Krystian Zimerman - Chopin - Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 Reaction! 

a year late but to answer some of your questions: - a lot goes into reading the score first and learning the dynamics (how loud/soft certain notes and passages are) - once you're good enough to attempt a piece like this, memorization isn't too difficult. it's like memorizing a speech for a class or something. takes a lot of time and work, but not impossible for literally anyone - yes, feet and hand movement are essential, but what you don't see is shoulder and arm movement that make the hand movements possible. also, being able to rest your forearm/hand briefly (like talking milliseconds) in between certain notes is really important to have enough stamina to play the whole piece. you literally can't tense up or play a certain way or you'll poop out 30 seconds in. - this is certainly impressive on it's own to someone not trained, but A LOT of the impressive stuff in here isn't really seen by someone who doesn't understand the score - there's really difficult "finger" work where your hand gets bunched up, or stretched out, or playing really fast double thirds, or similar (try alternating between your thumb/middle finger, the index/ring finger, then middle/pinky finger as pairs back and forth extremely fast - shit hurts and is uncomfortable, but people like zimerman make it seem like it's normal) i hope i'm not sounding a certain way - i just found your channel and i absolutely love your reaction videos and think you're great. i just used to be a classical pianist and know what goes into it, unfortunately i'm partially paralyzed now so i can only watch :) much love please keep doing content like this!

11:00 haha in that recording session he did all the 4 ballades and all fantaisies and the Schubert impromptu's

one of the best performances out there of one of the most technically and emotionally challenging pieces of Chopin's (and the whole piano) repertoire.

Agree, we’re watching a wizard crafting something beautiful out of thin air. Great admirer of Zimmerman here, thanks for reacting to one of his plays.

Rubinstein and Zimerman have one thing in common when they play Chopin: They both let the piano "sing"! That tone is so exceptionel! 😍

He has a good couple of hours of music memorised straight, ready to roll off at any time. He’d definitely take over the Xmas party. It must be awesome!

When I play I generally see nothing, my mind goes totally blank besides focusing on the music. Especially during hard parts. Muscle memory is extremely important to piano, practicing hard parts with eyes closed is important. By the time I really know a piece, playing it feels sort of automatic. There are just brief moments where I remind myself of certain things. Please keep doing classical reactions! You have a good ear.

When I play, I mostly think about the dynamics(that's what you called volume), and the tempo. And trying to match my feeling with my phrasing. Because how you feel when you play that time, will reflect on how the music will sound. And sometimes I'd think about what Chopin was thinking when he wrote his music. When you've already practiced bazillion times, you'll never think about the notes. Your hands and fingers already know where they have to go.

you should react to the rest of them!! the 2nd and 3rd are just as beautiful

All ballades are really beautiful. Especially no.1. 👍👍

Wielkość Chopina jest niezmierzona i poza wszelkimi schematami ❤️

self taught pianist here, i am not on the level where i can sit and read ANY piece of music and play it instantly (i mess up a lot on reading), however i don't memorize the notes on the sheet music page, i memorize movements my hands have to make and i do it in a sequence. When it comes to learning a long piece, it's kinda similar how people can easily remember the whole song lyric when they need to sing it through but cannot start from the middle of the second verse for example, at least that's how it works for me. In terms of time, I learn a page of classical music for like 2 weeks to a month (or more if it's complex), after memorizing the movements i just have to sit and play a lot and repeat these movements. One day, I just wake up and i can just play the thing i've been learning for some time now with ease of touch and dynamics that are desired. I still can mess it up, but i tend to play everything i know every day (i still know below 10 classical pieces) When we're talking playing songs and singing to it, i don't really need to memorize it, i just know the chords because i know the song and can play most of the things i know, only things like jazz or classical give me very much trouble

im amazed by your reception to the music. i strongly suggest looking at more of Chopin's music like the other 3 of his ballades, his scherzi, nocturnes, etudes, etc.

for memorizing pieces,, think of it as memorizing a speech but instead of outputting the words through your mouth, your outputting the notes by pressing on keys. with reciting a speech comes volume and emotion which you have control over, and same goes with playing piano. for me, when i play,, i hear and interpret the piece in my head and the different melodies, and i try my best to execute whatever i hear on the piano. since the piano gives you instant feedback on what you just played via sound, it becomes easy to adjust and control your playing based on what you want ((: aside from just thinking about the sounds i want to make, i also think emotionally, maybe a picture or memory that i would like to draw inspiration or emotion from while playing

Never say, you couldn‘t do it. 99 percent is practise, 1 percent is what you may call talent or feeling. The challenging part is to stay motivated enough to want to keep practising continously.

Ayyyy! Keep up the classical pieces lol

Show-pan is how you say Chopin, whenever I perform I mostly think of the correct notes and the dynamics the pedal with your feet is muscle memory from playing it so much😂 you should react to evengey kissing he is very crazy when it comes to piano 😂

the same way you might be able to act out and quote a whole scene from a movie you like, you can also remember a lot of notes once your hands get more familiar with the instrument because to some degree the music speaks to you and you understand how it goes from A to B to C to Z

Lo increíble de la sensibilidad del piano es que de un momento tranquilo y suave te sorprende con fuertes golpes sonoros

Bass player/pianist. Muscle memory is how you don't look at the keys/frets. When I'm playing I picture the next shape my hand(s) have to make. Chopins 4th ballade is a really difficult piece so your average Joe would likely need to spend weeks to learn it and, really, the rest of your life perfecting it!

Tellement mélodieux

One of the secrets of memorizing and building muscle memory is practicing very slowly when learning a new piece especially at difficult passages. And very important to keep it musical and not practice only technically, feel the music and play from your heart.

Letsagooo so amazing you do this piece. Btw it is written in f minor

Just found your channel and suscribing (BTW Chopin is pronounced 'Show-pan) 🌱🌻🌱🇦🇺

Chopin is a great composer. This was a great performance. 👍👍👏👏no idea how a player learn this.

After practising the piece for weeks you develop a good muscle memory. I personally still look at my hands but it is more because that’s how I feel comfortable playing. For technical parts that use wide range on the piano, yes sometimes you have to memorize one hand because your focus is going to be on the other. For me, I try not to think when I play. I just want to listen to what I’m making and enjoy it. The more I think, the less confident I am. When you reach a certain point, you can just enjoy the sound and harmonies and I sometimes forget that I am in a concert. As for your other question, yes we do learn multiple piece at the same time. It depends on what concert or audition you will be playing at. Learning and mastering a price varies from people but it sure takes weeks and many hour of practices!

Please react to Chopin's Ballade no. 3

And I recommend you to react to Rachmaninoff Musical Moment no 4. Perform by Lugansky or Pisarenko. It's one of the piano pieces that requires a superhuman speed to play it.

2:20 when I play I mostly see my imagination beautiful landscapes and that goes in the music. And btw the notes idk it just goes automatically. Like you practice a piece with sheet like 10 times and than you will never need the sheet again its just in you idk how to say. Its weird but is just there you dont have to think!!!

I play the flute and most of the time you practice a lot on a piece that you can do it without the written music in front of you. That can be a week that can be months.. And as soon as you are there you can put all your emotions in a piece of music..

Yup it’s all Muscle Memory. It takes ages to get to the point you can pick up the pieces. At the start you can’t even put three notes together in the right order.

2:20 well, when you practice long enough, you just need to let your muscle memory kick in and express all you want with the notes

When playing a piece for some time, you rely heavily on muscle memory but also you just know each part of the piece, I don't look up the whole time, but I know the parts where I don't really need to look, looking at the piano is just to confirm where you are sometimes. When I play, I don't really think about much except the music. The foot pedal is purely muscle memory, I don't even think about it.

You should react to Rousseau. You'll see what pianists usually see when playing lol.

It’s not like that difficult, I can describe it as if you are walking somewhere you know the way to, so you are just passing trough and putting your feet where you have to and you know exactly where that is to take you to your destination.

Show Paan...hehehehe

Please react to ballades 2 and 3 sometime. They’re really good 😊