Now available on itunes! / chopin-recital Another little extra piece ( LOL) from Hannover Chopin Etudes recording sessions. This one was the very last recorded and we had barely 5 minutes before we had to get out of the hall :-)
It's fascinating that Chopin wrote such a piece in his era.. which is truly years (maybe a whole century) ahead of its time - the repeating left hand chords, the complex chord voicing and harmonic changes he reaches with his right, the modern dreamy mood, the clear structure - while still making it come off like an "on-the-spot" improvisation.. Pieces like Gymnopédie No. 1 by Satie and Bill Evans' Peace Piece are basically just a continuation of what Chopin did here. His ability to predict such future "trends" is what makes him a giant among all composers, a true authentic genius, and a huge influence over the next centuries of music.
As it's a lullaby I'm inclined to think the repeating bass notes are inspired by a nursery rhyme, or perhaps a child's music box which he may have come across when he wrote the piece in a friends home in 1844. Being a tune 'to be played to a sleepy child' the repeating bass obviously makes perfect sense as it's enveloping and soothing and not too stimulating. The tempo and rhythm here though which is faster than other examples really does give a music box feel although it also invokes a swinging cradle. The right hand is sublime, like splashes onto a still pool, but the tempo rises a bit too much for me in the middle, the cradle will be off it's hinges at this rate and the baby rudely awoken. I don't know a lot of Chopin's music but agree this is so Satie, Gnossiennes were only 40 years later but still Chopin clearly led the way.
I see much thought - possibly a good part of your lifetime - can be found in and behind your comment here. I'm listening. Thank you for pulling these words together 0:14 . A joy.
I read that Chopin said something like "after playing so many notes for so long that simplicity is where beautiful music lies or something to that effect. After I read I thought, Wow! Chopin, whose music could be so technically challenging and complex, would say that, but i can see and hear that concept in some of his work. I think some pieces are so choked with all the technique and embellishments that the main idea, melody, is crying out to be heard.
danny taylor the quote you’re looking for is ‘Simplicity if the highest goal, achievable only when you have overcome all difficulties. It is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art’
chopin is always as simple as possible in the way he conveys any given emotion. Pure confidence with no arrogance in sight. He simply doesnt care if you think he is a good composer, he'll fill your ears and mind with childlike wonder regardless. thats my take atleast!
@@dincerekin This is fuckin' fantastic comment. Right to the point. Pianist writing from here. And proud polish citizen - Chopin was a Pole, not French. We had many great warriors and battles during all these years, we had 123 years without been on a map - still our people defend and reclaimend this land. The same during world war 2. But still, at a musician at heart, chopin is the perfect one, and Kopernik for heliocentric theory ;) But we had many more.
Absolutely exquisite pianist. She is a master at breathing life from a repetitive left-hand as I believe was Chopin's intention. This is no sleep aid for insomniacs! It's a tonic to quiet a restless soul.
This is just wonderful - I love this performance. It is like opening a window and suddenly you realize that spring has come, the light has changed, everything is fresh and wonderful, crystal clear.
My absolute favourite piece of music. I think Chopin wrote dances for fingers and watching this performer confirms exactly that. I simply melt when I hear this piece of music - especially played as beautifully as this. Bravo!
i’m a 17 year old aspiring pianist, you inspire me so much! i love chopin’s pieces more than anything, i’m currently trying to learnt this one. you’re an amazing and beautiful performer :)
Chopin is the single greatest composer of piano music.. its staggeringly beautiful and complex and brings so much detailed story telling to his music.. its just splendid and I am a huge fan of yours Valentina. May you continue sharing the gift with the world and inspiring us so very much!
This song gives me a weird deja vu feeling. I'll try to explain it in the best way I can. The beginning of the song feels so sad yet happy, it's like reassuring you that even the saddest times will end. And then as the song progresses, the tune starts getting drowned by the rapid notes, trying to make your worries swivel away... At the end of the song, it starts becoming more and more soothing, retaining the first tune in the beginning of the song. Overall, it's a really calm and nostalgic song.
I was hesitant when I saw the comments regarding the speed...but it's Valentina...she never disappoints. Incredible technical mastery. I love this rendition. It's fresh, it's vital. I love its fadings to slow nothingness. Mastery. Wow.
For what i read about this piece, Chopin didn't give it the title Berceuse, but Variations. The first publisher added that. Actually the piece is a sequence of beautiful variations of the theme. It is more like an etude. I find it beautiful, but i do not like when they play it too fast. It is a lullaby, not a race
Just when I thought Erik Satie's works would be great for setting my nights up for bedtime, I chanced upon this piece and it had overturned my expectations for the perfect bedtime accompaniment. Erik's music has this subtly unsettling, restless and almost dark vibe to his sparse compositions, but this lullaby composed by Chopin just disarms you completely and compels you to float away and along with its gliding notes.
I've just started learning piano as a self study a month ago, so I am playing this simplified piece in G Minor and was proud of myself that I put two hands together with the relatively good speed, and then I saw Valentina playing it in original D-flat Major!!! So inspiriting and unreachable at the same time! She is just amazing!
To those who say much too fast, I would point to Rosenthal's recording which comes in at 3:56 or so. Rosenthal studied with Mikuli, who was a pupil of Chopin's, and also with Liszt (who knew Chopin's playing style intimately as the two had been friends at one point). Koczalski, another Mikuli pupil, also comes in at around the same tempo, at 4:12. One has to believe that, given the similarity in their speeds, this must be in the right ballpark and is almost certainly handed down from Chopin himself. Too often Chopin is played too slowly, which may enhance the audibility of the felicities in his scoring, but is probably not the way the composer himself played.
I can't ever imagine getting bored by this, its the most beautiful piece of music and Valentina plays it so well.....it sends a shiver down my spine every time I hear it (which I make sure is quite often)
I know I might sound ridiculous, but this piece is a misnomer. It isn't a lullaby. It should be played at this speed. Simply exquisite at this speed. I can't sum up its magic but I don't think I'll ever understand a person's capacity to be able to fall asleep (wtf) to this piece. It makes you want to dream more but live to fulfil them at the same time.
After searching for some other performances of this wonderful masterpiece I was surprised that most of them last about 4’45 minutes or more, what is much slower than this version. At first I thought Valentina takes it too fast, but after a couple of concentrated hearings I’ve come to the conclusion that this is a very appropriate timing, she discloses all the hues and nuances of the work with great deepness and intensity. After all, a berceuse needs to evoke clearly the movement of the cradle, that soft swing that transport us to a reverie atmosphere. I’d dare to say some other players induce the slumber through monotony and boredom, while this superb artist brings it to us through a pure sense of tender pleasure and satisfaction. Bravo, Valentina!
@@ValentinaLisitsaQOR Thank you for your answer. I've listened Hofmann's version and I'm glad you didn't go so far in speed. He has personality and command, but I think that his playing lacks the tenderness we expect in a cradle song.
I am not sure that I am the only one that feel the sentiment of this piece and deep inside me feel like crying as I could perceive the loneliness inside the heart of this polish composer. The portrayal of the melody is really of a bit of bitterness inside as many know as melancholia.
Such a wonderful use of counter rhythm.....left hand keeping a moderate metronomic pace as a flurry of sparks of embers give way to fast melodic and fiery emissions in the right hand passages.
To me, Lisitsa is the Itzhak Perlman of pianists -- which is to say that she is the best combination of getting the notes right and also playing with feeling. Almost like a feather floating across the keys. A joy to listen to.
The ending of this piece is indescribably beautiful... but I’ll try anyways - the music gently winds down, until the last two chords are nothing more than a whisper. The long pause before the very last note makes me catch my breath, but also makes the last chord all the more beautiful. It brings tears to my eyes and a pit in my stomach.
Idk why the camera ever left her hands - it was mesmerizing and beautiful. Why show us the piano and profile? 😮 Anyway- super talented and incredible to watch!!
hello Valentina Lisitsa. thanks for shaking off my veil of ignorance, and showing me a bit of the immense beauty that is possible in this world. bravo!
1'47" wow! It just glitters! What a lovely performance and SOUND. This is one of the lesser known Chopin pieces, but undeservedly. I think it is just gorgeous in it's 'simplicity' and elegant virtuosity. She makes it sound do darned easy!! NOT FAIR!
Absolutely breathtaking... I will never get tired of listening to her play this Berceuse. It is so delicate, so light, and yet so technically demanding... (at least, for us mere mortals!).
@ValentinaLisitsa Having your idols answering all your questions and giving you feedback on your life decision is such a privilege, thank you so much for being this audience friendly!
Oh my goodness, this is absolutely heavenly. No wonder Chopin was voted Top Composer by Telephone Poll on ABCFM Classical Radio Perth on 97.7fm some years ago. He does play around up and down with the chromatic scale. Brilliant!
I enjoy this immensely. Have created a playlist called Berceuse: >Valentina playing Chopin is first; then >Faure's Berceuse for violin & piano; >Satie's Nocturnes 1-6; >Faure's Pavanne w/ paintings by Monet; >Valentina playing Schubert's Impromptu op. 142 no. 3; >Domingo, Netrebko, & Villazon in Dein Ist Mein Ganzes Herz; >Saint Saens' Mon Coeur with Verrett & Vickers; >same aria with Gorr & Vickers; >Satie's Gnossiennes 1-6; last is >Saint Saens' The Swan.
My fav piece of Chopin's...and I love her touch too. Yes, I would also love to hear her play it when she is not having to rush to leave a hall heheh :)
I listen to this every single night. I have PTSD and it is always hard to sleep, but this calms me. and I will only listen to Valentina's version. thank you for playing me to sleep and making the passage into my dreams feel safe
She plays it the same tempo as Sapellnikov, a student of Sophie Menter, who was a student of Liszt. Very similar to Michelangeli and Rubenstein also. I like her tempo.
Bill Evan's "Peace Piece" is similar vibes to this, if less notes XD. Can see the lineage, with a stop off point at Debussy along the way. Very improvised flowing feel
You remember me this wonderful young cat I meet today. It was so playful and tender always looking for more caress and more game. A wonderful time, a musical time very much like a berceuse. Thanks!
Along with Nocturne in E-flat and the Raindrop Prelude, these are the greatest pieces of music ever. If I can learn to play just one of them in a somewhat passable manner I will be a happy guy.
in my eyes with every song shez plays wether beethoven on chopin she brings so much emotion out with in every piece she piece, valentina you brought a tear to my eye, you are the best xxx thank you for sharing ur talent with the world
"A manner of producing or uttering tones, with regard to accuracy of pitch." - Because it is a piano and tuned to acquire temperament (It is impossible for fixed-pitched instruments, including pianos to have 100% perfect intervals) It's not something that she has to worry about. It definitely has nothing to do with "hitting the right notes". I think what he meant to say was something regarding the 'lightness' and balancing that she uses in between each finger and hands to produce these phrases.
