He shows here a very intelligent use of the pedal. The technique is superb. The piece is very well known by pianists to be difficult and risky. I like very much his left hand playing with great articulation.
Kissin's performance here is slower than a lot of other well-known pianist's, yet I always marvel at his immense virtuosity and ability to convey the story in such an elaborate way. His interpretations are really unparalleled, my favorite interpretation by far!
What relief for the hands when the Erlkönig begins speaking, even accompanying this song, one's hands threaten to cramp up. ..... What an extraordinary performance of this work!
This is the best performance of the piece I have seen on youtube. Lisitsa's version has 10 times the likes but this is just incomparably better - on a whole other level better
Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind? Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind; Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm, Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm. Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht? - Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht? Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif? - Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif. - "Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir! Gar schöne Spiele spiel ich mit dir; Manch bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand, Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand." Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht, Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht? - Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind; In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind. - "Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn? Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön; Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn, Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein." Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort? - Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau: Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau. - "Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt; Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt." Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er mich an! Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan! - Dem Vater grausets, er reitet geschwind, Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind, Erreicht den Hof mit Mühe und Not; In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.
Who rides there so late through the night dark and drear? The father it is, with his infant so dear; He holdeth the boy tightly clasp'd in his arm, He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm. My son, wherefore seek'st thou thy face thus to hide? - Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side! Dost see not the Erl-King, with crown and with train? - My son, 'tis the mist rising over the plain. - "Oh, come, thou dear infant! oh come thou with me! For many a game I will play there with thee; On my strand, lovely flowers their blossoms unfold, My mother shall grace thee with garments of gold." - My father, my father, and dost thou not hear The words that the Erl-King now breathes in mine ear? - Be calm, dearest child, 'tis thy fancy deceives; 'Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves. - "Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go with me there? My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care; My daughters by night their glad festival keep, They'll dance thee, and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep." - My father, my father, and dost thou not see, How the Erl-King his daughters has brought here for me? - My darling, my darling, I see it aright, 'Tis the aged grey willows deceiving thy sight. - "I love thee, I'm charm'd by thy beauty, dear boy! And if thou'rt unwilling, then force I'll employ." - My father, my father, he seizes me fast, For sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last. - The father now gallops, with terror half wild, He grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child; He reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread, - The child in his arms finds he motionless, dead.
My old music teacher once told me that Liszt's many technically complex (most always more complex than the original) earned him a reputation as "The Great Embellisher."
@@raydemeyer6847 if he has good technique, then he has no discomfort :) piano playing is painless if you've got the right technique..now, i can't play this piece because my hands aren't big enough to span the repeated octaves :( :(
@@mistressmozart That's not true at all... Some techniques in piano require both strength and dexterity. I have come across multiple pieces which become VERY tiresome in the hand after a while, but through repeated practicing and strengthening they become painless. Kissin obviously doesn't feel any pain here considering he's played for decades, but to say it all comes down to technique is ridicilous.
I'm left handed and I used to start this piece with the left hand to get it going before I had to use it in the low register - STILL really hard, hehe!
@LordHettrick well i dunno. I mean i know its written as octaves, but thats insanely fast, and it sounds like the Schubert version with voice. In that one, you don't play it as an octave.
I love Evgeny Kissin's interpretation of this piece. Yes, more than Yuja Wang's although she plays with her body which I wished Kissin would do much more.
Kissin plays the left-hand ascending scale pattern better than anyone (his phrasing is absolutely correct), but the best all-time performance of this piece is Lazaar Berman.
have you ever played a complicated piece of music on a musical instrument? Everyone has their "rock" face, which is that stupid face you pull when you're trying to focus on one thing. Every see the faces people make when looking for something they can't see, like trying to find something under a couch? I totally look like I have an extra chromosome when I play guitar. Just happens.
0:51 - 1:03 Father, do you need see the Elfking? 1:43 - 1:54 My Father! My Father! Do you not see the elfking’s daughters there? 2:20 MY FATHER! MY FATHER! HE HAS GRABBED ME! THE ELFKING’S HURT ME!
No doubt a very difficult piece to play and master. But there are suppose to be three distinct voices: The father, the son, and the Elf king. Each one is to sound distinct in pitch and tempo to be able to identify each character. I only heard a single pitch and tempo for all three, and it had the distinct sound of the child. Any one who has heard the original version can tell which narrator is speaking, but they were not distinct on the piano by Kissin, which is the difficult aspect of this work. How to keep each character voice distinct and unique when playing. The Galloping horse play was very well done. The technique was great.
@chobeethaninov you may or may not be right, but you two are comparing professional recording quality (this one) with an amateur camcorder (Yuja's). Please people, if you feel the need to compare at all (which I don't see why), at least make it a fair comparison, such as between two studio recordings or two live professional recordings, or even two live amateur camcorders. Trust me, these things make a HUGE subconscious difference in your emotional preference.
Having listened to quite a few interpretations of this masterpiece in its solo piano transcription I have one remark that will probably get me in trouble. I think of course that Liszt's work is amazing bar one thing. I cannot hear the threat in the Elfking's part. It is written too softly and someone who is not aware of the poem might paint a completely different picture from the one Goetthe and Schubert intended to. I cannot believe that I "criticize" dear Franz, nevertheless I don't get the same emotion compared to its original edition.
Constantine Eleftheriadis I fully respect your opinion.. but I thought & learned that Erlkonig's part was intended to sound sweet and seducing, both on Schubert's original song and Liszt's transcription.
Yuja Wang plays only faster, I wouldn´t ever say "better", Evgeny Kissin understand all about this story, every character plays wonderfull following the perfect moment from the story, etc, Wang plays only fast and virtuoso but she seems not to understand in every moment what happen in this piece.
He did nnot really improve it. Why is everyone saying that? He just wrote a version for solo piano. The singing voice is just added to the piano voice. No doubt, executed perfectly.
I recommend checking out Yuja Wang's with this. Let me know which you prefer. There's a few distinct differences between the two. IMHO, the "musicality" (wld be too laborious for me to try to line ate what I meant by the term here; my sincere apology for it) aspect of Kissin's playing of the earlier portion of the piece seems a teeny shade better. But for the "drama" aspect of the piece, Wang's seems to enunciate the storyline behind the piece, with the pathos of the various characters in the story better than Kissin's, especially in the latter portion of the 4+ minutes of Erkonig.
Fine performance by the young Kissin. He somewhat lacks power and drama in few moments, but overall this is great musicianship and beautiful sense for singing.
@KevinBeethoven I could care less about how well I play the piano, in fact I just made that comment to see how offended people would get, and so far I think i was pretty successful.
