Bartok - Three Etudes op. 18 (Zoltan Kocsis)

[@cloud-dv1wb]

I cant believe nobody has done this yet 0:09 - I 2:19 - II 5:21 - III

[@cubycube9924]

Ayyy thx

[@jakerittlinger440]

Them there double negatives just ain't no good.

[@VarynDEE33t]

Man this is some DIVERSE music

[@LazarSoljaga]

Ah i see your a man of culture as well.

[@VarynDEE33t]

Lazar Soljaga I forgot the source of this reference. I knew at the time of writing this but now I forgot xD

[@LazarSoljaga]

The dude from Become the Knight made a fuss about Despasito not being a diverse song because it was just in spanish but still used typical pop song cords and drums. So he made a list of songs that sound nothing like typical pop songs. We both saw that video and here we are.

[@VarynDEE33t]

Lazar Soljaga Ah yes, thank you for jogging my memory.

[@darriancampbell9928]

Mike Become the knight

[@mobilephil244]

Fascinating. All the classic Bartok Idioms and harmonic devices are there. Only a genius could make something so discordant and complex so fascinating, engaging and simply listenable.

They are almost horrifyingly captivating that makes me listen to again and again. Bartok is a pure genius.

[@Chopin-Waltz-No.10-In-BMinor]

"The desire of repeated sounds".

[@k.lippins6454]

0:00 no1 2:19 no2 5:18 no.3

[@justelynnnjoelle]

Bless your soul.

[@AsrielKujo]

5:18 no.3 Please fix

Bartok is Absolutely a Genius. This set of Etude not only makes you to practice your technique, but also educates you the music notation/engraving, solfege. PLUS, this is enjoyable to listen to. Perfect Etude.

[@NF30]

Not even joking, this is honestly one of my top three favorite videos on KZbin ever.

[@niinaranta3014]

same

[@NF30]

Update: It is no longer top 3 but it is still very good. Also I fixed a 4 year old typo

[@dylanl.3366]

@@NF30 was not expecting to see a 39 minute old reply here lol

[@NF30]

@@dylanl.3366 Hahaha I was not expecting to make that reply but then I saw the video and saw that I had written a comment 4 years ago which I didn't even remember making and I'm bored and don't want to do homework so I figured I would fix it and stuff. Also since then I learned the first movement of Out of Doors and it is one of my favorite pieces I have ever played!

[@miss_honk]

@@NF30 what are your three favorites now.

[@vt2637]

Bartok is a genius. How is he able to produce such sounds? It just blows me away. That second etude is really something, the mysteriousness and eeriness just gets to me every time. But it should be impossible for me to play.

[@Ar1osssa]

Skill question

[@paulwhetstone0473]

Zoltan Kocsis is my favorite Bartók interpreter.

[@Rikarwb]

I just got educated, thx Mike.

[@krypto360]

Rika lmao this is diverse? This doesn't even have a rhythm fucking boring

[@ryanbollinger1759]

FallingLeaf It's diverse because it's stupidly complex with the thyme signatures, chords, and progressions

[@krypto360]

it's all over the place this is garbage.

[@op-th1yx]

@@krypto360 the composer was known for a quite funny philosophy. He insisted that piano was a percussion instrument, and that’s what his music revolves around. You can literally hear the rhythmic play in the first etude. His music is very fun listening to

[@natm1402]

i literally can't stop listening to these its addictive

[@PawelVVysocki]

It took me quite a while to understand modern music. The more you listen, the more your brain gets used to listening for different kinds of harmony.

[@m.a.g.3920]

The final Boss Cecil Taylor😂😂😂

[@MrStrav81]

Kocsis is so phenomenal. This is one example of his phenomenal technique and polish. Another good one is his recording of the original version of the Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2. Unreal!

[@TimothySweeney]

once again Bartok leaves me speechless, a wonderful performance.

[@TimothySweeney]

I believe Robert Fripp said "music can be a considerable friend at times" and so I have rediscovered Erik Satie's Gymnopedes and Gnossiennes, I may attempt # 3 on the mandocello. Which led me to Bartok's Three Etudes, not for the nervous to be sure. Then there's this Bill Frisell "Dysfarmer", distinctly American Music. and Hendrix of course. What are you listening to ?

[@Zantorc]

Timothy Sweeney Conlon Nancarrow. Study no.21,Wyschnegradsky - Twenty-four Preludes in Quarter-tones; No. 3, Anything by Kaikhosru Sorabji, any piano work by Sciarrino, anything by Bach, Barkarole by Thomas Blomenkamp, Jessye Norman - Beim Schlafengehen by R Strauss, Electra by R Strauss, Cecilia Bartoli Vivaldi- Gelido in ogni vena, Berezovsky plays Liszt's Transcendental etudes, Robert Johnson- Crossroad blues, and quite a lot of Hendrix. (You can find most of this on KZbin).

[@sebastientraglia1351]

Those final chords of the first etude, oh my god pure genius

[@CziffraTheThird]

Sebastien Traglia Speaking of final chords...the ones to the end of the third...unbelievable timbres Bartók created...so hair raising, pure ecstasy.

[@sevenlayer8780]

Only Bartok could combine this type of craftsmanship, rhythmic drive, and sonorous beauty. Look and listen closely; for music that is so frenzied, there are tonal relationships everywhere (etude #1 continually exploits and teases the F#-B, dominant-tonic relationship).

[@MatthewMingLi]

Just heard about the news....RIP Mr Koscsis :(

[@slateflash]

the second etude is so beautifully sinister

[@theoboegoddess]

This is freaking brilliant

[@dragonsreingsupreme1]

20 seconds in and I already love this.

[@katachi1]

very interesting for me. I am glad the score is displayed. The interpretation of the Mr Kocsis is simply breathtaking.

[@joshpfeiffer2645]

23 people are scared s*itless by the pure brutality of these amazing etudes. Nobody plays Bartok better that Kocsis.

[@jasonkim5503]

Thank you for sharing this awesome music and video with its wondrously difficult score. It’s beguiling visually as well as aurally, and there is a certain amount of synergy that this video creates. I have watched this over a dozen times, over the past several years, even shared this (link) on my facebook a few times, and it never gets old. I also kept looking up iTunes for this very fantastic recording by Zoltan Kocsis, but it never seems available. So here I am, revisiting this, for the Nth time. Thank you again.

[@trumpetmatt33]

Stunning. Absolutely stunning.

[@juanborjas6416]

Great and complex music, Bela was really a master at his craft.

[@jdbrown371]

I'm in total awe that someone could play this. Zoltan Kocsis must be one epic pianist, right up there with Hamelin in the raw technique to deal with the seemingly impossible department. My finger tips hurt just thinking about it.

[@nostradamusguy]

I. Allegro molto [00:09] II. Andante sostenuto [02:20] III. Rubato - Tempo giusto [05:20]

[@TheOSouLO]

the difficulty of the piano is extreme here...how skilled one pianist can perform this..

[@amundarainjavier]

Szervusz. These are three beautiful pieces that we can enjoy thanks to the mastery of such a great interpreter of Béla Bartók's music like Mr. Kocsis. Bravo!

[@That_Revenant_Guy]

This is just incredible; I tried to follow the notes and my eyes are now permanently rolling. I 'Favourited' this within the first 5 seconds

[@yagiz885]

Truly a genius!

[@stravinskyfan]

It would be cool if you make a synthesia of this. Would be crazy to visualize this masterpiece on synthesia.

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

Indeed

[@philiprostek]

Mr. Kocsis gets it all - thanks for sharing this!

[@ruchirrawat8804]

Bartok is the kinda guy to use time signature 47/20

[@siksill]

Two Hungarian genius. Bartók and Kocsis...

[@nicholas72611]

Don't forget Liszt!

[@kyletomlinson5365]

nicholas72611 ha its you again

[@nicholas72611]

Kyle Tomlinson Where did you last see me?

[@nicholas72611]

Kyle Tomlinson Ohhhhh are you the guy who said Prokofiev was shit?

[@kyletomlinson5365]

nah I was on that reply chain thing though

[@DaRQsiDe]

That second etude... Probably listened like 10 times now... Wow!

[@Jarnobh]

Very expressive, beautiful performance.

[@cmdess]

Shockingly good. Thanks for putting this up!!

[@mikolajochocki2810]

So difficult yet beautiful

[@gilles9646]

an amazing performance. what a great pianist he is!

[@PianoDreams]

Good lord this looks so ridiculously hard!

[@mstrongny]

Bartok was a genius . First he goes out into the countryside and discovers that the peasant's music is more harmonically advanced than "Western classical music, " then he adapts that into his style creating something wonderful and unique. By the way I love dissonance. Check out Jancek also please.

[@elijahvalongo9528]

honestly as a pianist I love challenge like when I heard the liszt sonata I was like I could so work hard on this and feel good after. the first glance I took at these etudes repelled me in such aggravating fascination. but its a piece i know ill never bother with because my im just gonna have a nervous breakdown trying

[@sll10]

Fantastic playing of some fiendishly difficult works! BRAVO KOCSIS! Zsenialis!

[@Catman_321]

For some reason i've been taking a liking to atonal pieces and i found this. This is very interesting to listen to and impressive bartok was able to write this. Atonal pieces are hard to make well.

[@Soytu19]

Pffff the scales of the third movement are so freaking amazing

[@npelletier89]

These etudes... every once in a while I'm like "ahhh, this is so cool let's give it shot"... and hour later I'm like "good god Ligeti is easier". Besides the amount of chromaticism, difficult passagework, the rhythm is so damn complex... the third etude goddamn.

[@moev51]

Haha, sorry-- Legeti is pure torment. I'll take the Bartok.

[@jethroolivier868]

Scriabin Op. 65 also screaming

[@AlbertoHernandez-zm9ul]

lol lol same here!!

[@ChrisBreemer]

I'm starting to think these are even more modern, radical and impossibly difficult (both technically and intellectually) than Ligeti's fabled etudes. I don't think they could be played better than this. Kocsis was to Bartok what Larrocha was to Albeniz and Granados. Untouchable, in a class all of their own. I wonder if Kocsis would have given us the benchmark recording of the Ligeti etudes had he been granted more time.

[@김진우-i2e]

just amazing piece

[@FS4U-CH]

Bartok is always interesting, the playing leaves you breathless...

[@Rinhos]

oh my God, I'm not a pianist but this sound terribly difficult! and Kocsis is a phenomenon, as always!

[@Kalen1457]

I love these etudes the second in particular is so beautiful in its own perverted way.

[@mwsc04]

These are some really challenging studies, musically and technically biting and neurotic. I've always found them more fascinating than much of Bartok's other piano music. He wrote these in a transitional period of his career (along with The Miraculous Mandarin), and understood the limited appeal these would have to the general public. The older Paul Jacobs recording still resonates in my ear strongly, though the performance here is staggeringly good.

[@giorgiociomei5030]

Sono difficilissimi quasi ineseguibili! 😲🙂👍

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

The first etude is amazing! These are extremely hard but still help enhance technique.

[@stvp68]

I can’t even imagine how you read all those arpeggios in mvmt 2 with all those accidentals

[@nicolassimion6967]

amazing music and great performance !

[@NF30]

See, THIS is real music!

[@DodderingOldMan]

Sometimes I think, with a lot of practice, I could be a decent pianist. Then I look at stuff like this and get discouraged. Then I try and fail to play Baa Baa Black Sheep and I want to kill myself. Oh well.

[@ElliMsp]

arjens0 I really can't tell if you are being serious or wether this was just sarcasm?

[@lbteacher7903]

arjens0 Absolutely right! And Zoltan Kocsis definitely had them all!! I particularly love his Rachmaninoff Sonata No.2, Liszt Piano Concerto No.2, all his Debussy masterpieces , and many more from other composers all the way from early Baroque period to the late Romantic period. I would love to listen to all the Hungarian folk music that he played if I could find it.

[@nsmtuzh]

I read, Ligeti tried to write works like Bartók. Now, I understand, why they write in the book, where I read it. :) This is fantastic, thanks for upload!

[@joernbroeker]

Around 4:00 it sounds like Chopin's Etude Op.10 Nr.3 revsited; excellent performance of these almost unplayable etudes.

[@NanaKwame96]

I thought I was the only one.

[@Achtelnote]

yes, i thought too :).

[@ethanrosenthal8268]

You're right

[@skryabyn]

thanks this is great! immediately added to my favorites

[@MichaelAMAoun]

You have good taste!

[@GBWagner1]

Genial! 100%! Cant, imagine better version of these pieces.

[@MisterMolloy]

Did anyone hear a bit of Gaspard de la Nuit in this? Chords from Scarbo...

[@NanaKwame96]

Oh yeah, totally. The ending of the First Etude.. And a little bit from even the second etude.

[@banjalien]

Yes I thought same thing...

[@vnwa7390]

That's what I thought before I saw this comment

[@organboi]

Truly remarkable. Such masterful music. Bartok is so great. Played to perfection here. Thanks for sharing.

[@sneddypie]

the third one is just like bartok saying "these classical musicians want time signatures? *ill give them time signatures*"

[@Kalen1457]

I always think of something diabolical when I listen to these, like gargoyles or demons dancing or something, especially the first and third. The second makes me think of something like stepping on broken glass or something...its very disturbing. The third is the true "devil's staircase" I think.

[@rht100]

Incredible performance of these impossible works.

[@KamilKosecki]

Thanks! great etudes and performance

[@the_seer_0421]

Finally hearing something great from Hungary. I'm saying that as a Hungarian myself.

[@abraxasstone]

You’ve never heard Liszt, then! A great Hungarian composer, not the most famous but definitely one of the best.

[@the_seer_0421]

@@abraxasstone nah, I think I have heard of him but it was a long time ago. I need to check him out.

[@abraxasstone]

Alrighty c:

[@scriabinismydog2439]

@@abraxasstone I think Liszt is the most famous hungarian composer actually... Hell he's one of the most famous composers in all Europe

[@carlosmontilla1804]

Become the knight sent me here

[@richivinsky]

Oh my gosh, this was the first time I ever heard this. Absolutely disgusting and AWESOME and sick, and ridiculous. This is probably going into my list of favorite pieces. This is TOO cool!!

[@francoiscouture2011]

best version!

[@행복하게-d1c]

화이팅!!! 할 수 있다!!

[@yaroslavborisov2478]

This is phenomenal

[@cordeiropascoal]

Kocsis is perfect, but I miss the swing that Argerich gives to Bartók. Thank you for sharing!

[@strav12]

Thanks John - I'll look these up - as I say, the composition itself is so dramatic that it carries the player along as long as they just get the notes right - but more anon - it sounds like you know others with interesting performances....

[@MrStrav81]

Thanks for posting. Bartok and Kocsis are extraordinary. I'm sorry your video comments have been attacked by trolls. If people aren't interested in these pieces, why don't they just go somewhere else? Nobody is forcing them at gunpoint to listen. I'm interested in these pieces from a pianist's perspective.

[@marimbaninja4304]

01:57 is unbelievable

[@AlexanderThePilgrim]

The first etude is threathening af 😂

[@RichardRoland]

feel the power and emotion.

[@PawelVVysocki]

what a genius!!

[@jeanmarie0733]

Remarquable interprétation de ces études de Bela Bartok vraiment très difficiles. Très peu de pianistes actuels ont cette vélocité et éclat sonore, ce piqué qui détache toutes les notes sans user trop de la pédale. On est vraiment sous le charme.

[@hansschonfelder735]

Incredible!

[@teppopuinut]

Best nourishment for the mind!

[@inkognito8400]

One of the hardest etude sets I know.

[@tarikeld11]

1:30 you can even hear a bit of Schumann's Toccata :D

[@fisherroastedpeanut]

Also, the first etude is like La Campanella on steroids

[@antoniolosciale]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 #BestCommentEver

[@vnwa7390]

La Campanella on steroids is Liszt's "La Clochette" fantasy, which includes the La Campanella theme and runs for about 15 minutes, presenting various extreme difficulties; far more difficult than any of these etudes, if majorly considered.

[@vnwa7390]

@@paeffill9428 Any of them are arguably harder than La Clochette, depending on the pianist; likewise, La Clochette is arguably harder than any of them depending on the pianist/keyboardist.

[@vnwa7390]

@@paeffill9428 I really don't get it. La Clochette and these etudes can generally be considered to be in the same realm of difficulty and it's different for every individual (it's more difficult than any of the etudes for me personally for example); using a Sorabji-Haydn outlandish analogy here doesn't make any sense. By the way, I shouldn't call you a nut because you seem rather musically knowledgeable and I've seen you around youtube on the obscure and relatively popular music videos.

[@micheldvorsky]

Kocsis is amazing.

[@shermanngjazz]

I want to learn this in college!!!!!

[@sziklaszilard8413]

Good luck!

[@Sathrandur]

You've got a fantastic channel. Very interesting music. And one can really appreciate the technical difficulties when there is a score to follow. Like with Rachmaninov, you would not want to have small hands attempting this sort of music.

[@jiaxuli1013]

The third one has insane difficult! I'm not sure whether I can even read the score properly

[@Lillars]

Fabuleux !

[@JordansAnalysis]

This is fucking AWESOME!!!

[@moniquemoreau]

this looks like so much fun

[@releasethefrogs]

regardless of what anyone says, there's a melody there, and beautiful music. bartok heard it, and wrote it, so it's there. he didn't waste his energy writing music he didn't like. try and find it. its not in any major scale, thats for sure

[@sevenlayer8780]

Exactly. And honesty, the lyricism is not as submerged as one would think; it's readily apparent in these pieces.

[@theartofstew]

i would love to see this live!

[@mokumegane2825]

Really need to remember that this is not your typical 'Classical' music. This is from a much later period when composers were experimenting with many different ideas in music, from alternative scales such as whole tone scales, to harmony and dissonance, and even the idea of sonic textures and more. The early 20th century composers are often much harder for the general public to appreciate, in my opinion, due to the complexity of the music in general.

[@sinfuldrama2703]

Oh wow really diverse music

[@calebhu6383]

0:10

[@zhijun_liu5435]

Like the cords man!!!!

[@NikkElektrik]

Question from somebody just getting into chromatic/atonal music. Why are double sharps and flats used in the score since there's no key? Wouldn't their enharmonic equivalents make it a little easier to read? I know it wouldn't make much of a difference for a piece like this, just wondering if there's something important there, really

[@NikkElektrik]

Thank you for the detailed answer! I will definitely look into the scales Bartok favored, since getting a similar "sound" in my own music is something I'd like to experiment with.

[@Soytu19]

+Nikos Tsakas Jr. Actually that's the reason why there are double sharps and flats in everymusic, not only in Bartok. The answer should be simply that Bartok is not truly atonal. Bartok was a very melodic musician for the XX century. And here there's melody too.

[@Eorzat]

Not sure if you still need, or want, an answer, but it simply comes down to the chords used. For instance, if he wanted to use a C fully diminished seventh chord, the notes would be - C, E-Flat, G-Flat, B-double-flat. Now, in jazz, they don't use double flats or double sharps and, instead, will write the enharmonic equivalent being A in the example I gave. The advantage is that it's easier to read, but slightly harder to analyze.

[@jedwards1211]

Dave Smith it doesn't seem like he had any kind of system that could be characterized by anything as simple as diminished chords. I think it was more a mix of conceptual experimentation fleshed out by brilliant leaps of intuition.