I'd add to that Cyprien Katsaris playing Liszt's transcriptions for Beethoven's 6th Symphony. It's the same, absolutely incredible and he seems to have about six hands.
I got a chance to meet him right after a concert - I told him I thought his playing was out of this world, and he kept bowing his head and saying thank you and please when I asked to take a picture :) - and what struck me above all was how humble he was. It was a true experience, almost as amazing as hearing him play.
Tarantula33222 Maybe, but in my opinion this one is more accurate so I prefer it...if you like the fast cheerful version, you should check out Charlie Albright's interpretation - I like that one too
Tarantula33222 Well yes, she plays it faster, but I'm really sure that Volodos could do the same. I love this version, the bass is so intense, so powerful. Yuja Wang's version isnt that powerful... But still good tho
Cyanide123 ikr. I just learnt the octaves bit, and it’s honestly a piece of cake compared to the next part. The next part you literally need 2 pairs of eyes as your hands jump around so much
The gravity of his octaves is astounding, I've never heard ANYONE get those tones out of a piano, it was like a whole instrument and the polyphonic voices in his arrangement, mien gott, großartig und wunderbar!
No one plays the Turkish March better than Volodos--not Yuja Wang and not anyone else. He has the exact right amount of precision, speed and musicality that I would expect out of anyone who takes on a piece like this. I was also here for this performance in person as well.
I´m not really into comparison when it comes to music, but have you heard Fazil Say´s interpretation? i find it a bit more clear sounding. I don´t know if its the recording, but the low notes are ugly on this one.
I was fortunate to have been in the audience at this concert, at the tail end of the last century. If memory serves me, this was his final encore (our of seven or so -- I lost count).
i thought as much....but then the sheets are wrong and I wonder what else he did wrong, I would have thought that was the easiest part to work out if he did so well on the rest of the piece, for the life of me I dont know why volodos did not write out the arrangement, he could have made a fortune in sales.
@@debarpan I'm sure he wrote it down and memorized the notes, but he never released his composition to the public, there are only transcriptions of it online.
I just recently put up a pdf of this piece with fingering to make it less brutal for other pianists to learn. It's in the description of my performance of this piece if any of you are interested.
Dude you're a freaking lifesaver. Dove into this piece headfirst today and the right hand fingering in that first verse almost sent me to a mental hospital.
Fucking Arcadi Volodos 🔥🔥🔥🔥. The greatest piano player who's ever lived in my opinion. He's plays piano the way Barry sanders would run a football. With grace and tuning and articulation and wit and build up and tension and meticulousness and dynamic and range, and on the turn of a dime he's twisting your audible senses farther than anyone has ever taken a piano. This man is an underrated genius and he came out before he could have gone viral. I hope he can put out one monsterous well recorded video of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no.3 before he dies because his 2000 release is the pinnacle of classical music to me since its release and I'm dying for a video of him pulling off that feat of master craftsmanship 🙏
To all those who despise transcriptions: many great composers and performers have made transcriptions - it is quite normal practice. In fact, Liszt himself, who made many transcriptions of works by composers such as Verdi and Bellini, would have been proud of this wonderful transcription. If you don't like it, DON'T LISTEN!
I want to know if he plays octaves from bars 166 to 170 and not single notes in left hand, because the video lags right at that point I cant tell, the sheets say they are octaves only in right hand....I am sure he would have adopted left hand octaves as well, anyone?
I'm pretty sure he's playing octaves, the sound is so deep and would be impossible to make with single notes. Also, if you watch it per frames, you can see how he opens his hands in those bars.
My god what a performance, the power clarity, precise playing. He plays it better than anyone else. I’ve played it many times and it’s pure magic every time.
Liszt would say, "Very good! Bravo!" He would then take a seat at the piano and improvise in such a fashion on the same themes that our jaws would drop..
can anyone please explain wtf is going on @1:56 ? What exactly is he playing with his right hand to get that tension and dissonance? Even the run up and down just amazing.
One of the greatest virtuosi who has ever lived without a doubt. He equals or outshines what Busoni, Hofman, Cziffra, and Horowitz did in this realm and is certainly the equal of Stephen Hough, Evgeny Kissin, Denis Matuev, and Marc André Hamelin. More important, however, is that Volodos plays deceptively simple material like Schumann's Waldscenen with such tender understanding and subtlety he can break your heart. In that regard he and Stephen Hough are on an equal plane. Besides all that Volodos is a lovable Teddy Bear of a man -- a rare quality in coincert artists.
For those who make bad comments to this video, i feel sorry for you. I have been listening to his transcriptions hes made up until this final piece. The young man who posted this video even made a couple of videos of himself plating the piece. I dont think he is even 25 or 30 yet. Volodos looks near 40 or 50. I love the comment, how to debase a steinway in o e easy session. If you fast forward 2:20, i would like to see any critic chop that out like volodos does. Go!
He also has several videos of years earlier with horowitz, rachmaninoff, liszt, several other artists, and he is older than 18. This man has to be older than 30 in this video. Im sorry i do not hqve the moment to get that fact, but e has other videos that concur
He never bothers to release his transcriptions, if he wanted to be a millionaire, he could easily do so. He probably is one anyway, but the royalties alone would make him a multi millionaire, but he plays because he's passionate to an extreme. Money is meaningless (beyond a certain point), if you don't have a dying passion for what you're doing, you'll be miserable regardless.
The often mentioned life of volodos not starting a. Career in piano until 15 is a misnomer. He started at eight . Probably was excellent after a couple of years so in a way he was still a child prodigy. People try to make out if he can do it later age anyone can. This is untrue
I'm learning this peice and all I can say while learning and watching this peice is "this guy is craazyy, I mean look at the FACES he's making while he plays!"
Still nobody out there who plays this well. Some play too fast, some not fast enought, and worst of all - all of them, including Yuja, plays without a robust pulse throughout the piece, like Volodos does.
I wonder how he came up with this crazy arrangement. Maybe he accidentally just played one part in the right hand, while playing the next part simultaneously with the left - then just decided to roll with it, since it would be too easy otherwise :P
Contrary to popular belief, pieces are not always best played by their original composers. Of course, it is a subjective viewpoint to say so, but it's at least right to say that a composer's interpretation of his own piece is the most original.
Love the bass on this piano! One of the most powerful and clear bass strings I've ever heard on a piano... Of course, the performance was awesome : ) Thanks for the post.
