When I heard Vadym Kholodenko play Stravinsky, I did not hear a piano piece. I was watching an animation. One of the best renditions of Petroushka I have ever heard. Bravo!
Vadym Kholodenko implementation of 3 movements from Petrouchka is a brilliant standard of how this piece must be played. Listening to Vadym Kholodenko recital of this piece is compared to observing one of the wonders of world. He put so much passion, emotion into this performance. I think it is impossible to repeat success of this recital. If great Igor Stravinsky would be lived nowadays he definitely admired this performance.
Such a lyrical performance of bach-Siloti... breathtaking!!. Then, Beethoven sounds new, what a great sound he achieves!!, an, finally, Stravinsky, as outlined by other comments, is performed amazangly, full of strength and vitality. Worth listening!!!
In response to Mr. Carone's comments, even the silver medalist, Beatrice Rana, admitted she could not feel bad losing to a superior pianist. 13 international pianists/judges decided Kholodenko was the best, and this recital demonstrates it in so many ways. The Stravinsky is perhaps the best ever put on RU-vid. The Beethoven is filled with fresh ideas. Bravo Mr. Kholodenko.
A silver medalist is not a *loser* when it comes to an artistic competition -- unlike an athletic. The judging is all subjective, and everybody knows it.
wow. what a great rendition of the Beethoven. Like a whole new piece in places. Simply a joy to listen to. To make this late Beethoven sonata sound so accessible and engaging is quite remarkable. As for the Stravinsky, there are no words.
totally free and at the same time so profound - unconvential, stunning! BEAUTIFUL!!!! - the caracter of the compositions Bach/Siloti, Beethoven and Stravinsky are tremendously enlightened by this great fantastic Pianist! a transcendental event!!
I had watched this on line live in 2013. For me, this performance sealed his position as the top contender. His expression during and after the performance shows his thorough immersion in the world of this composition. He was in a trance; the audience as well, obviously.
23:54 Everyone else I've heard rushes through those chords and kind of half-plays them, but Kholodenko actually gives the restatement of the Danse Russe theme the full measure of respect it deserves and makes it sound alive.
Weissenberg and Sokolov would be proud, hereto my previous favorites 🎻 Honored to meet you and prepare an instrument for a formidable concert in Rapid City S.D.
Isaac Che Well... once they got to finals, they were all super amazing... Kholondenko was exceptional, but I think I prefered Rana (the second place winner) in some ways...
The playing in the Beethoven is beautifully paced, appropriately lyrical, nuanced and colorful. He does not use speed to excite the listener which is so refreshing. My preference is for a mores subdued manner, but that is minor in the scheme of things.
He plays the Stravinsky like a pianist first, not an automaton. He clearly loves the instrument, something that too often is missing on the competition circuit.
Petrouschka is simply astounding! There are so much texture and brilliance; it takes you to a land far, far away. The Beethoven reminds me a little of Sviatoslav Richter's rendition.
There was no doubt on the results. He really deserved it. I have been a big fan of him since preliminary rounds. Then right after listening to his last performance of Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 here on RU-vid, I knew he was definitely going to win the competition and he did!
I have always thought that the late Beethoven sonatas are always better "performed" in my inner ear/imagination. I am so grateful to Kholodenko for giving me a performance Op.109, which proved me wrong. A true artist.
Exceptional. I remember watching the livestream of this recital and thinking that Petrushka could not possibly be any better. Bach-Siloti is especially touching knowing the following tragedy of his family.
Beatrice Rana's sound is so much better, in my humble opinion, not to mention her interpretation and musicality. Anyway, we are talking about divine pianists, so bravo to Kholodenko too.
I would like to ask The Cliburn if it could be possible to upload the concert of Vadym Kholodenko playing Liszt 12 Transcendental Etudes during the competition please. Thank you very much.
In the "On Demand" section of the Cliburn website they have all of his recitals. China Gates was the first piece he played in his first preliminary recital.
This guy gave me a masterclass, he was like "Unfortunately, you no play good". I was thinking "Well of course not compared to you!" Hahaha it was cool though. ;)
+Noah Johnson Not all players are good teachers, or vice versa. That may be a clue that he was so impatient with his wife and is a suspect for the killing of their daughters.
Not a suspect any more. What an insensitive thing to say at a time like this. How would you like to come home to find that your wife probably stabbed both of your daughters in your sleep? And then have people commenting on your piano videos saying you are a jerk. Please go away.
Re the comments of a sparce audience, keep in mind that at the preliminary recital state of the competition there were possibly 20 entrants giving recitals at the same time , which might explain the "empty seats" in the large auditorium. Or it could have been the time of day he was scheduled to play. In any case, as long as the Judges were in their seats that's all that is needed in a competition of this type.
+Ke-Wei Zhao, FYI: he is not a suspect as of the latest KHOU reporting. w'all don't know what actually happened! Please don't say things like that .. w'all here to enjoy his music & give comments about it, not about the tragedy that just happened. Hope people don't reacted that way, if this type of thing happens to you or your loved ones!!! No one is guilty until proven! This is America & what we believe.
+2Quetee Sorry for the tragedy happened to his wife and children, and my apology to hint his involvement at the time of the news. You are absolutely right that all people is innocent until prove otherwise. God bless him and for his wife's quick recovery.
Even though this displays as 11:51, it contains the full recital. It'll just keep on running once it reaches the end. Bonus: The distortion that kept on popping up in the loud parts of Petrouchka in the original webcast is gone!
One other note: You may be able to get to the Petrouchka directly by typing &t=23m at the end of the video URL (this only works some of the time for me).
Why is there always one or more persons in the audience that just HAVE to show everyone they know the piece's ending by CLAPPING too soon and ruining the silence?
What is the difference between him and a skilled piano player? I mean, can you really tell the difference? If the other player played all the notes correctly, and with reasonable skill, can you really improve much upon that? Is there such a huge difference, and if so what? Maybe an analogy would help. Someone?
I'm not musically inclined, so I really wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the way two people play the same piece. However, the closest analogy I could think of was the difference between the way people read a book out loud. The amateur may read all the words correctly, but the tone and mood is not conveyed correctly. A master story teller will read in such a way that the story is brought to life and draws in the reader.
+shinyam75 first of all you have to be a fan of classic music. That lets you start to listen different interpretations. In this contest all of the participants are nearly masters of the instrument. The difference between a master an and a nearly master is what the player transmits, passion, personal approach of the piece. For virgin ears it is the same, but for a fan the music has several colors and when all the notes make magic you get the perfect picture.
+shinyam75 after more than 35 years being a classical music fan and an amateur pianist who practices everyday myself, I would say, the difference between young finalists like Kholodenko and a mature virtuoso is really small, if you have to say, there is any, it has to be something beyond their performance on the stage which you can observe here within the 40 minutes' duration of a semi-concert. the difference has to lie in the complete repertoire a pianist builds throughout his long career and his average quality in every concert that he plays after making concert pianist his career, how well he can manage to play almost as good as here and still aquires more repertoire that sets him apart from other concert pianists, the niche. judging a pianist or any performance by just a piece or even a full staged concert is not fair and makes no sense, especially what you're talking about here is a competition recording, which is the result of, on average, hundrends of hours of practices and incessant guidances and assistance from teachers and masterclasses accompanied by uncountable corrections and opinions, this could end up an almost immaculate one-off performance that could result in a true virtuoso in the making or an over exhausted soul that could not see his real musical genius in full blossom after the tiring competition. just a few thoughts.
+shinyam75 - Music does not start UNTIL AFTER all the notes can be played with skill. Going BEYOND that , music is born - it becomes alive - like a living thing - and gives off light and life. It changes all around it - at least for a while it stops time and captures the listener in a vision of truth and beauty. There are usually no more than a very very small number of such pianists in every generation. The notes themselves are meaningless. It is the message - unwritten by the composer, but implicit in the music - which the interpreter has to understand [however dimly] and convey [however imperfectly] through the physical means at the interpreter's disposal [the instrument, sound and silence, nuance, micro-rhythms, micro-phrasing, controlled duration of each note, controlled silences between notes, overtones generated by the instrument AND the room]. None of these have meaning in themselves, but in their totality and complexity they begin to make sense to someone else beside the composer and the interpreter. Every note has pitch, duration, link to the next note, relationship to concurrent notes, volume, overtones - literally dozens of choices for the performer. In the course of a 5-minute piece there might be a billion choices to make - and only one or two of the billion will really approach perfection. This is where the mystery of art becomes a miracle of existence. Each performance -even of the same piece, even on the same instrument - even by the same performer - will be different. ART - An ever-living entity.... Maybe six people in the world have it for any particular instrument. EXAMPLES FROM THE PAST - Oistrack (violin), Horowitz (piano), Rostropovich (cello)
+shinyam75 I thnk all professional pianists have the skill to play any piece at proper speed. The difference comes with interpretation and feelings conveyed. You say you are not musically inclined: Do a youtube search for Chopins prelude 4 (op 28) and listen to different versions. Richter plays it in 2:25, Aldona Dvarionaite in 2:40, Ashkenazy in 1:55, Alfred Cortot in 1:45. You will definitely notice the different tempo and also style of interpreting this song.
