The first time I listend this piece was in the Shine Film... I felt in love... after this I listen the interpretation of Rachmaninov. Better. Stand Up Applauses. For Both
Absolutely beautiful! I love David’s Rach 3. He’s an extraordinary man. Hubby & I met him in 1997 (Detroit). We gave him 2 Monarch chrysalides that would emerge soon. Gillian invited us backstage; David was thrilled with the butterflies. He kept hugging & kissing me in his own sweet way. It was a lovely evening with the Helfgotts.
I saw him play in Brisbane back in the early 2000's , l cried. No one could play the Rach 3 without knowing the extrodinary lengths of human emotions both good and bad. I was so happy as a student of music -piano/cello that l had the honour to hear him play. Even these words cant express the beauty of the Rach 3 by David Helgott.
Far away from Helfgott, purists, who for seeking perfection, you miss this wonder, this being that dragged an existence with incredible nightmare passages, and here, showing besides undeniable virtuosity, gives us sensitivity, and passion unleashed, in a show that he forces me to say that the miraculous is possible, Helfgott is for music lovers, not for critics imprisoned by his stylistic dogmas, this being touched by the gods of Olympus, we are fortunate to be his happy contemporaries, I cried when watching the movie Shine, and only many years later I have been able to hear the master through youtube, and I do not stop getting excited, to surprise me more and more, not in vain his last name is Gott, in a clear sample of the musical heights that only he has reached, thanks master David Helfgott
There's "something" about this interpretation, something fresh and interesting, but I think most of it is a "student's approach", like the performer is exposing the "seams" or his decisions about the piece, whereas other pianists tend to present something more complete and round. For whoever pours "genius! genius! genius!" on his keyboard here, I really recommend that you listen to the same concerto played by Marta Argerich. Just for a sense of proportion. B.T.W - I was trained as classical pianist, and can appreciate the piece, and I DID buy helfgotts performance of the 3rd concerto (as well as Marta Argerich and several other interpretations). David Helfgott is a good pianist, certainly not on the "first line" of pianists, but a GOOD one. His performance is intriguing, and at times enchanted, but does not really call for "Genius" or even "Virtuoso". I saw the movie "Shine" and was moved by it, and was moved twice when I found out the truth behind the movie is doubtful, and that Davids mental illness may have effected much of the perspective of the story. Nevertheless, a good movie, a good pianist, and of course, amazing piece of music.
But don't you think that his illness held him back and caused him to miss years of progress as a pianist? Do you think he would have been on, say, Argerich's level had he been well?
We don't know whose version of events is correct, but it seems a great many Zionists have cause to want to believe it didn't happen the way David says it did. "I had scores of newspaper clippings about the film and, in 99 percent of them, my father is called a brutal, tyrannical man." Articles that bother her most are those saying her father is "only slightly less lovable than Himmler" and another that refers to his "Fuhrer-knows-best voice." "What a terrible irony for a man who lost his entire family to the Nazis. People believe what they see on the screen. That's the power of cinema." Of course the terrible irony is that scores of Zionists in Israel lost family to the Nazis, but they now feel fully justified in their inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people. Anything that calls them out in a negative light is disbelieved. Oh, and before the expected cries of "anti-Semite" roll in: I'm Jewish and lost family in the holocaust.
I too am classically trained,and my Dad was a concert Pianist in Mexico(The pupil of Manuel Ponce)My Mom a Pianist in the States,so I've been around pianists all my Life.Now my Sons are training.. I have to say I don't agree with your opinion..Helfgott is above MOST Pianists in his emotional approach, pure sound and musical interpretation..I actually do not care for Marta Argerich;s playing of this piece..she is a bit too agressive and does not address the sensitivity of this piece as well as David does..It comes down to a matter of opinion and I think David Helfgott is an an paralleled Genius..
Who cares if someone wants to compare Gaga and Rach? Let them. I'm not a Lady Gaga fan..but lets put it into perspective. The majority of her songs were not created with the sheer time and effort that Rach 3 no doubt required to be brought into the world. Thats just not what she does..ditto 99.9% of pop artists. However, if Lady Gaga sat down and invested that much meticulous, brain-burning, ass-cheek-flattening time into a composition..Id listen..people will like what they want.
Wow, this is... a fairly poor performance. Erratic and distracted opening melody, and then almost no attempt to listen to and stay with the orchestra at all. Secondary subject, written to be lush and rich, is played in a choppy and disconnected manner. This performer owes his fame purely to Hollywood.
I think in his world that's reality n how he felt his childhood was....I'm not some great ear classical critic but he,is talented for sure people saying it's horrible I think are just upset at the hype around him..if he is really metally I'll it's amazing he even played it without stopping to chase butterflys....just saying....
I am a bit unusual, in that I can actually play Rach 3, but NEVER good enough or clear enough to perform. I hear multiple interpretations of this work by different pianists. I think that David is somewhat more impulsive and difficult for the conductor to follow. But I would never criticize him for that. It is his personality shining through. I always enjoy listening to David, because of the immense clarity of his passagework and his unpredictability. There's nothing wrong with either, and I wish I could play as well as he does. Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)
Geoffrey Rush playing David Helfgott was divine inspiration - phenomenal. tragedy / triumph played out and set to beautiful soundtrack of classic piano concertos etudes and symphonies. Armin Mueller-Stahl should.have won the Best Supporting Actor oscar - instead it went to Cuba Gooding, Jr. Nearly inexcusable blunder. Mueller-Stahl's Peter is sosososososososososo good. Difficult part.
I'm just an intermediate pianist and don't have a ton of knowledge. But my feeling is that he shows surprising and deep feeling in the slower parts, but as some people have pointed out perhaps, in the faster parts, while this fingers seem to have no problem moving quickly enough, they are not moving in time with the orchestra. So for me it's a bit difficult to listen to. But if I take into account what I believe were his years of incarceration in mental hospitals, perhaps numerous electric treatments, and profound depression and anxiety, it would seem that his accomplishment is quite amazing. And I can't help but think that with a healthier upbringing he would have been a quantum leap greater. His situation also brings to mind a pianist I heard once who apparently had gone to an excellent music school, but was just recovering from severe depression. He played a huge corpus of virtuoso music by heart in a recital, but unfortunately there was little feeling in it. I couldn't help but think that this was a symptom of his illness. And so, we understand, and we applaud their triumph over themselves.
I really like Sergei's own performance... you can almost hear his eyes go wide at certain strokes. But I like this version too... and David Helfgott's story is just so cool, and that story oozes through his interpretations. I guess he's a living example of "put yourself in the music"
On peut espérer que Shine n’a pas fait croire à trop de gens que le malheureux Helfgott arrivait à maîtriser le concerto. Un disque, assez pénible, paru à la suite du film s’est cependant vendu comme des petits pains. Il est à l’image d’une discographie riche en poudre aux yeux.
Unless you are a virtuoso on the piano, I defy you to critisise this piece of genius. Probably one of THE hardest pieces to play. I am not classically trained but gave it a go a few times. The speed and tempo required to get the correct sound is virtually impossible. No wonder it "drove him mad" so to speak. No cynicism intended, by the way. The rest of you, so called, critics and music snobs can critique all you want but in the end it's a beautifully depicted piece of art.
+The Hammerboy Have a listen to the Piano Concerto by Adolf von Henselt. I think you will find that IS the hardest. That's why nobody plays it in public. Good luck!
+The Hammerboy It IS THE HARDEST Piece ever written to play for the pianist. Rachmaninoff had a span of four octaves with his hands being huge and the dexterity is amazing. One could say, this piece blew David's chip so to speak. Amazing. Just simply amazing.
I may recall heard or read from Harold C Schonberg book that Rachmaninoff was indeed able to have it premiered by himself, but then Horowitz came to his mind.
Para el 3er concierto de Rachmaninov de los pianistas actuales me quedo con Sergei Yerokhin ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kHuSDmoa748.html
Comparar, interpretaciones, de su autor con la de un artista interprete, no viene para nada al caso,Rachmaninov como compositor de los contemporáneos, es uno de los inigualables, no así como interprete, cierto que Helfgott, su fama se debe a su película, pero no por ello deja de ser un extraordinario interprete, cada artista pone algo de si mismo, su estilo, su personalidad, su esencia, eso lo distingue.
@maulcs It means that I'm impressed by your channel. I'm impressed by your use of the word fuck, the use of .........., and the ad hominem criticism of my rationale. However, I'll be genuinely impressed if you express your incredulity with rational and specific criticism.
@merrow37 you really hate this movie don't you? kplease tell me you do know this is a movie, not reality. If so I couldn't even watch all the "historical" movies americans do, come on. They are just movies.
This is his interpretation. I can like it or dislike it, that doesn't make it good or bad music. Each one of us has his opinion. Art is subjective, like everything in the world.
@voodoochild085 As a pop producer and composition major, this is just completely offensive. I just wrote a Stravinsky inspired wind quartet, and next week will be playing at a dance party with autotune and dance beats. Do I need autotune because I sing poorly? No. I've sang classical voice for years. I enjoy the way it sounds. Lady Gaga composes wonderful complex music. She is in the writing process and her music is full of accidentals and secondary dominants. You are ignorant.
@alexlelarge Your point is well taken. However there sis one major issue to consider: Horowitz is / was a PROFESSIONAL concert artist. Helfgutt was a layman, a common, ordinary Joe Blow. Plus Horowitz has been playing the piano longer than Helfgutt, in all likelihood. Therefore I expect a level of performance from him that I do not expect from Helfgutt. I can accept missed notes from Helfgutt, but I cannot accept them from ANY professional artist, regardless of age.
@fran1903atm "Very bad played" as compared to whom? Granted, Helfgutt is not Emil Gilels, Byron Janis, or Van Cliburn. BUT... given Helfgutt's problems and the difficulty of the Rachmaninoff #3, I sure as heck respect the guy for even trying to play this concerto. Are you a pianist of the calibre of Cliburn, Janis, and Gilels? If not, then on what criteria do you base your judgment of Helfgutt's playing?
@fierydog I strongly disagree, this movie shall be seen by every single person, who repsects oneself and consider an intelligent one. As this movie shows so well the prejudices, how they offend the ones, who are actually talented, just so called "psychological disorders" is something, what comes along with the great talent. There a lot of geniuses of all times, which most of them had different sort of psychological disorders, it was their burden and happiness and admiration for us.
The entire performance fragment feels heavy and slower than I think is generally interpreted. I don't think the cadenza is included in this fragment, but I can only imagine that it wouldn't/couldn't match the energy that you'd find with Argerich, Lugansky, or Kissin's interpretations (to name a few of my favorites). This is the first time I've heard of Helfgott; maybe he has a more drawn-out take on some of these technical pieces?
0:11 Why do some pianists compulsively play a crescendo whenever they see more than two notes of the same pitch in a row? That sounds so manieristic. It's almost as if they're only doing it because their teachers used to tell them it's some sort of a law. Here, it was completely unnecessary. It didn't add anything to the music. It just upset the flow, and disturbed the hierarchy of the notes.
i think that all the players who play this concerto are really good technical players. this concerto is a technical explosion of amazing brilliance, thats where it ends, this concerto is as boring as two snails having a race. its going nowhere fast. its a bit promising at the start , then i looses its way , and towards the end it struggles to make the finish. i am a classical pianist , this is boring, so before any comments, try listening to the WARSAW CONCERTO, that's pure emotion, play it!
To be as ill mentally as Helfgott is and to play like this, even in this manner ,is a miracle of human possibility,but putting aside his illness and to judge his playing against "normal"pianists is to have to admit that the playing really is rather dreadful.Above all, apart from the serious lack of fluency and technical command it is stodgy and ultimately boring, shapeless and meaningless.But in purely human terms it is a miracle!
just novice could think he is a virtuoso, he is just a mediocre pianist. If you want to really appreciate this concerto just listen to anyone else version but no this one, if you just like helfgott' story at least don't claim he is a great pianist becouse noone who have listened at lest a couple of version of this concerto can agree this is good playing. please stop confounding other people who come close to classic music for the first time and think that helfgott is a real virtuoso.
Classical music is not reserved only for people with great depth and experience into it. Anyone can like anything that they want. I'll have to share my honest opinion: Helfgott, for whatever reason with THIS particular recording, is struggling hugely with technique. His dynamics are pretty wild, quite an erratic tempo, so many wrong/fluffed notes. The conductor had a tough job keeping this one together. That's just MY opinion on it. But everyone can like what they want.
If someone here is a composer so to speak..... figuratively or literally. You wont even dare to compare such talent ( if there is one) between Gaga and this masterful piece...Geez....To even compare the hardest concerto made is just absolute ignorant.. Enough said !! This is not even a discussion or a debate to be made.
@voodoochild085 art is as hate too. art, as I said Is just emocion. all kind of emotion. It says everything without words. that's what I think. People who search for money does not have my concept of art. they look at it. and I think the "essence" have not existence. that is something we create in our mind.
I don't think many people actually like Bieber or Gaga. That's just all that's playing around them, so they listen to it. They're made to only hear music with big bucks, much glitter, and next to zero clothes and quality in songwriting or playing an instrument. Why you people have to talk Gaga and Bieber on a Rachmaninov masterpiece page, though, is something I don't get.
You just dont get it do you. PEOPLE CAN LIKE WHAT THEY WANT TO LIKE!!! They just have different ways of looking at the piece. Music is an art and art can not have a definite value. Different people percieve things in different ways. You percieve this version as inferior but others do not. Just grasp the fact that not all people think the ways you do.
So you are thinking that just because you dont like the song, neither can anyone else? Aren't you acting high and mighty. Just accept the fact that other people can make their own opinions for theirselves. And they dont need someone to tell them that they have deficiencies in esthetic evaluation. If they like it, then thats their poison. Nobody said you have to drink it.
@ClassicalMusicPL I'm glad to see that there are others who think like me! I tried listening for a few minutes, but I just can't stand the way Helfgott plays. He doesn't seem to put any thought into his interpretation.
I'm not a musician. But I would rather listen to this version than to Rachmaninoff. There's more variation in the way it's played here, and there is more humanity, so for me it's far more interesting. Not perfect? Life isn't perfect and yet life can be wonderful. So is this.
@voodoochild085 I can't believe you actually took the time to comment on this thread, and make any such comparison between Rachmaninov and Beiber/GAGA ... I can't believe I took the time to write this~ back to listening to this masterpiece and zoning out now!! Bye world. x
Its weird to say that this is the best version ever, when Rachmaninoff hated changes in tempos and variations over his compositions.... Of course Helfgott is a good pianist, but there are more people around the world far more talented, not with such a dramatic life though...
@saraha180 Lady Gaga was trained at Julliard. I wouldn't say that she isn't trained per se. Some are better composers than others. Julliard is one of the most selective music schools in the world. Comparison cannot be made between she and Rachmaninov.
@cookbenjamin i guess it's stupid even to reply to this... but i recommend you go check out how ppl generally play it... horowitz, rachmaninov himself, ashkenazy, andsnes, berezovsky....you'll get what i meant...
@voodoochild085 how can you put Gaga and Beiber in the same text as this 1 .. its unthinkable.. 1st there is no similarity between two of them, and those names are not for this songs comments.
@EdmontDantes2 i understand that you are good at languages, but saying on holly ground ,is not correct, it should read (on holy ground), otherwise it means an ivy plant, just being helpful.
@Lukecash12 ur right,,, i think.. in this performance he plays very well. but theres a vid on utube where it talks about it.. i think its the octagon one.haha there it is to the right
8 лет назад
Sublime concert! Un génie fait homme, il vit si intensément sa musique, ça transporte.....Bravo!
@maulcs Continuing on, I would say that his playing sounded very level in this recording, aside from the instances where he used rubato. Now it may not be very traditional in playing Rachmaninov for someone to use choppier phrasing, but this doesn't mean that it's not artistic. Take Sorabji as an example: pianists like John Ogdon play his works with choppy phrasing, but it is only in the pursuit of illustrating the bright and eclectic nature of Sorabji's musical mind.
Art is subjective... music is not always. Were it not for his mental problems, no one would know his name. Impressive to a novice, but to one who knows the instrument and the piece, it's pretty sloppy.
The first time I listend this piece was in the Shine Film... I felt in love... after this I listen the interpretation of Rachmaninov. Better. Stand Up Applauses. For Both
It started out well...and then it actually got terrible. He seems to have limited repertoire. Is it possible that people's assessment of his talent, his piano playing, is affected or influenced by the emotional empathy or sadness people feel for his painful, poignant and remarkable life story battling mental illness? Nobody can be 100% objective about any art. But there are standards and specifics that have to be met with all compositions, and then there is originality and creativity. Mr.Helfgott might have been a rising genius once, but he is not now. Let us also not forget what work it takes to master some of these compositions to achieve excellence. Those artists who do achieve such an excellence should not have to be struggling with not-so-good players because of the sympathy they draw to their conditions. It is so unfair to their hard work and talent, and so unfair to Mr.Helfgott's condition as well. Mr.Helfgott has achieved much with his condition. And that is achievement enough, and he does not have to become a product that has to be sold through his condition. I am sure his mature wife knows that.
My family and I have had the honour of seeing him playing at the Mundaring Weir Hotel up in the hills outside of Perth for many years. I gather he is no longer playing up there anymore , so dont know what his itenary is anymore. Brilliant pianist with a tragic upbringing.
apparently you don't appreciate the clarity, control of dynamics, rhythmic drive, and rich sonorities in David Helfgott's piano playing. The man is a human metronome for god's sake. But I guess you can keep your opinions if you want them...
@maulcs The first two sentences of my last comment weren't genuine, but I don't wish to be sarcastic or sardonic anymore, so just disregard my previous banter. Now, let me clear in that I didn't watch Shine before I had heard Helfgott play. If you would take a look at my channel, it would be apparent that I have a measure of education in music and don't just draw inspiration from movies.
@beautyandnobeast I didn't hear him go out of time in this performance, unless you consider rubato out of time. And you couldn't hear him talk in the performance either, unless I guess you were trying to hear it.
In order to fit in, I will proceed to criticise the artist in accordance with the general opinion in the world of classical music,even going further to criticise the pianoforte itself as a gross and clumsy piece of mere percussion. FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK!!!Art is subjective and one can interpret the work of others in any way one wishes and can indeed play the work of others in any way one wishes.The man is still very talented and I for one love the way he plays...Shame on you snobs
@maulcs Now, onto the issue of clarity. This recording isn't much of a display of Helfgott's clarity, because he's playing with an orchestra, and the quality of the recording isn't all that great. That is probably why you have trouble distinguishing all of the different notes and parts of the phrases.
