Sir András Schiff Piano Masterclass at the RCM: Martin James Bartlett 

"It's cheap. Make it expensive." Thanks for that sentence.

The student is so respectful and humble. He listens and takes every advice carefully. Great student taught by a great teacher.

Usually these things are let down by the student understanding the suggestions but being unable to change the mannerisms they have spent months grooving in to their playing. But this guy is phenomenally perceptive and adaptive - a teacher's dream! You can also sense the sheer joy he is feeling at being given such a priceless opportunity. And how lucky are we that these amazing sessions are freely available to us on RU-vid - thank you RCM!

An extraordinarily receptive student.

That kid is brilliant and so coachable... and I feel privileged to be able to watch this. Amazing.

52:30 The way he describes music and compares it to a river flowing so beautiful mesmerizing. "You're stopping the river it's against nature, like the water flows it's in different light, each modulation puts the water in a different light, but not in a different speed. Change the light and the shadow with the tone color"

A real lesson from a real teacher, not the usual "master classes" in which 10 students are taught in 5 minutes each and are just an opportunity for a name to make a show in front of a camera. Schiff is phenomenal also as a teacher: explanatory, clear, intelligent, tactful. A real man. Chapeu. Thanks Mr Schiff.

I love Schiff! his "very good" means stop.

This was 5/2016. I looked up Bartlett. He's 19 here. He has won about every piano award and is being asked to play concerts now. He has looks, personality, and communicates his love of the music. A great talent.

This is one of the best masterclasses for any instrument that I have ever seen.

Sir András Schiff and his elegance can evolve this student to a top solist.. The kid has a really balanced and mature touch.Amazing masterclass btw..

Lots of emotions, sentiment, but never sentimentality......daaaamn great!!

What a talented student! Thanks for the upload!

The guy at the piano is just fantastic: he is caught in the moment of broadening his musical horizon, not just a mere executor of orders. Would love to hear more of him!

This is one of the most eye-opening things I've ever watched.

So much insight in the harmony, the melody, the phrasing....seeing the disected motives, and details, and seeing the big picture, all elements integrated......so rich!!!! Brave guy, the student. Great profesor!!!! Thank you for this wonderful masterclass.

This Masterclass is the reason why I took piano lessons again - until this video I thought pfff I get everything by my own - I am also on the Impromtu #3 right now and come back regularly this content is sooooooooooo rich

WoW. I shall never hear op. 90 the same way again. Schiff is a genius.

what a beautiful level of attention to detail by Schiff! and amazing how fast the student absorbed the comments into his play!

This is wonderful and demonstrates what a civilized style of life can and probably should be about. Think of the millions of our fellow humans just as capable as you and me of appreciating the nuances of the great composers but mired in lives of poverty and hopelessness. We have a long way bot go.

At 44 minutes you can just see Bartlett glow when he gets to play with Schiff. Talented student and experienced teacher, just a wonder to watch. I'm not practicing this nor could I practice this with my current skill, and I've still learned a lot here. Finding the tones and just generally evaluating the music from more angles is the reason why a teacher is such an important part of learning the piano. Too bad I have no money for lessons now, I actually feel a bit stuck in my process.

This brought me so much joy to watch. Not only because of the fantastic and informative content, but more specifically because I have taken a couple of master classes myself and that experience made watching all the more visceral; the excitement, nerves, terror you feel as this great performer approaches to give you their critiques, and the gradual development of trust as you are met not by a performer but a teacher. Mr. Bartlett's nerves melt away and you can see his eagerness to take in every tidbit of knowledge Sir Schiff has to offer.

What a beautiful setting... The Master, The virtuoso student and a most beautiful crowd of appreciative people enjoying it all, really beautiful...

This really shows all the little details that go into a good interpretation/performance. The things that Schiff talks about are really just minor subtleties, but they have a huge effect. In a way, he's talking about adding 'imperfections': don't play every note the same way, vary the rhythm a bit, if a passage repeats, add a new color to it, etc. A computer would play this with absolute precision, just rattling off the notes, never making a mistake, never varying in tempo, always repeating the same notes in exactly the same style. But that's lifeless. It's these imperfections (which of course aren't really imperfections) that make the performance human, they add emotion, excitement, tenderness.

This was an absolute joy to watch.

i'm very happy when pianists know harmony... true

I rarely watch a masterclass on youtube and think "wow, that kid can really play Schubert" Conrats brother that's beautiful music making

One of the best Masterclass I have ever heard ! Both , teacher & student are extraordinary !

No doubt a brilliant and virtuous student. He will be one of the great pianists who will offer us magnificent future performances. Point aside, it must be one of the few times that András Schiff was very motivated, happy, relaxed and pleasantly surprised to see how his student immediately grasped, understood and assimilated each teaching and suggestion. Bravo!!

What a compliment at the end. Schiff is a great Master, one of the best. And the student seems to be very sympathetic. Thank you for the upload.

We are blessed with this lesson from Schiff. Master teacher.

play or used to play both these pieces (also the fourth impromptu of the set). So I felt a lot of Sir András' ideas somewhat personally (and Bartlett had a few good ones too in his playing, for sure!). Agree about the nature. Wind, water flowing/winding, fluttering leaves etc (in no.4)... and the breathing of course. The improvement in the young man's playing after Schiff's suggestions was quite stunning I thought! A really useful and eye-opening class! And Martin James Bartlett is one hell of a quick learner!! Some of his playing by the end had my skin tingling (in a good way!). Bravo!

Third time I've watched this. Most receptive student ever! Best and happiest masterclass ever!

Wow what a masterclass by an absolute master. Schiff produced huge improvement in such a short time with this talented young man. I've seen other masterclasses by other virtuoso masters who know how to produce the results but have no idea how to draw the performance out of the student.

Priceless! It's a privilege to be taught by Sir András Schiff. Thank you the Royal College of Music.

There were many genius composers. To me Schubert was greatest knowing all the obstacles he faced with no rich patrons support and not evening owning his own piano but composed more music than Beethoven and Mozart combined and dying at 31. If he has lived another 30 years, can’t imagine what he would’ve given to the world. He returned to the world he came from which is not this earth. Maestro Schiff is so enlightening.

This is an extraordinary class. We begin with Schubert. Little needs to be said by me of this towering genius. Then we have Andras Schiff, certainly one of the greatest musicians of this or any other time. Lastly, we have this very talented student who, as others have observed, both clearly understands the rare opportunity he has been given and is very, very talented and so can take advantage of Schiff's teaching.

Humans at their sublime best. After watching this it makes you wonder what great heights we are capable of achieving and what we, in reality, are squandering.

This Master Class by Abdras Schiff is a revelation in not only how to play two of the Opus 90 Impromptus but in how to approach them both musically and artistically. Thank you, Maestro, for sharing your genius with us!

Now I am playing these impromptus. This video/masterclass has helped me a lot. Thanks for post it! 👍👍👍

Well, this is the best piano lessons I've ever had. I always loved Schubert, but now have an even greater appreciation for his work than before. Thank you, sincerely!

Man, _I_ am learning from this, and I'm neither a pianist nor aspiring to be one. Cheers to MJB for being a lovely and eager-to-learn student, and to András Schiff for being such a lovely teacher and musician.

I feel so inept by just watching this. Yes it brings me much pleasure.

András Schiff is a great teacher. He has a deep understanding of the piece. Impressive how he is able to spontaneously intonate Mendessohns 4th sympony ... and the student is really talented!

Just a side note that Martin James Bartlett went on to perform the G flat No. 3 at this year's Van Cliburn competition (Preliminary Round).

Why my tears come out when Schiff sing...

An extraordinary student and an extraordinary teacher! It is always a pleasure and an inspiration to listen to Schiff and share his wealth of thoughts and experience.

Wonderful Masterclass, wonderful pianist. Thank you to Andras Schiff for the teaching.

That's absolutely priceless!! Pure gold!!

Such an inspiring & immersive masterclass. I got totally sucked in 👐🏻

The level of this is absolutely awesome. He complements the master so well. Really gets into the music wonderfully.

The one of the best master lesson I have ever seen.

Amazing post! very profitable for students. Such a treat! I love Martin's personality and playing, such aplomb! I'd be frozen having maestro Schiff sitting beside me. 44:25 that part moved me to tears, such intimate and profound communication

It is such a pleasure to watch and listen to Maestro Schiff incorporate both scholastic and artistic mastery of this repertoire and to be able to communicate both to this talented, sensitive student. Bravo.

This performance of Schubert's Impromptus really amazes me!!! The best interpretation I've ever heard. If I were able to play them, I would play them exactly that way. Astonishing!

"imagine this cantabile legato and then you make the piano do it, but actually it's not doing it" Best sentence of entire class

Top pianist and teacher!

I like how you can see his smile when he plays, just goes to show how much he enjoys the music!

What an education ! Especially on how to approach the G Flat major Impromptu. And I used to think that Schiff was just a great Bach player. That alone would have been enough - but what a great Schubert player he is !!

Sometimes it hits me Schubert only lived to be 31 and ruins my day..

26:50. Schubert links two disparate keys, Eb and B minor, in an ingenious way. By using accidentals, he turns Eb into its parallel minor (Eb minor) then adds the relative major chord (Gb), the "pivot chord" which is the enharmonic equivalent of F#. F# is the dominant chord (V) of B minor ( harmonic). Brilliant.

Brilliant how quickly he can create the sound of a muted horn when suggested by Schiff.

Very intriguing to see primarily a Bach-specialist, Schiff Ur, performing Schubert. One of my all-time favorite Schubertians is Alfred Brendel, who was once deemed a Chopin-specialist lol. Mr. Bartlett genuinely makes Music, which is quintessential for any musician. Thank you for this posting, RCM.

I love how the little girl in the front row raises her finger at 21:23 when she hears the difference in Bartlett's playing

I love how he's pedalling with Schiff at 41:38

Keep coming back to this one. Bartlett’s nondefensiveness really tempers Schiffs tendency to be somewhat harsh in his criticism. It makes this both entertaining to listen and very informational

Just close your eyes and listen. A great moment. What a talent !

That woman with the scarf, I can see her love of Classical music, it's beautiful to see, the whole thing is beautiful

What a wonderful performance - from both !

control of timing, direction, speed and power of every move; Yip Man of the piano; András Schiff. great to watch him teaching to a receptive student, a Masterclass of both. thanks for sharing this sheer pleasure!

the best masterclass... extremely awesome..

Wow... how lucky I am to be able to see this... truly a masterclass 🙏😭😭

Best student ever in the masterclass!

Snake Charming Business!!! hahahah....He made very comical comments. I like this thorough master class.

Sir Andra's Schiff, einer der großatigsten Pianisten unserer Zeit!

A talented intelligent young gentleman so receptive of such musical sensibility.

Absolutely extraordinary student

Imagine how much you could learn by having regular lessons with schiff

What a great lesson!

So much to learn... Ím just beginning to understand what is behind any piece. Sir András is wonderful, and this student is clearly receptive and the best. Thank you!

I've been practicing piano for life time but i still wonder what takes to play such beautifully without even looking at their hands!

Excellent teacher, excellent student! Bravo!

Magnific masterclass 🤩 and bravo to the student

Истинное Наслаждение быть свидетелем Рождения Музыки! Чудный, Тонкий, Одарённый юноша и Гениальный Мастер!!! И это слияние обоих с Шубертом на 45 минуте и далее 59.. И вообще... Сердце не выдерживает.. .Такое СОВЕРШЕНСТВО!!!!!!!!!

I really enjoy watching masterclasses where the player is this receptive

Schiff is, I think, a genius. I really felt for the student when Schiff asked about harmonies; knew the boy would be at a loss. Still, he is very responsive to these wonderful teaching methods.

This is so beautiful to watch

From the way he plays you can tell he has a great teacher and he’s talented, it’s not about virtuosity

Schiff is a national treasure. Period.

Schiff took a technician and added the musicality to his playing, fantastic!

A M A Z I N G, this video made my day

My opinion of the student changed radically in the course of the session. His initial performances I found rather run-of-the-mill, but he took to Schiff's coaching like a duck to water.

Have watched this performance several times, great talent! 38:41 'Sing to la', adorable!

Such a level of mastery here...

Excellent étudiant, génial professeur et sublime musique !

Oh my the G flat is beautiful

what a gifted young man

One of the best

Martin is a grand musician

After great technique, one needs to make the piano sing like a violin. It's percussive, so that is v hard to pull off. Nature consoled Schubert as much as his music and friendships. Schiff's wise perception is ideal here and thankfully beautifully used. What a pleasure to witness. We are all SO lucky.