Nelson Freire, a reclusive pianist whose fabled technique and sensitive, subtle musicianship made him a legend among pianophiles, died on Monday, 1 November 2021, at his home in Rio de Janeiro. He was 77.
No way! You're the first one I've heard this news from. His playing of Albeniz is the most remarkable I've ever experienced. A great loss to the world and to classical music.
O mundo e o Brasil perde um dos maiores mestres do romantismo, o pianista Nelson Freire. Suas interpretações brilhantes, o lirismo, a paixão e um profundo respeito pela obra executada, técnica apurada fizeram Nelson Freire um referência na música pianística romântica nos séculos XX e XXI! Descanse em merecida Paz aquele que não Terra cumpriu sua missão na Arte e na Vida com perfeição!
Como é possível eu tomar conhecimento do falecimento dele ao ler o seu post? Justamente a mais de um ano e meio? Fica na lembrança as inúmeras apresentações dele no Municipal, particularmente com OSB. Nelson era impecável ao piano, extremamente técnico, com abordagens sofisticadas aliada a uma leitura contemporânea, menos lírica! Seu Brahms era notável, seu Chopin aliava um romantismo sofisticado, seu Scriabin sua leitura parecia tentar decifrar os mistérios da alma do compositor. Lamento muito.
Not a single boring momento passed though this performance. Instead there was a continúous flow of lyricism that filled the concert hall to the brim..The nonchalant and totally natural "modus executionis" permeated the hall with an extraordinary sense of peace even in the most dramático moments of the work. Very often this Concertó is performed with an excessive Romanticism that darkens its singing qualities. On this occassion, conductor Toshiro.... beautifully balanced all legati, staccatti and sforzandi, plus managed the most refined intonation possible. Maestro. Freire's execution was of great lyrical yet temperamental value with resonating and sustained chords throughout, a very typical manner of performance by Latín Américas. In short, we have heard a very worth- while performance. Thank you.. FERNANDO RAUDALES NAVARRA
Obrigada pelos ótimos momentos vividos em suas apresentações, querido Nelson Freire. Descanse em paz, o mundo perde um de seus grandes nomes da música.
Брависсимо!!! Потрясающий пианист!! Как свободно, стильно играет! Какой звук и замечательный баланс между оркестр ом и солистом!! Спасибо за запись!Светлая память гениально му пианисту!
Magnifique, reposez en paix monsieur Nelson Freire Je suis tellement triste que vous nous ayez quitté. Ce concerto n2 pour piano de Brahms est sublime .
Wonderful! His style and musicality are wonderful. Honest. Restrained from theatrics. The music speaks for him. Alas I meet him in videos as he has passed on.
I've had the opportunity to see him play live several times. His hands always reminded me of butterflies dancing across the keyboard. Precious memories!
I read somewhere that the opening French Horn notes were a tribute by Brahms to his father, who was a horn player. Apparently the exchange between the piano and the horn at the beginning is a little conversation between father and son. If true, so touching! It is so warm and beautiful. I am not sure if Brahms' father was already dead when this piece was written, but it's almost like his wanted his father's soul to start the concerto, hover over it, and his spirit to run through it; a very touching tribute of a son to his father.
Parece-me injusta a crítica de Antonio Lopes ao nosso grande e querido pianista Nelson Freire, que tocou Brahms brilhantemente, apesar de fatores que influenciam a interpretação durante uma apresentação ao vivo. O músico tem seus dias melhores e seus dias não tão bons. Há a questão da orquestra, às vezes em menor consonância com os sentimentos do solista. Talvez com outra orquestra o resultado tivesse sido diferente, talvez mais arrebatador, não se sabe. Acontece com todos os pianistas e músicos em geral. Asiáticos sentem a música diferentemente de europeus, povos têm, cada um, sua alma...A platéia também influencia a interpretação no momento mesmo do concerto. Tantos fatores a considerar! Mas, o que nao se pode negar é que o trabalho da orquestra e do solista foi magnífico. E Nelson merece sempre a nossa admiração e respeito por sua vida artística. Maravilhoso sempre. Na minha visão, nunca menos que perfeito...
Como dizem os gringos, WTF is Antônio Lopes? Resolvi ver esse vídeo em homenagem ao brilhante Nelson Freire no dia de sua partida. Assisti ele tocando esse concerto que eu adoro no Theatro. Foi épico. Requiescat in pace, grande Nelson Freire
@Edmea RAMOS DA SILVA : You have written something really interesting: “Asians feel music differently than Europeans…” I find it impossible to agree with this. Music is a deeply common language. Ethnicity plays no part in how we feel about music. To say that it does play a part seems to smack of genetics, and that is definitely a no-no. The human heart is the human heart, no matter if I come from Vietnam and you come from Australia and John Smith from China. How else can we explain that Japanese choirs and orchestras present us with the best Bach performances in the world? Michiko Uchida some of the best Mozart and Schubert ever? Young Japanese and Chinese pianists the greatest performances at the Chopin International competition? I could continue for pages about this. Please, do think it through again?
@@quaver1239 Somos todos iguais quanto a profundidade de sentimentos. Mas cada povo tem suas emoções ligadas a sua , digamos, "alma cultural " que tomou forma ao longo dos séculos. Nada me fará crer que as emoções de um latino são idênticas as de um asiático. Nada a ver com níveis de capacidade de aprendizagem ou intelectualidade. São apenas diferentes. Cada povo vê, ouve, sente conforme sua própria cultura. Por exemplo, duvido que alguém sinta a música de Villa-Lobos, como nós brasileiros sentimos e compreendemos. Assim como duvido que um brasileiro sinta e compreenda a música japonesa como um japonês. ..
Não é justo os melhores artistas brasileiros nos deixarem e os piores ainda continuarem por aqui... Nelson Freire, o senhor foi dos melhores com certeza! Descanse em paz, ícone!
@@Jessica07- Isso aí, esqueci também de citar a Anitta, para mim o pior e mais ofensivo exemplo de artista! Ou melhor: "artista" mesmo eu sei que ela não é... Brigadão!
Vehement, explosive, and tenderly delicate Brahms. A great composer and a great piano concert! An outstanding performance of the director, the pianist and the orchestra!
Taste is individual. I do not know much of this pianist but enjoy and like his reading, fit my current taste. If it does not fit yours fine then, no need to show the details of your fantastic knowledge of it. Many here know this piece inside out or even play it. The pianist is a great one.
Grande Maestro, conosco questo concerto sin nella più recondita nota ma sotto le tue dita è come l'avessi ascoltato per la prima volta e con struggente stupore. Grazie con tutto il cuore a JAPAN 1913.
I’m so pleased to have discovered this pianist, and only sorry that even in my long life of 82 yrs of loving Piano Concertos, I’ve never heard of Nelson I’m sad to say. I love Martha Argerich and found a few days ago on youtube a concert they did together a few yrs ago. That was the first I’d heard of him. I spent the 3 weeks (4 weeks ago now), of the Warsaw Chopin Piano Competition watching on youtube every day. Wonderful performances from many young people and 5 superb winners. But oh my., they could learn many lessons from watching Nelson playing! NO histrionics. Barely lifts his head up from looking at the keys except to look at the conductor of course. No pulling faces, no grimacing, no throwing his head back with eyes staring up heavenward (the Italian girl pianist with dark very long hair), no throwing one or even both arms in the air after a magnificent chord, (again the Italian girl). Nelson just gets on with the job magnificently.. How I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this concert just now. Wonderful! I must now find other recordings of him playing. Also Krystian Zimerman I was watching him in his 20s playing Chopin. He won the Warsaw Competition in the 1960s. Oh my…..he jumped up from the piano as he was ending a chord!! His face was still, no grimaces thank goodness, but his arms went all over the place. Just total un-necessary histrionics. Why oh why didn’t teachers and parents tell their young progedies “NO NO NO…..you do NOT do any of that. Just stop it.”
Nelson Freire was a humble person, totally dedicated to the music. He had a gift but was not arrogant about it. I regret that I missed hearing him in person.
definitely there have been pianists where I feel like theatrics diminish their playing, but parts of it are cultural or depend on what school you belong to.
Nelson Freire's Liszt in his Totentanz is unparalleled - worth your while looking it up even if you may not find the recording that hooked me up with him in the 70's. The RU-vid recording might be the very same but I'm not sure, only that it's marvellous. And then, I'll avoid most Yuja Wang or Lang Lang videos with you - point head on!
Nelson José Pinto Freire (18 October 1944 - 1 November 2021) was a Brazilian classical pianist. Regarded as one of the leading pianists of his generation, he was noted for his "decorous piano playing" and "interpretive depth".His extensive discography for labels such as Sony Classical, Teldec, Philips, and Decca has garnered awards including the Gramophone Award and Diapason d'Or. Freire appeared as soloist with the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He played and recorded piano duo music with Martha Argerich, a long-time musical and personal friend.
Listening to him, I thought "he is so good, I want to know more about him" so I went to Wikipedia and I found he passed away this month! God wanted I admire this great soul, and I really did. Rest in piece Maestro
Eu também. E sinto pesar por isto. Por que um Maestro tão reconhecido no mundo era tão pouco conhecido no Brasil? Talvez porque a música clássica no Brasil é pouco valorizada?
Também eu estou à acabar de valorizar o que o mundo perdeu! Qué talento teve ele e que exemplo de humildade deixa ele a todos nós…arte puro ao serviço do compositor e do público. Nelson Freire lega à humanidade exemplo de vocação, arte, virtuosismo, dedicação e imensa qualidade pessoal. Nossa missão é a de preservar seu acervo, seu legado e seu dom de artista privilegiado
My favourite piano concerto by one of the most exceptional pianists! Full of colour, emotion, beauty of the utmost level. Thanks a zillion, maestro, and the uploader as well!
It is not The Best! The Best Brahms piano concerto no 2 players Are really Sviatoslav Richter with THE Paris Orchestra conductor Lorin Maazel! Grigory Sokolov With The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra video RU-vid! Sokolov The Best piano sound Ever! Sokolov The most vital rhythmic vitalness! Sokolov The most Titanic!
@@RaineriHakkarainen a matter of taste. i like sokolov's perfomances in general, but this particular one you have mentioned (with finnisch radio SO) - i don't like at all.
Fleisher & Szell is tops, but this performance certainly deserve high praise, and perhaps provides the finest expression of the subtle passages of the finale.
Ich denke, er ist ein sehr guter/begnadeter Klavierspieler - nur, davon gibt's viele. Ein großer Pianist ist nochmal eine andere Hausnummer, da gehört dann Affinität zum jeweiligen Komponisten, Individualität, Geschmack hinzu. Denke, N.Freire wusste selbst am Besten, dass er mit den Großen der Zunft auf keinen Fall in einen Topf gehört.
no necessary to repeat Freire is the best , for me Cto-2 Brahms is always Wilhem Backaus Maestro K Boehm yestersay to day tomotow and the end of my life
J think that with Internet Audience don't listen recordings before 70' it's also a commercial fact with the editors and young generation don't known them
For all his amazing technical facility even at this age, how can Senhor Freire resist even the passion and lyricism of my favorite concerto and present to the public, as always, a mere playing or reading (albeit a perfectly accurate one) of the score of such music? Like Backhaus and Pollini, Sr. Freire gives us all the notes with almost all of the expression marks in the score, but nothing more. What's the point, at least for those who know the work and are able to read the score? Such automatonic playing amazes and saddens me. If at least it were Bach or Mozart... Sorry, fans of Sr. Nelson, but try to point out exactly when and how is he interpreting the music in the performative/expressive sense. The over the top "rubato players" (as the hypermetronomic Toscanini called many of his most inspiring colleagues) are said to exaggerate expression. But the same must be true of its direct contrary. And at least, the former have to use their musical imagination, while the latter just have to follow the score (this is supposed to be what Ravel and Stravinsky wanted, but not only are they the exceptions, but at least the second, famously, is known not to follow his own rule when performing or making different recordings of the same work of his). Brahms himself said he, as a performer, was always changing and adjusting the tempo, and resisted giving metronome markings for his works as strongly as he could, saying that his heart could not be in agreement with a mechanical device. Not that this is decisive forever and all, but what more can one say, when the music cries for fire and passion and... well, ROMANTICISM?
Brahms is best performed with "romanticism" in moderation...... I call it "elegant lyricism"..... Brahms that is "over-romanticized" ends up losing the unique refinement of this composer...... This is why many consider Rudolf Serkin as one of the best examples in the Brahms concertos. I believe Freire was excellent in this performance. I would have called it "phenomenal" if the last movement didn't get a little sloppy.
@@Music2Die4 I'm confused by what you say. What could be meant by performing the 2nd mov. of this, or the 1st mov of concerto nº1, or the coda of 4th Symphony I or IV, or the 6th of the Requiem, or the middle section of intermezzo op. 118 nº6 with "elegant lyricism"....? It's plainly contradictory. How can viscerally dramatic music (by any composer) be played with elegance? And "dramatic" is opposed to "lyrical". You have to play dramatic passages with drama and lyrical ones with lyricism, what else? The options are on a spectrum from just playing what's marked in the score, which is called literalism, to varying (at will or reflectedly) every parameter incessantly and to a maximum degree. This end of the spectrum isn't even a true possibility, but something close to the other end is. This performance is an example of the latter. That's all. I don't like it, but that's not my point. My point, as I said clearly in my comment, is: what's the use for all who know this most popular work, can read a score and are acquainted with the myriad nuances possible in its performance by having listened to many different ones? "I believe Freire was excellent in this performance. I would have called it "phenomenal". In a blind test, are you sure you would be able to identify, say, the first pages of the 2nd mov. among 3 or 4 other literalist readings I would select and play for you, and explain why you think each was good, phenomenal, poor, or whatever? THAT is the real acid test, which so-called music critics run away from as if it were Hell itself (true story(ies)).
@@tomilopes I think you're on point with this performance. I am fond of his Leipzig Gewandhaus Chailly version, however, as it has a lot more character and fire. My favorite is still Fleisher and Szell, though.
Je ne comprends pas votre hostilité à cette interprétation. Bien sûr, nous avons Fischer-Furtwängler, Backhaus-Böhm, Fleischer-Szell, etc. Mais une version magnifique et apaisée comme celle-ci... ça fait aussi un bien fou!
