Alfred Cortot plays Chopin etudes op. 25

[@ValHeartNDHeartSuqquNoHeartPat]

I come back here every so often to get the goosebumps. This is what music is supposed to be. We are so lucky to have access to these recordings. thank you for uploading.

[@MusicLover-oe3ig]

My piano teacher used to speak highly of Cortot's interpretation of Chopin's music. Thank you so much for uploading these rare gems that I can take a glimpse of today!!

[@gorgiasromero4647]

I have never heard Chopin performed in this way, it is like to listen this music for the very first time. Sublime monsieur Cortot!

[@claudedeseez6928]

Exactement ce que je pense.

[@alainspiteri502]

Il y a Cortot ds les Etudes comme Cziffra dans Listz ou Gieseking ( Debussy ) inséparables de ces trois compositeurs , à chacun son choix selon ses goûts mais avoir aussi une version de l'un de ces trois pianistes liés à Chopin Listz et Debussy je pense en tant que vieux mélomane

[@giorgioscriabin8725]

Yes@! Cortot was a genius .. musician Before a pianist!! I love him !!!

[@sarahheger5612]

Cortot brings out the poetry in some of these beautiful etudes. In the more brilliant ones there is a nervous energy that is missing in other virtuosos who play the Etudes merely as dazzling feats of pianism. "When Cortot's hands are no more, Chopin will die a second time," wrote one critic. How right he was! But thanks to his recordings and thanks to You Tube, Cortot still lives!

[@MrFreegig]

he's the best !! Few, if any classical pianist around today could hope to match his magic when playing Chopin .

[@ValHeartNDHeartSuqquNoHeartPat]

Wow. The best interpretation of the etudes. Goosebumps… no 5….

[@victorbernard284]

Cortot, c'est la rigueur en habit d'improvisation! il donne le sentiment de jouer chaque fois d'une manière renouvelee mais quelle connaissance et culture musicale! cela permet cet art du rubato au service de la phrase ou de la période musicale, ce que l'on appelle aussi la ligne musicale.

[@dionysus4778]

One of Yunchan Lim's favorite pianists. Sublime.

[@timotot123]

Such a musical genius Cortot was as displayed in this recording. Each Etude is unlike I've ever heard them played before...and so so musical. The interpretations have actually made sense of a number of areas in certain Etudes where I haven't been able to get my head around the logic of intricacies such as phasing, voicing etc...but my questions have been answered after all these years after listening to this

[@alainspiteri502]

Tim O'donnell : very very difficult to understand your comment : where is Cortot with you ? in yours mémoires ? Why questions here ,why answers , do you understand Chopin that is the question when we read your comment, Cortot you played for you not for audience . Debussy wrote one auditor/1000 understand my music here it's same in front of Etudes Chopin , where is music comment ? nothing

[@sarahheger5612]

Chopin extended the frontiers of piano technique beyond all imagining, and wrote the etudes to help pianists master these unique difficulties. But they are also works of pure poetry and pure music, and no other pianist achieves this synthesis of etude and immortal, glorious music as Cortot does. Listen also to his playing of the Chopin Ballades. There is nothing else like it.

[@sarahheger5612]

And Cortot's exquisite "jeu perle" in some of these Etudes! Nary a trace of that in to-day's super-virtuosos.

[@larryhagemann5548]

Very old performance, yet the best there has been to date. He set the pace and others emulated. Wonderful performance.

[@thecozytrader00]

Sublime, genius, words fail me on how beatiful this No.1 is played...

[@meredith218461]

What sublime musicianship and imagination Cortot brought to these challenging masterpieces! For example never have I heard no.7 expressed with such heart - rending poetry, and has no.9 the so called Butterfly ever danced with such fleeting grace?!.

[@pierreparraud]

Immense ! Magistrale ! Probablement très proche de Chopin lui-même ! Il dévoile des lignes musicales qui semblent perdues avec d'autres grands virtuoses, c'est comme s'il avait su décoder les messages cryptés de Chopin, ou tisser avec ce dernier un lien intime, se jouant de la temporalité. Se faisant, Il dévoile un peu plus le génie de ce compositeur, capable de cacher la richesse d'une symphonie dans le jeu d'un seul instrument.

[@thecozytrader00]

Perfect voincing on No.6, left hand has so much felling on this etude, well played monsieur Cortot!!

[@polgomezriquelme7505]

Sublime! Cortot did know how to play Chopin.

[@inkstand]

Cortot fut l'élève dÉmile Descombes, élève de Chopin... :)

[@alainspiteri502]

@@inkstand j dont' know that , who Chopin played his " Études ' nobody can says but who play better , différent perhaps but not better Tkank's for your comment thank's

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Cortot. las copias. que venían con errores. las correjia y buen pianistá. 🇲🇽. 🎹 😂.

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Abril. 20---_---24. ❤❤

[@alessandropelizzoli6613]

L' Ultimissimo Erede di una certa linea interpretativa Chopiniana vera...attraverso Decombes, e Diemer, qui nello stupendo ( nel vero senso del termine, per una volta), Cortot rivive lo stile e lo spirito Chopiniano, fatto di intensità, ma con garbo, souplesse sonora infinita, e finalmente....con la riviviscenza del vero Jeu perle' ( come si ascolta alla fine del terzo meraviglioso Studio) e del granulato nell' articolazione a lunga campata ( il secondo Studio...). Gusto, clarte', passione autentica nei brani più vividi, come negli Studi conclusivi, ma anche il piacere della "bizarrerie" sonora, come nello straordinario Studio n 5. Documento importantissimo, di una Arte interpretativa ormai dimenticata e sempre più sottoposta ( tristemente) all' erosione indegna praticata con sbalorditiva e " naturalissima" violenza da tanti " virtuosi" odierni, che evidentemente pensano solo a muovere le mani senza collegarle a una vera base culturale....

[@therightmusic7639]

The best rendition of these beautiful and indispensable etudes I have heard. Bravo Maestro Cortot!!

[@barrygordon5323]

This man was unbeliable,Chopin is my favorite composer,the way corto plays the more dissonant etudes ,is the first time I ever heard them really played musically and correctly, tremendous,I got the same with freidheim playing some of the Liszt rhapsodies, players like this can make works that sound silly in other hands sound noble.

[@pascallaugier1386]

Voilà l'esprit de Frédéric Chopin l'esprit du grand maître Polaris prix de Frédéric Chopin quel bonheur quel perfection

[@karlakor]

Cortot brings out inner voices in these etudes that no one else seems to bother with. He was truly a great pianist, in spite of Rachmaninoff's opinion of him.

[@meredith218461]

What was Rachmaninovs opinion of him?.

[@karlakor]

According to Ruth Slenczynska's autobiography, her father informed Rachmaninoff that Ruth had been studying with Cortot, and Rachmaninoff responded, "Why did you pick Cortot? He always plays wrong notes". Horowitz once went to visit Rachmaninoff and found him laughing at a radio broadcast of Cortot playing the Chopin etudes. Rachmaninoff said to Horowitz, "The more difficult the etude, the more 'expressive' Cortot becomes", indicating that whenever Cortot ran into technical difficulty, he would slow down the tempo in the name of "expression".

[@meredith218461]

Thank you for answering my question. I admire both of these giants from the golden of pianists, but for very different reasons. The one connecting factor though was their innate ability to produce ravishing cantabile.

[@recoveringscot3587]

Nor did Cortot inflict an hour-long symphony on the listener.

[@MusicalMissCapri]

Well that's interesting. I'll never understand how these clashes happen. Something else, since you mentioned Rachmaninoff, I've searched KZbin, but cannot find any recordings of him playing the Chopin etudes. I might've thought he would've at least recorded the last three, they being so dramatic and dark. Especially 25.12. I'm working on that one, along with Rachmaninoff's Moment Musical 16.4, and would've thought Rachmaninoff could've really done something with Chopin's last etude.

[@nelsonferreira-aulasdearte]

The label Dal Segno has a “Masters of the Piano Roll series”. In there, you can hear Cortot playing even better and with perfect sound quality. It sounds like a 21st century recording, as it was taken from the original piano cilindres.

[@nadiadesimone9853]

tra i più grandi pianisti francesi...meraviglioso.

[@victorbernard284]

cortot, c'est la rigueur en habit d'improvisation!

[@fe12rrps]

Thank you for posting. It’s so informative to study the Cortot edition of Chopin’s etudes and then listen to his actual interpretations. I’ve been trained on the Paderewski editions. I have to say Cortot ‘s understanding through commentary, historical remarks, fingering, etc are so profound.

[@fabiodosreis528]

No words for such wonderful beauty.....

[@andrewkennaugh4294]

"Wonderful" and "Beauty" are words...

[@johnnauman347]

Magnificent! Nothing better!

[@onaocn]

Grande pianista e grande musicista.

[@MrGer2295]

Beautiful! Thanks for posting!

[@victorbernard284]

Cortot c'est d'abord la rigueur au service du compositeur qu'il interprète. mais cette rigueur se vête en habit d'improvisation, sans cesse renouvelee. Cortot vit chacune de ses interprétations comme si elles naissaient dans l'instant. mais quelle rigueur n'y a t il derrière tout cela...!

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

El más exelente pianianista, que he escuchado. Yucatan México. 🎶🎶🎶😃👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Originales de Cortot!!!!!!

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

20=====24. Un tesoro. ♥️

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Ozan 🎶🎶🎶👆👆👆🎶🎶🎶👆🎶🎶🎶👆

[@manuelbes]

Thank you for posting this !

[@Raherin]

That Ocean Etude was epic!!! What an ending

[@andrewkennaugh4294]

I don't think Chopin or Cortot would have appreciated the use of nicknames for any one of these gems.

[@Raherin]

@@andrewkennaugh4294It's a lot easier to use the nickname so people can easily figure out what I'm talking about. If I said "That Etude op 25 no. 12 was epic!" it wouldn't have the same ring to it and many would have to figured out what piece I'm talking about. Also, nicknames are rarely chosen by the person they are named after anyways. I was given nicknames through my life that I didn't chose. And for all we know maybe Chopin might have changed his mind, he was only 39 after all. Plenty of room to grow and change as a person. I really don't think it's a big deal.

[@ValHeartNDHeartSuqquNoHeartPat]

@@andrewkennaugh4294 why noy

[@ValHeartNDHeartSuqquNoHeartPat]

@@andrewkennaugh4294 why not

[@helenavondrakenstein4969]

I'm pretty certain that this is how the music sounded when Chopin was alive

[@alainspiteri502]

Contessa Viviana Vagschtaff Mitt-Brunt : listen some Rachmaninov by Rachmaninov there is answer to know how a composer plays ? perhaps

[@nihilistlemon1995]

@Marquis De Sade Oh no , a double beat cultist ...

[@brainsareus]

artistas extraordinarios .... pianista y compositor...

[@789armstrong]

A revelation! every note has meaning.

[@solo874]

Sublime!!! Unequaled!

[@guillemcastel6377]

Magistral

[@dwacheopus]

Etude no 9 brings me a smile

[@lorraineprieur]

il faut se souvenir que Cortot a été élève d'Émile Descombes, lui même élève de ... CHOPIN!

[@lorraineprieur]

quel témoignage de Chopin! touchant!!!!!!!

[@elijaguy]

marvellous!

[@giorgioscriabin8725]

Not pianist .. a wonderful musician

[@S.Lander]

Like Chopin said of his English lady students, "They all look at their hands, and play the wrong notes with much feeling."

[@ΔημήτριοςΒουρλιωτάκης]

Τι λεπτολόγος ερμηνεία!

[@mr.p5446]

Those 16 people ( to date ) who gave thumbs down must be wild donkeys !

[@alainspiteri502]

no they are no stupid they don't understand what music means nothing more .

[@joeltheivalnec3671]

Un sommet absolu de l’interprétation pianistique qui laisse les autres définitivement sur place. La légèreté dans la vélocité et l’art du chant ne sont pas reproductibles. Les autres pianistes sont dans cette œuvre des tâcherons et des éléphants à côté, même les plus grands, désespérant! Alors tant pis pour les accrocs, les archaïsmes dignes de Paderewski, et la prise de son! Là, on est au XIXème siècle...

[@johnrenehan7406]

Woh 🙏🙏🙏

[@mk_kim1217]

Wow❤

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Siempre ha estado en mi celular. 🇲🇽❤️ 😂

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Quien sera el de la foto?

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Solo fotos ?

[@berthill2305]

Rachmaninoff may have said some unkind things about Cortot;s playing. Perhaps it was just trash talk like todays boxers. Might not even have been serious

[@OzanFabienGuvener]

In fact, Rachmaninoff was praising Cortot's playing before 1930s. He started to criticize his technique when it decreased. I think Rachmaninoff is sincere; he was an extreme perfectionist and he thought Cortot was lazy. He did not like such laziness, and jokingly criticized the laziness of the violinist Kreisler. Russian tradition is more serious about technique and Rachmaninoff had a really obsessive character. But he may have been a little jealous of Cortot's big success. I like your boxers analogy though! Some fights are like that; Rosenthal and Horowitz, for example.

[@alicechong6870]

👍👍❤️🎶

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

20. ______24

[@MrFreegig]

actually, none do, and none can ......

[@ignisfatuus4912]

I there any greater Chopin player? Cortot never fails to convince me.

[@willemeret2398]

Josef Hoffman for some nocturnes or ballades, Dinu lipatti for waltz. As far as today I think Valentina lisitsa is quite good too!

[@ignisfatuus4912]

@@willemeret2398 I absolutely agree when it comes to Hofman and Lipatti. Ms Lisitsa is not one of my favourites.

[@willemeret2398]

Ignis Fatuus she takes risks that what like about her, so many players are so strict to score. I don’t know how people like Rubinstein for Chopin his cantabile is non existent for me at least. This taking risks is very much like a Hofmann, Cortot, or Rachmaninov style, an old style of not adhering to the score. Although no one has accomplished a mastery of rubato like Hofmann or a cantabile like Cortot.

[@alainspiteri502]

Les etudes ont été rééditées-remasterisees , la duplication en numérique n'a pas amélioré la sonorité du piano devenue un peu métallique , il faudrait que certains enregistrements célèbres soient réédités en 33 tours ( ce qui se fait actuellement par les grands maisons de Disques dans la variété . Cortot est un pianiste à part dans les Études : on compare tous les enregistrements disponibles des Études de Chopin en laissant toujours Cortot à part l'op25-2 et op25-12 ne peuvent en aucun cas être comparé dans une tribune de musicologues . A mon humble avis il faut avoir ds sa discitheque un pianiste de son choix pour les Etudes de Chopin mais aussi une version Alfred Cortot , idem pour Debussy ( Guedeking ) Listz ( Cziffra ) trois noms étroitement liés à ces trois compositeurs

[@Pogouldangeliwitz]

Avec Cziffra dans "Listz", "Guedeking" dans Debussy et "Goulède" dans "Back", on ne peut pas se tromper. Peut-être encore "Ritcher" dans "Proquofiève"...

[@rigel48]

@@Pogouldangeliwitz Et n'oubliez pas Brindelle dans Choubère :)

[@Pogouldangeliwitz]

@@rigel48 Pour Choubère, j'aime tout autant Quemphe !

[@rigel48]

@@Pogouldangeliwitz Oui, moi aussi. Radou Loupou le joue pas mal également.

[@Pogouldangeliwitz]

@@rigel48 D'après Spiteri, ça s'écrit "Radoux Loupoux" en Rouménien !

[@naplau344]

The way he brings out the main melodies sounds awkward to me, and the accompaniments are too soft.