Kate Liu - Ballade in F minor Op. 52 (second stage) 

10:16 you can see her artery pulsating at around 160 bpm. Piano playing is cardio.. At least in a stressful situation like that.

It’s 2024 and I’m still listening to this piece from her over and over. The best Chopin Ballade 4 ever.

That girl plays with her heart. In my opinion, this interpretation is the best ever recorded, and 8 years later, many people, including me, argue that she deserved the 1st prize and Gold medal.

英語でうまく書けないので日本語で失礼します。 Kateさんのピアノはものすごく聞き入ってしまいます。音の一粒一粒が綺麗で、しかも繊細。全ての響きが気持ちよく心地いい。 特にこのバラード４番は、私が聞きたいKateさんの良さが凄く出ていて、もう本当に、弾いてくれてありがとうございますという気持ちで満たされます。 Kateさんのピアノ、大好きです！

It's so sad that until now she's not yet having any other album aside from the 2015 competition album. I just hope that recording labels would look after her to record other works. I feel like she's so underrated.

Слушаю часто эту Балладу с конкурса 2015 г в исполнение Kate Liu. Для меня это лучшее исполнение в плане эмоционального накала и музыкальной подачи. Она живет этой музыкой. Прекрасная пианистка!

This is the best version of Ballade n4 that I have ever listen to, so clean and magical, I just think that she is so underrated. Magnificent!

Beautiful performance in every way. Perfect for my taste. I love her clarity and cleanness of playing plus her judicious use of the pedal. Really good. That coda-finale is a bear. I'd love to play it like that. Maybe someday. :)

🔶🔸 Kate Liu Plays Chopin 🔸🔶 Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52 *(1842)* 00:00 Andante con moto 00:35 _m 7 a tempo_ 03:30 _m 58_ 04:35 _m 85 dolce_ 05:27 _m 99 a tempo_ 06:33 _m 129_ 07:16 _m 134 a tempo_ 09:08 _m 169 a tempo_ 10:23 _m 203_ 10:47 _m 211 [Coda]_ Kate Liu, piano✨ *17th International Chopin Competition* *Stage 2: 5 pm-8:30 pm Session* *October 10, 2015*

Wow. That moment at 3:16 when she lets that single note just hang there like there is not a care in the world is pure magic. She has an amazing ability to interpret Chopin.

진짜 이 곡 해석중 최고다.. 맨날 보러옴 너무 멋있어요

There isn't anyone else in the world who expresses Chopin in your rich and soulful way. I can only mention a few pianists in history who have given me the feeling you do. I wish you all the best Kate.

Just amazing how she plays without looking at the keys, sometimes with her eyes closed.

Never rushed, relaxed, well thought out but imaginative and consistent playing. Never too much or too little. Can't think of any pianist who captures all of these qualities like this girl does. Unlike so many who make you feel like they are rushing to end, she seems like she never wants the music to end!

Happy birthday Kate !! may 23 (2024). We love you so much!!. we want Kate to play a lot of Chopin music from now on. I'm looking forward to it .

This is simply the best interpretation I have ever heard of this Ballade. She let's Chopin "breathe". Sometimes silence is the best musicianship.

This is quite unbelievable... Kate Liu is, on the evidence of this performance and most of what is on youtube - in particular, Chopin (listen to the Sonata no 3), but also Beethoven (op. 110 is stunning), Prokofiev (Sonata no.8) and Ravel (Gaspard, recorded back in 2010 when she was a teenager) - one of the greatest pianists ever recorded. Her playing is uniquely poetic, original and comprehensive in conception and execution, the sheer beauty of her touch expresses blazing intensity and infinitely subtle emotion in a way that reminds me of Maria Callas.... We are so fortunate and privileged to be able to listen to such a profound artist. She is unknown in the UK, and has never played here, as far as I can tell. Like I said, unbelievable!

Best ballade 4 I’ve heard

9:09-10:15 - on fire. Following 5 chords: left the planet. She went somewhere else. Amazing.

the best pianist walking on the face of the earth

She won my heart. A perfect moment. ✨

Still the most beautiful performance of this masterpiece I’ve ever heard. 😎🎹

That Kate Liu does not have a recording contract with DG or some other major label is a disgrace and indicative of how poorly the major labels judge talent. . How could it possibly be that we not be hearing more from this amazing talent?

She's so amazing👏 I could listen to her play forever🥺

i've had this beautiful, physically demanding Ballade going on a loop performed by everyone on RU-vid. Without knowing who was playing this morning, my system began with this one. I was immediately aware this was different, and drawn in by very pure, expressive, lyrical voices and tonal clarity. I recognized greatness. This is a challenging piece to master technically, as well as lyricize, yet this pianist was gliding. Walking over to the screen, I saw Kate Liu's graceful hands, and arms. As a pianist who plays the other three Ballades, but not yet the fourth, I applaud you Kate for your insight, as well as your technical competence, strength and endurance. You have it in the palms of your hands, and convey it's glorious poetry. Absolutely brilliant work. Bravo, Kate Liu.

I could no longer contain my tears at 6:32; Kate plays this passage so magically that it feels like arriving back home at last after a lengthy and tiresome expedition in a faraway land. Chopin's music is absolutely incredible and Kate successfully brings it to life in the most extraordinary manner.

9:07 this section makes me want to learn and master this ballade. Simply beautiful

I can't stop hear you playing. Kate, you are unbeatable!

This performance cannot be summed up in the trivial words of just winning the competition. Pure perfection.

내가 가장 좋아하는 피아니스트 7:22부터 은은하게 나오는 이 메이저한 음색과 케이트리우의 표정이 이 곡의 하이라이트이다. 정말 대단하다.

Words cannot describe how much I love Kates performance of this Ballade… I’m so glad that we have her in this Era besides Yunchan Lim

9:34 too often is this voicing lost in most recordings, loves that she brings it out

Chopin called this a ballade for a reason. It should be played the way she plays it.

just beautiful! that concert hall is FILLED with her emotions. its so facinating to see what music can actually do to people

best interpretation so far in my opinion

this is so rare, so unpretentious, so pure interpretation of the soul within Ballade 4 ... no make ups, just how Chopin would wish for, in my opinion.

Probably the best Chopin Ballade 4 at this competition. Definitely one of the best Chopin Ballade 4 on RU-vid. Bravo!!

Performing like that in the Second round of Chopin Competition is not easy. Never. But she performed this in such a phenomenal and terrific way. Big Big brava for her👍

Clearly, and I mean *clearly* one of the best renditions of the Fourth Ballade I've ever heard - live or studio. Bravissima Mrs. Liu!

짐머만은 음향과 기교가 너무 완전해서 압도된다면 이건 들으면 왠지 벅차고 눈물이 나옴.. 짐머만은 숨을 멈추고 듣게 되는데 리우는 숨을 깊게 내쉬면서 듣게 됨

I swear I’ve listened to this performance close to 100 times in less than a year already.

I am crying

Absolutely breath-takingly and marvelously mind-numbingly amazing performance. Great legato, touching nostalgia, technical perfection, Chopenistic aura and idomatic brilliance. And her palms dancing and her face laced with admiration... Bless you Kate !!!

I love the way how Kate plays the beginning of this piece. It feels like sunshine is falling over me on a clear spring day. Thank you Kate.

Diese verzögerten, mit gewöhnlichen Werten gar nicht messbaren Pausen sind einzigartig. Das spielt niemand sonst so. Mir gefällt´s. Und ich habe schon viele Pianisten und Pianistinnen gehört. Massenpopularität ist bedeutungslos. Wir können Kate hier hören und es ist schön! Glaubt mir: es gibt und gab nur wenige, sehr wenige, die so spielen können.

This is the greatest version i've heard. Bravo, Kate!

She is a master of the lower range of keys in piano. Under her virtuoso decoration, a lot of the boring lower key transition phrases are full of content, miraculous!

Yeah, that Szopen ballade is surely one of the greatest masterpiece of classical music❤

They say Chopin’s heart is buried somewhere in a Warsaw church. They are wrong. It’s alive and beating. The girl’s got it.

She just topped Zimerman for me. Never thought that would happen.

Like Yunchan Lim she is not weighed down by virtuosity - the music seems to speak clearly and you can imagine that this is what the composer wanted.

Happy birthday Kate !!! may 23 (2023). We love you so much. We will want Kate to play a lot of Chopin music from now on .

Chopin is such a master, he creates these beautiful, relaxing and peaceful melodies that Kate amazingly brings to life, the song just flows through her like honey, amazing.

They said that Debussy's interpretation of this piece for his Paris Conservatoire finals sounded as if it were played without hammers. Liu approaches that level of delicacy here.

You know this is a gem when every time you listen to it, it feels just the same as it did the first time you listened to it. Wow.

Kate is really something special. She makes the piano sing.

I can’t believe this was four years ago; it feels like yesterday!

This girl is immensely talented. Exquisite playing.

In my opinion she should have won the first prize. At first sight she looks like an innocent girl, but when she starts playing the piano, she breaks thousands of walls. Her passion and emotion for the music are so pure and divine. I admire her. And on her face you can see how humble and good person is she, and very simple. Big bravo.

This performance is the best. Kate Liu is the world no1 !!!

It is kate's version that I'm willing to spare no effort to play this masterpiece despite how hard it is

i just need to say it again as i've just finished learning this ballade and have listened to every interpretation i can possibly get my ears on -- THIS ballade interpretation by kate liu is sublime. so magical, utter perfection. talent at its absolute finest. if the ballade form is all about dramatic, emotional narrative, then kate liu is that one of a kind storyteller who guides you along the way so that you understand the story the best, without pushing the narrative thread too hard, without dragging it down too sentimentally -- she floats you along the story, she brings you to a different dimension, in the way we've so often been read a bedtime story at the perfect pace. bravo.

What a joy that we can hear Kate's great art -- her unconditional dedication to music and the rich life of her soul. She is a gift to humankind.

Kate, you deserve greater fame. Your music touches me in the deepest sense and soothes my soul...you are a true artist

I love her. This ballade is just amazing

One of the best versions of the coda. Not rushed, powerful, clean and beautiful. Bravo!

Somehow, feel redeemed, healed, relieved. Thank you Kate, this rendition is so so powerful! Thank you for sharing with the world your gifts! Keep going! Love from Singapore!

Certainly a divinely inspired performance if ever there was one. I've heard EVERYONE play this piece and play it extraordinarily well, but I have to agree that NO ONE has achieved a greater depth of poetic understanding, and projection of subtle lyrical intensity than this young woman. I was not nearly as impressed with her reading of the E-Minor concerto, but that's like trying to compare apples with oranges. Kate has a great lyrical gift, which to me is far more important than flashy bravura.

Kate Liu is unbelievable, her playing seems to come right from heaven. I have heard that Einstein said when he had listened to Rubinstein for the first time: "Now I know that there is a God in heaven..." I had to think on these words when I had listened to Kate Liu some times.

Best ever. My favorite artist.

I really don't know who else can play this better, Kate has everything for this Ballade IMHO

Just INCREDIBLY good. We'll never hear it played any better of that I'm sure. This girl has EVERYTHING.

this is my favourite interpretation hands down, could and have listened to this for hours

Whenever i see Kate Liu perform i feel the urge to run to my piano and practice to play in a relaxed manner.

It's like Chopin pulled his heart and plugged it right in the piano. Such passion and genius is expressed through music and that's why Chopin's soul is eternal.

Kate playing is pure inspiration to me. She is one with the music. Thank you Ms. Liu, I look forward to your future performances!

I'm learning this piece and I swear I just keep coming back to Kate's version. So good

You know this girl is playing it the way its supposed to be played because at the same time it looks totally impossible that a human should be able to do this, yet it simultaneously looks like she is hardly even trying, it's just happening automatically, and it sounds perfect. True virtuoso interpreting the work of the greatest master of the piano ever.

i love how she is singing in 5:10

Normally I'm not even a huge fan of this piece, however, your interpretation of it makes it one of my favorite piano pieces.

I became interested in the world of piano and Chopin because of Kate's beautiful interpretations!

She plays so delicately! What I really love from her is that she's so calm but passionate. She doesn't ambitiously show off as if she really wanted to be the first champion. She enjoys what she performs. That's rarely amazing.

Przepiękna ta Ballada, dla mnie najlepsza w całym Konkursie:) The most beautiful Ballade in this Competition, for me the best.

Kate is the person whom my life cannot lack in .

I have heard many interpretations of this Ballade. None touched me like this one. Superb

By far the best performer of this chopin competition

I love this performance. Her tone in the lyrical passages is like a bell (and those five chords before the coda!). The moments where the music comes to a pause, either silence or a held note, are full of tension. The very busy virtuoso passages are clear as day. Great stuff.

9:15 와 여기부터 코다까지 진ㅁ짜 말도안되게 잘치네ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

This is the best Chopin Ballade No.4 that I've ever heard!!

Everything is superbly conceived and controlled in this interpretation. Who is this exceptional young woman?, the wider public should'nt be denied such amazing talent.

I can not find a word to express an admiration to her fantastic performance, but just want to give a standing ovation.

Not only does she posses a beautiful sound, but there is an intelligent grasp of compositional structure and design. This young lady is ready for the international stage.

시간이 지나서 다시 들어보니, kate liu 연주가 제 마음을 움직이는 연주네요. 8:28

One of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced like oh my God who the heck is she really No book no nothing just from her heart and probably since she was like 2 years old practicing list but what the absolute f*** that was perfection her hands are like art

Beautiful and very best bars of Chopin’s 4th ballads!!!!! Genius pianist.....

The best interpretation of the coda I have heard... she plays it so smoothly.

彼女が、50才60才70才になったときの、バラードを聴いてみたいな✨たぶん、いま64才の私は生きてはいないけど…芸術ってそうですよね☘️

She is the absolute opposite of a superstar. She just make music at the highest level. I really like her playing.

Best interpretation there is

This is the best rendition of the ballade i’ve heard... I can’t stop going back to it! I wish you greater success Kate!