The fourth ballade is a narration on human life. It is as profound as art gets. As beautiful, tragic, heartbreaking, joyful, peaceful, ecstatic as life can become. What a miracle.
Alan Walker reveals Chopin’s personal story behind the composition of the fourth ballade (will release tomorrow). It helps us understand what might have inspired this tragic miracle.
I remember being a ballade 1 fan and hearing everyone saying 4 was the best. I was on the #1 train until I finally gave the fourth a listen and that changed so fast 😭
Alan Walker also talks about how music mustn’t be reduced to depictions of the outside world - “baby talk”. How do you think we should understand music otherwise?
@@implanetlol2715 yeah he really brings the hammer down with that one! I figure we’ll hash this out in the comments when I post that video, but Walker is insistent on defending music’s ability to stand alone as an art form and not be *dependent* on words and images to mean something. It’s an old philosophical debate, and in our discussion he makes it clear that he’s not against using imagery to stimulate a listener’s or student’s imagination, he just doesn’t want us to assert that the imagery is “what the music is about.” What it’s about cannot be captured in words, and so on. This isn’t to say that music isn’t inspired by the mundane world we live in - he’s a biographer, so he’s well aware of that - and his point in that segment is to say that understanding Chopin’s circumstances at the time give us deeper insight into the piece, much more than attaching this or that poem that the music is supposed to correlate with.
@@benlawdy Yes, I am with you on this one. Walker strikes me as far too insistent on this point. He is probably right that Chopin did not consciously write music with real-world events in mind, but he seriously underestimates the power of the subconscious, IMO. We humans do many, many things that we do not fully understand, at least not without serious analysis. Anyway, congrats on another brilliant video.
it's fascinating how Ben and Garrick can still inspire new details to each other despite obsessing over the ballades for decadeds already. The genius of Chopin is truly infinity.
I’m not a trained pianist, but the Fourth Ballade stuck in my musical brain 40 years ago and it keeps its hold still. I could listen to the two of you discuss these things for hours. To see Garrick Ohlsson toss off this difficult stuff, and show thematic development; this amazes me no end. Bravo.
Also, not to be ageist, but Mr. Ohlsson's facility at 76 (I believe) is just astounding. Just the fluidity of movement is such a joy to observe. When you watch him from those overhead angles, it just feels like he was born playing the piano. No wasted motions, everything is so natural. And then there's the sonority, speed, etc.
I'm an addict as well, Ben. I played the g minor Ballade for my graduate recital. The euphoric passage you identified still has me hooked as well, 40+ years after that recital. I return to it often, striving to get every ounce of that joy and release!! I am enjoying this series!
Hi Ben, I am an adult learner who began playing piano during the start of COVID. I am currently in the process of attaining my level 8 in RCM and am doing my best to learn everything I can about classical music. I would just like to thank you for your wonderful podcast because it has taught me so much not just about these great pieces which I love so deeply but also about the depth and beauty of music itself. I feel as if learning things from you (while maybe a bit too early or late depending on how you look at it) along my piano journey that I didn’t even know were right in front of my face. Thank you and Garrick for sharing your continuous wealth of knowledge and passion with all of us.
That's an impressive amount of progress for anyone, let alone an adult learner! I got to Grade 8 when I was 16 and have stayed at that level for the 40 years since, but I hope you soar on past to who knows what... the Ballades!
@@melefth thank you! I am trying my best! I feel I have hit a wall myself in terms of skill and comprehension but my teacher is pushing me to break through! Here’s to hoping I get there.
I grew up with Rubinstein's Ballads and decades later I still treasure his performances. With Rubinstein I can focus on the music and not be agog at the technique. And there is nothing shoddy about his technique.
Same addiction, pal. For 65 years, I have been struggling with it. But the g-minor, being my least favorite Ballade, came much later on my list of genuine masterpieces. For me the third and fourth ballade, along with the F-minor fantasy and the Polonaise-Fantasie may represent the two greatest single movement works for piano, and, IMO, four of the greatest MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS in any genre, ever written.
I have severe asthma, and when the breathlessness comment hit, it just hit me. I knew the passage immediately, and how it could be phrased to reflect that. It really does convey a sense of what its like to struggle to breathe. I'm never going to hear that piece the same way again.
I spent my formative years becoming a concert artist on the saxophone. I never had teachers who could pull apart a piece like this and rhapsodize about its contents, structure, difficulty, and various approaches. We had music that was sometimes pretty good, but more often comical. We had no virtuoso masters to emulate, except two or three legends who actually were pretty good, but still far from a Rubinstein, a Heifetz, an Ohlsson, or Horowitz. I listened to Heifetz, Rubinstein, Szeryng and Galway. Horowitz taught me technique; I deduced that to do what he was doing, you had to have recursive movements - circles - and everything had to flow through the phrase as one motion. I transcribed Debussy, Prokofiev, Poulenc, Strauss, and many more, but especially Bach. Bach’s solo partitas and sonatas were my daily bread. Some of my concerts were at social events, and the Van Cliburn Foundation was one of those, as were local art museums who would have us play for their opening galas, and do recitals in conjunction with the paintings. I loved it! Van Cliburn would tip me $100, and stop to talk music and congratulate us on sounding so good. For a saxophone player, it was heady stuff. Then after a few years of concertizing to mostly small audiences, I stopped. I became an arranger and director and whatever made money to support my family. I learned MIDI and audio engineering, and was excellent at my crafts, because I knew the sounds of virtuosity and beauty we were trying to achieve. I knew how to make them happen. Then at 65 I retired and bought a Boston (designed by Steinway) piano. A six foot grand, it afforded me with the action and sound to understand what I wanted to achieve on the piano and how to get there. Then I realized the Boston wasn’t going to get me there. I traded it in, along with enough cash to buy a house, for a Steinway Model D. Ever since, it’s been the nirvana of my life to plug away in the piano mine, hashing out difficult passages, learning to apply my technique to this amazing instrument and learn from it, digging, digging, and digging, and then going away from 6 hours of practice with a few genuine nuggets in my pocket. As you can tell, I’m internally motivated and able to teach myself pretty much anything I need. But this is where my real comment starts: What I’m picking up here is a camaraderie born of shared experience in the piano mine, chip-chip-chipping away, picking up nuggets and connecting them together into a beautiful necklace. You guys are talking my language. I’ve never experienced this before, not on piano and not on saxophone or flute before that. There was talk, of course, but it was guarded, like “don’t look at what I’m doing; you might say something offensive.” Sometimes it was simply “I’m better than you. I’m better than you. I’m still better than you.” I don’t get that one bit here. My goodness; to have the technique, memory and experience of Garrick Ohlsson, to whom I’ve been listening for decades, would be a dream, and yet he doesn’t put on one bit; and I think I know why. Anyone who has chipped around for many hours each day in the piano mine knows that it’s just hard work. Do it enough, and you’ll get it. But you have to do it. Most of us haven’t. I’m in the process. But seeing your podcast is pure joy. I can’t believe this is for free! I know, I know, that means I’ve gotta donate. LOL! These are the best lessons I’ve had in my life! Many thanks. Pardon the length. I felt like it was important for you to know that not all instruments are this privileged. You guys chose the instrument of the gods. And among the brands of instruments of those gods is the Steinway. I now understand it. The level of privilege is astounding. The literature, the instrument, the paths for conversations about how to play this stuff… But I’m exceeding my messaging welcome. Just keep doing this. It’s great. It’s much appreciated, and yes, I’ll donate! -Shooshie
This is a great comment. I love your passion for music and for the piano. I also played flute and saxophone, although not at any real proficient level. But piano is my jam. But there’s still so much to learn.
Such a great program. Thankyou. I must add that the coda on the end of the first Ballade reminds me of a beautiful racehorse having won a the Kentucky derby and then being forced to run around a bunch of barrels and jump fences after having already sublimely finished the actual race. Love to hear a version without it. Thanks for such a great channel Ben!!!
Just watched the video again! Among countless other things, I’m amazed at Garrick Ohlsson’s ability to play and talk at the same time, as if “independently.”
These are simply wonderful videos, Ben. You and Garrick really unpack the beauties and intricacies and challenges of these Chopin pieces. Expertise married to passionate enthusiasm makes for a thrilling experience. And that key observation about the rhythmic passage in the 4t Ballade! Genius. I'M addicted!
An addiction that is saving my life at the moment - there are no words, yet there never will be enough words. Thank you for making these wonderful videos.
Ben. You made my day(again)! In a world going mad around geopolitical crises, societal divide, fruitless identity discussions, climate change hysteria and AI madness, this podcast is my lifeboat for enjoyment, positivity and optimism. I am eagerly awaiting all the forthcoming episodes (and of course the big Chopin Competition in 2025 in Warsaw). Keep up your soul-saving work.
I was actually addicted to Chopin's ballades for months. I would listen to all four every day in a dark room. It affected my mental health. They're beautiful pieces, but when you listen to them as frequently as I did it becomes hard to feel anything but emptiness. I made a new year's resolution to not listen to any ballades. I eventually ditched it, but I'm not addicted anymore. I still love them.
I kinda had the same thing, perhaps a bit less dramatic, but I was still craving for the catharsis feeling at the end of each piece. I also had nocturne op.48 included in the loop, as it also captured this noble tear-jerking atmosphere.
I am not a pianist but have been mildly (?) obsessed with this Ballade and the same point in in this piece as you've begun with. What is it about this moment that takes our collective breath away? Happens every time. ❤️
This might be my favorite video all time! There are a handful of pieces I could not live without and Chopin Ballades are right at the top. My god I love them so. I could watch this video over and over and over. Thanks.
When I was 11yo I watched a movie - "The Pianist" , scene where Szpilman has been captured by German soldier and forced to prove that he is a pianist changed me as young pianist back then, goosebumps all over body.. first thing next day I rushed to my piano teacher and ask to photocopy ballade in g-minor, teacher laughed at me saying that I will need 4 hands to play it, and then all of sudden I start practising for 8h a day everyday and few years later this piece was in my concert/competition repertoire. Ballades is my drug and Chopin is my dealer, till this day I am addicted to it. Even this Sunday morning, after breakfast I played 3 out of 4 ballades last one in f-minor op 52 is out of my reach.
If you managed to get the 1st and 3rd to competition level, I’m dead sure it’s only a matter of time to get the 4th. At this point nothing there should be frightening (even those rapid thirds in the middle of coda :p) I’ve never went to music school, but I practiced piano for like 10years with a graduate teacher. At that time I wasn’t ready for op.52 at all (barely finished op.23 and a-flat polonaise). But that didn’t stop me from brut forcing it couple hours per day just like you. Then I’ve recorded a video of the whole thing on my yt. It’s a very sloppy recording but what matters mostly is your own satisfaction! + remember that we only truly learn when we try something out of reach :)
I picked up piano again after near 20 year hiatus. Learned to play the ballade #4 in 3 months of disciplined and intense practice and took 3 more to polish it. I'd say if you can play the 1st one well then the 4th one is in reach.
I really enjoy these series. I recently re-commenced playing the piano after nearly 60 years, and watching your pod casts help me to continue through difficult pieces of sheet music eg Chopin and Mozart Thank you
Zimmerman's recordings are my favorite, though Horowitz introduced me to them. I used work at a convenience store and play the 4th ballade on an old CD player. The customers where mainly folks who worked at AT&T in the same building, they really liked it.
Ben, you’re killing it with these! Such great content! Have you ever explored the recordings of Piotr Anderszewski? His 4th Ballade, for me, is the best and I never hear him mentioned enough!
The opening of the 2nd ballade reflects the magical serenity of the Mendocino coast on a peaceful day. Last winter we were hit with two atmospheric rivers at the same time and Chopin seemed to know all about such an experience with what he wrote next.
I LOVE Chopin's super beautiful, delicate, brilliant, crystal sound, which penetrates every human's soul to the core. If you are a human, you know what I mean.
The ballades are perhaps the most important artistic works ever made, the first ballade perhaps the greatest accomplishment in human history. A bold claim, but a claim I’ll stand by
I learned the 4th ballade when I was in college and it definitely was habit-forming. I have performed three of them since that time but the 2nd ballade is still a little too sadistic for me to have mastered it yet. Samson laid the foundation to analyze these compositions but every time you think you have them figured out you find something else that blows your mind. "Hats off gentlemen, a genius!"
In my late teens in Melbourne some of my Jewish friends invited me to what would be my first ever piano recital which was in the Melbourne (Australia) Town Hall. I was familiar with Rubinstein's recordings but to see the great man live was something truly wonderful. He strode onto the stage, a quite short man, militarily upright in stance and settled at the piano. Bolt upright , no bending over the keyboard or any waving of arms or head movements. He began with the Moonlight, with great subtlety in the first movement going on to a blazing 3rd movement. But this is about Chopin and next amongst a group of Chopin's pieces, was as you might have guessed, included the G minor ballade. And to date I remain at least as besotted by it to this day as Ben Laude. Regrettably it is technically out of my reach as an amateur pianist.
In a world with so many enormous symphonies and operas, I will always maintain that Chopin's Fm Ballade is possibly the greatest piece of music ever written by man. I know only two or three other pieces in its league.
Interesting at 29:25 because Murray Perahia is quoted (that book "Play it Again . ." by British journalist who takes on Ballade no. 1) that he's rarely heard a satisfactory performance of No. 1, perhaps because of its "segmented" nature; I feel like I've heard plenty of convincing renditions of No. 4. Also, thanks Ben for another cool video spreading piano enthusiasm!
the third ballade, I call the horsey ballade :) It's such a pleasure to hear Garrick Ohlsson playing! He sings the stories behind each piece. I want to be like him when I grow up. Thank you very much for these podcasts.
These programmes are wonderful -thanks chaps -im not a pianist or musician but all this double dutch to me musical terminology you manage to transcend so it makes sense and makes listening to Chopin's music even more magical....Whenever you move on to the Mazurkas id love to hear a shout out for Pavel Kolesnikov's recording which I think is an incredible soundworld unlike any other
i don't really know how I ended up here since I have turned off notifications, but I never expected a Chopin podcast. I played the piano for many years when I was a child/teen but I never went deep into learning beyond how to play. this is very cool thanks.
I ve listen to T. Vasary DG recording of Chopin Ballades endlessly on a cassette tape. Along with Pollini Etudes this was beginning of my Chopin love. What if he lived five heathly years.
IMO, 4th Ballade is the greatest solo piano piece ever written. It keeps getting more and more complex until the climax and then the Coda... which for me, especially the first time I heard it, I didn't understand what was happening. I don't know how he ever came to write that part. I think Cecile Ousset plays it the best. I understand it the most when she plays.
Your podcasts are dangerously addictive. I had to drop everything else I was doing when I saw that ths was out. Alan Rusbridger, the former Editor in Chief of The Guardian, who is a serious amateur pianist, wrote a very enjoyable book "Play It Again: An Amateur Against the Impossible" which recounts his effort to learn the Ballade in g minor. He remarks that a number of the pianist he talked to said that when they were young they felt that if they could only learn one piece, that would be the one they would choose.
16:28 This is one of those truisms that most people don't think about too often. It's one of the things that makes Martha Argerich so special. Her ability to play very fast passages with dazzling finger speed but with a very quiet dynamic is astonishing.
In my junior year of undergrad at Stetson University, for music history class we had to write a research paper. It was my first ever! And for my topic I chose musical narrative, with Chopin’s first ballade as a case study. Hearing the word “apotheosis” (which I first learned while reading JSTOR articles) again brings me back!!! (2 years lol)
As the f-minor plays out I am reminded of those Escher paintings, where one object morphs slowly into another and then, MIRACULOUSLY, we return to the original idea. Super, sublime genius.
The second time I heard the G min live was again in Orchestra Hall. The pianist was... Vladimir Horowitz! I can't explain the sublimeness of his playing but something extraordinary happened in this performance which I will never forget. Right before that furious coda, Chopin sets it up with pure drama in the tonality of the Dominant, "D". Horowitz displayed his power as he played that first octave D in the bass but the second one, he came off the bench and landed seemingly his entire weight on that octave! MY GOD! It was like an explosion! I'll never forget that. Then, of course, no one I've ever heard could play that coda like Horowitz, not even Watts!
There were a few weeks where I’d listen to Chopin ballade in g minor about 5 times a day. It was also my gateway drug. My favorite version though, is the your lie in april version where the violin kicks in half way in after the climax mid way in the song where you were demonstrating at the start of your video. It’s so good!
This second theme of the first ballad with the full chords in A got me addicted, from the first encounter with it by Michelangeli's recording (Deutsche Grammophon, published 1972), emphatically played with sensual sound, maybe still my favourite one.
The 4th Ballade is bipolar. The one pianist who swallowed it whole and performed it for a live audience was Josef Hofmann at Curtis in 1938. Mary Louise Curtis Bok the foundress and benefactor of the school who had hired Hofmann to be its Director and Piano department head had just decided to relieve him of his post. Hofmann discovered this just as he was about to give this recital in the hall he had named after his father, Casimir. The resulting performance of the f minor ballade is perhaps the most emotionally dynamic and violently passionate piano performance ever recorded. After listening to this recording one feels shattered and overwhelmed by the ordeal of the story he tells..
Thank you thank you. I plan on watching this again this first time I could hardly stop crying. As regards the third ballade 2nd theme I'd like to suggest those studying this piece to go to your local stable and ride a horse something which Chopin did a fair amount of.
I like how you touched on the slightly “connoisseur” aspect of the fourth ballade. It is among a handful of the greatest works of art, unquestionably. It is the piece I will play endlessly for myself or other musicians. But put me in front of an audience and I would always choose the third ballade, which is a perfect “public” piece. It contains no enigmas, it doesn’t live in the soul, perhaps, but it is nevertheless a perfect, polished gem.
I could hang out listening to these two go at it for days and days. I'm ready to go hit Ballade G-Moll right this second but I'm supposed to go wash the truck!!!!
Love this episode and the Prof. Josh Wright cameo (from whom I had the privilege of taking several years of lessons and had a lesson or two on the first few pages of the G minor Ballade), just fantastic stuff!!! Not sure if Jed Distler mentioned these in the full episode, but my all time favorite recordings of the ballades, which are criminally overlooked, are Ashkenazy’s live recordings from Moscow 1963!
Dr. Walker and Valerie Tryon had a profound impact on my musical journey! It's lovely to see he's still so active in musicology. When Valerie was teaching me the Mephisto Waltz and I played it for Dr. Walker, he gave some wonderful feedback, including the importance of relating the themes to the source material from Lenau's Faust. I'm paraphrasing a bit, but it was something like this, "There are two primary themes in the Mephisto Waltz, the first of Mephistopheles/Faust's Waltz, and the second of Gretchen." He gave me the task of finding every entrance and dictating the measure numbers. It greatly helped me understand the framework of that piece, allowing me to finally wrap my head around it😅. Ben, have you considered having Valerie on for an interview? Her knowledge of the romantics is among the most extensive I've seen personally. I'm still in awe that she studied with a friend of Ravel, Jacques Fevrier, in Paris when she was 18. She even got to meet Poulenc, Myra Hess, Lazar Berman, and so many other famous pianists in the 20th century. I certainly hope I can still perform recitals like her at 90...such an amazing person! One of my favourite books from Dr. Walker is his Chopin biography. I love the inscription he wrote for me of the opening motif to the 3rd Chopin Sonata.
@@mrzuzu1329 I haven’t considered it but that would be wonderful! Once I get out of Chopin land I’ll have lots more opportunities. Thank you for your comment - it’s amazing how well both are doing at 90+
7:59 Another good example is beethoven's fifth symphony 1st movement, the lyrical second subject being sort of turned to the dark side at the end. The transformation is so crazy that it's really easy to miss that at the end, when it builds towards the disastrous climax, you're hearing the lyrical second subject, but it's transformed to be angry and more like the main theme
So happy to finally hear some analysis on those terrible-to-play bars 175 and 176! Just don't manage to get that melody out well. Such a beautiful passage!
The fourth ballade is a narration on human life. It is as profound as art gets. As beautiful, tragic, heartbreaking, joyful, peaceful, ecstatic as life can become. What a miracle.
Alan Walker reveals Chopin’s personal story behind the composition of the fourth ballade (will release tomorrow). It helps us understand what might have inspired this tragic miracle.
I remember being a ballade 1 fan and hearing everyone saying 4 was the best. I was on the #1 train until I finally gave the fourth a listen and that changed so fast 😭
Alan Walker also talks about how music mustn’t be reduced to depictions of the outside world - “baby talk”. How do you think we should understand music otherwise?
@@implanetlol2715 yeah he really brings the hammer down with that one! I figure we’ll hash this out in the comments when I post that video, but Walker is insistent on defending music’s ability to stand alone as an art form and not be *dependent* on words and images to mean something. It’s an old philosophical debate, and in our discussion he makes it clear that he’s not against using imagery to stimulate a listener’s or student’s imagination, he just doesn’t want us to assert that the imagery is “what the music is about.” What it’s about cannot be captured in words, and so on. This isn’t to say that music isn’t inspired by the mundane world we live in - he’s a biographer, so he’s well aware of that - and his point in that segment is to say that understanding Chopin’s circumstances at the time give us deeper insight into the piece, much more than attaching this or that poem that the music is supposed to correlate with.
@@benlawdy Yes, I am with you on this one. Walker strikes me as far too insistent on this point. He is probably right that Chopin did not consciously write music with real-world events in mind, but he seriously underestimates the power of the subconscious, IMO. We humans do many, many things that we do not fully understand, at least not without serious analysis. Anyway, congrats on another brilliant video.
it's fascinating how Ben and Garrick can still inspire new details to each other despite obsessing over the ballades for decadeds already. The genius of Chopin is truly infinity.
This channel is a gift that keeps on giving! Astonishingly good.
공감합니다
I’m not a trained pianist, but the Fourth Ballade stuck in my musical brain 40 years ago and it keeps its hold still. I could listen to the two of you discuss these things for hours. To see Garrick Ohlsson toss off this difficult stuff, and show thematic development; this amazes me no end. Bravo.
Oh no. I just wanted to sleep and now there drops a video about the Chopin Ballades. Gues its another all nighter.
Also, not to be ageist, but Mr. Ohlsson's facility at 76 (I believe) is just astounding. Just the fluidity of movement is such a joy to observe. When you watch him from those overhead angles, it just feels like he was born playing the piano. No wasted motions, everything is so natural. And then there's the sonority, speed, etc.
I hope your channel explodes with the release of this podcast. You are awesome and so is Chopin!
He liked my comment!!
@@INCR3DIBL3JMAN 😁
I too am a Chopin addict, and it's funny you upload this video after I've been relentlessly replaying Chopin's Ballades all week xD
0:19 Rubinstein looking like a mob boss😂
Ben, these projects of yours are a true masterpiece.
I'm an addict as well, Ben. I played the g minor Ballade for my graduate recital. The euphoric passage you identified still has me hooked as well, 40+ years after that recital. I return to it often, striving to get every ounce of that joy and release!! I am enjoying this series!
As a struggling addict of Chopin's Ballade No.1 in G Minor. I want to thank you for spreading awareness. I'm hoping I'll be free once I can play it.
The greatest composer in the world. There, I said it.
What a fantastic video. That part in the 4th Ballade blew my mind too. Just an unbelievably creative genius.
Hi Ben, I am an adult learner who began playing piano during the start of COVID. I am currently in the process of attaining my level 8 in RCM and am doing my best to learn everything I can about classical music. I would just like to thank you for your wonderful podcast because it has taught me so much not just about these great pieces which I love so deeply but also about the depth and beauty of music itself. I feel as if learning things from you (while maybe a bit too early or late depending on how you look at it) along my piano journey that I didn’t even know were right in front of my face. Thank you and Garrick for sharing your continuous wealth of knowledge and passion with all of us.
That's an impressive amount of progress for anyone, let alone an adult learner!
I got to Grade 8 when I was 16 and have stayed at that level for the 40 years since, but I hope you soar on past to who knows what... the Ballades!
@@melefth thank you! I am trying my best! I feel I have hit a wall myself in terms of skill and comprehension but my teacher is pushing me to break through! Here’s to hoping I get there.
I grew up with Rubinstein's Ballads and decades later I still treasure his performances. With Rubinstein I can focus on the music and not be agog at the technique. And there is nothing shoddy about his technique.
@@shubus agreed!
Same addiction, pal. For 65 years, I have been struggling with it. But the g-minor, being my least favorite Ballade, came much later on my list of genuine masterpieces. For me the third and fourth ballade, along with the F-minor fantasy and the Polonaise-Fantasie may represent the two greatest single movement works for piano, and, IMO, four of the greatest MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS in any genre, ever written.
Garrick is so humble and honest - when said he was a little afraid of the 4th ballade it made me feel quite emotional.
I was also fascinated by Chopin's ballades when I was young and I remain addicted.
same here
I have severe asthma, and when the breathlessness comment hit, it just hit me. I knew the passage immediately, and how it could be phrased to reflect that. It really does convey a sense of what its like to struggle to breathe. I'm never going to hear that piece the same way again.
The opening of the fourth is one of my favorite moments in music.
Yuliana Avdeeva plays the best 4th ballade available on the internet. It's unbelievable.
Thought I was the only one, hers has always been my fav interpretation
I spent my formative years becoming a concert artist on the saxophone. I never had teachers who could pull apart a piece like this and rhapsodize about its contents, structure, difficulty, and various approaches. We had music that was sometimes pretty good, but more often comical. We had no virtuoso masters to emulate, except two or three legends who actually were pretty good, but still far from a Rubinstein, a Heifetz, an Ohlsson, or Horowitz. I listened to Heifetz, Rubinstein, Szeryng and Galway. Horowitz taught me technique; I deduced that to do what he was doing, you had to have recursive movements - circles - and everything had to flow through the phrase as one motion. I transcribed Debussy, Prokofiev, Poulenc, Strauss, and many more, but especially Bach. Bach’s solo partitas and sonatas were my daily bread. Some of my concerts were at social events, and the Van Cliburn Foundation was one of those, as were local art museums who would have us play for their opening galas, and do recitals in conjunction with the paintings. I loved it! Van Cliburn would tip me $100, and stop to talk music and congratulate us on sounding so good. For a saxophone player, it was heady stuff.
Then after a few years of concertizing to mostly small audiences, I stopped. I became an arranger and director and whatever made money to support my family. I learned MIDI and audio engineering, and was excellent at my crafts, because I knew the sounds of virtuosity and beauty we were trying to achieve. I knew how to make them happen.
Then at 65 I retired and bought a Boston (designed by Steinway) piano. A six foot grand, it afforded me with the action and sound to understand what I wanted to achieve on the piano and how to get there. Then I realized the Boston wasn’t going to get me there. I traded it in, along with enough cash to buy a house, for a Steinway Model D. Ever since, it’s been the nirvana of my life to plug away in the piano mine, hashing out difficult passages, learning to apply my technique to this amazing instrument and learn from it, digging, digging, and digging, and then going away from 6 hours of practice with a few genuine nuggets in my pocket.
As you can tell, I’m internally motivated and able to teach myself pretty much anything I need. But this is where my real comment starts: What I’m picking up here is a camaraderie born of shared experience in the piano mine, chip-chip-chipping away, picking up nuggets and connecting them together into a beautiful necklace. You guys are talking my language. I’ve never experienced this before, not on piano and not on saxophone or flute before that. There was talk, of course, but it was guarded, like “don’t look at what I’m doing; you might say something offensive.” Sometimes it was simply “I’m better than you. I’m better than you. I’m still better than you.” I don’t get that one bit here. My goodness; to have the technique, memory and experience of Garrick Ohlsson, to whom I’ve been listening for decades, would be a dream, and yet he doesn’t put on one bit; and I think I know why. Anyone who has chipped around for many hours each day in the piano mine knows that it’s just hard work. Do it enough, and you’ll get it. But you have to do it. Most of us haven’t. I’m in the process. But seeing your podcast is pure joy. I can’t believe this is for free! I know, I know, that means I’ve gotta donate. LOL! These are the best lessons I’ve had in my life! Many thanks. Pardon the length. I felt like it was important for you to know that not all instruments are this privileged. You guys chose the instrument of the gods. And among the brands of instruments of those gods is the Steinway. I now understand it. The level of privilege is astounding. The literature, the instrument, the paths for conversations about how to play this stuff… But I’m exceeding my messaging welcome. Just keep doing this. It’s great. It’s much appreciated, and yes, I’ll donate!
-Shooshie
This is a great comment. I love your passion for music and for the piano. I also played flute and saxophone, although not at any real proficient level. But piano is my jam. But there’s still so much to learn.
Such a great program. Thankyou. I must add that the coda on the end of the first Ballade reminds me of a beautiful racehorse having won a the Kentucky derby and then being forced to run around a bunch of barrels and jump fences after having already sublimely finished the actual race. Love to hear a version without it. Thanks for such a great channel Ben!!!
Just watched the video again! Among countless other things, I’m amazed at Garrick Ohlsson’s ability to play and talk at the same time, as if “independently.”
These are simply wonderful videos, Ben. You and Garrick really unpack the beauties and intricacies and challenges of these Chopin pieces. Expertise married to passionate enthusiasm makes for a thrilling experience. And that key observation about the rhythmic passage in the 4t Ballade! Genius. I'M addicted!
An addiction that is saving my life at the moment - there are no words, yet there never will be enough words. Thank you for making these wonderful videos.
You guys are awesome. Thanks for this content. YT at its best!
Ben. You made my day(again)! In a world going mad around geopolitical crises, societal divide, fruitless identity discussions, climate change hysteria and AI madness, this podcast is my lifeboat for enjoyment, positivity and optimism. I am eagerly awaiting all the forthcoming episodes (and of course the big Chopin Competition in 2025 in Warsaw). Keep up your soul-saving work.
I was actually addicted to Chopin's ballades for months. I would listen to all four every day in a dark room. It affected my mental health. They're beautiful pieces, but when you listen to them as frequently as I did it becomes hard to feel anything but emptiness. I made a new year's resolution to not listen to any ballades. I eventually ditched it, but I'm not addicted anymore. I still love them.
I kinda had the same thing, perhaps a bit less dramatic, but I was still craving for the catharsis feeling at the end of each piece.
I also had nocturne op.48 included in the loop, as it also captured this noble tear-jerking atmosphere.
I am not a pianist but have been mildly (?) obsessed with this Ballade and the same point in in this piece as you've begun with. What is it about this moment that takes our collective breath away? Happens every time. ❤️
I've been waiting an AWFUL time for someone to make excellent classical music content like you do !!!
So glad to be here
This might be my favorite video all time! There are a handful of pieces I could not live without and Chopin Ballades are right at the top. My god I love them so. I could watch this video over and over and over. Thanks.
When I was 11yo I watched a movie - "The Pianist" , scene where Szpilman has been captured by German soldier and forced to prove that he is a pianist changed me as young pianist back then, goosebumps all over body.. first thing next day I rushed to my piano teacher and ask to photocopy ballade in g-minor, teacher laughed at me saying that I will need 4 hands to play it, and then all of sudden I start practising for 8h a day everyday and few years later this piece was in my concert/competition repertoire. Ballades is my drug and Chopin is my dealer, till this day I am addicted to it. Even this Sunday morning, after breakfast I played 3 out of 4 ballades last one in f-minor op 52 is out of my reach.
Slow and steady, it's only out of reach at the moment. Chopin didn't get to the opus 52 overnight.
@@barney6888 That is such pithy advice. So true. I constantly need to remind myself of that.
If you managed to get the 1st and 3rd to competition level, I’m dead sure it’s only a matter of time to get the 4th.
At this point nothing there should be frightening (even those rapid thirds in the middle of coda :p)
I’ve never went to music school, but I practiced piano for like 10years with a graduate teacher.
At that time I wasn’t ready for op.52 at all (barely finished op.23 and a-flat polonaise). But that didn’t stop me from brut forcing it couple hours per day just like you. Then I’ve recorded a video of the whole thing on my yt.
It’s a very sloppy recording but what matters mostly is your own satisfaction!
+ remember that we only truly learn when we try something out of reach :)
I picked up piano again after near 20 year hiatus. Learned to play the ballade #4 in 3 months of disciplined and intense practice and took 3 more to polish it.
I'd say if you can play the 1st one well then the 4th one is in reach.
Garrick and you prove that ‘divinity is in the details’!
HA!! That intro was hysterical. These videos ARE addiciive. You and Garrick are keeping me up late.
I really enjoy these series. I recently re-commenced playing the piano after nearly 60 years, and watching your pod casts help me to continue through difficult pieces of sheet music eg Chopin and Mozart
Thank you
Me, same after 50 yrs. Never played better But still struggling I wake up the struggle I love to struggle
This is such a treasure of a session, Ben! Love the ballades. Thank you!
Zimmerman's recordings are my favorite, though Horowitz introduced me to them. I used work at a convenience store and play the 4th ballade on an old CD player. The customers where mainly folks who worked at AT&T in the same building, they really liked it.
Ben, you’re killing it with these! Such great content! Have you ever explored the recordings of Piotr Anderszewski? His 4th Ballade, for me, is the best and I never hear him mentioned enough!
The opening of the 2nd ballade reflects the magical serenity of the Mendocino coast on a peaceful day. Last winter we were hit with two atmospheric rivers at the same time and Chopin seemed to know all about such an experience with what he wrote next.
Thanks!
I LOVE Chopin's super beautiful, delicate, brilliant, crystal sound, which penetrates every human's soul to the core. If you are a human, you know what I mean.
The ballades are perhaps the most important artistic works ever made, the first ballade perhaps the greatest accomplishment in human history. A bold claim, but a claim I’ll stand by
I feel very much seen and understood, listening to this podcast. Thank you for this shared reality on the love for Chopin's works and classical music.
Ballades are definitely my favorite genre of Chopin's!
90 seconds of pure euphoria to set this off and apart, well done
I was about to settle down for the night, and now this!
I could listen to Garrick for hours
@@bw2082 good news: there’s hours more to come.
It appears to be mainly the thrill of the cadenzas and the passages leading up to the final flourishing coda. Impresses every time.
What a wonderful broadcast. Recently, and happily, discovered this.
Haven't finished watching this video yet, already know it's gonna be a masterpiece
I learned the 4th ballade when I was in college and it definitely was habit-forming. I have performed three of them since that time but the 2nd ballade is still a little too sadistic for me to have mastered it yet. Samson laid the foundation to analyze these compositions but every time you think you have them figured out you find something else that blows your mind. "Hats off gentlemen, a genius!"
In my late teens in Melbourne some of my Jewish friends invited me to what would be my first ever piano recital which was in the Melbourne (Australia) Town Hall.
I was familiar with Rubinstein's recordings but to see the great man live was something truly wonderful. He strode onto the stage, a quite short man, militarily upright in stance and settled at the piano. Bolt upright , no bending over the keyboard or any waving of arms or head movements. He began with the Moonlight, with great subtlety in the first movement going on to a blazing 3rd movement. But this is about Chopin and next amongst a group of Chopin's pieces, was as you might have guessed, included the G minor ballade. And to date I remain at least as besotted by it to this day as Ben Laude. Regrettably it is technically out of my reach as an amateur pianist.
In a world with so many enormous symphonies and operas, I will always maintain that Chopin's Fm Ballade is possibly the greatest piece of music ever written by man. I know only two or three other pieces in its league.
Interesting at 29:25 because Murray Perahia is quoted (that book "Play it Again . ." by British journalist who takes on Ballade no. 1) that he's rarely heard a satisfactory performance of No. 1, perhaps because of its "segmented" nature; I feel like I've heard plenty of convincing renditions of No. 4. Also, thanks Ben for another cool video spreading piano enthusiasm!
the third ballade, I call the horsey ballade :) It's such a pleasure to hear Garrick Ohlsson playing! He sings the stories behind each piece. I want to be like him when I grow up. Thank you very much for these podcasts.
These programmes are wonderful -thanks chaps -im not a pianist or musician but all this double dutch to me musical terminology you manage to transcend so it makes sense and makes listening to Chopin's music even more magical....Whenever you move on to the Mazurkas id love to hear a shout out for Pavel Kolesnikov's recording which I think is an incredible soundworld unlike any other
This the one I've been waiting for 🔥🔥🔥
Thats a great moment of video making! Terrific and inspiring you two! Please more of those!!
i don't really know how I ended up here since I have turned off notifications, but I never expected a Chopin podcast. I played the piano for many years when I was a child/teen but I never went deep into learning beyond how to play. this is very cool thanks.
I ve listen to T. Vasary DG recording of Chopin Ballades endlessly on a cassette tape. Along with Pollini Etudes this was beginning of my Chopin love. What if he lived five heathly years.
12:59 I shed a tear right there with you man, that shit was beautiful
Totally enjoying this podcast series. Thank you Ben and Garrick🙏
IMO, 4th Ballade is the greatest solo piano piece ever written. It keeps getting more and more complex until the climax and then the Coda... which for me, especially the first time I heard it, I didn't understand what was happening. I don't know how he ever came to write that part. I think Cecile Ousset plays it the best. I understand it the most when she plays.
Your podcasts are dangerously addictive. I had to drop everything else I was doing when I saw that ths was out.
Alan Rusbridger, the former Editor in Chief of The Guardian, who is a serious amateur pianist, wrote a very enjoyable book "Play It Again: An Amateur Against the Impossible" which recounts his effort to learn the Ballade in g minor. He remarks that a number of the pianist he talked to said that when they were young they felt that if they could only learn one piece, that would be the one they would choose.
16:28 This is one of those truisms that most people don't think about too often. It's one of the things that makes Martha Argerich so special. Her ability to play very fast passages with dazzling finger speed but with a very quiet dynamic is astonishing.
Ben is carrying with these back to back bangers!
14:30 That 5:4 passage is so gnarly. It scratches a primal itch in me.
In my junior year of undergrad at Stetson University, for music history class we had to write a research paper. It was my first ever! And for my topic I chose musical narrative, with Chopin’s first ballade as a case study. Hearing the word “apotheosis” (which I first learned while reading JSTOR articles) again brings me back!!! (2 years lol)
As the f-minor plays out I am reminded of those Escher paintings, where one object morphs slowly into another and then, MIRACULOUSLY, we return to the original idea. Super, sublime genius.
Love you keep it up! The ending of Ballade 4 by Zimmerman is what converted me a while back
The second time I heard the G min live was again in Orchestra Hall. The pianist was... Vladimir Horowitz! I can't explain the sublimeness of his playing but something extraordinary happened in this performance which I will never forget. Right before that furious coda, Chopin sets it up with pure drama in the tonality of the Dominant, "D". Horowitz displayed his power as he played that first octave D in the bass but the second one, he came off the bench and landed seemingly his entire weight on that octave! MY GOD! It was like an explosion! I'll never forget that. Then, of course, no one I've ever heard could play that coda like Horowitz, not even Watts!
This was exactly the same for me!!!! Hilarious and true ❤ Right down to the same phrase and hearing Rubinstein play it.
There were a few weeks where I’d listen to Chopin ballade in g minor about 5 times a day. It was also my gateway drug. My favorite version though, is the your lie in april version where the violin kicks in half way in after the climax mid way in the song where you were demonstrating at the start of your video. It’s so good!
If Ben and Garrick do a dinner party, I willl pay good money to attend! Two great musicians who continue to inspire many through their conversion🤣
This second theme of the first ballad with the full chords in A got me addicted, from the first encounter with it by Michelangeli's recording (Deutsche Grammophon, published 1972), emphatically played with sensual sound, maybe still my favourite one.
The 4th Ballade is bipolar. The one pianist who swallowed it whole and performed it for a live audience was Josef Hofmann at Curtis in 1938. Mary Louise Curtis Bok the foundress and benefactor of the school who had hired Hofmann to be its Director and Piano department head had just decided to relieve him of his post. Hofmann discovered this just as he was about to give this recital in the hall he had named after his father, Casimir. The resulting performance of the f minor ballade is perhaps the most emotionally dynamic and violently passionate piano performance ever recorded. After listening to this recording one feels shattered and overwhelmed by the ordeal of the story he tells..
I’ve been absolutely loving this Chopin series.
Somehow never appreciated the 4th ballade until giving it more listen in my adulthood.
Absolutely even crazier experience to play it yourself.
I became in love with the third ballade because of bars 136-143, sostenuto, just before the return of theme B. Chopin's music is really moving!
Thank you thank you. I plan on watching this again this first time I could hardly stop crying. As regards the third ballade 2nd theme I'd like to suggest those studying this piece to go to your local stable and ride a horse something which Chopin did a fair amount of.
Me too. Love that Warsaw Wowie and Paris Punch. I'll do the Scherzos anytime too.
Same here, it was the exact same passage in Ballade #1 that hooked me. It took a year or two of free time but I finally learned #1 and #4.
So informative. Good vid. Loved the ‘connect’ to Scriabin 10
Same. Now that piece means something new to me. (Actually both pieces.)
I like how you touched on the slightly “connoisseur” aspect of the fourth ballade. It is among a handful of the greatest works of art, unquestionably. It is the piece I will play endlessly for myself or other musicians. But put me in front of an audience and I would always choose the third ballade, which is a perfect “public” piece. It contains no enigmas, it doesn’t live in the soul, perhaps, but it is nevertheless a perfect, polished gem.
After all, the greatest things in life aren’t well-suited for public spectacles. I like my fourth ballade alone with headphones on.
Honey wake up, it's the Ballades episode!!
I could hang out listening to these two go at it for days and days. I'm ready to go hit Ballade G-Moll right this second but I'm supposed to go wash the truck!!!!
Thank you for what you do on this channel! It’s ok to be a piano nerd. Piano music is a legacy that never ends.
Bela Sikis recording of the four ballades are truly wonderful. That were recorded in the 1950s and are superb
Very nice editing to transition between Garrick’s playing and the recordings
Ben, you got me addicted to your channel!!
Brilliant job you guys!
Love this episode and the Prof. Josh Wright cameo (from whom I had the privilege of taking several years of lessons and had a lesson or two on the first few pages of the G minor Ballade), just fantastic stuff!!! Not sure if Jed Distler mentioned these in the full episode, but my all time favorite recordings of the ballades, which are criminally overlooked, are Ashkenazy’s live recordings from Moscow 1963!
Dr. Walker and Valerie Tryon had a profound impact on my musical journey! It's lovely to see he's still so active in musicology. When Valerie was teaching me the Mephisto Waltz and I played it for Dr. Walker, he gave some wonderful feedback, including the importance of relating the themes to the source material from Lenau's Faust. I'm paraphrasing a bit, but it was something like this, "There are two primary themes in the Mephisto Waltz, the first of Mephistopheles/Faust's Waltz, and the second of Gretchen." He gave me the task of finding every entrance and dictating the measure numbers. It greatly helped me understand the framework of that piece, allowing me to finally wrap my head around it😅.
Ben, have you considered having Valerie on for an interview? Her knowledge of the romantics is among the most extensive I've seen personally. I'm still in awe that she studied with a friend of Ravel, Jacques Fevrier, in Paris when she was 18. She even got to meet Poulenc, Myra Hess, Lazar Berman, and so many other famous pianists in the 20th century. I certainly hope I can still perform recitals like her at 90...such an amazing person!
One of my favourite books from Dr. Walker is his Chopin biography. I love the inscription he wrote for me of the opening motif to the 3rd Chopin Sonata.
@@mrzuzu1329 I haven’t considered it but that would be wonderful! Once I get out of Chopin land I’ll have lots more opportunities. Thank you for your comment - it’s amazing how well both are doing at 90+
7:59 Another good example is beethoven's fifth symphony 1st movement, the lyrical second subject being sort of turned to the dark side at the end. The transformation is so crazy that it's really easy to miss that at the end, when it builds towards the disastrous climax, you're hearing the lyrical second subject, but it's transformed to be angry and more like the main theme
This video just reaffirmed for me that Chopin was indeed a genius
So happy to finally hear some analysis on those terrible-to-play bars 175 and 176! Just don't manage to get that melody out well. Such a beautiful passage!
Wonderful podcast! And the more so because of the great insights by Jed Distler!
11:09 mind blown, I never realized it's repeated later on!