The Chopin Podcast is finally here! Full 75-90 minute episodes will be released every Wednesday between now and the end of the year, covering all of Chopin's major compositional genres: Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chopin-podcast/id1765998900 Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2hNW9BuUCK0z2adPHhqArh Audible: www.audible.com/podcast/The-Chopin-Podcast/B0DFVRVCX4 In the days that follow each episode drop, I'll divide it into 3-4 video versions and post here (starting with this one!). Garrick Ohlsson - just announced as the chair of the Chopin Competition jury in Warsaw in 2025 - will star in every single episode, followed by special guests offering insights into different aspects of Chopin's legacy. This all started when the executive director of the Chopin Foundation of the United States, Barbara Muze, invited me to host the livestreams for the National Chopin Competition in January. I said yes, on one condition: that we partner to create a series all about Chopin in the months leading up to the competition. I'm lucky to have found an organization whose mission resonates so much with my own - to spread the joys of Chopin and classical piano more generally to ordinary people everywhere, and not just insiders (although, this content is meant for both!). Learn more about the Chopin Foundation at chopin.org Thanks for watching and stay tuned. Much, much more to come.
The genius of the D flat for me is that, at first, that pedal point seems nice and innocent in the context of the first theme. But then once that dark middle section comes and goes and then it reverts back to the main theme again, the A flat pedal point (for me at least) still carries with it that dark undertone all the way through the end. It's one of the greatest examples of musical "trauma" I've ever seen.
I wish I could tell Mr. Ohlsson personally how much his insight into Chopin has helped me as a pianist and as a piano teacher. There are many great pianists, but few with the understanding and conceptualization of Mr. O.
Those 4 bars of the B major prelude are also what made me fall in love with the Chopin preludes! I still remember I was listening to Seong-jin Cho's complete preludes on background while I was working, and those 4 bars made me stop what I was doing and replay that section. It's a total gem buried in a relatively unknown prelude. Glad to know it wasn't just me!
It sounds like pop music for a moment haha. So heart warming. It’s funny how a fleeting moment like that can capture our ears and have such an impact on us.
Garrick's recordings of the Preludes are exquisite. Thank you, Ben, for this very informative and very entertaining video. Looking forward to the series. 👍
Its amazing to me how certain pieces so consistently capture our hearts. The B major prelude had me as well. First prelude I heard for some reason. Also watched the pianist, and watching him play the 1st ballade, near the end of the movie. It was so amazing how they set up the scene. Chopin changes us. He's a hit of music meth.
I share the shame feeling as Mendelssohn about the A flat major one. I can't put my finger exactly on why is so beautiful, it just gives such a warm and sincere vibe. It's utterly magical.
This is such great stuff Ben. Thank you so much for the substantial, informative piano "content" you're putting out - this is catnip for classical music nerds like me!
Ben, can I just say, that as a lover of classical music, and especially the piano repertoire, this is such a treat! I hope your podcast grows and grows. Garrick Ohlsson once gave the most memorable recital I'd ever heard. He was, actually, subbing for Pollini. This was around 2010ish when he released his two Liszt albums for Bridge records. He played a lot of the repertoire from those recordings, including the Fantasie & Fugue on the Choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", for organ, S. 259..which I think is a Busoni transcription for the piano. I have never heard such orchestral playing in my life. The sound literally filled the entire hall. His fortissimos are loud but never harsh. Everything was played with such artistry. It's been 14 years and I still can't forget the experience.
This is what we all needed! The next chairman of jury of the Chopin's Piano Competition talking about the most extraordinary pieces of Chopin's work. Preludes by Chopin are like the universe, you can find every emotion there! When I discovered recordings of Preludes by G.Ohlsson for Hyperion, I was so amazed by his artistry of playing and genius way of using pedal to create extra dimension for some pieces. Thank you very much for this video, it makes me really happy!
I love the comment you quote from Schumann that the preludes are sketches. They always leave me wanting more, more development. Most fly by a little too fast for me. Beautiful themes, he could take awesome places
On the topic of extemporaneous improvisation, I highly recommend checking out pianist Edoardo Brotto-his mastery of romantic improvisational grammar is truly remarkable. This video with Mr. Ohlsson is fantastic, as always, providing deep insights into the historical context and sentiments of Chopin’s works. Thank you, Professor Laude, for consistently delivering such enriching content!
I can't tell you how much I'm loving this series and am very excited to hear upcoming episodes with Garrick's insights. Alan Walker completely mesmerized me with his episode.on the Preludes.
This is so wonderful!! So many great insights. Love seeing how you guys fell in love with Chopin. For me it was his first waltz in Eb major. I had a Chopin CD as a kid and was obsessed with it. And all the other pieces on it, too. So hlad that you're doing this podcast now, I can never get enough Chopin!
That technique for the end of the D Minor prelude is absolutely genius. I always feel like that would be one of the most embarrassing wrong notes possible in all of classical piano. (Maybe along with the high G octave in the 3rd movement of Rach 2 before the climax.)
What amazing content this is! Garrick Ohlsson has become my favorite for Chopin, and I am currently listening to his complete Chopin, so perfect timing. Thank you both!
Gabriela Montero. Improvisor par excellence. Just responding to your bit about improvisation and improvisers. I improvise between pieces, to get me to the new key. I just make it up. Over time, certain passage work that just comes out of my fingers becomes established, and I use it a lot. I don’t care if it’s jazz or not. I’m a classical player. What I improvise is my business, not anyone else’s. But I consider it essential to keeping my mind open for expressive ideas in each piece I play. That’s all.
Ben, nice to meet you and figure out you are 13+25=38 years old. That was a fantastic intro story on how you started your Chopin journey and your piano career. You should be proud of yourself for everything you have done to educate and inspire people around the world who loves classical music. Please keep up the good work!!
I want to pay you and the channel a compliment! First of all....Greetings from the Republic of Ireland. I was drinking Jameson Whiskey and Ginger Ale and somehow came across your channel. Very informative and interesting. Keep doin' what you're doin'!!
Just found this channel and love it! While watching this video I fell in love with Prelude #7. Now I must go and find the sheet music so I can play it. Thank you ❤
Isn't that wonderful when that happens?! To fall in love immediately. For me it was Beethoven 27 #2 Presto agitato. That was it! i had to play it. I was obsessed. It changed my life for the love of classical piano. I was 14.
Totally see why those first 4 bars would stop you in your tracks. Those delicious & subtle ritards towards the end--so perfectly judged yet sounding so natural--would be enough to make me gasp, stop, and go back to hear it again. That kind of elegant, unobtrusive but affecting way of playing with time is (for me) what great Chopin pianists demonstrate. As Barenboim once said in speaking of Rubinstein and some of his contemporaries, it's how they judge the time between notes, the unmarked time, that often distinguishes their interpretations of this music.
Wow I didn’t know that technique in the 24th prelude! I will use that technique. I don’t know if I can use my 1,2,3 fingers on the D because my hand is too big. 😅 Thank you Ben and Garrick! Can’t wait for the more!
This was really good! Thanks. You gave me some new things to think about. The c major 1st prelude is the one that slays me. I don't want it to end. I want like 5 repeats. It's usually played too fast for me. Pletnev in a 2004? or so, youtube video, plays it sublimely. The whole set he plays are fabulous.
I remember thinking of that late Eb in the F major prelude as Chopin kind of winking at us. It doesn't particularly set up d minor, though it does create some harmonic tension as GO notes.
The unremitting b's from the 6th prelude -- don't they turn up immediately again in what at first seems to be a totally contrasting slow dance in quite distant-sounding A major? -- Thank you, thank you for the delights of Garrick Ohlsson speaking and playing.
Chopin's preludes are monumental works-in my humble opinion, they are much more expansive than the Hummel preludes that inspired and preceded its structure-I look forward to hearing this episode of the podcast. On a side note, Cortot and Bülow both gave nicknames to all of the 24 Chopin preludes, but it seems to be Bülow's nicknames that ironically stick better than Cortot's. Using the 15th Prelude, the D-flat major Prelude as an example, "Raindrop" (which was Bülow's nickname) is more "catchy" than Cortot's nickname-"But death is here, in the shadows".
George Sand actually first dubbed it the “Raindrop”, which Chopin objected to by the way. I think Bulow just went with it since it was already named. Alan Walker discusses it in his segment on this same episode (check it out on Apple/spotify, or wait a couple days for the video version). I actually think Cortot’s is more accurate! For me the prelude has always been about death lurking underneath our conscious experience. I hear the repeated notes as heart beats, each one being one more closer to the last…
Of all of Chopin's compositions, the preludes may best embody his reverence for simplicity: “Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.”
Mr. Ohlson played the climax of the C - major prelude - the natural and right way, I think - emphasizing the bottom notes of the right hand ( with the thumb ) on ONE , but in the beginning marking the upper notes ( with the right pinkie). So you shouldn't play the whole piece and especially the end like even. I always asked myself, how Chopin would have played this. Great series btw , many thanks for that! I love those lessons of Seymour Bernstein very much too.
The one thing I would have loved to have been touched on especially with the A minor prelude is how the dies irae chant appears throughout among all that dissonance
Hey Ben, I don't know if you know this, but hearing prelude no. 15 in the Halo 3: Believe trailer has shed different light on the middle, supposedly "dark" and "awful" section for me, as described by Garrick. In that trailer, it is quite heroic and inspirational. Watch it if you haven't!.
@@ruscaryt4480 that’s very interesting. I’m collecting examples of Chopin in pop culture (mostly film/tv), so I will add it to the list. How fun would it be if I played it for Garrick?
Subscriber to the podcast as well as your channel. Terrific start to a series I’m very much looking forward to, having played many of the simpler preludes as a young boy and developed a love of Chopin. Question: can you give Garrick a lav in addition to his main mic or find some other way to balance the vocal output when he gives piano examples? It is so distracting to have him drop off in volume and the room sound take over. Your voice also is often louder than others, e.g,, in your interview with the biographer. Small details, and I don’t mean this to take away from the overall excellence of your work. Thank you for all your efforts.
@@benlawdy Yes. I think I've sampled some of Tyson's recordings. Methinks his interpretations are a bit of a mashup of other interps, but that could just be my personal bias. Also, I haven't listened to them, in a while.
@@benlawdy Check out Gilels interpretation from 1953. On streaming platforms it's disc 30 of 50 from the Melodiya 100th Anniversary collection. He played with a completely much more fiery temperament in his younger days.
@@Daniel_Zalman there’s some mashup for sure, but also settling originality. Plus that recorded sound is phenomenal. Definitely worth revisiting. You won’t like everything he does, but then you’ll stumble on one (or several) that is the best you’ve ever heard.
@@Sitbon08 archivalapparel.co/ But they only do limited-time apparel. I literally think I got the last one. You could email and beg, maybe send them this link haha. Pretty sure that’s how my wife was able to order it. But they have lots of cool composer designs worth checking out.
Watch Dang Thai Son play it from the 1980 competition. He does what Garrick does, but with hands reversed. Garrick didn’t know Dang did it too, they both seemed to have come up with it independently. Maybe Dang got it from someone, but also he must have taught Eric Lu the trick (check out Eric’s from 2015 Warsaw).
@@peterchan6082 yes it’s amazing. Sent that performance to Garrick and he was blown away too. Garrick’s fist might actually be too large for it haha. When he squeezes three fingers together, it’s basically a long fist.
@@benlawdy After that part, I had to immediately pause the video to get behind the piano, learn the notes and try it out. This is one of those tips/tricks from great pianists that you'd never figure out unless really paying attention with eyes. Doing god's work, Ben! P.S. This could be dangerous information you're spreading. Twice in my life have I already broken piano bass strings (though higher and skinnier ones). You and Garrick have taught us how to split the atom and it's not looking good for the pianos out there...
i always felt like Chopin was for Real Pianists and my shallow amateur ass couldn't comprehend his subtleties but maybe i'll do a mainline on Garrick's recordings and see if I can stir some neurons around
I like the idea of mozart running out of bed to resolve the final notes. Who among you can resist the final 2 notes of Shave and a Haircut.....X......X. .
It might be my favorite actually. I was sad Garrick and I didn't get to it, so I was pleased when Jed mentioned it in his segment at the end of the episode - and I played Moiseiwitsch's full recording of the Prelude.
@@benlawdy Great. It's such an emotionally nuanced piece. I actually won't say it's about despondency (maybe the very beginning). It feels more nostalgic, actually, like a remembrance of things past. There are brief moments when the sun rises, that I very touching. A world is contained in that little gem of a prelude. Either way, Garrick is such an eloquent speaker on music. He has so much knowledge to impart. I could imagine that a seasoned pianist or very advanced student would benefit tremendously from having some lessons with him.
Oh my! Which voice should I bring out in the C major Prelude of Chopin? Should it be the thumb or the little finger? Did Chopin tell us which he wanted to sing? NO!! So what then? Well, maybe BOTH. Yes, BOTH!! Like an antiphonal duet. YES!!!! That's it.
42:15: Sixth last bar of the prelude: Why almost every pianist I've heard, Mr. Ohlsson inclusive, doesn't get the two pairs of quintuplets right? Why almost every pianist out there -please double-check-plays first six (!) and then only four (!) chords? You can hear lots of pianists in Chopin Competition who play the bar that way, and of course many 'great' pianists who do also the same. Any explanation please? Two exceptions I have found are András Schiff and Mikhail Pletnev. That means there's no textual problem whatsoever. Chopin's manuscript is clear as well as the editions of the score we have. So? I am asking again: What's the matter with all other famous and less famous pianists?
I think with bells sound in the 17th Prelude, one has to take into consideration the piano that Chopin had at his disposal. I don't think the dynamic range was as wide as it is on a modern grand. I could be wrong.
@@charlesjazz3224 podcasts come out on Wednesdays and are complete (75-90 minute segments with all guests ). Video versions cut and released a few days later as 3-4 independent segments, but it adds up to the same episode. Some folks aren’t on UA-cam as much as us, so it’s good to have this content on different platforms. But also if you’re eager, it lets you listen to everything before it comes out on UA-cam.
This may be off the rails. But with last prelude in D min, do you think Chopin’s opening right-hand-downward arpeggio was perhaps influenced by Beethoven’s opening to the Appassionata sonata? And also, in the previous prelude in F maj, do you think the idiosyncratic F7 arppegio at the end is reminiscent of Beethoven’s early F maj sonata in the first movement, where there’s a cadential chord progression of F, F7, and E maj? Going directly to the key of Cmaj? And I say all of this knowing Chopin was not found of Beethoven’s music. But before Chopin, what other major composers could have influenced him other than Beethoven and Schubert?
@@walkercatenaccio but does an F7 chord ever go to D minor? What’s odd is that they already shares the F and A, so there’s not much “resolution” to a d minor triad.
@@benlawdyidk how often Chopin does this but Rachmaninov often resolved a dominant 7th chord to chord iii as a sort of deceptive cadence. But the prelude isn’t in Bb major so this doesn’t really apply here
@@benlawdy We could say that E flat to D has a Neapolitan connection. And Neapolitan harmonic progressions, according to the music theoreticians, express ideas of depression, death and suicide (check out for example the ending of the G minor aria "Ach, ich fühl's" from 'The Magic Flute'). And death, as we all know, is an ongoing and omnipresent theme that dominates the Preludes op. 28. With this in mind, I think, one can much more easily and logically "listen" and understand this truly unique - but also "strange" indeed - harmonic connection between the two last Preludes.
When I heard them I wanted to play the 24th. My skills were not even close. My teacher did not stop me and i did no understand the tremendous difficulty. i just could not figure out why i could play it. My teacher should have stopped me.
@@milkenjoyer14 yes. And thank you! Uploading the full interview (heads ups there’s video but no scores! FYI it’s basically our full 75-minute video conversation on the preludes, but covers several that didn’t make the cut for the good episode). Will be posted in the next couple hours.
@@milkenjoyer14 yes, it’s a good time to update the tiers / I set them before I really started to grow my channel. Still developing bigger perks for higher tiers but extended interviews should be accessible at the first level of clearance.
I dunno, the preludes have never done it for me. They seem too short to be worth learning and for some reason that very much puts me off. I'm currently learning the first ballade but I really feel like I'm missing out by not learning any preludes, perhaps this video will convince me to pick them up
Chopin is out of my pay grade. I was never a musician, but started playing the piano 2 years ago after my retirement. I've used ot to help with my depression, since I've been a climate activist...but with a real plan. And I've known about the climate for over 5 decades, and I've been beat down. I also had an intimate knowledge of energy, since I started my career working often for energy companies, and started school with petroleum engineers. They warned me about Peak Oil, but they were scared to death of alternative petroleum techniques, fracking and tarsanding. They called them Zombie Fuels. And we have been using them heavily since 2005, and every prediction they talked about has come to fruition, but it's a real Strange Fruit. Frack sites are worthless after 18 months, so they are sold off to other banks or pension funds. They blamed the first financial crash on homeowners, but the system has never recovered. From a climate perspective, 90% of all heat has been absorbed by the oceans in the last four decades, and they've become stratified. They can't absorb more, and they are even giving off their stored heat. Witness Hurricane Milton, which went from a Tropical Storm to a Cat 5 in record time. Heading for Florida. Ben kept talking about the Chopin Festival in Miami. I hope they provide high heels for the pianists, and for the pianos. Maybe platform shoes would be better suited. Actually, they should really think of relocating to higher ground. I'm getting better, and have almost finished with my John Thompson Book 1. I had started in Book 2, and played a Chopin piece, as well as Beethoven. But I wsn't feeling the music so I'm back in Book 1, and trying to have a deeper understanding of basic concepts. Then I'll be able to appreciate Book 2, and the others. I think 2025 is a little short for me to enter the competion, so I'll put my sights on 2029. Robert Estrin says that these competitions are difficult and having a good teacher is important. Maybe getting to know the judges will also help? I liked the video, does that get me extra votes?
The Chopin Podcast is finally here! Full 75-90 minute episodes will be released every Wednesday between now and the end of the year, covering all of Chopin's major compositional genres:
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chopin-podcast/id1765998900
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2hNW9BuUCK0z2adPHhqArh
Audible: www.audible.com/podcast/The-Chopin-Podcast/B0DFVRVCX4
In the days that follow each episode drop, I'll divide it into 3-4 video versions and post here (starting with this one!). Garrick Ohlsson - just announced as the chair of the Chopin Competition jury in Warsaw in 2025 - will star in every single episode, followed by special guests offering insights into different aspects of Chopin's legacy.
This all started when the executive director of the Chopin Foundation of the United States, Barbara Muze, invited me to host the livestreams for the National Chopin Competition in January. I said yes, on one condition: that we partner to create a series all about Chopin in the months leading up to the competition. I'm lucky to have found an organization whose mission resonates so much with my own - to spread the joys of Chopin and classical piano more generally to ordinary people everywhere, and not just insiders (although, this content is meant for both!). Learn more about the Chopin Foundation at chopin.org
Thanks for watching and stay tuned. Much, much more to come.
The genius of the D flat for me is that, at first, that pedal point seems nice and innocent in the context of the first theme. But then once that dark middle section comes and goes and then it reverts back to the main theme again, the A flat pedal point (for me at least) still carries with it that dark undertone all the way through the end. It's one of the greatest examples of musical "trauma" I've ever seen.
I wish I could tell Mr. Ohlsson personally how much his insight into Chopin has helped me as a pianist and as a piano teacher. There are many great pianists, but few with the understanding and conceptualization of Mr. O.
Those 4 bars of the B major prelude are also what made me fall in love with the Chopin preludes! I still remember I was listening to Seong-jin Cho's complete preludes on background while I was working, and those 4 bars made me stop what I was doing and replay that section. It's a total gem buried in a relatively unknown prelude. Glad to know it wasn't just me!
It sounds like pop music for a moment haha. So heart warming. It’s funny how a fleeting moment like that can capture our ears and have such an impact on us.
One of my favorite progressions
Also my absolute favorite moment in all the preludes ❤
Fell in love with it at 14, with Argerich’s recording!
Absolutely fantastic stuff! Thank you so much, Ben, for your dedication in sharing your love of Chopin and music with us
Garrick's recordings of the Preludes are exquisite. Thank you, Ben, for this very informative and very entertaining video. Looking forward to the series. 👍
Amazing podcast! Loved the humor!! The double-note scale of the last etude, "It is a terrible moment in life." LOL
Can't wait for more
Garrick, the man... the legend
Its amazing to me how certain pieces so consistently capture our hearts. The B major prelude had me as well. First prelude I heard for some reason. Also watched the pianist, and watching him play the 1st ballade, near the end of the movie. It was so amazing how they set up the scene. Chopin changes us. He's a hit of music meth.
I share the shame feeling as Mendelssohn about the A flat major one. I can't put my finger exactly on why is so beautiful, it just gives such a warm and sincere vibe. It's utterly magical.
yes
This is such great stuff Ben. Thank you so much for the substantial, informative piano "content" you're putting out - this is catnip for classical music nerds like me!
I love it too!
Ben, can I just say, that as a lover of classical music, and especially the piano repertoire, this is such a treat! I hope your podcast grows and grows. Garrick Ohlsson once gave the most memorable recital I'd ever heard. He was, actually, subbing for Pollini. This was around 2010ish when he released his two Liszt albums for Bridge records. He played a lot of the repertoire from those recordings, including the Fantasie & Fugue on the Choral "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", for organ, S. 259..which I think is a Busoni transcription for the piano. I have never heard such orchestral playing in my life. The sound literally filled the entire hall. His fortissimos are loud but never harsh. Everything was played with such artistry. It's been 14 years and I still can't forget the experience.
I'm absolutely obsessed w/ Chopin's preludes, want to play the whole set, working on that❤
I think Pogorelich is still the GOAT in terms of artistry in his preludes album. Great vid, looking forward to the next
Thanks, it’s so detailled and very well explaned, what a nice dueto you and Garrick created. Excellent vídeo ❤❤❤
So excited for this podcast!
This is what we all needed! The next chairman of jury of the Chopin's Piano Competition talking about the most extraordinary pieces of Chopin's work. Preludes by Chopin are like the universe, you can find every emotion there! When I discovered recordings of Preludes by G.Ohlsson for Hyperion, I was so amazed by his artistry of playing and genius way of using pedal to create extra dimension for some pieces. Thank you very much for this video, it makes me really happy!
Great video! I'm looking forward to the Etudes.
Raindrop for me - as a child waking up during the middle section, was the most haunting thing id ever heard. Scared me...ashkenazy the performer.
Thank you Sir. I share your love for Chopin’s music.
I love the comment you quote from Schumann that the preludes are sketches. They always leave me wanting more, more development. Most fly by a little too fast for me. Beautiful themes, he could take awesome places
Yes I agree!
It is a fantastic podcast! Thank you so much for this endeavour
Ben , love your Chopin podcast!, great project ! Thanks 🙏 ❤
On the topic of extemporaneous improvisation, I highly recommend checking out pianist Edoardo Brotto-his mastery of romantic improvisational grammar is truly remarkable. This video with Mr. Ohlsson is fantastic, as always, providing deep insights into the historical context and sentiments of Chopin’s works. Thank you, Professor Laude, for consistently delivering such enriching content!
Fabulous, A million thanks.
I can't tell you how much I'm loving this series and am very excited to hear upcoming episodes with Garrick's insights. Alan Walker completely mesmerized me with his episode.on the Preludes.
This is so wonderful!! So many great insights. Love seeing how you guys fell in love with Chopin. For me it was his first waltz in Eb major. I had a Chopin CD as a kid and was obsessed with it. And all the other pieces on it, too.
So hlad that you're doing this podcast now, I can never get enough Chopin!
That technique for the end of the D Minor prelude is absolutely genius. I always feel like that would be one of the most embarrassing wrong notes possible in all of classical piano. (Maybe along with the high G octave in the 3rd movement of Rach 2 before the climax.)
HERE IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!
What amazing content this is! Garrick Ohlsson has become my favorite for Chopin, and I am currently listening to his complete Chopin, so perfect timing. Thank you both!
Gabriela Montero. Improvisor par excellence. Just responding to your bit about improvisation and improvisers. I improvise between pieces, to get me to the new key. I just make it up. Over time, certain passage work that just comes out of my fingers becomes established, and I use it a lot. I don’t care if it’s jazz or not. I’m a classical player. What I improvise is my business, not anyone else’s. But I consider it essential to keeping my mind open for expressive ideas in each piece I play. That’s all.
Ben, nice to meet you and figure out you are 13+25=38 years old. That was a fantastic intro story on how you started your Chopin journey and your piano career. You should be proud of yourself for everything you have done to educate and inspire people around the world who loves classical music. Please keep up the good work!!
Absolutely loving this series!!!!!!!
Blows my mind every time
Ohlsson's preludes are great man.
Really enjoyed this - thank you so much for sharing!
For me, Garrick's Showpan mazurkas are the absolute best. Frankly, his complete Chopin is uniformly special.
"We're not quite in, y'know, Vienna or Paris... anymore." Priceless.
Some pianists literally pound those three final D notes in the 24th Prelude with their fists!
Eric Lu for instance. I for one think thats the proper way to end the piece but im Chopin didnt do that.
I want to pay you and the channel a compliment! First of all....Greetings from the Republic of Ireland. I was drinking Jameson Whiskey and Ginger Ale and somehow came across your channel. Very informative and interesting. Keep doin' what you're doin'!!
What a treat, thank you :-)
Just found this channel and love it! While watching this video I fell in love with Prelude #7. Now I must go and find the sheet music so I can play it. Thank you ❤
This is crazy Ben, thanks 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿. So, revealing. And funny 😂. GREAT content
Finally there it is ! Great work, need that T'shirt
Awesome video. Great questions and fascinating perspectives from someone who has thought very deeply about this music!
This was really fun and informative,excited for other episodes!
What a fantastic idea. I will absolutely be along for the ride!
Isn't that wonderful when that happens?! To fall in love immediately. For me it was Beethoven 27 #2 Presto agitato. That was it! i had to play it. I was obsessed. It changed my life for the love of classical piano. I was 14.
The end of that Pachabel progression always reminds me of the second movement of Mozart PC 20. Always loved Sokolov’s slow take of prelude 11
Totally see why those first 4 bars would stop you in your tracks. Those delicious & subtle ritards towards the end--so perfectly judged yet sounding so natural--would be enough to make me gasp, stop, and go back to hear it again. That kind of elegant, unobtrusive but affecting way of playing with time is (for me) what great Chopin pianists demonstrate. As Barenboim once said in speaking of Rubinstein and some of his contemporaries, it's how they judge the time between notes, the unmarked time, that often distinguishes their interpretations of this music.
amazing insights, thanks so much!
Wow I didn’t know that technique in the 24th prelude! I will use that technique. I don’t know if I can use my 1,2,3 fingers on the D because my hand is too big. 😅 Thank you Ben and Garrick! Can’t wait for the more!
Wow, when he played the end of the f-sharp minor I felt a major pang, that was heartbreaking
This was really good! Thanks. You gave me some new things to think about. The c major 1st prelude is the one that slays me. I don't want it to end. I want like 5 repeats. It's usually played too fast for me. Pletnev in a 2004? or so, youtube video, plays it sublimely. The whole set he plays are fabulous.
I remember thinking of that late Eb in the F major prelude as Chopin kind of winking at us. It doesn't particularly set up d minor, though it does create some harmonic tension as GO notes.
Chopin's admiration of Bach is well known. He said though that to follow each Prelude with a fugue would be "too much for my Polish patience ".
That is what polish doctors say...too much for my patients.
The inner part of LH of No.2 contains the first 4 notes of the Dies Irae.
@@colincomposer that’s right! I wish I had brought that up to Garrick
The unremitting b's from the 6th prelude -- don't they turn up immediately again in what at first seems to be a totally contrasting slow dance in quite distant-sounding A major? -- Thank you, thank you for the delights of Garrick Ohlsson speaking and playing.
This occurred to me while editing. It’s true, the B’s continue…
Chopin's preludes are monumental works-in my humble opinion, they are much more expansive than the Hummel preludes that inspired and preceded its structure-I look forward to hearing this episode of the podcast.
On a side note, Cortot and Bülow both gave nicknames to all of the 24 Chopin preludes, but it seems to be Bülow's nicknames that ironically stick better than Cortot's. Using the 15th Prelude, the D-flat major Prelude as an example, "Raindrop" (which was Bülow's nickname) is more "catchy" than Cortot's nickname-"But death is here, in the shadows".
George Sand actually first dubbed it the “Raindrop”, which Chopin objected to by the way. I think Bulow just went with it since it was already named. Alan Walker discusses it in his segment on this same episode (check it out on Apple/spotify, or wait a couple days for the video version).
I actually think Cortot’s is more accurate! For me the prelude has always been about death lurking underneath our conscious experience. I hear the repeated notes as heart beats, each one being one more closer to the last…
Talk about separation of the hands!
Of all of Chopin's compositions, the preludes may best embody his reverence for simplicity: “Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.”
"Good pianists will play it better than that" 🤣
I have that same pink record! I bought it when I was a kid at a thrift store 😊 That was in the early 2000s though 😆
This was great
24:45 you mean that Rachmaninnoff was listening to Chopin right?
This is great
Mr. Ohlson played the climax of the C - major prelude - the natural and right way, I think - emphasizing the bottom notes of the right hand ( with the thumb ) on ONE , but in the beginning marking the upper notes ( with the right pinkie).
So you shouldn't play the whole piece and especially the end like even. I always asked myself, how Chopin would have played this.
Great series btw , many thanks for that! I love those lessons of Seymour Bernstein very much too.
The one thing I would have loved to have been touched on especially with the A minor prelude is how the dies irae chant appears throughout among all that dissonance
@@TomTom53421 yes I’m kicking myself for not having brought that up to Garrick
Your content is so much better than Tonebase which hasn’t been the same since you left.
Hey Ben, I don't know if you know this, but hearing prelude no. 15 in the Halo 3: Believe trailer has shed different light on the middle, supposedly "dark" and "awful" section for me, as described by Garrick. In that trailer, it is quite heroic and inspirational. Watch it if you haven't!.
@@ruscaryt4480 that’s very interesting. I’m collecting examples of Chopin in pop culture (mostly film/tv), so I will add it to the list. How fun would it be if I played it for Garrick?
@@benlawdy Great! It’s still very dark, of course, but with an underlying element of hope.
Subscriber to the podcast as well as your channel. Terrific start to a series I’m very much looking forward to, having played many of the simpler preludes as a young boy and developed a love of Chopin. Question: can you give Garrick a lav in addition to his main mic or find some other way to balance the vocal output when he gives piano examples? It is so distracting to have him drop off in volume and the room sound take over. Your voice also is often louder than others, e.g,, in your interview with the biographer. Small details, and I don’t mean this to take away from the overall excellence of your work. Thank you for all your efforts.
With Showpan, you say? Pogorelich is my favorite modern-ish recording. Cortot 1933 is my favorite classic recording.
I love Andrew Tyson’s preludes, but I’m biased because he’s my friend. Check them out. He’s a Cortot fanatic by the way.
@@benlawdy Yes. I think I've sampled some of Tyson's recordings. Methinks his interpretations are a bit of a mashup of other interps, but that could just be my personal bias. Also, I haven't listened to them, in a while.
@@benlawdy Check out Gilels interpretation from 1953. On streaming platforms it's disc 30 of 50 from the Melodiya 100th Anniversary collection. He played with a completely much more fiery temperament in his younger days.
@@Daniel_Zalman there’s some mashup for sure, but also settling originality. Plus that recorded sound is phenomenal. Definitely worth revisiting. You won’t like everything he does, but then you’ll stumble on one (or several) that is the best you’ve ever heard.
@@benlawdy well, that’s a lot to live up to. Will listen and report back.
I think it may have been Andre Gide who called those three Ds the “Floor of Hell.”
Just discovered the Gide book. It’s great
Super❤
Ben. Good.
Where did you buy that black T-Shirt Ben?
@@Sitbon08 archivalapparel.co/
But they only do limited-time apparel. I literally think I got the last one. You could email and beg, maybe send them this link haha. Pretty sure that’s how my wife was able to order it.
But they have lots of cool composer designs worth checking out.
Everybody loves the Taco Bell Canon
43:18 That trick is pretty amazing
Watch Dang Thai Son play it from the 1980 competition. He does what Garrick does, but with hands reversed. Garrick didn’t know Dang did it too, they both seemed to have come up with it independently. Maybe Dang got it from someone, but also he must have taught Eric Lu the trick (check out Eric’s from 2015 Warsaw).
@benlawdy
Exactly. Dang actually pounded those Ds with his fist!
@@peterchan6082 yes it’s amazing. Sent that performance to Garrick and he was blown away too. Garrick’s fist might actually be too large for it haha. When he squeezes three fingers together, it’s basically a long fist.
@@benlawdy After that part, I had to immediately pause the video to get behind the piano, learn the notes and try it out. This is one of those tips/tricks from great pianists that you'd never figure out unless really paying attention with eyes. Doing god's work, Ben!
P.S. This could be dangerous information you're spreading. Twice in my life have I already broken piano bass strings (though higher and skinnier ones). You and Garrick have taught us how to split the atom and it's not looking good for the pianos out there...
i always felt like Chopin was for Real Pianists and my shallow amateur ass couldn't comprehend his subtleties but maybe i'll do a mainline on Garrick's recordings and see if I can stir some neurons around
F7 definitely has some gravity resolving to D minor. Maybe not as much at that time, but you can hear it now.
I like the idea of mozart running out of bed to resolve the final notes.
Who among you can resist the final 2 notes of Shave and a Haircut.....X......X.
.
Oh wow, we're the se age!
1985 🎉
I have that same book. It's not quite as worn as yours. 😊
What about Prelude No. 13? That's another favorite. It has such a sense of despondency. A sense of loss.
It might be my favorite actually. I was sad Garrick and I didn't get to it, so I was pleased when Jed mentioned it in his segment at the end of the episode - and I played Moiseiwitsch's full recording of the Prelude.
@@benlawdy Great. It's such an emotionally nuanced piece. I actually won't say it's about despondency (maybe the very beginning). It feels more nostalgic, actually, like a remembrance of things past. There are brief moments when the sun rises, that I very touching. A world is contained in that little gem of a prelude. Either way, Garrick is such an eloquent speaker on music. He has so much knowledge to impart. I could imagine that a seasoned pianist or very advanced student would benefit tremendously from having some lessons with him.
Oh my! Which voice should I bring out in the C major Prelude of Chopin? Should it be the thumb or the little finger? Did Chopin tell us which he wanted to sing? NO!! So what then?
Well, maybe BOTH. Yes, BOTH!! Like an antiphonal duet. YES!!!! That's it.
42:15: Sixth last bar of the prelude: Why almost every pianist I've heard, Mr. Ohlsson inclusive, doesn't get the two pairs of quintuplets right? Why almost every pianist out there -please double-check-plays first six (!) and then only four (!) chords? You can hear lots of pianists in Chopin Competition who play the bar that way, and of course many 'great' pianists who do also the same. Any explanation please?
Two exceptions I have found are András Schiff and Mikhail Pletnev. That means there's no textual problem whatsoever. Chopin's manuscript is clear as well as the editions of the score we have. So? I am asking again: What's the matter with all other famous and less famous pianists?
The example of the raindrop prelude with a "normal" accompaniment at 28:53 sounds SO wrong lol.
@@napilopez right??
I think with bells sound in the 17th Prelude, one has to take into consideration the piano that Chopin had at his disposal. I don't think the dynamic range was as wide as it is on a modern grand. I could be wrong.
WONK IT
The Podcasts are are different than UA-cam versions?
@@charlesjazz3224 podcasts come out on Wednesdays and are complete (75-90 minute segments with all guests ). Video versions cut and released a few days later as 3-4 independent segments, but it adds up to the same episode. Some folks aren’t on UA-cam as much as us, so it’s good to have this content on different platforms. But also if you’re eager, it lets you listen to everything before it comes out on UA-cam.
This may be off the rails. But with last prelude in D min, do you think Chopin’s opening right-hand-downward arpeggio was perhaps influenced by Beethoven’s opening to the Appassionata sonata? And also, in the previous prelude in F maj, do you think the idiosyncratic F7 arppegio at the end is reminiscent of Beethoven’s early F maj sonata in the first movement, where there’s a cadential chord progression of F, F7, and E maj? Going directly to the key of Cmaj? And I say all of this knowing Chopin was not found of Beethoven’s music. But before Chopin, what other major composers could have influenced him other than Beethoven and Schubert?
In a jazz context, D minor essentially Is Bb major 7 without the root, and Eb dominant routinely resolves there.
@@walkercatenaccio but does an F7 chord ever go to D minor? What’s odd is that they already shares the F and A, so there’s not much “resolution” to a d minor triad.
@@benlawdyidk how often Chopin does this but Rachmaninov often resolved a dominant 7th chord to chord iii as a sort of deceptive cadence. But the prelude isn’t in Bb major so this doesn’t really apply here
@@benlawdy We could say that E flat to D has a Neapolitan connection. And Neapolitan harmonic progressions, according to the music theoreticians, express ideas of depression, death and suicide (check out for example the ending of the G minor aria "Ach, ich fühl's" from 'The Magic Flute'). And death, as we all know, is an ongoing and omnipresent theme that dominates the Preludes op. 28. With this in mind, I think, one can much more easily and logically "listen" and understand this truly unique - but also "strange" indeed - harmonic connection between the two last Preludes.
When I heard them I wanted to play the 24th. My skills were not even close. My teacher did not stop me and i did no understand the tremendous difficulty. i just could not figure out why i could play it. My teacher should have stopped me.
A very young Maurizio Pollini missed that final D in number 24. Video is somewhere on YT.
So the "Balcony" tier on Patreon is sufficient to get the whole interview? 20$ is a bit too much for me.
@@milkenjoyer14 yes. And thank you! Uploading the full interview (heads ups there’s video but no scores! FYI it’s basically our full 75-minute video conversation on the preludes, but covers several that didn’t make the cut for the good episode). Will be posted in the next couple hours.
@@benlawdy Just signed up! It may be prudent to change the tier description there, I wouldn't have known this kind of stuff was included.
@@milkenjoyer14 yes, it’s a good time to update the tiers / I set them before I really started to grow my channel. Still developing bigger perks for higher tiers but extended interviews should be accessible at the first level of clearance.
Funny how the multiples of 8 preludes are monstrously difficult.
🙏🙏🙏
I dunno, the preludes have never done it for me. They seem too short to be worth learning and for some reason that very much puts me off.
I'm currently learning the first ballade but I really feel like I'm missing out by not learning any preludes, perhaps this video will convince me to pick them up
Chopin is out of my pay grade. I was never a musician, but started playing the piano 2 years ago after my retirement. I've used ot to help with my depression, since I've been a climate activist...but with a real plan. And I've known about the climate for over 5 decades, and I've been beat down. I also had an intimate knowledge of energy, since I started my career working often for energy companies, and started school with petroleum engineers. They warned me about Peak Oil, but they were scared to death of alternative petroleum techniques, fracking and tarsanding. They called them Zombie Fuels. And we have been using them heavily since 2005, and every prediction they talked about has come to fruition, but it's a real Strange Fruit. Frack sites are worthless after 18 months, so they are sold off to other banks or pension funds. They blamed the first financial crash on homeowners, but the system has never recovered.
From a climate perspective, 90% of all heat has been absorbed by the oceans in the last four decades, and they've become stratified. They can't absorb more, and they are even giving off their stored heat. Witness Hurricane Milton, which went from a Tropical Storm to a Cat 5 in record time. Heading for Florida.
Ben kept talking about the Chopin Festival in Miami. I hope they provide high heels for the pianists, and for the pianos. Maybe platform shoes would be better suited. Actually, they should really think of relocating to higher ground.
I'm getting better, and have almost finished with my John Thompson Book 1. I had started in Book 2, and played a Chopin piece, as well as Beethoven. But I wsn't feeling the music so I'm back in Book 1, and trying to have a deeper understanding of basic concepts. Then I'll be able to appreciate Book 2, and the others. I think 2025 is a little short for me to enter the competion, so I'll put my sights on 2029. Robert Estrin says that these competitions are difficult and having a good teacher is important. Maybe getting to know the judges will also help?
I liked the video, does that get me extra votes?
I wish my parents would've listened to classical piano