Not everyone knows that the middle part of the scherzo was based and inspired by a traditional Polish Christmas carol ‘Lulalajze jezuniu’ and you can actually hear it. Such a beautiful tribute to Poland; when he couldnt made his way back to his country he’d include that melody in one of his masterpieces.
That sweet, diatonic lullaby is an incredible contrast to the rapid-fire, tortured chromaticism of the outer sections of this piece. This remains my favourite piece ever by Chopin. Its virtuosity is compelling.
What's your caliber now?? The first piece that I heard and wanted to be a pianist ever since was watlz opus 64 no. 2 I practiced for 4 years and now I'm in diploma
So awesome!! I love Chopin’s dark humor! This piece among many proves Chopin’s genius. He thinks on multiple layers and contrapuntally. You can tell he was a Bach devotee.
00:35 First heard this piece decades ago and yet the ominous 'fate' motif in the bass leading to the gorgeous Em7 chord still pulls at my core every time! And the delicacy of the melancholic 'trio' 04:16 perhaps surpasses that of its sweeter cousin in the 2nd sonata funeral march.
Friend: "What's your favorite Chopin piece?" Me: "That's a tough question. But probably the B-minor Scherzo" Friend: "I don't know that one, how does it go?" Me: 👁👄👁
I just fell in love with this piece. Always overlooked it over the second Scherzo by Chopin. Such a great piece, and I believe telling from the patterns I recognized in the piece, that it will be also fairly 'easy' to learn compared to other pieces by Chopin! Makes me actually want to go ahead an print out the sheet music :D :D
@Bartoldo The tempo is certainly the hardest thing about this piece. Rhythm is straight forward, recurring patterns, no runs of thirds.. That being said, of course it's not something you'd be apple to pick up over the weekend, and getting on par with professional pianists is not a healthy goal to have. I still believe it's a piece an experienced pianist can quickly get into. And once it's part of your repertoire, the speed will come with time.
Lol this was the first Chopin piece I ever played. It was super fun to learn and it has a decent amount of repeats so it didn’t take to long. It can be difficult in some areas but overall is easier than it looks
For me, this falls in the "middle" range of difficulty for the scherzi , harder than no 3 but easier than no 1 or 4. Fantastic interpretation. What a light touch! What is so amazing is that Chopin was such a conservative composer yet his music sounded so different at the time. He was unique - loved by pianists, audiences and fellow musicians, a rarity.
Questa successione di note ti porta a un passo dall’ignoto, dal mistero, dal silenzio, dall inquietante e insondabile profondità del genio. Mai melodia e armonia nella storia dell’umanità sono state e saranno mai al pari di questo mistero. Forse il creato è stato possibile solo perché questa musica potesse essere scritta. Musica mai scritta ma disvelata, suggerita dal Divino alla mente e al cuore di un essere umano, o di un semidio.
For casual listeners, this piece does not have a memorable melody at the start. It is also too musically complex to understand. And there are no movies or media promoting the piece. For musicians, this piece has far too much repetition and is relatively not as musically genius as the other Chopin pieces.
Alan Walker’s “Freyderyk Chopin: A Life and Times” is must reading for anyone with a serious interest in the life and music of Chopin. Highest recommendation. 😎🎹
brought here because of Poland by James Mitchner, not sure if this is what the characters are referring to, but I think a lot of it fits the description.
we had a teacher concert just now, and one of the trachers played this! and like, we knew that hes good and all bc hes a teacher and thats what he does, but as soon as we heard the fast beggining we just kinda looked at eachother in awe lol
I was listening to videos on this channel at like 330 AM in the kitchen, when that spot happened I jerked my hand and hit my phone off the table, sending it crashing to the floor and waking up some of my family. Good times
I've heard a dozen + pianists on this piece, see Frederic Chiu for a transcendental account of the middle section - unparalleled; Pletnev for an electrifying first section
He wrote this when the polish uprising was happening and he was alone in Stuttgart (I think he was homeless but I can’t quite remember) and he began to have an obsession with death. He had no one to talk to, so he poured out his emotions onto the piano (if I remember this wrong someone pls correct me)
2 measures before the "forzando" in the "Molto piu lento" announcing the first chord of the scherzo, there seems to be a music edition error - in the F#M/C# to C# M chordal sequence, the A# in the LH is incorrect - there should be an "A natural", making it a "F#m/C# to C#M sequence. This is because I had listened to the Scherzo - and played it - for a lot of years.
Scherzo n 1 op 20 is a very hard and genial musical piece . I ' m 12 and I am studying it since two month. And I ' ve finished it. I think it is difficult like the Campanella of Liszt.
Great! I appreciate your passion of studying this piece at age 12! When I age 12 I was still at Fantaisie-Impromptu and Liebestraume haha, this piece is wonder challenging!
This piece is very difficult to find a decent, clear performance of. I've listened to several on RUclips and this one is the "least bad" of those I've heard so far. :-) Please don't be shocked by that comment, I admit it's an excellent performance! Richter doesn't speed so much as to BLUR the passages. Most of the others do, except possibly Rubinstein. The Trull performance, which someone commented is the best, is terrible.
By next year I have to play this..... So you see, I'll be 14 then and.... Honestly do you think a 14 year old can play this and play it well? Edit: honestly I've been seeing a lot of progress and i think i could get it up to this by January/Early February. Whenever i think i could be able to do a decent recording I'll let y'all know (22/12/21) Edit: I managed to get it all to a decent speed! But I'm still on the "carpentry stage" if you know what i mean, so i still have a couple of things to correct (other than getting it up to "concert speed") I'm also considering participating in an online competition with this piece, I have until March to send a recording so i should've pretty much finished it by then. (15/01/22) Edit: I'm now going to play it in a concert! I managed to get it to this exact speed too so that's cool. Hopefully it'll go well and I will finally get a decent recording for once
@@dzordzszs thanks. I don't think this is a matter of different tastes though. I mean, what is essentially popular is mostly determined by mass culture rather than taste, and this is not to say that a person's taste in music is bad. I think the better question is: is it actually their taste that leads them to that specific piece of music?
@@j.grimes4420 For mass culture to have an affect, the piece must be fairly popular already. The second scherzo is easier to play and more simple (in a way). This is an exaggeration, but most people (non-musicians) would probably enjoy some overplayed crap like Canon in D more than something like the Roslavets sonatas. Same thing here, but to a smaller extent.
I won't be very liked for this opinion, but I have mastered the piece years ago so I think I have a right to express myself. This piece is the very reason why I think half of Chopin's compositions need to be cut in half in time when it comes to repetition and they would be considered absolute and undisputed masterpieces by everybody. The repetition here is absolutely maddening. I mean one basically needs to learn the main theme and the ending, the middle part can be sightreaded and played without practice and you're basically ready to perform the whole thing. The most beautiful and enchanting pieces are the ones of substance, in other words, complex and original textures throughout. Ergo the reason I stopped playing this, can't even listen to this without getting bored. It's basically a minute and half long prelude repeated six times with a middle part that is also repeated. Any old Liszt's composition would get HAMMERED in the comments for a blasphemy of this sort.
Hmm? Well he’s become one of the most famous and immortal composers of all time doing it his way. Perhaps one person’s preferences are not indicative of the whole?
Wow I just cannot believe this guy - Sviatoslav Richter has the guts to copyright this video which he fkin copied from the the original which is in public domain. If it was your original piece I would understand but shame on you Sviatoslav Richter, you greedy F!
Great pianism! Awesome technique. But. The counterpoint and the construction is so good that at this tempo it is somewhat lost. Chopin was a Bach devotee, and I suspect he would have enjoyed playing this at a slower tempo Relishing the counterpoint and dance life figures. Or as he must have said 1000 times to his students. You’re playing it too fast. Slow down!
I find it actually more enjoyable. This piece is particularly difficult to keep in control: due to its fast and violent nature pianists can easily get too excited and make the piece sound harsh and muddy. Richter plays it really clearly here which is nice
Not everyone knows that the middle part of the scherzo was based and inspired by a traditional Polish Christmas carol ‘Lulalajze jezuniu’ and you can actually hear it. Such a beautiful tribute to Poland; when he couldnt made his way back to his country he’d include that melody in one of his masterpieces.
Dawid Mazur tylko Polacy wiedzą😉
Thank you 🙏
Lulajze Jezuniu*
That sweet, diatonic lullaby is an incredible contrast to the rapid-fire, tortured chromaticism of the outer sections of this piece. This remains my favourite piece ever by Chopin. Its virtuosity is compelling.
This scherzo also ends with an "Amen" (plagal) cadence.
This is the first piano piece I ever listened to as a kid that made me decide "I want to be a pianist."
well, where are you now? can you play?
@@jonahholmes6777 It sounds difficulter than it is...
@@eustachiusvonackertiban1958 I disagree, the agitato part was way harder than I thought
@@greenapple306 Yes that's true.
What's your caliber now??
The first piece that I heard and wanted to be a pianist ever since was watlz opus 64 no. 2
I practiced for 4 years and now I'm in diploma
Scherzo means joke in Italian but these scherzi are no joke. They are simply perfection.
He redefined the genre for piano, made them standalone pieces for artistic expression.
So awesome!! I love Chopin’s dark humor! This piece among many proves Chopin’s genius. He thinks on multiple layers and contrapuntally. You can tell he was a Bach devotee.
Even though I'm not really a pianist, I think this is one of the greatest pieces I've ever heard!
00:35 First heard this piece decades ago and yet the ominous 'fate' motif in the bass leading to the gorgeous Em7 chord still pulls at my core every time! And the delicacy of the melancholic 'trio' 04:16 perhaps surpasses that of its sweeter cousin in the 2nd sonata funeral march.
People out here talking about “hearing the composers personality” and I’m over here with 2 IQ going “he play slow AND fast”
Piano man go BOOM BOOM POW POW then ooohh Ahhhh then BOOM BOOM POW POW again
I don't think that's everything you know if you state your opinion like that. But you probably know deep down :)
One of the most beautiful pieces that he composed.
Scherzo no 2 is 276166374949302 times better than this bullshit.
@@ultimateconstruction
Wow, it’s such a good comment that you had to say it multiple times
@@ultimateconstruction I didn't like this one at first either but it can take a bit to understand
@@ultimateconstructionSuch an insightful comment... Thank you!
I am playing this piece now......What a masterpiece
hows it goign with the piece now?
@@rrickymaa it’s going awesome so far, having an exam coming up
Did you get the piece to a showcase level?
Friend: "What's your favorite Chopin piece?"
Me: "That's a tough question. But probably the B-minor Scherzo"
Friend: "I don't know that one, how does it go?"
Me: 👁👄👁
you can hum Liszt's B minor scherzo though
It goes like “BAMM…. BAAAAAMMM… tun tururururururrutun turururururutun tin tam tin tam tan tin”
Una esecuzione splendida, piena di intensità emotiva. Intensità che solo i veramente grandi sanno dare.
In 3:17 , it sounds quite similar to the down-ride in Chopin Impromptus op.66. Both are great pieces of art.
yeah I noticed that too! Glad it's not just me
All I hear is Beethoven Appassionata
9:50 this part goes unbelievably hard
@@theoravaioli593 he means it sounds really good
@@sll0th511 ah ok, ups I didn't understand hahaha
My respect to Richter: how can you play an already perfect piece even more perfectl?! And live too!
Maybe the absolute best molto piu lento section in the discography in terms of poetry, dreamlike mood and tenderness.
4:16 I wanna Cry, is so beautiful
Polish carol
Just cry bro aint nobody watching
Favorite piece by Chopin!
Outer Scherzo: B minor
Trio: B major
Outer Scherzo: B minor
Coda: B minor
I just fell in love with this piece. Always overlooked it over the second Scherzo by Chopin. Such a great piece, and I believe telling from the patterns I recognized in the piece, that it will be also fairly 'easy' to learn compared to other pieces by Chopin! Makes me actually want to go ahead an print out the sheet music :D :D
Scherzo pieces from Chopin are unlike any of his other pieces. This piece was not composed for ballroom dancing.
Funny considering it is his hardest scherzo and one of his hardest composition in general lol.
@Bartoldo The tempo is certainly the hardest thing about this piece. Rhythm is straight forward, recurring patterns, no runs of thirds.. That being said, of course it's not something you'd be apple to pick up over the weekend, and getting on par with professional pianists is not a healthy goal to have. I still believe it's a piece an experienced pianist can quickly get into. And once it's part of your repertoire, the speed will come with time.
@@Jyoutei Well what can I say other than Good Luck!
@@bartoldo5898 Thanks buddy!
Lol this was the first Chopin piece I ever played. It was super fun to learn and it has a decent amount of repeats so it didn’t take to long. It can be difficult in some areas but overall is easier than it looks
Learning chopin is much about recognizing patterns
the first ??!!! not just a simple nocturne??
7:41 when your alarm clock beeps but you try your best to stay in the sweet dream you were having
I just heard this masterpiece live for the first time and I had to come find it here. It’s so, SO amazing!
such a badass piece. I've been working on it for a few weeks now and I'm having a lot of fun
For me, this falls in the "middle" range of difficulty for the scherzi , harder than no 3 but easier than no 1 or 4. Fantastic interpretation. What a light touch! What is so amazing is that Chopin was such a conservative composer yet his music sounded so different at the time. He was unique - loved by pianists, audiences and fellow musicians, a rarity.
Yundi nails this one real nice. Us mere mortals need 5ft long fingers to try this one. Great piece though. Chopin is brilliant!
I love the alternating rhythm, variety of chords progressions, chromatic-tones, and the changing dynamics!
Chopin: This is a scherzo
Friend: But it's so dark, how could it be a joke?
Chopin: Lol I was just joking.
Sviatoslav Richter is so good
1:13 Hauntingly beautiful. I am speechless.
9:05 is like the moonlight sonata in very fast
Toutes ces choses dans l'âme de Chopin… ! Et la clairvoyance d'un grand interprète pour nous en parler du bout des doigts.
Questa successione di note ti porta a un passo dall’ignoto, dal mistero, dal silenzio, dall inquietante e insondabile profondità del genio. Mai melodia e armonia nella storia dell’umanità sono state e saranno mai al pari di questo mistero. Forse il creato è stato possibile solo perché questa musica potesse essere scritta. Musica mai scritta ma disvelata, suggerita dal Divino alla mente e al cuore di un essere umano, o di un semidio.
Richter owns this piece hands down
The BEST rendition of this scherzo, IMO.
This is the first piece ever i cant catch with the sheet music
quarter note = 120, so you have to go with it
Why isn't this piece popular enough
Difficult piece tend to be less popular than easy piece (compare the popularity off Bethoveen Fur Elise vs Hammerklaiver)
For casual listeners, this piece does not have a memorable melody at the start. It is also too musically complex to understand. And there are no movies or media promoting the piece. For musicians, this piece has far too much repetition and is relatively not as musically genius as the other Chopin pieces.
@@clleung8007 Perfect explanation.
How many are here after reading chapter 8 of Alan Walker’s “Fryderyk Chopin”?
me
Is this a different Alan Walker?
Haha totally didn’t expect to be called out like this😂
@@roshaanbhabra5611 Yep is a musicologist I think
Alan Walker’s “Freyderyk Chopin: A Life and Times” is must reading for anyone with a serious interest in the life and music of Chopin. Highest recommendation. 😎🎹
Just me or does the final descending thirds 10:09 sound like the first ballades coda?
Oh yeah definitely, that’s what It reminded me of lol
beautiful
brought here because of Poland by James Mitchner, not sure if this is what the characters are referring to, but I think a lot of it fits the description.
we had a teacher concert just now, and one of the trachers played this!
and like, we knew that hes good and all bc hes a teacher and thats what he does, but as soon as we heard the fast beggining we just kinda looked at eachother in awe lol
07:40 😨 THAT SCARED ME (LITERALLY DROPPED MY PHONE)
suddenly
I was listening to videos on this channel at like 330 AM in the kitchen, when that spot happened I jerked my hand and hit my phone off the table, sending it crashing to the floor and waking up some of my family. Good times
" Chopin is the greatest of them all, for throught the piano alone he discovered everything "
-----Claude Debussy
Fantastic 🙂🎹🎵
This makes me wanna shred on the piano and my guitar
Snappy little tune. ;=)
I've heard a dozen + pianists on this piece, see Frederic Chiu for a transcendental account of the middle section - unparalleled; Pletnev for an electrifying first section
Bryo Jafa what’s wrong with this performance?
Try Alice Hwang
@@matthewv789 I listened. Strong , powerful, impeccable technique, not a lot of finesse or refinement, which is required to be a top Chopin performer
i love it a good friend of mine played it this semester
9:50
He wrote this when the polish uprising was happening and he was alone in Stuttgart (I think he was homeless but I can’t quite remember) and he began to have an obsession with death. He had no one to talk to, so he poured out his emotions onto the piano (if I remember this wrong someone pls correct me)
Alone and obsession with death while in Stuttgart? Yeah sounds about right.
To add to that you can hear a Polish carol at around 4:17
Did chopin reuse the theme from the middle section in his third sonata third movement? They sound so similar.
Does anyone hear something like Rachmaninov here 8:45?
Mattia Sisti sounds like one part in prelude op3 no2
Sounds also like some small parts of its concerto n3
part of the second theme from concerto no 3 movement 1 - the chromatic melody
Rachmaninov was inspired a lot by Chopin
Reminds me on concerto no 2..
Im Playing this rn :)
헐..나 어떡해..내가 이걸 쳐야 한다니..이걸로 4학년 때 대회를..5달만에 이걸 어떡해 완성하나유ㅜㅜ
1:46-148 rachmaninoff
Piano concerto #2?
This is pure genius! ❤️🔥
Such clarity
2 measures before the "forzando" in the "Molto piu lento" announcing the first chord of the scherzo, there seems to be a music edition error - in the F#M/C# to C# M chordal sequence, the A# in the LH is incorrect - there should be an "A natural", making it a "F#m/C# to C#M sequence. This is because I had listened to the Scherzo - and played it - for a lot of years.
No one asked
@@ralsei217 neither did he asked your opinion?
@@loldd3844 yes
Lol someone just sacrificed their fingers.
Ahahaahahaahaha;)))))))))) the best comment i ever seen at this video🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Haha 😂
And this recording is from 1977, when Richter had already started to slow down. Yowza!
Scherzo n 1 op 20 is a very hard and genial musical piece . I ' m 12 and I am studying it since two month. And I ' ve finished it. I think it is difficult like the Campanella of Liszt.
Great! I appreciate your passion of studying this piece at age 12! When I age 12 I was still at Fantaisie-Impromptu and Liebestraume haha, this piece is wonder challenging!
wow.... i'm 12 and i can play moonlight sonata movement 3 but u playing this song? good luck :D
When I was 12 I have played Hamelins Paganini Variations with my feet and closed eyes 😎
@@habibispiano lmao Hamelin, but I can play Liszt étude d'après Paganini 6 s.140 with my nose
@@manuelbes I can play Liszt's reminiscences de Don Juan without a piano
The gold standard recording... until Pogorelich came along ;)
you should listen to Benjamin Grosvenor's Chopin schrezo B minor recording, that's a very intense and emotional playing too!
being myself a connoisseur, i can say without a doubt that Cindy Elizondo's rendition of this scherzo is way better
LMAOAIS u mean Showpan Sharzo Oh piss number 20
The principally theme is like The Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata 3rd movement principally theme!
Bravissimo!
Grazie!
This piece is very difficult to find a decent, clear performance of. I've listened to several on RUclips and this one is the "least bad" of those I've heard so far. :-) Please don't be shocked by that comment, I admit it's an excellent performance! Richter doesn't speed so much as to BLUR the passages. Most of the others do, except possibly Rubinstein.
The Trull performance, which someone commented is the best, is terrible.
+Zack S Mitchell Krzysztof Jablonski is excellent
Try Benjamin grosvenor, splendid!
yundi and orcozo play this very clearely aswell
Try Pogorelich; he manages to achieve dazzling speed without any blurring. A truly fantastic (though controversial recording).
rubinstein brother
Da studio velocissimo a notturno non lento ma quasi fermo. Poche dinamiche, ma e' proprio Lui che suona?
5:01 Emperor Concerto
Exactly!
Epic man...
ב4:23 פולאנסיה. נגמר ב4 נגיעות בפסנתר לשבת ולפני זה טירוף.
"The sheet with only two colors is very colorful when listened."
This is the only interpretation possible.
7:41 guys this part was the joke.
4:17
4:21 середина
Are you Chinese or russian?
Polish carol
저도 이거 치는데 진짜 어려워요ㅠ😪😪
ㅠㅠㅠㅠ저두쳐여
Fucking dope
조성진 예습 중~
I feel this 10:13
By next year I have to play this..... So you see, I'll be 14 then and.... Honestly do you think a 14 year old can play this and play it well?
Edit: honestly I've been seeing a lot of progress and i think i could get it up to this by January/Early February. Whenever i think i could be able to do a decent recording I'll let y'all know (22/12/21)
Edit: I managed to get it all to a decent speed! But I'm still on the "carpentry stage" if you know what i mean, so i still have a couple of things to correct (other than getting it up to "concert speed") I'm also considering participating in an online competition with this piece, I have until March to send a recording so i should've pretty much finished it by then.
(15/01/22)
Edit: I'm now going to play it in a concert! I managed to get it to this exact speed too so that's cool. Hopefully it'll go well and I will finally get a decent recording for once
Age is irrelevant. Some composers were writing symphonies by your age! c;
Banquete infernal XD
XD.
Who is the pianist???
Where’s the Cindy Alizondo version? 😂
WOWWWWW🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄😶😶😶😐
It wasn't recorded live.
@@ludwiggalaxy4277 The description says its recorded live but it doesnt sound like that.
It almost sounds like Horowitz
I don't know why the second gets such adulation when the first is far superior.
People have different tastes
Nice Schoenberg pfp
@@dzordzszs thanks. I don't think this is a matter of different tastes though. I mean, what is essentially popular is mostly determined by mass culture rather than taste, and this is not to say that a person's taste in music is bad. I think the better question is: is it actually their taste that leads them to that specific piece of music?
@@j.grimes4420 For mass culture to have an affect, the piece must be fairly popular already. The second scherzo is easier to play and more simple (in a way). This is an exaggeration, but most people (non-musicians) would probably enjoy some overplayed crap like Canon in D more than something like the Roslavets sonatas. Same thing here, but to a smaller extent.
I won't be very liked for this opinion, but I have mastered the piece years ago so I think I have a right to express myself. This piece is the very reason why I think half of Chopin's compositions need to be cut in half in time when it comes to repetition and they would be considered absolute and undisputed masterpieces by everybody. The repetition here is absolutely maddening. I mean one basically needs to learn the main theme and the ending, the middle part can be sightreaded and played without practice and you're basically ready to perform the whole thing.
The most beautiful and enchanting pieces are the ones of substance, in other words, complex and original textures throughout. Ergo the reason I stopped playing this, can't even listen to this without getting bored. It's basically a minute and half long prelude repeated six times with a middle part that is also repeated. Any old Liszt's composition would get HAMMERED in the comments for a blasphemy of this sort.
Viflo, it's not about notes, it's about life, about war that never ended for him (the repetitions simbolize that)
The repetitions are the most difficult part of a masterpiece. They need to sound different every time you play them
Hmm? Well he’s become one of the most famous and immortal composers of all time doing it his way. Perhaps one person’s preferences are not indicative of the whole?
wtf bro?
@@anonymx6186 exactly
아 미친 나 이거 곧있음 치네
05:34
Kto z sql muz?
Wow I just cannot believe this guy - Sviatoslav Richter has the guts to copyright this video which he fkin copied from the the original which is in public domain. If it was your original piece I would understand but shame on you Sviatoslav Richter, you greedy F!
Great pianism! Awesome technique. But. The counterpoint and the construction is so good that at this tempo it is somewhat lost. Chopin was a Bach devotee, and I suspect he would have enjoyed playing this at a slower tempo Relishing the counterpoint and dance life figures. Or as he must have said 1000 times to his students. You’re playing it too fast. Slow down!
No
Little bit slow......
I find it actually more enjoyable. This piece is particularly difficult to keep in control: due to its fast and violent nature pianists can easily get too excited and make the piece sound harsh and muddy. Richter plays it really clearly here which is nice
nahhh
0:08
4:16
9:50