What if Chopin sat on the jury of the Chopin Competition? 

I think Chopin would be astounded by the sound of the modern piano.

I think that one of the main things that Chopin would wonder about is why no pianist on stage knows how to improvise (or at least shows anything regarding that ability). Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, etc, were all amazing improvisers. In the "competitions" of his time - which typically took the form of piano duels - improvisation was very often the main deciding factor for who was viewed as the winner. Granted, improvisation was rapidly going out of style in the end of Chopin's life, so that by the 1880s it was no longer a part of the new concert-centred (as opposed to soiree-centered) piano tradition. But, there was for instance a piano duel between Mendelssohn and Liszt in the 1830s, and that duel was basically turned in Liszt's favor because of his ability to on the spot improvise a Liszt-version of a Mendelssohn piece. Knowing how to improvise was - in those times - your way of showing your depth of musical knowledge, as well as the magnitude of your musical inspiration. In other words, not knowing how to improvise would probably have been viewed as a non-starter, in terms of viewing a pianist as a great one. They would all have been viewed as sub-par. (Mozart, for instance, only wrote out improvisational details to amateurs, i.e. students - professional pianists were supposed to know how to improvise themselves; there is a highly interesting lecture by Robert Levin illustrating that). WIth all this said, I must add that I do know that some pianists who rank highly in these competitions also are amazing improvisers (e.g. Gabriela Montero who was placed 3rd in 1995, is absolutely incredible as an improviser). However, improvisation has unfortunately completely gone from the tradition as such, and some pianists who are viewed as being among the best in the world today, don't know anything regarding improvisation (they even say so themselves in interviews). And, to bring it again back to the topic of the video: improvisation is not at all a part of today's piano competitions. I think that loss of a whole discipline within piano playing is very sad, and I do believe that it indeed does mean that our depth of musical understanding as pianists has gone way down. I also do think that that change is the perhaps number one thing that would have suprised Chopin the most. (Nevertheless, with all those things said, I also think that he would have been blown away by the sheer technical ability that today's pianists have - now almost any conservatory student can play the most difficult Liszt pieces - at his time only Liszt, and possibly one or a few more, knew how to play them).

Is there anyone more interesting to listen to than Garrick Ohlsson? Could listen to him for hours what a guy honestly...

"Chopin is the greatest of them all, for with the piano alone he discovered everything." - Claude Debussy

Robert Schumann said - Chopin's work consists of cannons hidden in flowers. :)

I could listen to Garrick Ohlsson speak all day. What a generous and brilliant artist he is.

two points. he would be honored that so many people wanted to play, interpret, and compete over, his music. second, he was virtually retired from playing for large crowds by the time he was 21. besides the well known physical problems that took him from us at the age of 39, Chopin had immense social anxiety and could only enjoy judging such a competition with strict control over the number of people he would be around.

this channel rules and you kick ass as an interviewer

Chopin had courage when he said "No" to composing operas, oratorios and concertos. He was intelligent enough to recognize what he was good at and kept doing it, peer pressure be damned. I'm an accordionist and I totally respect him. Before I played accordion I played piano, cello and hammer dulcimer, not that I was any good at them, except dulcimer, which I excelled at before I took up accordion. Chopin was my foundation and all my musical successes, lame as they are, are owed to him. Thanks for a thought-provoking video. My favorite Chopin works start around Op. 42 and go to to Op. 65 (although the Tarantella op. 43 is not a great piece, fun as it is). I do acknowledge the innovation and genius of pieces such as Mazurkas op. 6, 7, 17 and 24. In fact, most of his pieces inspired by the folk dances of Poland are the works of a mature artist, regardless of when, during his relatively short life, they were composed.

One of the best interviews ever. Great job Ben!

As a classical musician, I hated competitions ever since I've known myself. It's never 100% fair, there is always a clear favorite and unless that's you, you have to do 200% to even be noticed. I think I'm on Bartok's side on this " competitions are for horses, not for men".

I personally think the first 2 rounds of the competition should be behind a screen and given a number so the judges aren't influenced by what they see.

11:00 Chopin wasn't just "a braniac like... Bach even", he was a Bach fanatic who played the Well-Tempered clavier all the time. But well spotted by Ohlsson!

Thank you for sharing that! I always love hearing Garrick Ohlsson’s thoughts about all things piano, and about Chopin in particular.

Awesome to be able to watch/listen to this video/interview...

Great idea to do this interview in light of the upcoming competition!

Ah the ending was so wholesome! Thank you for the interview!

Marvelous interview!

Great interview! Fantastic! Thank you!

Thank you so much for this! Enjoyed it very much indeed.

Great interview. So glad he's still playing.

I just discovered this channel: it's fabulous! Thank you for the interview

Great interview! He was right on when he talked about these contestants applying themselves to the music. It is worth a shout out!

A fantastic interview, and very insightful.

Amazing interview! Thank you for bringing one of my heroes into my home.

Sublime interview. Greetings from Poland!

Great interview style - straight to the point - no wasted words.

Wonderful interview! So full of interesting information and good will!

Fantastic interview with great, great pianist. Also questions were very good and nicely picked.

Awesome video! It is a pleasure to hear mr Garrick's opinions and about his past!

Very interesting interview with a beautiful ending.

Some​ very​ insightful​ and​ sincere​ comments​ made​ by​ the​ Maestro​ here.​ BIG​ THANKS​ for​ sharing​ this.​

A great profound and kind artist.Wonderful epiloge!

Very interesting interview. What a great pianist and person!

An insightful and very informative interview. Even his parenthetic asides were inspiring!!

A great interview and a great sentiment to end on. Thanks to both of you!

This channel is tremendous! Thank you ❤🎶

great interview! Enjoyed it a ton.

great answers and it's always astonishing to learn from someone with cultural interest and a thoughtful mindfulness. thanks for the interview (i surely would like more of the quality)!

What a great interview

Fantastic interview, thank you.

It's a shame you don't have more subscribers. This is an excellent channel.

The only competition I really like is the Van Cliburn. It allows pianists to show their full range playing different composers instead of just one. It also appears to foster a sense of community and mutual support among the contestants.

I liked this interview. Greetings from Warsaw.

Wonderful interview with a wonderful musician and obviously generous and sensitive soul.

I really find this interview fascinating.

Love this interview

Thank you for this! What a wonderful mind and heart! I've never encountered the Chopin Competition, though, of course, I knew about it through the music history of Martha Argerich. I'm listening to the various contestants and its making me want to really dig deep into the music of Chopin.

Thank you,maestro.

Nice to meet you!!

11:13 I agree with all of this. The more I study his music the more I'm amazed by it

amazing performance!

This is a great interview....

Great interview! I just learned about your channel and immediately subbed. I would love to hear more perspective from Garrick Ohlsson - and others for that matter - about the differences between the playing of today and Chopin's era. I get the feeling that much soulfulness in interpretation has been lost over time in favor of technical wizardry.

Always been a big Garrick Ohlsson fan! Heard him several times in Boston Symphony Hall

Really interesting, it is imperative to do what is right for you and we all, even if you have to dig a bit deeper! The music is the music and doesn't have to be endorsed by grandeur or anyone or anything. I prefer to play to a smaller audience.

Apropos of Chopin’s mastery and appreciation of improvisation, please check out the RU-vid channel called Cateen, featuring the immensely creative improvisations of Hayato Sumino, one of this year’s outstanding performers in the Chopin Competition.

Yeah Chopin has great depth!!

So smart, observant. and of course, articulate.

Imagine Chopin watching Lang Lang playing his compositions in Liszt’s manner of improvisation.

I love compositions by Chopin 🌸💞🕊

Wonderfully well spoken, great interview!

Garrick's closing statement ( not to sound like it's a court) was very well said

Very interesting!

It would be interesting to know Mr.Ohlsson's view on the 2021 Chopin Competition, and why he wasnt in the Jury at that one, he is a wonderful pianist and very interesting person, it is a pleasure to listen to him, many many thanks to "tonebase Piano" to give me a chance to meet a great interpreter revealing his thoughts....

I cannot get enough anecdotes about this genius Chopin..!

Hear Hear!! to Mr. Ohlsson’s last statement in this interview!!

Music is NOT a competition sport. Expression, interpretation. emotion are just not judgeable.

Every one of the contestants are ridiculously great pianists already. It's not that they can't improv, it's that they wont dare to. One that pleases one of the judge might offend the other. My teacher always told me its safer to error on the safe side. Play it with good tempo and not too much rubato. The process is self is often biased as well, just look at what happened to Seong-Jin Cho

I love Chopin and Ohlsson always gives wonderful descriptive interviews about him. I would counter one statement in that I believe Schumann also matched Chopin's ability to write beautifully melodic pieces. Schumann certainly had that "sweetness" in his compositions.

Garrick Ohlsson should be interviewed more often!

It's interesting to note that in the world of contemporary classical piano music, which includes concerts, recordings, recitals and competitions, we are listening to gifted virtuosos who are technicians and interpreters of the great composers of the past. But why do we not have contemporary classical players who can compose their own music rather than just interpret? Chopin,. Lizst , Brahms, Ravel, Stravinsky, on and on ... They were composers. They created music. Does any of the pianists in the International Chopin Competitions past and present write his or her own classical pieces?

What a nice man

I felt the same way about the Chopin competition.....but....Liu is a very good - perhaps great - pianist - in time. Liu has remarkable control I liked Jakub Kuszlik's playing - thought it was close to Chopin.

Here here!

I know these guys can play fast and play correct... but so what seriously? I still like people like Jorge Bolet and Claudio Arrau more - they don't play so fast but they give me poetry, beautiful phrasing and know how to make the piano sing.

It's nice to hear from a laureate during the second day of the 1st round happening right now.

This is a terrific interview. Kudos to Ben Laude. (Garrick Ohlsson also did okay.) 😊

I don't like beards either, on myself or others but when it's gray it is easier to tollerate, especially when one is looking at the pianists's hands and concentrating on the (this) gorgeous piano playing.

'surface sweetness...underlying power'... that's also how I feel about the operas of Vincenzo Bellini, and Chopin was a Bellin fan. The sweet, melancholy (and powerful) long long melodies of Bellini are quite evident in Chopin's music. Speaking of which, I find music fans either prefer instrumental or vocal, some even have snobbish attitude toward opera, but in reality a lot of great compositions were inspired by opera. I always judge an instrumentalist by how well they 'sing' on their instrument.

Looking at Garrett’s 2015 scoresheet, he gave the highest scores to Cho, Kate Liu and Hamelin. So I’m guessing he agrees the top 3 winners are: Bruce Liu, Alexander Gadjiev and Sorita…

I think Garrick Ohlsson really thought Kate Liu should have won the 2015 Chopin Competition based on his comments about her playing and his score cards. I thought she was the clear winner too. It's sad that the jury seems to be more interested in technical perfection than emotional depth. One small mistake shouldn't cost you the competition.

I hate the idea of piano competition altogether. How many pianists today are "shaving the beards" off their playing because the goal is pleasing the judges instead of doing what's exciting to themselves personally? We have so much access to so many pianists these days, I want more like Rachmaninoff and Horowitz and Hofmann and Scriabin!

Oooh. Yeess. Crushing

A meu ver, Hayato Sumino foi o melhor intérprete de Chopin e com amplas possibilidades para improvisar. Foi vítima de um pai rígido e do preconceito por ter se tornado um youtuber.

Still my favorite op 10 no1

Could anyone give me examples of why Chopin would dislike the modern style of playing? He said it in the beginning of the video but he didn't elaborate on it and I'm very curious...

Chopin would first have to become accustomed to modern pianos and modern performance styles.

I think one of the reasons for Chopin not performing as much on the big stage was probably also due to his ongoing TB issues. It would have been hard and maybe somewhat embarrassing for him if he had a coughing episode while performing. At a private gathering he could more easily have excused himself and then returned. Just food for thought.

Such alacrity, wisdom, humility and humour!

Lol I’m across the Mississippi from Davenport

Ahhh, I would really love to know which ones of the competitors he has an eye on :)

The problem with being judged by jury, on a musical grounds, is that the jury represents the “ceiling,” which is usually the bounds of what is currently known. This leaves no space for innovation. Even if a panel allows space in their scoring for “interpretation” or “emotion” this isn’t the same as allowing this to naturally occur. Thus things stagnate. Music isn’t about being the best in the eyes of others, it’s about being the best in the eyes of Mother Music.

Chopin was for his contemporaries what we could call an indie pop star.

does anyone know what the piece is at 7:35 ???

Whoa. The first clip of Ohlsson playing Op.10-1 is way sharp. It's more like key of C# - 25 cents 😄

"Have they seen photos of Brahms?" Hahahahaha.

In contrast, I reckon if there was an Alkan competition and a reincarnated Charles Valentin Alkan was a member of the jury he'd love it!

How dashing he looked in his youth with some dry humour to boot!

Who wood ever think that in farmers-ville Iowa that any pianist wood b playing Barber's very modern piano concerto??