Mitsuko Uchida talking about her experience with Arnold Schoenberg's piano music. Including a rehearsal of the Piano Concerto op. 42 (conducted by Jeffrey Tate).
I Love her... She is a Treasure. Anything she does is Wonderful.... and her Mozart brings me to tears..... Thanks for Posting this! Charles, in Atlanta, GA
I'm staggered at some of the imbecilic responses below. There really is no great mystery to appreciating this music; it just requires open ears and a philosophically pliant attitude to tone and musical structure. It doesn't belong to a foreboding elite who spend their lives sneering at the lower orders. If you don't like or understand it, fine; but don't just assume that it's nonsense or some sort of fraud perpetrated against the listening public.
I performed Schoenberg's op 11 from memory as an undergraduate. It's like 20 minutes long or something. My teacher kept saying, "Use the book. You're not required to memorize atonal 20th Century works. No one will mind that you're using music for Schoenberg." I said, "all my friends are killing themselves playing Bach from memory, and I get to use the book just because there's no key signature?" Truth is, once you get it in your ears, it's easier to memorize than a fugue, particularly a fugue with more than 3 voices.
Shoenberg's little piano pieces are much easier than this piano concerto. Most of the pianists don't play by memory. Especially in this era, we have to appreciate if someone is brave enough to play it. For example I admire the following great pianist, who played it wonderfully: ua-cam.com/video/Xn4Owwy73MY/v-deo.html . It is really a shame, he has not played this in the biggest concert halls.
No. Atonality is not a complete language of expressions. Neither is tonality. Each is simply a different way of putting notes together, nothing more. A piece of music can be tonal and still express nothing at all. A piece of atonal music can express many things, including some things which can be expressed tonally, and some which cannot.
Just saw Emanuel Ax do the Schoenberg with the NY Phil this past week. It was good, but watching this...Mitsuko Uchida plays this with so much more gusto! She is my favorite pianist, and it's so great watching her play something like this once in awhile, rather than all the Schubert and Mozart.
"Oh My God! The guy was mad!" Great first impression of Schoenberg's but so true...Schoenberg's must grow on you! As a pianist myself, my goal is to reach the quality level of Mitsuki Uchida...she is amazing! So much enjoyable to hear speaking of music and, most important, playing it! Indeed a true musician! Brava!
Whether one calls oneself conservative or revolutionary, whether one composes in a conventional or progressive manner, whether one tries to imitate old styles or is destined to express new ideas -- whether one is a good composer or not -- one must be convinced of the infallibility of one's own fantasy and one must believe in one's own inspiration. (Arnold Schoenberg, "Composition with Twelve Tones")
Her passion for this piece is infectious. I can listen to and enjoy atonal music up to a point, but hearing her talk about it and break it down makes it more interesting. Also agree that her Mozart readings are outstanding. Also, check out her Schubert recordings. Not sure if there are any here on YT, but her CDs of his Impromptus and Sonatas are excellent.
I love her expression at 5:40 when she plays the original and inverted tone rows together... It's like, "I'm showing off, haha" :-) seriously, that is pretty hard to do, play two tone rows together like that at that speed without errors. (at least...i don't think there were errors...)
@bayreuth79 1. Do you never feel emotions which can only be explained with sheer dissonance? 2. Chaos IS order. Research it. 3. How can atonal music be nonexistent if it exists lol
This is not just a pianist, she doesnt just play it. She uses it for whatever means she wants, for whatever she wants to convey. This is truly a master.
@manuelspcool You can search her interview on UA-cam. She says that now she's more comfortable with expressing herself in English. And I don't care her residence and her language, whatever it is german or english, you know? All that counts is her music.
I think I might be falling in love with this women. Also, I love the way her accent is a mixture of Japanese and German (with a bit of English: "soooo" "knoooow") What a gal!
Her commitment ! Her faith that if she can find interest there will be others too . You can tell as she talks she loves (d) living in England . So much spirit ! At 14 for summer learn all this and Schonberg op.11 .
I saw her live tonight playing this work and she had to use a score!! The page-turner was jumping up and down like a rabbit! It is so complex and just does not flow. Schoenberg did not marry the piano with the orchestra in many places.
Mitsuko Uchida is amazing!! She's soooo passionate! I have been blessed to see her live at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and her stage presence is a welcome addition to her astounding gift! I've seen other famous virtuoso pianists, but she, by far, stands out amongst the crowd! And not only did I see her in concert, but I met her afterwards. She is genuine and truly interested in those with whom she meets. I have many of her cd's/dvd's; her interpretation makes the music come alive!!!!!!!!
@TheRealLo Music previous to the baroque period was still basically in a tonal context. Medieval music, for instance, which is my specialism at university, was clearly tonal. The atonal music of Schoenberg and Webern is something new in terms of musical history; and if you don't recognize that then I'm afraid you are ignorant of musical history. In terms of sound- what distinguishes some of Schoenberg's piano pieces from someone banging on a piano randomly? Remember I said, in terms of sound.
I just love Mitsuko Uchida. She plays wonderfully and it is always very interesting to here her unique Eurasian accent. Shoenberg's concerto is among my favorites, yes, a lot of brain work!
If one understands the music very well - as you said you can easily imagine - they wouldn't be asking such a question even if they don't enjoy it ("what am I supposed to feel when listening to Madonna's music?", I don't think so). And it's better to feel like taking a test, then not to feel anything at all for something that is so worth understanding and appreciating. "Brain work" - as Mitsuko says here - and "heart work" is good for you.
I'd call this 'engagement'. If a piece of music is able to engage your psyche, reach in and connect with multiple emotional circuits, it belongs with you. Mitsuko Uchida really explains how this process unfolded inside her mind. Thank you for sharing.
If you don't like Schoenberg watch a different fucking video. Saying "this is just noise" is not really a unique opinion, believe it or not - some of you really have too much time on your hands...
And you can see from your responses to me and Katchum that you refuse to go the length of understanding what WE're talking about (you ignored Katchum's questioned and made it into a completely different question about "taste" and you refused to go along with my natural "ideas and emotions that music brings up" question, as if you don't know what I mean and trying to show. Meanwhile, I understand and accordingly enjoy Berg's music much more then Schoenberg's.
Why would anyone want to learn it? There is no such thing as atonal music- it is a contradiction in terms. Without a tonal context- even if the tonal music is pushed to its limit as with Wagner's Tristan- there is nothing but dissonance and sheer dissonance is a kind of organized chaos.
@violench oh and a year ago there where a interview in youtube but was erased where She Speaks German like a Real German and says a lot of thing's of the languajes but like you say the very important thing here is the art
So do I, and I don't like it. That's why I don't feel the need to ask what I am supposed to feel about it, because I intuitively "know". But with Schoenberg it's different, here one may find it actually difficult to understand what one's SUPPOSED to feel and this is a natural condition, the music is perplexing. This comes before "I like it" or "I don't like it" and the need to resolve this perplexity before arriving at a superficial "sentence" is something that should rather be encouraged.
By the way, ideas and emotions are different things but not separate and independent of each other and definitely not easily distinguishable when the subject of understanding music is discussed (though the "emotions" you brought to the table are lacking in terms of imagination indeed). Over all, I think the philosophy you suggested unintentionally promotes ignorance and intolerance.
@violench yeah youre rigth the residence and the languanje are in other place, Her Art is the important thing = ) and for me She is the most puwerful pianist in the world
Like A. Schoenberg's, B. Bartok's music may also at times (most inconsistently) be very confusing and difficult to immediately relate to emotionally. I don't yet have enough of Schoenberg's music to "work with", but I did have a personal break-through with that Bartok 1st movement which always "bugged" me. Sorry, but as long as the discussion is relevant to the video commented upon, I don't see a reason to apply your "lesson", though I accept and understand your position.
Yet another old comment that's worth responding to: Reacting to a piece of music as being "Grand" and "neat" or "awful" and not worth listening to, isn't relevant to what 'kachum' asked about. It's a legitimate question not only as a rhetorical one, and the relevant answers are legitimate as well. I know I for one, want to know them and I do my best to improve my understanding. (Are these the only ideas and emotions music brings up in you?!).
I heard about a pianist who was going around the US faking Schoenberg's piano pieces & it took 3 years before anyone figured it out. I guess you could call this DodecaPHONY music.
@FidelioRoo :D Some people can't even tell if you mess up a tonal piece, most don't even notice off-key singing... So what? Some people are far-sighted, does that stultify the details in visual art? There are always intricacies which can ruin a performance when they are neglected, but can only enrich it very subtly when played well. To the trained attentive ear every sound adds to the listening experience and those who listen to the music passively like it's a blurry mash of sounds don't matter
Paying the row by itself is a rather "old school" gesture for serial composers. The row is a source of harmonic entities that will appear during the aggregate suggestion of the music itself. It means no more than a minor scale played before the G-minor symphony. During composition of this symphony, Schoenberg's student, George Tremblay, encounaged the maestro to re-introduce the octave and (0,3,7) trichord into motivic positions that made the concerto more distinctive.
And why does tonality 'say' something and not atonality? Don't you really mean that you do understand what tonality is saying to you but not what atonality is saying to you? I've seen the same arguments repeated over and over: I don't find meaning here, I don't like it, therefore it is noise and it is not music. Why?
@CHELL9001 No, I don't think so. I do think atonality (or atonal elements) can broaden the way of expression but atonality alone seems to me an insufficient way of expression.
![[UA] NAVI проти G2 Esports | Blast Premier Fall Final](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QWlIm4FGESQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I love the fact that she actually understands and loves the piece
Genial!!! I love the opening of the concerto
I love this woman.
I Love her... She is a Treasure. Anything she does is Wonderful.... and her Mozart brings me to tears..... Thanks for Posting this! Charles, in Atlanta, GA
That's "aggregate succession"- the salient sound of serial music (row after tone row in different forms...O, I5, R7, etc). It's a wonderful piece!
Excellent clip.
Perfect , that calms my blood
love you Uchida
OK I'll look up Pollini playing Boulez if U look @ Valentina Lisitza playing Gaspard De La Nuit.
Schoenberg's piano concerto is... A LOT of brain-work, you see?
its called modernist music.
I'm staggered at some of the imbecilic responses below. There really is no great mystery to appreciating this music; it just requires open ears and a philosophically pliant attitude to tone and musical structure. It doesn't belong to a foreboding elite who spend their lives sneering at the lower orders. If you don't like or understand it, fine; but don't just assume that it's nonsense or some sort of fraud perpetrated against the listening public.
No one cares that you don't like it or don't get it. Educate yourselves.
I performed Schoenberg's op 11 from memory as an undergraduate. It's like 20 minutes long or something. My teacher kept saying, "Use the book. You're not required to memorize atonal 20th Century works. No one will mind that you're using music for Schoenberg." I said, "all my friends are killing themselves playing Bach from memory, and I get to use the book just because there's no key signature?" Truth is, once you get it in your ears, it's easier to memorize than a fugue, particularly a fugue with more than 3 voices.
Shoenberg's little piano pieces are much easier than this piano concerto. Most of the pianists don't play by memory. Especially in this era, we have to appreciate if someone is brave enough to play it. For example I admire the following great pianist, who played it wonderfully: ua-cam.com/video/Xn4Owwy73MY/v-deo.html . It is really a shame, he has not played this in the biggest concert halls.
I love Ms. Uchida's energy and enthusiasm for the music! Very refreshing!
No. Atonality is not a complete language of expressions. Neither is tonality. Each is simply a different way of putting notes together, nothing more.
A piece of music can be tonal and still express nothing at all. A piece of atonal music can express many things, including some things which can be expressed tonally, and some which cannot.
English is not a complete language of expression. A sentence can be in English and still say nothing at all.
Just saw Emanuel Ax do the Schoenberg with the NY Phil this past week. It was good, but watching this...Mitsuko Uchida plays this with so much more gusto! She is my favorite pianist, and it's so great watching her play something like this once in awhile, rather than all the Schubert and Mozart.
"Oh My God! The guy was mad!" Great first impression of Schoenberg's but so true...Schoenberg's must grow on you! As a pianist myself, my goal is to reach the quality level of Mitsuki Uchida...she is amazing! So much enjoyable to hear speaking of music and, most important, playing it! Indeed a true musician! Brava!
Whether one calls oneself conservative or revolutionary, whether one composes in a conventional or progressive manner, whether one tries to imitate old styles or is destined to express new ideas -- whether one is a good composer or not -- one must be convinced of the infallibility of one's own fantasy and one must believe in one's own inspiration. (Arnold Schoenberg, "Composition with Twelve Tones")
Her passion for this piece is infectious. I can listen to and enjoy atonal music up to a point, but hearing her talk about it and break it down makes it more interesting.
Also agree that her Mozart readings are outstanding. Also, check out her Schubert recordings. Not sure if there are any here on YT, but her CDs of his Impromptus and Sonatas are excellent.
I love her expression at 5:40 when she plays the original and inverted tone rows together... It's like, "I'm showing off, haha" :-)
seriously, that is pretty hard to do, play two tone rows together like that at that speed without errors. (at least...i don't think there were errors...)
I once read an article, where she said that she thought to become either a pianist or a mathematician, when she was around 15 yrs. old.
We need a Mitsuko Uchida Autobiography!
I'm going to watch her play it live on september the 4th!!!
@bayreuth79
1. Do you never feel emotions which can only be explained with sheer dissonance?
2. Chaos IS order. Research it.
3. How can atonal music be nonexistent if it exists lol
This is not just a pianist, she doesnt just play it. She uses it for whatever means she wants, for whatever she wants to convey. This is truly a master.
これで日本人なのだから驚きます。
She has great pianist!
@Ddepresstival, lucky you! She is my favorit pianist and yes she has got guts ! this concerto is hauntingly beautifull.
I love her! Amazing in Schubert, Mozart + Schoenberg!! And her accent is exactly like Georg Solti's...
yes, so true regarding her accent. Not thought of that before. A great sense of urgency to the voice.
@manuelspcool You can search her interview on UA-cam. She says that now she's more comfortable with expressing herself in English. And I don't care her residence and her language, whatever it is german or english, you know? All that counts is her music.
shes a little crazy lol but also very passionate and really intelligent
I think I might be falling in love with this women. Also, I love the way her accent is a mixture of Japanese and German (with a bit of English: "soooo" "knoooow") What a gal!
Her recording is truly extraordinary. It may well be my favorite.
that's so amazing when she plays both the original and the retrograde inversion tone rows together at 5:39!
I always love hearing interviews with concert pianists, and seeing them play.
fantastic interview and insights here :)
i was lucky enough to listen to her live yesterday!! she is AMAZING!!
Ah, I want more of this! It's so wonderful to listen to her.
How I wish this wonderful musician would record Stravinsky. Movements for piano and orchestra
Her commitment ! Her faith that if she can find interest there will be others too . You can tell as she talks she loves (d) living in England . So much spirit ! At 14 for summer learn all this and Schonberg op.11 .
She is a wonderful pianist, sensitive to, and understanding of, the music but I have been in love with her speaking voice for so many years!
This is completely insane (in a good way!!). She is of the highest order.
I saw her live tonight playing this work and she had to use a score!! The page-turner was jumping up and down like a rabbit!
It is so complex and just does not flow. Schoenberg did not marry the piano with the orchestra in many places.
Mitsuko Uchida is amazing!! She's soooo passionate! I have been blessed to see her live at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and her stage presence is a welcome addition to her astounding gift! I've seen other famous virtuoso pianists, but she, by far, stands out amongst the crowd! And not only did I see her in concert, but I met her afterwards. She is genuine and truly interested in those with whom she meets. I have many of her cd's/dvd's; her interpretation makes the music come alive!!!!!!!!
This woman is a genius of music, a prodigy, I love her style and I love the way she thinks of the music she plays. All my respect to her!
But it's not random at all...it's in fact even stricter than tonal music, or some would say, "music that sounds good to the ear"
I agree..how is chaos noted? It requires discipline to resist familiar expressive conventions or patterns.
I just love her! How I would love to hear her play this piece in concert.........
wonderful music, wonderful interpreter, wonderful composer!
Where could I find the full version of this interview?
@TheRealLo Music previous to the baroque period was still basically in a tonal context. Medieval music, for instance, which is my specialism at university, was clearly tonal. The atonal music of Schoenberg and Webern is something new in terms of musical history; and if you don't recognize that then I'm afraid you are ignorant of musical history.
In terms of sound- what distinguishes some of Schoenberg's piano pieces from someone banging on a piano randomly? Remember I said, in terms of sound.
@shibadoggie11 Her piano playing definitely is amazing, and those of us pianists who are "trained in music" think so too! :)
I think she's amazing! A passionate and phenomenal performer. She speaks so eloquently and beautifully too. She is also hot!
I just love Mitsuko Uchida. She plays wonderfully and it is always very interesting to here her unique Eurasian accent. Shoenberg's concerto is among my favorites, yes, a lot of brain work!
If anyone can make us love this music it's Uchida
she seems to have a very interesting personality
I love her!! I would LOVE to listen to her live.
She talks like a Schoenberg concerto
I find she is a unique artist, and she plays it so tacfully and beautifully. I'm not trained in music but I think her piano is amazing.
If one understands the music very well - as you said you can easily imagine - they wouldn't be asking such a question even if they don't enjoy it ("what am I supposed to feel when listening to Madonna's music?", I don't think so).
And it's better to feel like taking a test, then not to feel anything at all for something that is so worth understanding and appreciating.
"Brain work" - as Mitsuko says here - and "heart work" is good for you.
I'd call this 'engagement'. If a piece of music is able to engage your psyche, reach in and connect with multiple emotional circuits, it belongs with you. Mitsuko Uchida really explains how this process unfolded inside her mind. Thank you for sharing.
woah 😅
She is a saviour. !!! I wish she would play Birtwhistle antiphonies and Elliott carter. Wonderful musician
If you don't like Schoenberg watch a different fucking video. Saying "this is just noise" is not really a unique opinion, believe it or not - some of you really have too much time on your hands...
Excellent
Thanks so much for uploading this!
WOW!!!!!!
4:28 did he?
And you can see from your responses to me and Katchum that you refuse to go the length of understanding what WE're talking about (you ignored Katchum's questioned and made it into a completely different question about "taste" and you refused to go along with my natural "ideas and emotions that music brings up" question, as if you don't know what I mean and trying to show.
Meanwhile, I understand and accordingly enjoy Berg's music much more then Schoenberg's.
Why would anyone want to learn it? There is no such thing as atonal music- it is a contradiction in terms. Without a tonal context- even if the tonal music is pushed to its limit as with Wagner's Tristan- there is nothing but dissonance and sheer dissonance is a kind of organized chaos.
@violench oh and a year ago there where a interview in youtube but was erased where She Speaks German like a Real German and says a lot of thing's of the languajes but like you say the very important thing here is the art
So do I, and I don't like it.
That's why I don't feel the need to ask what I am supposed to feel about it, because I intuitively "know". But with Schoenberg it's different, here one may find it actually difficult to understand what one's SUPPOSED to feel and this is a natural condition, the music is perplexing. This comes before "I like it" or
"I don't like it" and the need to resolve this perplexity before arriving at a superficial "sentence" is something that should rather be encouraged.
By the way, ideas and emotions are different things but not separate and independent of each other and definitely not easily distinguishable when the subject of understanding music is discussed (though the "emotions" you brought to the table are lacking in terms of imagination indeed).
Over all, I think the philosophy you suggested unintentionally promotes ignorance and intolerance.
@violench yeah youre rigth the residence and the languanje are in other place, Her Art is the important thing = ) and for me She is the most puwerful pianist in the world
Like A. Schoenberg's, B. Bartok's music may also at times (most inconsistently) be very confusing and difficult to immediately relate to emotionally.
I don't yet have enough of Schoenberg's music to "work with", but I did have a personal break-through with that Bartok 1st movement which always "bugged" me.
Sorry, but as long as the discussion is relevant to the video commented upon, I don't see a reason to apply your "lesson", though I accept and understand your position.
Yet another old comment that's worth responding to: Reacting to a piece of music as being "Grand" and "neat" or "awful" and not worth listening to, isn't relevant to what 'kachum' asked about. It's a legitimate question not only as a rhetorical one, and the relevant answers are legitimate as well.
I know I for one, want to know them and I do my best to improve my understanding.
(Are these the only ideas and emotions music brings up in you?!).
I wanna se Her playing Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3
and Chopin piano Concerto No.1 there is not any recording of those concertos is so frustrating
I know a French woman who has the same "Englishy" accent when speaking English. They both must have learned the language in England or from a Brit.
@violench SHe Changed her residence for her concerts, Her languaje is the german the english is her third languaje
4:25 "Glenn Gould" ... the Secret Emperor of this Concerto .....
I heard about a pianist who was going around the US faking Schoenberg's piano pieces & it took 3 years before anyone figured it out. I guess you could call this DodecaPHONY music.
@FidelioRoo
:D Some people can't even tell if you mess up a tonal piece, most don't even notice off-key singing... So what? Some people are far-sighted, does that stultify the details in visual art?
There are always intricacies which can ruin a performance when they are neglected, but can only enrich it very subtly when played well. To the trained attentive ear every sound adds to the listening experience and those who listen to the music passively like it's a blurry mash of sounds don't matter
Paying the row by itself is a rather "old school" gesture for serial composers. The row is a source of harmonic entities that will appear during the aggregate suggestion of the music itself. It means no more than a minor scale played before the G-minor symphony.
During composition of this symphony, Schoenberg's student, George Tremblay, encounaged the maestro to re-introduce the octave and (0,3,7) trichord into motivic positions that made the concerto more distinctive.
And why does tonality 'say' something and not atonality? Don't you really mean that you do understand what tonality is saying to you but not what atonality is saying to you? I've seen the same arguments repeated over and over: I don't find meaning here, I don't like it, therefore it is noise and it is not music. Why?
I won't be offended and I'll definitely understand if you declined, even by not responding.
I think she is striking. It is extremely difficult to pull off a schoenberg piece like this and by no means is it a normal piece of music.
Uchida lived in Wien and then changed her residence to London. That's why she has british accent probably.
What movement is the beginning of the video from with the cadenza-like octaves spanning up the keyboard(which starts at about 0:17)?
@CHELL9001 No, I don't think so. I do think atonality (or atonal elements) can broaden the way of expression but atonality alone seems to me an insufficient way of expression.
what is that first piece she says she played by shoenberg? Right around 7:40 minutes.
She says "Schoenberg Opus 11," which is the Drei Klavierstücke (Three Piano Pieces), Op.11.
yep... nobody is perfect. But I could say.. she's near of this.
She is almost perfect. ^^
I wouldn't want to step in but, lokopiano... that's some bullshit.
Hey, but the most important thing is that we agree about this being great music.
I just love that facial expression at 5:40!!!! It's like, "I'm showing off!!!"
Would like to listen to the whole interview.
This sounds personal. I think U R being subjective.
I wonder, did Schoenberg play piano at all?
"hop it goes!"
huahuhauhuahuah!!!! Great artist. Really amazing.
What an engaging pianist and woman.
Wow that chick can play the piano so damn fast
@bayreuth79
You're a contradiction in terms lol
@whatshendrix Explain.