Chopin - Ballade No. 1 in G Minor (1M special) 

Chopin's 1st Ballade. One of the most beautiful and substantial works in the entire solo piano repertoire, and the piece of his most dearest to me. Although a bit of craziness would have been fun (and... is coming...), hitting 1M subscribers after only starting my channel 10 months ago is still so hard to believe, and the piece closest to my heart - dedicated to you as a token of gratitude - was only piece I felt fit to celebrate the 1M milestone. Thank you for 1M ♥

The fact that you saved this for your 1 million special says a lot about you as a pianist. Such an awesome choice. Brilliantly performed. Now go celebrate! Congrats, Rousseau!

Have you seen the film The Pianist? I still get shivers thinking about the Ballade scene...

The time has come for another _special_ video, see you in 24 hours!!!

"I am, I was a pianist" that scene always makes me cry

Ready for round 2?

I feel ashamed for people who expected for Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 and didn't enjoy this beautiful piece

Chopin died at 39, imagine what he could’ve compose if he would’ve lived a longer life.

Rousseau is absolutely LEGENDARY for putting no ads in this beautiful piece of music! Ballade No. 1 by Chopin is one of my favorite pieces, thank you. I hope you hit 5M soon. I know this was 4 years ago, sorry If I'm too late.

Rousseau, you deserve an enormous congratulations for this achievement. Watching you grow online has been an amazing inspiration to aim for the same! What you do is truly incredible. The 1st ballade is one of my favourite piano pieces too, so I'm doubly happy to see you perform it! Here's to the next million! (we expect it to be soon...)

YESSS MY BODY IS READY.

I keep coming back to listen to this beautiful piece of art. Thank you Rousseau, it's like a breath off fresh air after a hard day's labor. I hope you are alright. May you eventually keep uploading. May the Lord keep you and bless you.

Chopin! What a beautiful way of celebrating 1M subs! Congratulations!

You did it, you utter maniac!

A "No. 1" for 1,000,000 and then a "No. 2" for...?

I've finally been able to play this memorized, and I just performed it at a charity concert at school today :D

-What do you do? -I am... I was a pianist.

This is literally my favorite piece from Chopin, thank you for blessing us with this masterpiece of a video, once again.

Don't lie. This isn't your first time here. And if it is, it probably won't be your last one either.

The hardest part about learning this piece is trying not to cry while listening , change my mind.

Beethoven ALWAYS SOUND LIKE he's GOING TO PUSH SOMEONE OFF A CLIFF CHOPIN ALWAYS SOUNDS LIKE he is the one being pushed

This is very meaningful to me. I have a friend who is a classical pianist. He inspired me to play the violin ever since I heard him play this. He was my closest friend and sadly, He had passed away not to long ago.. I can only dream of performing this with him. I miss you bud I will never forget how much you mean the world to me.

So guys, we did it.

This must be my favorite piece of all time. The fact that Chopin composed this masterpiece at 21 years old is absolutely unbelievable. The part at 7:48 must be the most beautiful and epic part I've heard on piano, very complex and with plenty of notes which match perfectly with each other. Truly a magnificent piece, congrats to Rousseau for playing it so well. I hope I'll be able to do the same in a couple of years.

Wow! You nailed the hardest part of the piece, the coda, I would hate to be in your shoes recording this piece as its long and difficult most of the time, but really hard towards the end. Loved that FF7 piece you did the other day, great stuff was not expecting that, cheers.

It looks hard But when you start practicing it It’s even harder

you're here because: - the pianist is freaking great - the amazing composer - kaori's last farewell to kousei - yuzuru's breath-taking skate to this wonderful piece

Came here after watching Your Lie in April. Years before watching the show and even knowing of it's existence this was already my favourite Chopin piece and one of my favourite pieces of music in general. I am probably in the minority for this because I knew about the piece before knowing about the anime and I think that most people who know both (And watched the show) got to know about this amazing piece from there. It definitely now has these new added memories with it that I will always think about when listening to it. Wonderful piece used in a wonderful show.

"After playing Chopin, I feel as if I had been weeping over sins that I had never committed, and mourning over tragedies that were not my own." - Oscar Wilde

Chopin really just didn't want anyone to play his music.

Man, that buildup from 7:29 until the badass section at 7:46 and beyond has to be one of the greatest things ive EVER heard on piano. Chopin was a fucking genius

Thank you for playing my music!

Hey Rousseau, I watched every of your classical pieces so many times cause it gives me chills. I'm 19 years old and I played piano for 8 straight years till I stopped at the age of 13 because I just didnt have the motivation to do so and never really practised. I did win contests playing as a duo with my best mate playing cello so it was basicly a hobby, but not really something I truly truly loved. (Outside of the contest phase in my life I only practised like 15 minutes a day..) Now, 5 years later YOU singlehandingly brought back my passion for piano and I'm playing more than ever. My favourite piece is Un Sospiro (no, I can't play it yet), which is above my level, but I finished Arabesque now and I'm hoping to be able to play Claire de Lune in a few months (even though the minute 2:00 part looks a lot harder..) Thank you so much for providing the sheet music for FREE and the videos are helping me so much in terms of finger movement and double checking the notes I read from the sheet. You deserve every single sub, I hope you're soon going to be able to make a living from youtube, if not already. Greetings from Germany!! Edit: Some clarifications

One of my friends heard this and said:" What's this? A circus song?" Long story short, he's not my friend anymore.

Chopin could've just stopped at 8:39 but he really wanted to hit that 9 minute mark huh

4:55 this part is my absolute favourite part. An astonishingly beautiful piece indeed.

-The Pianist -Your Lie in April -Chopin Everyone's here because of at least one of these

Nothing is more sorrowful, heartbroken and lonely than Chopin's first Ballade. Beautiful interpretation.

4:48 This is definitely my favorite part of the piece. The beauty and feelings that Chopin's music transmits is incredible. I love him.

doesnt matter if you came from The Pianist or Your Lie in April theyre both great cinematic masterpieces

After two years of lot of practice, I CAN FINALLY SAY: Im able to play twinkle star

Doctor: You have 10 minutes to live... Me:

“Spring, the season I met you, is coming. A spring without you. . . . . Is coming”🕊

Hey. I know you probably won’t read this, but I genuinely want to say thank you I suffer from bipolar disorder and I’m currently having a manic episode, I tried so many things to calm myself down but to no avail I can’t play the piano right now as it’s 3 in the morning Then I remembered your videos and remembered that it used to calm me down during panic attacks, I decided to give it a shot and holy hell I feel less energised now, thank you so so so much, you have no idea how grateful I am as manic episodes can be both physically and mentally painful for me You’re doing god’s work and I can’t thank you enough

Spring is coming, a spring without you is coming...

7:54 absolute eargasm

Such a lonely ballade, filled with joy and sorrow, love and hatred, happiness and despair. Chopin composed this early in his career, what the hell do you have to go through to create something of this magnitude? Perhaps he had depression, he was sickly throughout his life, and was paraded around Europe as a prodigy, hard with his shyness. There are things we’ll never know about this man, all we have is his music and we cry with him. He was a poet of the keys, and his works live on as reflecting humanity in its most vulnerable. We are just sacks of love and sorrow, reverie and pain. We were born to survive, not to live, and he portrays that feeling of pitiful anger, loneliness, and longing in this ballade. It’s his Magnus Opus, it’s Chopin composed in keys.

This is incredible Rousseau, I came here after watching The Pianist. Made me realise how extraordinary Chopin is. You nailed this performance=) 8:12 - those octaves 😮

finally finished this Ballade No.1 in G minor. 3 months, 3hours per day, 3 times I want to give up, and 3 times I picked it up immediately when I watch this video. Although there are lots of I cannot handle very beautifully, I still learned a lot from finishing a masterpiece. Granted, it is hard, and it took me lots of time which I could play video games with my friends, but I got more than playing video games. Thanks a lot, for helping me pursue my practice.

*_"Maybe...just maybe, the light can reach even the bottom of a dark ocean"._*

Screw it, I'm typing this comment as a pledge to myself to one day learn this piece and perform it as elegantly as you, Rousseau. I have been learning the piano since August of 2018, but I know I still have a long way to go. One day, I will learn the 1st Ballade, and when I do, I will come back to this comment and I will declare in having fulfilled that dream.

The part at 3:47 always makes me feel like I’m so at peace with myself! Such a beautiful sound!

0:00-5:30 *pain* 5:31-5:57 ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ 5:58-end *pain*

Chopin’s thought process: 8:39 Should I stop here? Nah 8:52 the little touch up? Hmm, a little more... 9:15 yeah I just broke 9 minutes I think I’ll call it a day

2:19 is the best thing I’ve ever heard and I’m sure that only Chopin could have composed it.

for some reason every video he posts has no ads, love it

Plot twist, has 2 million subs in 24 hours Ok, new video

- What are you? - I am... I was a pianist. - Can you play something? - 0:00

Everybody expecting for Hungarian Rhapsody 2... *proceeds to upload twinkle twinkle little star*

This is THE performance that got me to start taking piano seriously 6 months ago. The range of expression, both technical prowess and beautiful emotion, is something I'm working hard to achieve. Thank you for inspiring me.

_“I met the girl under full bloomed cherry blossoms, and my fate has begun to change.”_

"Szpilman.. now that's a name for a pianist."

This is by far my favourite piano piece ever written. After 13 years of hard practice I was finally ready to take on the challenge. This piece was definitely the perfect choice to celebrate such a land mark in subscribers.

This is too beautiful, causes goosebumps.. ❤❤

This autoplayed while I was playing Skyrim and after a few minutes I thought "wtf why is piano music playing". But, after listening to the whole thing I'm so glad it did autoplay. Absolutely amazing- from someone who mainly listens to techno & DnB

Arguably a better special than Hungarian rhapsody no 2

Me watching this: 1:20 - Gee, that doesn't look so hard... Maybe I'll try and learn it? 1:29 - Or is it? 2:06 - Oh, yeah, I remember now. It's Chopin.

5:38 to 5:48 is such an amazing part for 10 seconds

Doctor: "you have 5 min left to live." Me: "but the Video is 10 minutes?!" God: "I will allow it"

I don't care if it's Hungarian Rhapsody, this was actually incredible. Watching your hands move paired with the sounds coming from the piano is just amazing. I can't wait to see what's next :)

The part 7:48 - 8:24 gives me goosebumps everytime...

I can't stop crying when i hear this piece. It's like Chopin poured EVERYTHING into this piece. Each of his pieces you can find a singular emotion, but this one, it's too much to bare. It's like he summed his entire life into this piece. His Anger, his frustration, his joy, and what little happiness he could find and the validation he sought for not being able t fight for his home country. Everything is in this piece, the culmination of his life, and it makes me cry experiencing it al at once.

7:54 . All his Etudes paid off for something!!

I came here after watching The Pianist...that scene when Szpilman play this for the German officer... That heart-wrenching scene... And the image of Adrien carrying that can of pickels is so haunting... War is ugly.

I must learn it before the end of April 2022 AND THIS IS NOT A LIE Update (8th Aug, 2021): I'm stuck at the 4:55 mark with lots of mistakes in the previous parts. ;-; But don't worry I'll make it for sure. Also u guys stay along! Update (4th Jan, 2022 "HAPPY NEW YEAR") : It's been exactly one year since I started learning; 4th of January As for progress, it's going fairly smoothly. I'm on 5:52 now Update (8th Apr, 2022): 7:52 I'M ALMOST THERE Update (21st April, 2022): I did it. I actually did it..... Now what?

Hearing this song deeply reflects much of what I’ve felt in life to the passing of my father. The crazy world we live in and how frustrating and intoxicating true grief can compel a human mind. Beauty is truly disgusting and wonderful all at the same time.

Your playing is EXCELLENT ! Can you make a video "Watch me practice" ?

From 7:55 to 8:26 is my favourite part... What do you think? And by the way, this is my favourite piece.

This is probably the best piece of music ever composed in the entire history.

one of the top iconic classic ballade that was in YOUR LIE IN APRIL just love it

The spring is coming, now the spring is coming without you -Arima Kousei💔

This is arguably the most beautiful thing I've ever heard

At 4:48 My brain : imagine the violin sound Me : cry

Embodiment of beauty

guys, he's referring to this as "round 2", it's his second subscriber special. in his first special, he played Liszt - La Campanella, because this is round 2 of the Liszt specials, it has to be hungarian rhapsody no°2 edit: *my brains have now been blown out of my head*

Coming back every April in respect, “goodbye kaori”

Don't lie, I bet your imagining yourself playing the piano right now in front of a huge crowd.hahaha

Chopin's music just hits differently, in the sense of the way it is able to emulate emotions and use them to tell a story, not a one that is made of words, but of pure emotions. Rousseau has become my favorite pianist because he is a storyteller that uses music.

I'll be honest this piece is probably my favourite ever and the reason I got into classical music. I listened to a lot of classical music when I has small. My parents really liked classical music. but when they got divorced I barely heard it anymore. then one day for no particular reason I randomly decide to listen to some classical music. and I came across this piece. I was instantly blown back and amazed, I had never enjoyed music so much. and now classical music is my favourite! this will always hold a special space in my heart. :)

Can't wait until you play 4'33" for the 10M sub special :D I can't believe I missed the premiere again ;-;

This is by far my favorite Chopin’s piece. I’ve been practicing my piano for 14 years, but I’m a capricious pianist. I hate to read sheets, I do most of my work thanks to my ears. But for this one, I’ll make an effort. One day, with plenty of hours, I’ll succeed to play this perfectly. Thank you Rousseau. You made me discover this wonderful piece. I will, someday, try to master it as well as you did

I love how this is so violent, agressive , chaotic , deprivative and pleasant at the same time

this song is honestly such a masterpiece and I will never forget it.....I mean sure, your lie in april was a really good anime but can we take some time to actually listen to this song and appreciate it thank you so much Frédéric Chopin, for composing such beautiful music

0:00 to 9:46 my favourite part 🤩

I hope you'll play Fantaisie Impromptu one day though, not obviously on Monday but the week after maybe :D

I could listen to this a million times and not get tired of it.

This one just has so many badass sections where Chopin just goes insane

This piece is Chopin’s heart and soul ❤️

This is my favorite piece by Chopin as well. Such emotion. I first heard it in the pianist, a movie about the holocaust. Wonderful movie if you haven’t seen it. Beautifully executed man.

Chopin is one of the few composers who after I learn a piece of theirs, I feel a deep sense of gratification and accomplishment❤❤