@angelamarie4137 indeed, his last real concert performance was in Edinburgh in 1848. He played for two hours, in spite of being in very poor health.
I just spent 2 hours looking for this piece. All I could remember that it was by Chopin but that's all. I am so happy I found it!
There's some sort of depth to this piece which is unexplainable.. Takes one to another place.
i know what you mean chopin does that in a lot of different ways too. its like another world like a mushroom trip or something
Bucky Love So true. The work in which this is most evident is in the Fantasia in F Minor, considered by some the epitome of the Romantic era, though that, I think, is to be found in Schumann. And it is also true of some of the nocturnes, and even the mazurkas. Certainly in the scherzos. In short, in all the forms he chose to express himself. The preludes show how much he can express in one page!
Philip Amos cool ill check that out. what do you think shumanns best works were? i always thought of him as a lesser composer compared to chopin but i only know a little about him
Hello Bucky. Pleasure to meet you. Schumann's mode of composition was so distinctive and so different from Chopin's that I don't think a comparison is possible. One must also bear in mind that Schumann had a severe mental illness, possibly schizophrenia, and died in an asylum. One thing that perhaps the two composers had in common, I should say, is that both expressed aspects of their own lives in some compositions. Chopin was essentially a classicist, whereas I and some others regard Schumann as the apotheosis of of Romanticism. His best works? Always first, his great Fantasie in C (spelling of that varies, by the way). Then Carnaval, in whch we most clearly see how his mental condition affected his compositions. The wonderful Piano Concerto in A minor. Papillons. Symphonic Etudes. Fantasiestuke. Davidsbundlertanze. Kreisleriana. And the two song cycles: Frauenliebe und Leben and Dichterliebe. The Piano Quintet in E Flat and the Piano Quartet. The symphonies are controversial, but lovely in the right performances. Well, that's enough to start! I'm a great Schumann admirer, as you can perhaps tell, and there are other works I similarly think marvellous. One other thing, and a very Romantic characteristic: many works were inspired by and often reflected the literature of the time. Knowing what literature and how enhances appreciation of Schumann's works.All the best. I'm always around if you have any other questions. Philip
Bucky Love lmao listen to scriabin's 5th sonata if you want something that's like a mushroom trip. that or his 6th, 8th, or 10th!
A thought struck me the other day. In Chopin's days there were no cd's, records, streaming audio or whatever. The live recitals were very few and inaccessible to most people. So the only way they could know how a composition of Chopin sounded was to go to a shop, buy the score and and play it him/herself. Like buying a book and reading it to know what's in it. What an experience it must have been to explore the score at home, bar after bar, and gradually discover its beauty.
The part from 8:12 always gives me goosebumps, so beautiful
I play a lot of Chopin, but I feel in my life time, I will leave this one up to the masters!
***** perfect practice makes perfect. Sloppy/crappy practice makes sloppy/even worse than not practicing.
Also there are certain Chopin and Brahm's pieces which do well with an older, or a more mature performer. One needs to breathe in this piece at places for it to be effective.
We all started sloppy at some point and worked our way up, you stay where you want to stay.
good idea nobhead
@pieinTheSky you are a 1st class nobjockey
Chopin’s music completely absorbs me.
Actually, it totally dominates my my heart and mind and makes me forget everything.
Arthur Rubinstein plays Chopin as if he were improvising it.
Am I the only one who is obsessed with 3:10 the melody is so beautiful.
I AM TOO!!!! It's probably my favourite part in the piece.
yeah i am too, that and the “ocean etude” section are my most favourite sections of the piece
@@ludwig4029 arpeggios?
I love it with all my heart!
A pianist of noble simplicity. Rubinstein reveals the terrible beauty and sadness of this extraordinary music as well as anyone.
This is without a doubt my favorite ballade out of the four-and I absolutely love Rubinstein's rendition of it. Chopin is a musical genius in my eyes, and his music ceaselessly brings me to tears...This ballade is simply just haunting, desolate, torturous, mind-boggling, beautifully chaotic, powerful, and the list goes on. Even the first theme is enough to leave me with watery eyes, and one cannot go about describing such a wondrous piece in words. It is rather impossible to convey such fluid and musical emotion with words.
I'm so happy to see there are people out there who really feel this music just like I do. It's unbearably beautiful.
Heartbreaking
2:35 - 2:45
this song gives me so much nostalgia. my dad used to play it for me when i was really young (like 4) and just recently ive started learning to play it. its such a gorgeous and calm sounding piece yet so complicated and impressive and i love it to my very core
your dad a pianist?
piece*
sorry
@@therandomvidguy5141nah, i think his dad just could play any instrument he wanted by just thinking of it
This piece is pure magic.. Before it was finished there were already tears in my eyes...
I can not stop listening this masterpiece
Andres Stach i can help you with chips ASMR
bruh he said that 4 years ago lol@@kamranmercier2461
Superb artistry - both composer and performer. What a collaboration! One of Chopin's most timeless and passionate compositions and Mr. Rubinstein's interpretation one of his best recordings. Puzzled why 54 listeners don't 'like' it
Oh. :)
They teared up, couldn't see clearly and pressed the wrong button.
maybe they clicked the wrong button or they do not understand this kind of superb music
They're probably simpletons who can't even spell Chopin. The kind that preaches rap "music" and adores Cage for his insult to musical philosophy.
@@user-vj7kb5ls6r and you are somebody that puts rap musix in one box. ):
to change ur mind a bit, try listening to x's album 17, to tupacs lyrics
Those 4 very last chords.... That's the pure beauty of music.
the counterpoint in this piece is one of the greatest achievements of mankind.
You should check out more counterpoint if you really believe that.
haha i liked your comment yet it is indeed kind of Chopin's best counterpoint attempt, which was not really his forte.
Lmao ok dude
@@MaestroTJS You obviously don't understand what counterpoint is.
@@WesCoastPiano A melody with an oom-pah-pah accompaniment isn't counterpoint. It's a melody with an accompaniment. There are a few sections where it actually gets contrapuntal, but "one of the greatest achievements of mankind" in counterpoint? Compared with Bach? Compared with the finale of the Jupiter Symphony or the double fugue in Mozart's Requiem? With Beethoven's fugues? And I could name a bunch of other examples by different composers. And in any case, I'd say the finale of Chopin's b minor sonata has this beat by far anyway on that count--by far!
Right know I can't stop listening to this Ballade again. I've listened so much Chopin for years and I got bored of him a few years ago and went for Liszt and Rachmaninoff which I adore as spiritual fathers. But honestly, Chopin may be the master of piano. When you listen to his music, it's like he was made to be a pianist and nothing else.
I've achieved learning Liszt's "Après une lecture de Dante" a few weeks ago, it took me months. After that, I thought Chopin's Ballades were easier. Not at all. This Ballade is, excuse me, fucking huge.
Chopin is so good, but there’s something with Debussy that... I can’t explain. He is and will forever be my favorite composer (Claude Debussy).
@@dude6685 Debussy is great but i shy away from it because the intensity of the bitter sweetness is so great that i fear for my mental health lol. Its like a Tyson haymaker to the feels.
Chopin is the master composer for piano, in my view. This piece is a favorite; could listen to it again and again. Love the diverse changes in mood, tone, it ranges from melancholy to lighthearted; so thrilling!
- LIE down
-TRY not to cry
- CRY a lot
Man what I wouldn’t give to hear Rubinstein and Chopin play live. Also I know it’s obviously impossible before people do hate comments but just theoretically it’d be an absolutely incredible experience.
One of Chopin's greatest creations and played so superbly !
every motion, every nuance... every slight pause... every slight acceleration forward... makes PERFECT sense... what a master Rubinstein was... sooo missed
Piękno muzyki Fryderyka Chopina to fenomen graniczący z cudem.
0:31 Waltz
1:21 More waltz
2:11 Slower Op 10/5 in the left hand
3:11 Bach
7:31 Nocturne
8:00 Concerto Op 11
8:12 Softer version of Op 10/12
8:51 More Op 10/12
8:58 Op 25/12
9:39 Op 10/7
9:50 Op 25/6
Bach has nothing to do there
2:11 reminds me of Debussy
waltz -> more waltz
Put the best piano composer and pianist together and this is more great than any God can give us.
Absolutely entrancing piece of music and so beautiful played.
Intensely profound music beyond all language deep from the abyss of Chopin's soul. Most definitely among the greatest of all Chopin's output.
I personally think that if even this piece is musically surpassed it has to be none other than his Sonata in B minor Op.58.
And Artur Rubinstein will remain my pianistic hero for as long as I live. Bravissimo forever!
Barcarolle is the best. That's not human level.
@GaleRianes
To each, his own.
My greatest Chopin is the Sonata in B minor Op.58, beyond all shadows of doubt.
So profound. . . so beautiful. . . so sublimely perfect. . . has there been a single piece of piano music so exhalted? It defies words, categorization, definition, explanation -- it speaks the unspeakable.
If there is civilization a thousand years from now, they will wonder at this work, and be in awe.
The coda starts at 9:41 and the parallel 3rds between 9:51-9:58 sound so tragic and energetic as if the main character of this ballade is being defeated (which also applies to the codas of ballades 1 and 2).
There is just so much depth to this piece. Unbelievable
every time I listen to this piece, I want to cry over how amazing it is. a couple months ago I started an attempt at learning it (I’ve been playing for 7 years), but I dropped it when I learned up to around 2:55. I’m saving it for another time in the future when I’m more experienced and where I can really spend my time with it as I’m going away for college this year and I don’t want to half-ass it. It truly has become one of my favorite pieces in such a short amount of time
Yeah I would best leave it there bc that’s not even one of the hardest parts
@@derekpintozzi2498 ik it’s not one of the hardest parts, it’s just the part where it *starts* to get more difficult, and i need to practice my technique *much* more and have a couple years more experience before i try to learn further
@@wooogie672 yeah it was a little difficult to get the thirds down on that part when I learned it
you could try learning the 3rd ballade first, its easier
@@nunyabusiness4606 i’m learning the first one! :)
Someone played this at my recital. Ever since, I've been listening to this ballade!
La mas excepcional de las baladas, la mas misteriosa, la mas inquietante, meditativa, y profunda de la serie. Nadie como Arthur Rubinstein transmite con nobleza, solidez, desafectación (tan común en interpretes de Chopin), arrojo y pasión ( a diferencia del controlado y prolijo Zimmermann) el estilo chopeniano. Unico e irrepetible maestro.
Of all the performances here - this is the best. Hands down the interpretation to study, to get what Chopin was expressing. This Ballade I feel is a man's Ballade. I love hearing it from a man's perspective. Some pianists play this with an urgent almost anger release. Some play it with much more gentility. But, leave it to Artur Rubinstein to express a life lived. I love this. I love his artistry. For me, Rubinstein sets the bar. Others are fantastic - technically brilliant, and full of expressive emotion. But, Rubinstein always satisfies, and his music flies like an eagle.
Lena Listen to Yulianna Avdeeva's recording. Phenomenal interpretation
@@benbroverman5150 Thank you for this suggestion. I wasn't particularly head over heels in love with the song, but after hearing her play... Wow, the difference the pianist makes with their own interpretations...
Prefer Zimerman. This seems rushed at times, especially in the coda IMO.
Rubinstein for nocturne, zimmerman for the ballades. Sorry man, Zimmerman nails all 4 of these ballades better than anyone else.
I do like Rubinstein, but I also appreciate Zimmerman a lot.
A splendid rendering of this 4th ballad. In fact it is simple. Arthur Rubinstein played the "final version" of the four ballads of Chopin. I've been listening to his interpretation for years. Literally no pianist has ever been able to match Rubenstein's dedicated virtuosity and emotional intensity that these ballads require. Thanks also for showing the score simultaneously. It makes clear that I don't have what the playing of these ballads need: BIG HANDS!
Because you haven’t listened to any other interpretation
@@456death654 What an incredibly stupid remark, don't you think? Too ridiculous to reply to.
This is the most beautiful of the 4 ballads.
The culmination of Chopin's musical brilliance.
This is the best thing ever written for the piano. It's so beautiful...takes me deep withing my thoughts.
Beautiful. This hit the sweet spot.
what a great performence !!!!! well done great
Chopins favorite key, and likely the one he felt most comfortable practicing in.
My favourite piece of music , from its very beautiful first melody to the exhilarating ending. Mind blowing!
Superb sensitive playing and amazingly beautiful interpretation. I heard Rubinstein live in London about 1970. I will never forget that magical night.
6:03 one the most beautiful and unexpected modulations ever heard..
that at 8 minutes is also breathtaking
My Favorites list:
-This
-Tchaikovsky 1st Concerto
-Prokofievs 2nd concerto
Mendelssohn trio 2
Beethoven trio 7
Chopin nocturne 13 op 48 no 1
I love chopin
Super fantastic! You have to be swayed by this! Probably the greatest romantic piano piece ever composed.
God, could this get any more beautiful?
no.
yes ballade 1
Yes and playing Kissin Zimmerman or Richter
Yes, by far. Listen to another composer instead.
@@currentlyspeakingbmwmusic1793 Their question was about anything more beautiful. Chopin was a master at piano writing but his music doesn't move me like some other composers, except occasionally (Raindrop Prelude, for example). I'm enjoying him more now than when I made my comment, though, which is a bit odd considering I've known his music for 30+ years.
A true feel of the 1800's, right in this music. Why can't there be such music today?
There are no words. There is only beautiful music.
He found a beautiful melody and then the way the mixes it in different forms is brilliant
and in THIS "feat" Rubinstein - imo - outshines everyone else in NEVER sacrificing the TONAL beauty and fullness (not merely loud) of the final dash after the long pause ..and note by note , phrase by phrase makes it sound like one long breath of singing...amazing, imo. he NEVER sounds forced in his speed, crescendos, accelerandos...and things just "pile up" so logically...and never makes it sound like "here comes the difficult part to play" but rather : here is the ENDING of the Story.
めちゃめちゃ好きです
物語を曲にしたものです
また弾きたい
懐かしい
My favourite piece of music ever! I can't get enough of it.. It feeds my soul.
What a GREAT performance... a world class pianist... and one of THE greatest composers to ever live...!!! and this being one of his finest works...
Endlich höre ich dieses Werk als ein grosses Stück in einem fliessenden Tempo. Das ist unglaublich schön, wenn man Musik einfach sprechen lässt ohne sie zu viel zu interpretieren. Die meisten Pianisten wechseln die Tempos je nach Laune und Gefühl oder "weil man so spielt". Chopin hat sehr deutlich seine Wünsche betreffend Tempo artikuliert. Rubinstein baut die Ballade grossartig und gleichzeitig sehr natürlich auf.
beautiful
Rubinstein's interpretation is astonishingly good. It may be wrong to speak of "greatest" here, where so many all-time great pianists (Hofmann, Cortot, Horowitz, Richter and so on) have given their best. But I'm tempted to. The music emerges so pure. Everything is in its place, every detail is rendered perfectly, with total textual fidelity, and always embedded in the overall architecture. The tone is shockingly beautiful (perhaps the most beautiful tone of any romantic piano recording I know, with the possible exception of Rubinstein's Barcarolle recording), yet his playing never becomes self-enamored. There is high drama and technical fireworks, yet never virtuosity for its own sake. Overall, he really explains what this piece is all about. Definitely one of the great piano recordings.
The intro always reminds me of an early morning drive I had in New Hampshire along the eastern coast, among the light of the morning sun, smell of the ocean, and the greens
8:26 - 8:31: It's just too beautiful and elegant. Speechless!
it really is enchanting. i don’t know much about reading music but if i’m looking at the right part of the sheet it looks like he’s playing a 9 against 7 rhythm at that part which is just insane
It's actually 9:8 polyrhythm
@@hoangdang6142 wait. looking back at it, isn’t he playing 9 notes in the right hand in the space of 6 notes in the left?
@@mitchellbarr2115 the piece is in 6/8. Chopin actually divided the left-hand part into 2 big beats (which is a common way to divide the time signature 6/8) in every bar (you can see how he connected the semiquavers). I divide the bar into 4 big beats (each contains 3 normal semiquavers), so in that 2 bars, there are 8. Compare that to the right-hand, where every fourth note in a bunch of triplet semiquavers has a stem, so there are 9 big beats, so we have 9:8
@@mitchellbarr2115 It's much better to listen to these 2 bars as a whole, imagining that they are only 1 bar.
2:45 i just love this transition!. This is probably the most beautiful piano arrangement that i've heard, along with Love Dream played by Liszt
That's my favorite part too. Glad to know someone feels the same
The chord progression in that transition is a series of falling fifths. It's a technique used throughout the history of music composition and always make beautiful transitions. I can't appreciate enough when they appear in these great works.
a wonderful interpreter for a wonderful composer
That music purifies my soul!
Very beautiful.
8:25 - 9:00 one of my favourite phrases in the music
この曲はこれまでのショパンの要素が詰まってる！！
I could only ever listen to this and never get bored it’s so amazing
Indeed
First time hearing Rubenstein play this piece. One of my favorite interpretations.
I shall never, NEVER be able to play this. It's impossible. And quite lovely!
I think in the same way, but I guess you just need to keep practicing as everyone always says. I keep this piece in mind as I practice, because I desire to play this one day as well. Eventually, even if you fall short, you'll still be able to play many other great Chopin pieces.
Rico Suave
Thank you Rico :) Maybe when I have mastered some of the Debussy I'm currently learning, I might think about trying some Chopin. I think you are right that you have to keep practising, but it does sometimes seem to me that certain technical feats are achievable only with born talent. Perhaps I'm wrong...
macronencer I'll agree with you in that regard. It does seem that some people have a greater potential when it comes to technical feats, and even several other aspects such as sight reading ability, theory comprehension, muscle memory, etc. I often find myself lamenting about my lack of musical training in my youth, (I just started at the age of 17) but that only makes me more frustrated. What I've come to realize is that you must seek to achieve your maximum potential, whatever that may be. I changed my attitude, and because of that I was able to play Chopin's Nocturne no. 20 after only eight months of playing the instrument. Be sure to give that one a go as your first Chopin piece, it's incredible.
I'm sure u can do it if u work ur best! True, born talent gets u somewhere, but ultimately it's abt the effort u put in :) I'm a pianist too so I understand XD
macronencer I'm sure if I worked for a couple months I could get the notes right, but I don't think I'll ever be able to play this piece with the emotion it deserves to be played with.
I used to put classical on in the background, it used to help me focus now it does the exact opposite, all i can focus on is how in the world did they just do that and wow this is so beautiful i have to process what just happened, man I love "classical" music.
(we all know this isn't in the time period but this is when music was all building off each other and not trying to be rebellious like today's music and just disregarding everything we learned for hundreds of years about music)
I'm obsessed with this piece.
Impresionante!!!🥰🎶👏👏👌
So perfection really does exist
Impresionante! Chopin y Rubinstein nos transmiten a otro universo 8:58 sublime
Breath-taking virtuosity, and sensitivity!
Just beautiful.
Every beautiful piece I listen to seems to move something in the soul that was still before I listened to it.
For the coda, be sure to have very relaxed wrists. It's the only way to do those intervals at that speed. Also practice both that section and the two scales at the end in broken rhythms. First as dotted-eighth sixteenth note rhythm and then switch it. Also play the right hand intervals together actually by "blocking" them. Helps tremendously. Lastly, I found the best way to practice the left hand was to get to the point where you can play it with your eyes closed. It's the only way really.
Rubinstein's phrasing is just perfect here.
Creo que Chopin elegiría esta versión. Qué obra tan magnífica y compleja!! Gracias por subirla a la red
ngl I was brought here by my music teacher, but it does not disappoint
...truly a great interpretation...outstanding even for Rubenstein.
it's so good to read to all love for chopin and music from other people. I feel connected to you.
Oh my god. The loud parts just blew my hair back! SO SO much energy! Like. . . wow!
Happy birthday Chopin!
This is the kind of piece you'd hear in your dreams.
I literally hear Rubenstein breathing heavily into the mic, such passion. wow!
Considering who the performer is, the piece starts at beautiful, and only gets better from there. What a span the man had!