Liberace introduces Chopsticks and then plays it - special features include his various expressions at his own playing. A must see for all Liberace fans.
Say what you want about Liberace, but you cannot deny that he was one hell of a showman. When you bought a ticket to his show, you got your money's worth.
Not only does he play without any sheet music in front of him but he's also remembering all the camera angles, which one to look into at the right time. Brilliant! The Master.
I will never forget the night he died, Larry King had several celebs on his show to reminisce about Liberace. They all agreed he was (supposedly) not a good piano player, but instead was a good showman. What b.s.! I have NEVER seen a pianist finer than him. He could play the classics but also other types of popular music, which a lot of symphony musicians can't do. He could play anything. Liberace was also a generous man with his friends and people who knew him have told me stories about his graciousness. He had a wonderful sense of humor and that was the cherry on top. He was a true original. I have never seen him use sheet music and yet he played some VERY complicated pieces with an orchestra. I also wonder how he came up with the arrangements? Obviously the other musicians needed sheet music, so he had to have somebody writing out those line scores. Yet you never hear about the unseen person(s) who helped him. He had to be a very busy fellow to be doing so many shows -- flying pianos to venues, etc., and coming up with his own versions of various songs. A truly great man!
I've heard this, too. But how does that explain why so many of us love to listen to his recordings-- that is, if we can't see him, what good does showmanship do? At the end of the day, they saw him as "lowbrow" because he was commercially successful and made sure that his audiences had one hell of a great time! Those things are always going to grate the nerves of critics and performers who take themselves too seriously.
@@RS-yd2bp "but, there are many children that can play them much better than he does," ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- actually Liberace was a child prodigy himself. So it's not unlikely that as a child he did play at least as good as the (prodigy) children you are referring to. And so it seems logical that as an educated and experienced adult player he was better than he himself as a child (or other child prodigies)
fryloc359...Loved your comment and the five replies to date. This reply is my lazy way of thanking all six of you for what you say about one of my favorite entertainers, Liberace. I add nothing of substance, except to say that given the chance, I'd have done Liberace. Thanks again. You guys made my day.
My first duo my music teacher and I played chopsticks and I jazzed it up much her dismay, however afterward she complimented me. She asked me however why I decided to do what I did, and I said I wanted to be like Liberace. Bless her she just grinned.
Has anyone else noticed that we have no pianist / entertainers like this today. But then again, we don't seem to have many of the entertainers like there was in the 50's to 70's. There are a few, but very rarely seen.
There are a couple on RU-vid try to imitate him...but if you will notice they don't have the hand flamboyance nor the leg movement.. The worst is the guy that took his spot in Hilton.. Barf
I agree , part of the problem is lack of music in the schools, another part is kids seam more interested in creating music on computers than learning to play an instrument (look at what has happened to guitar sales for instance), and then there is. Then general dumbing down of modern music( check out some of the videos on the “millennial whoop” and why they use it). That is my two cents.
Larry Jordan, I'm not here to fight or argue with you! Yes, Liberace was a great piano player, but my main piano player and showman is another piano player and show man. We just agree to disagree! ☮️
Steve & Les...You guys are so very right about Liberace. I never saw him live, but I came of age watching him on TV...always a fun show. I had the rampant hots for Elvis, of course, but I felt that way watching Liberace, too. He turned me on, made me happy. Making other people happy is what Liberace was all about.
Haha yep... Piano critics would say he didn't follow classical standards.... Hahaha, he was way way way beyond traditional standards...400 years from now pianist will try to play "Liberace"
Momtu was a piano player too.. She was old school like him.. Taught me so much about music and life and love! I miss my Momtu.. She believed in me and was rooting for me when my own parents were not. Even a trip to the store with Momtu was an adventure
Best.. Version.. Of Chopsticks... EEEEEEVER!!! I remember when he played this.. Had to listen to it thirty times. I 've been looking fro this vid for years.. OMG!!! Thank you so very much.. Looooove Our Lib.. such a master... and this old Dragon does not EVER.. call anyone master.. Well.. almost never HAH.. Our Liberace is an exception.. Namaste...
One more thing.. I was 6 years old.. This event caused me to totally fall head over heels in love with music.. and it was on PBS.. LOOOOVED IT!!! thanks so much
I grew up watching the great Liberace, through the accusations in London, which are but nothing now. Nothing changes this man was a phenominal entertainer!
All these years of occasionally watching great pianists on RU-vid, turns out the most impressive one was the one that was famous for it this whole time... don't think I ever watched him play before... wow!
Did anyone else notice the silhouette of Liberace's conductor Gordon Robinson in the background ? They are totally together at every beat ... I have also noticed that when he plays the Gershwin Medley in another video. Liberace's last note comes exactly with the downbeat of GR. Amazing. He surely picked the best musicians to perform with him. 🤗🎵
love his humorous wink of acknowledgment to the camera as he starts. Went to see his piano museum in Las Vegas, glad i can say I went. Wish I had the talent he discards. Good man before being a good musician and that is saying plenty.
Liberace lo más grande y talentoso panista entretenido que he escuchado en mi vida lástima que nos dejó pero sus interpretaciones nos seguirán acompañando
He does look good in this video. he's so cute especially when he smiles. If I didn't know he was gay, I could probaby have a crush on him. It was before the plastic surgey messed up his face, especailly his eyes.I don't know why he ever thought he needed the surgey because he looks so good in this video. Nobody and I mean nobody will ever play the piano as good as he does. Man, when his left hand crosses over the right he only palys with the tips of his fingers and they go so fast, amazing! He's such a genius!
+Sandra Fehr : I met him once when he was walking around Downtown Milwaukee, his and my home town, during one of his concert tours. Gracious and wonderfully warm man. He grabbed both my hands and I was bedazzled by his 1000 watt smile. I just stopped to say hi and he made me feel like I made his day. Hah. He made my year! Wonderful, gifted man. He truly loved people.
Awesome. What a master can do with the simplest of forms. My favorite part is the smile Liberace gives us at 3:18. A perfectionist showman, that smile seems to break through--very genuine. I like to remember him with that.
Yea Liberace's smile really makes me melt, too bad he was gay not that anything would ever happen between us, especially since he was half my age or more. I'm not that much older then Scott. He didn't have all his hair and private part and later on he didn't have all his face, especially his eyes when he had the surgey, but at least his smile was real.
@@lianelayman7796 If you are the same age as Scott, and he was 18, and Liberace is half your age, then Liberace would have been 9, and yes, he still had all his hair at that age.
Reminds you that in music even the “simplest” and most basic of tunes can bring forth such joy. Granted his interpretation is probably nowhere near simple (I’m not a pianist) so I can’t really gage the difficulty of this. But it brings forth so many emotions, the classical genre is such an underrated thing in today’s age. If performers now were to bring forth this kind of energy I believe that we would see it come back into the main light. Thank you Liberace for such amazing performances that you brought to us. You are a prime example that music is life. It’s clear that you live it and love it.
Criminalinvestigator Hans Holmér said Before his Death,when the trut about this is in the open,Sweden will Change Dramaticly....about the assassine Walther Kegö made-Police Chief.
I remember my grandmother getting piano rolls out and playing them on Sundays when I was a kid. If you chanced across a liberace roll, it always lit up the piano and as a kid, you'd think "no way could one person play that". I'm (not a pianist) sure that some of those rolls were made of two combined parts, but they were a lot like his single playing above here. To see the keys flying in front of you on a player piano, though, really illustrated just how active he was when playing. You couldn't anticipate where the next keys would be - they'd be down three octaves and then up in just a few beats, or back and forth ten times in five seconds.
Aw, he's just hamming for the camera, acting all serious, then he breaks into his signature smile as if to say "Just kidding!". He was the consummate performer -- he truly LOVED to entertain. Wish I could have seen him live.
1:06 "There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and caroling out in the snow. There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago..."
That's no big deal. I can play boogie woogie sixteen to the bar in my sleep. Of course I'm not a pro like Lee, so I only play it half as fast as he does.
He was not only a great pianist, he was just the cutest ham. I hadn’t watched him play because I didn’t think much of him because of his reputation. However, I watched him in one of his specials. It was a little over an hour long and I realized what a great pianist and showman he was. So now I’m hooked on Liberace. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🎵🎶🎼
His great contribution lies in the convergence of classical music and real life, in those seemingly casual adaptation among those likely to be fit to ignore emotions.
