Chopin - Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise Brillante op. 22 [Denis Zhdanov]

[@RolandHuettmann]

Chopin at it's best 😊 We need it live though.

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

It was performed live, but only in Poland unfortunately🤷‍♂️

[@jowr2000]

One of my favorite Chopin pieces. Beautifully played. 👏👏👏👏

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Thank you very much!

[@nehath123]

Impeccable playing!

[@micaelabonetti949]

Utterly beautiful to observe your hands and arms: everything seems to be so easy! What a joy!

[@micaelabonetti949]

Grazie, Denis, che grazia e passionalità nel tuo suonare! 🙏

[@mitchnew3037]

So nice 👍🏻

[@cesardiezv]

Excellent. I especially had a lot of fun listening to the polonaise part.

[@PreludeOfAbyss]

Qué sonido tan increíblemente exquisito y lleno de color tienes, Maestro. Tu pasión, tu color y tu técnica me hacen querer seguir aprendiendo a tocar el piano; lamentablemente estoy estancado... Te lo agradezco mucho, Maestro. Me sirven mucho tus recomendaciones y me encantan tus interpretaciones. Ojalá algún día poder igualar al menos en una pequeña medida la perfección que eres capaz de hacer. Te admiro mucho. Muchas gracias.

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Thanks for listening! Keep it up, and I hope you’ll find a way to resolve your obstacles!

[@andreaa9209]

Sweet, amazing and perfect! ❤

[@Soheyl-xo1hb]

Thank you for tutorial ❤

[@TheChungruby]

Literally, Danis expands my inner world of Chopin, and my heart is melting into absolute gooey delight! The list of piano tutorials with Danis is getting longer as my inner world of piano is expanding. I almost feel like I'm experiencing a big bang in my inner universe with Chopin played by Danis. Goodness, me! 😇😃😁

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Thank you, I am truly happy and privileged to be a part of your Universe!

[@new1cyclone]

Absolutely BEAUTIFULLLLL....

[@markus7894]

Bravo, very fine playing! Especially very well finished and transparent and not over-thunderous in the fff parts like we hear sometimes ;-)!

[@MsJwolfe1]

Breathtaking! Beautiful! Bravo!

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Thank you very much!

[@danielnunes511]

Such a masterpiece played so beautifully… you are indeed one of the best inspirations for me out there! Are Brahms exercises useful for assisting an intermediate piano player developing / sharpening the necessary skills to eventually play this piece in its entirety in the mid/long term? Kind regards from Brazil :)

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Yes, but you’d need to play much more different pieces and etudes in addition to Brahms exercises to get to a level where you’d be able to play this piece in its entirety.

[@AS_Piano]

One of my favorite pieces! Very excited to listen to this! Excellent Work. * Edit My Favorite Parts 1:34 - Gorgeous Voicing 3:59 - Beautiful Dynamics in the opening 4:23 - The clarity in the melody is so refreshing, and the rubato doesn't inhibit the festive nature of the piece. 4:44 - I love how you play the runs in tempo and not too fast, it is a dance after all 5:23 - So crisply played, wonderful! 7:23 - Gorgeous, especially the grace notes, which are tastefully done! 8:43 - What dynamics control. Seamless transition from forte to piano. 11:14 - My favorite part, and I loved how you were always in control and never rushed. Overall a very majestic performance!

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Thank you, for listening, I’m very happy to get such a detailed feedback!

[@homamellersh8446]

Denis that sheet music scares me, and I can’t even follow your hands .you play it so wonderfully ,thank you.

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Thank you too!

[@lalahohoable]

Bravo Denis 👏 👏 👏 👏

[@club214official]

Bravissimo 🎉👏

[@adlfm]

Amazing! You handle the small-note passages in a way than even looks deceptively easy 😂

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Took me a while to get there 😅

[@Chopin-Etudes-Cosplay]

Interesting choice of tempo for the Andante spianato - faster than Chopin’s metronome marking 🤔

[@im_piano]

Who cares about metronome markings these days? :)

[@AS_Piano]

I personally did not have many problems with the tempo choice in the andante spianato. He creates a great atmosphere with it. Sometimes it sounds little bit rushed, but it is still very enjoyable.

[@Chopin-Etudes-Cosplay]

@@AS_Piano Sure, I don't think it's wrong necessarily, but I'm curious if there's some good reasoning behind it.

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

I respect the composer’s indications, but the ultimate decision about the tempo in any romantic piece is based on what I want to express at the moment. This means that on any other day, the tempo could be 5-10% different. Recently, I played it much slower, listened to it, and found it very mediocre. However, I might return to a slower tempo sometime later. So, I decided to attempt to make it sound fresh, inspired, and young-essentially how you’d feel when you’re about 22, in April, and in love. I don’t know about you guys, but I wasn’t very rational or moderate under those conditions, even when I’d tell myself and everyone else that I was “Tranquillo.” Another reason I believe a more fluid tempo is possible is that Andante is a very flexible tempo, often described as a “walking” tempo (which can vary greatly depending on the situation). Additionally, 6/8 is a complex rhythm that can be interpreted differently. If you think 1-2-3, 4-5-6, you will end up with a steady, quiet tempo. However, if you prioritize two beats per bar and imagine yourself as a conductor giving two beats per bar, not six, your tempo will be more fluid, even if your inner state is still tranquillo. It’s similar to the difference between 4/4 and 2/2; the way you break the bar influences the flow and metronomic tempo. My goal is to always explore these ambiguous and obscure pathways of our perception, even if it won’t be convincing for someone or me after a while. After all, who needs so many recordings in the same tempo and mood? Thanks for questioning though, I absolutely love interpretation critics and opinion battles.

[@Chopin-Etudes-Cosplay]

@@DenZhdanovPianist Fascinating, thanks for sharing! It helps give amateurs like me more confidence in departing from the score too. Also maybe that’s why Chopin gave up giving metronome markings on his music later in his life - maybe he looked back and felt more flexible about the tempos they could be played at.

[@Gabor_Piano]

Amazing!!!!!! ❤

[@maultooga]

Been learning this piece for years now. It's always nice to hear new things in somethings so familiar. Also mind if I the score edition?

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

What do you mean by score edition?

[@David_Carrillo]

So many notes man, how do you memorize it all it has me dizzy. Anyways you freakin killed it my man 🎉

[@HPYB]

Amazing 🤩

[@SiliPiano]

This lowkey looks like a nightmare to record, there's something that could go wrong in almost every bar

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

No, it’s actually a very comfortable-to-perform piece, if a preparation was sufficient and the technique/motions are well-optimized. It’s a much safer and easier piece than Variations op.2 which I was learning and performing together with this one.

[@SiliPiano]

@@DenZhdanovPianist Yes, my respect goes out to people like Bruce Liu who did that in competition

[@erezsolomon3838]

​@@DenZhdanovPianist I thought about performing Op. 2 for a recital but it's good that I chose Op. 5 instead. I also changed my pick of Beethoven's 28th piano sonata in favor of his Concerto No. 1. That sonata is surprisingly difficult to perform! Anyway, I didn't go easy on myself. I could've just picked an easier Beethoven sonata or some Haydn sonata instead of a whole 35+ minute concerto

[@serwoolsley]

Nice

[@teodorek5803]

How hard is just the andante spianato?

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Not easy if you want to play the quick passages in the right hand brilliantly. Apart of those spots, not hard, there is just one technical skill in the left hand to master

[@rogergustavsson5139]

👍❤❤❤

[@chrisdei9121]

Yeah....but can you do it with your eyes closed?........O....M....G!!!!....SHOOT US ALL NOW!!!!....Unprecedented....no words for that Denis........no words

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Thanks for listening, Chris! I don’t play with my eyes closed; I only practice certain sections this way if I feel the need to improve my kinesthetic sense of the keyboard. However, this piece by Chopin is composed with a keen understanding of what feels natural and comfortable in piano playing. Therefore, if I were a blind pianist, it would be an excellent choice for my repertoire, even more so than some other pieces of similar reputation.

[@funnyvalentine-w5i]

can i learn this on a 62 keyed keyboard 😖

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

It won't be very great experience. I'd suggest standard size keyboard with properly weighted keys, as close to the acoustic instruments as possible.

[@williamtaittinger4529]

Nah, Denis, tell us how many hours you spent on this and be honest. Absolutely amazing.

[@DenZhdanovPianist]

Hard to tell, I didn’t count😅 I actually learned it last year, in order to revisit it this year. But it was sooo much easier and faster than Variations op. 2, which I will also publish soon. But such pieces take me between 50 and 100 hours on average if never played before, and if the goal is to perform live (this was performed live before I recorded it). If the goal is just a recording, I can spare 20-50 practicing hours, because you can make as many takes as necessary, while on stage you got only one chance and God knows what might happen that day, so it must be bulletproof😂