Chopin's Kingdom | A Conversation At The Piano With Garrick Ohlsson

Watch Garrick Ohlsson teach the music of Chopin, exclusively on tonebase!
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"My kingdom may be small, but in it I am truly king," Chopin once remarked.
Though he limited himself to composing almost exclusively for a single instrument, the piano, it is there that Chopin established himself as one of music history's most revolutionary forces.
Winner of the 1970 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Garrick Ohlsson is joined by tonebase Head of Piano Ben Laude at in Ohlsson's home studio in San Francisco, where they explore the richness and influence of Chopin's music.
Free PDF: Tips from Master Pianists - Scales & Arpeggios
Ever wished you could learn how to play scales from Chopin or Rachmaninoff? Now you can.
In this free PDF, we explore scales and arpeggios - the backbone of a pianist's technical training - from the perspectives of master pianists including Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Chopin, and Brahms.
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[@da__lang]

"Even Chopin played badly still sounds pretty good." I love that quote. In fact, I've lived by it. 😄

[@operaforlife6551]

haven't we all :p

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

some winners of the Chopin competition also lived by it. That's how they won it. Sultanov didn't - that's how he didn't win it.

[@caiopagano1821]

At 16:00 you should consider that....after op.111 came the Diabelli Variations op.120, arguably his most daring composition!!!

[@zampai]

30+ mins have never gone so fast.

[@ADuchessInside]

I love listening to Garrick Ohlsson talk about Chopin! Or about anything, really. What a great pianist, teacher, and person. :)

[@WesCoastPiano]

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

[@StephenJackson1958]

A fabulous quote, unknown to me. Thanks!

[@Bruce.-Wayne]

Hard to argue....he may not have composed any symphonies or other orchestra works,(exclude the concertos) but the piano was an extension of himself

[@voraciousreader3341]

What’s the context?? “The greatest of them all,” _of what, exactly?!?_ The quote would have to refer to piano compositions, bc Chopin didn’t write anything else, ffs! What he did was totally groundbreaking and incredible, and he was absolutely a genius, I’m not denigrating his oeuvre one bit. But he never wrote for anything but the piano,and never wrote anything orchestral past the age of 20! So in no way is Chopin, “The greatest [composer] of them all,” in the context you’re implying.

[@stalkerstomper3304]

@@voraciousreader3341 Hahaha... the way you responded with "He's not the greatest of them all as YOU'RE implying" is as if you're arguing against Debussy who was quoted and who is dead. I know what you meant, but your wording made it funny. Thanks for the laugh, and I'm pretty sure nobody is saying Chopin was the greatest composer of all time Not even Chopin would've said that. Chopin was definitely greater than Beethoven though. Okay... I'll stop. 😆 Nobody's better than Bach or Beethoven... not even Mozart in my opinion. Chopin was even better than Mozart too. Okay. I'm done. 😆🤣

[@trevjr]

How wonderful to listen to someone talk about Chopin with the reverence he deserves. When I was young I was fascinated with Scriabin and considered Chopin lightweight. Now I realize it was because of the simple pieces that were in the books I had. When I saw that movie, Impromptu, I was amazed at the beauty and sometimes ferocity in his music. I checked out everything and played it all thru, even difficult etudes I played at 100 times slower speed, whatever I could do. I begged my teacher to assign me the C# etude and spent hours trying to get my left hand to sound like a cello. I was more fascinated with the Eb minor etude and would practice it with no pedal to get the inner voices quiet. I really grew up with Bach, Beethoven and Brahms but Chopin would send me to this other world of beautiful melodies and harmonies. As much as I love Scriabin there is something in Chopin, deeper, spiritual, different from anything else quality that I really cannot describe with words, but Ohlsson certainly knows and does a great job of describing it. Great video.

[@colinellicott9737]

Yes yes yes. A thousand times yes.

[@mikekimpton5890]

Excellent and thoughtful post! Thank you for that 🍻. I'm not a classical pianist (at best an intermediate jazz player)... but how could you have ever thought that Chopin was lightweight? 😂😂 🙏🍻

[@mikekimpton5890]

Oh and I also love Eb minor 🥳

[@stalkerstomper3304]

Most people don't realize just how insanely advanced Chopin's counterpoint and use of fundamentals is within all of that creative poetry and romanticism. I'd put him on the same level of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven when it came to the use of proper fundamentals and counterpoint. The genius in his music is just how well utilized it was as to seem to be simultaneously creative and improvisatory, all the while within a fundamental framework.

[@cupy80]

Excellent comment, I totally agree!

[@svetsarkirurgen2]

Dude come on. No one is on Bachs level in that respect

[@voraciousreader3341]

Bach?? No way, sorry, can’t go there. And you’re talking about a composer who wrote very few orchestral pieces and zero vocal pieces....his oeuvre, in my opinion, is far too limited to get a fair comparison. In statistics, you’d call it the standardization sample. Chopin was great, and he possessed great genius. But he was not Bach, or Mozart, or Haydn, or Beethoven “great.” Glenn Gould compared Webern to Bach, and that I can see, because Webern experimented with canon and counterpoint. But Chopin? No, absolutely not in my opinion, it’s just too much of a stretch.

[@stalkerstomper3304]

@@svetsarkirurgen2 No one was Bach except for Bach obviously, but my point still stands that Chopin absolutely understood the complexity of counterpoint and other theoretical fundamentals. There's a difference between writing exactly like Bach did, and not writing like Bach but still being able to understand the complexities of it, and Chopin absolutely did. This was a man who regularly played through Bach's preludes and fugues over practicing his own works before his concerts, and this is well-documented. He definitely understood it and employed fundamentals in his own music, especially his larger scaled works. They're plentiful in counterpunctal bass and inner voice lines. Again, I'm not arguing that Chopin was on the same level as Bach as far as being able to creatively write like Bach in full counterpoint, but moreso that he absolutely understood its complexities and it wasn't above his understanding. I hope I clarified my point more clearly. Bach is Bach, and Chopin is Chopin as far as composing went. We know what Chopin thought of Bach and it was in the highest regards, but it'd be interesting to know what Bach would've thought of the other greats from Haydn, to Mozart, to Beethoven, to Chopin, to Liszt, to Tchaikovsky, and to Rachmaninoff. Rach and Liszt would probably baffle him the most. 😄

[@stalkerstomper3304]

@@voraciousreader3341 See above my friend. 🙂

[@marshan1226]

What a fantastic interview what an interesting man, I could listen to him speak for hours

[@morhywaden]

What a rewarding half hour of conversation.

[@islaadele1212]

He has a real gift for clear communication. Wonderful.

[@stephenpopovichl122]

Wow first time I have watched tonebase and the interviewer is great also. Not pretentious, knowledgeable but does monopolizes with talk. Garrick is expressive of course and great knowledge but how often do you find someone who interviews this well? I will be back to this format!!! Very enjoyable.

[@meredith218461]

Garrick Ohlsson is a man of great erudition and imagination, he describes the compositional style of Chopin with compelling insight. A fascinating interview.

[@simonkawasaki4229]

What scholarly insight Ohlsson has! It is great to see yet another performer/free-time musicologist who has really done their research! Inspirational to an aspiring musicologist like myself!

[@nateben-horin3507]

I'm coming to really love Garrick Ohlsson through these tonebase interviews

[@daniellu8282]

"Baroque, classical and romantic are axes as much as periods"

[@tedchaffman7463]

5:09 I once had a lesson with Gert Hecher: We were playing through and reflecting on Liszt’s Years of Pilgrimage when he stopped and told me that “being a concert pianist is a form of spiritual prostitution.” The host’s question reminded me of that moment.

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

but actually there is nothing spiritual about any of the arts. The Bibles (1 Thessalonians 5:18 I think) makes it clear that we are 3 parts - body, soul and spirit. So piano etc are soulish (there is a special Greek word for 'soulish'). Spiritual is when we connect with God. That's what I have been taught/ I believe, anyway.

[@ruiinfante1357]

@@militaryandemergencyservic3286 Spirituality exists without gods. Nothing and nobody needs god to exist.

[@genevievelovell4204]

This is AWESOME!!! He’s a great speaker & pianist, love his passion for Chopin!!

[@Jimbarleyy]

“You don’t play Chopin like spelling” is the best explanation for his music

[@Wyatt333]

I notice his piano has it’s music board pulled off… no music stand. He’s like someone doing the NYT Sunday crossword in pen. That piano has such a lyrical sound.

[@g.a.3131]

"You don't play Chopin like spelling." Huge.

[@dreuvasdevil9395]

That piano, the music, the aesthetic, and the pianist makes this video perfection

[@erpollock]

I love his plain vanilla American speech! Then he breaks into Beethoven or some Bartok-ian sound - and he is totally the language of music. But he's not from Europe, South America, or an Asian country. He's like someone who lives nearby, totally comprehensible. There's no other culture standing between him and me and the music. I love Garrick Ohlsson.

[@bobmayfield7925]

Lovely tribute. Thank you.

[@amber40494]

Yes, so true! After I first heard him playing Chopin, I thought I can actually play Chopin, too. Though not like Ohllson of course.

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

17:56 - also Schubert... he was intending to take lessons in contrapunctal writing just before his death.

[@findelka1810]

Thank you for this interview, I was so longing for a conversation at this level! I could listen to them all day and wouldn’t get bored. So much knowledge and insight. Even though the interviewer interrupted him several times, it didn’t get annoying bc with his musical knowledge he managed to meaningfully connect to all my those things that Ohlsson had to say. It’s like like-minded people who just got enthusiastic and that was the only reason for interrupting each other. Very inspirational.

[@johnschlesinger2009]

Hugely enjoyable, with many profound insights.

[@organman52]

This is without question one of the most enjoyable, rewarding and inspiring interviews ever recorded.

[@donaldaxel]

I love (but also pity the deaf who needs the subtitles) that the auto-generated subtitles get so much wrong, like the fourth Scherzo becomes the fourth scarecrow (!) Should I write a piece in this new genre, Scarecrow no.1 in John Major? Reminds me of "The Short-Tempered Clavier" by PDQ Bach.

[@flylooper]

Geez, stuff like these conversations make the entire internet worth it. Thanks.

[@pablojuancoru]

Thanks for this lesson about Chopin, piano and music by a true master teacher, great pianist and over all, an artist ....like Garrick Ohlsson!!

[@NEMO-NEMO]

That “wildly romantically piece” is full on John Fields, who never ever gets credit for inventing the Prelude and that wonderful flowing sound that Chopin often included in his work!!! Just saying!!!

[@chainuser1774]

As far as Chopin's music containing Bach influence, his Etude Op. 10 No. 4 is basically Bach especially if you slow it down. Chopin was a huge admirer of Bach and you can hear it throughout a decent amount of his pieces if you break them down.

[@davidsalazar2466]

Maybe the only two pianist I can listening talk about music and composers all day are Andras Schiff and Garrick Ohlsson.

[@firepyro66]

i would count debussy as a fabulous melodist. and honestly, im going to say it, Liszt, is a fabulous melodist as well. many more

[@ThePianoTester]

Amazing interviewer also. Very knowledgeable. Mr Ohlsson speaks for himself...

[@stephenarnold6359]

100% excellent interview. Many thanks.

[@Felven]

Garrick's speech and vocabulary is amazing

[@Wyatt333]

What a wonderful conversation. However I believe Chopin, most certainly, was not jealous of Liszt’s ability to ‘get the girls.’ Chopin was not weak as much as he was sensitive and feminine, with the most sublime results.

[@devenpatel3044]

I would love to hear more depth in the connections Chopin has to Bach, Beethoven, Brahms etc. with Garrick Ohlsson

[@StephenJackson1958]

So much for Artur Schnabel and his "right-handed genius". Well said! Well done!

[@ozohirogi2577]

Fascinating

[@bifeldman]

Good question, about the voyeurism of some Chopin. I can imagine the Ab Ballade or Barcarolle never performed before more than a single listener.

[@susanamelody7319]

Chopin such genius!!!!!!❤❤❤

[@cirrusclouds8296]

Wonderful interview! I really enjoyed it!

[@lilyrose5806]

Such a wonderful and informative interview. Both tremendously comfortable and knowledgeable in their conversation about music and the composers. Much appreciated, thank you.

[@harvardkarbodie]

Great questions, so many wonderful ideas in the answers. I almost wanted to slow it down at half speed. Thank you for this!

[@cimbalok2972]

Great comments by Garrick Ohlsson. Loved it, especially as regards to Op. 41 Mazurkas. As a "light-weight" Polish folk music specialist I acknowledge my roots in Chopin's pieces beginning with Op. 6 and ending with (posthumous) op. 68. Excellent video and thanks for the Brahms connections, since he (Brahms) took it to another level. "F. Chopin: My kingdom is small, but within it I am genuinely king." As an American, I don't hold with kings, :"We have a Republic, as long as we can keep it." In Chopin's time, things were different, and I respect it (with limitations). I am an American, and I respect our Republic, but this is a music vid, not political. Parallel 5ths are a staple of Polish folk music, FYI. Illegal, or not. I used them in my arrangements of Polish folk music. Some are recorded and will be consigned to the hell of music....or not.

[@dominic6055]

I like to think of Chopin not just as a man nor as a composer, but as a microcosm of the musical spectre. This kind of genius and understanding of music is basically occult knowledge.

[@multimusicstudios5661]

A delightful, enlightening, and educational interview on Chopin and briefs of other significant European piano music composers.

[@organman52]

"This is the so-called right-hand composer" - priceless.

[@miguelcampos5460]

I love how he states that he is not a snob, but gets very snobby about how he treats other musicians' interpretations. Very interesting conversation for sure!

[@itsyobroaidan]

How was he snobby?

[@jeansimon326]

Thank you for this marvelous presentation, I an trying to deepen my appreciation of "classical" music. What a gift!

[@ChopinPianos-pf1my]

The delicacy of Chopin is also relative to the small and delicate-sounding pianos of the time, and the soft sound of the hammers. Today, pianos are powerful and dynamic

[@derekdavid1]

What is he playing at 1:44?

[@C90072]

Nocturne op55 no 2

[@gchang916]

Amazing interview!!! Amazing musician!!!

[@Thelionatays]

My ex was a pianist. She loved Chopin. Such a lack of emotion though. I’m trying to listen and understand him but I can’t connect

[@picksalot1]

Wonderful interview, and I enjoyed it very much. Thanks for sharing your views about Mozart. It put a smile on my face, as I have a similar opinion. Subscribed

[@connersaunders6181]

24:00 He's playing Brahms Op.76 part 2

[@ericsabourin7661]

Delightful conversations for anyone who knows the repertoire and has reflected upon it and played a good deal of it. Lively rêveries musicales with the utmost cultured musician America has given to the "classical" musical world: Garrick Ohlsson!

[@svrfan]

what is the piece at 1:44?

[@samnelson8280]

Nocturne in E-flat Op. 55, No. 2

[@joannewinetzki9927]

I told Garrick when I heard him play Chopin, he played the truth.

[@bobmayfield7925]

MIND TOTALLY BLOWN. ❣️

[@amymccarthy52]

You can see throughout the interview his left hand is almost always floating over the piano, it's like he can't help but make music at the piano any chance he gets :D

[@fishingforturkey]

What’s the piece at 1:45? Edit: Nocturne Op. 55 No. 2

[@meyerbeer13]

Lets take a moment to remember the debt Chopin owes Kreutzer and Paganini.

[@TheSonsofHorusx]

I love that Oscar Wilde quote!

[@Poeme340]

That was FUN!👍

[@kpunkt.klaviermusik]

Such insightful thoughts. There are so many connections between all the composers and their works. Everything is related. How could you play Chopin without knowing the works of Bach and Mozart? And how could you play Bach without knowing the works of Chopin...

[@Isa-tn7ex]

How can you play Schumann without Chopin? Chopin without Mendelssohn? Mendelssohn without Berlioz, Berlioz without Liszt, Liszt without Brahms and Wagner? I love Romantic gossip 😌

[@meyerbeer13]

Wagner wasn't,a,great chromaticist😊

[@Iko_onthedl]

Ohlsson saying he's "judging legends" as if he himself isnt a living legend xD

[@jeffstevenson8582]

This man is such a great genius. Funny, and brilliant.

[@ronl7131]

Feel lotsa’ Bach. But Genius of Chopin

[@larryprimeau7738]

Chopin is tightly structured while Schumann not nearly as much.

[@SoniListon-lu4cn]

His voice kinda reminds me of David Gilmours 😁

[@richardcasey4439]

This was wonderful.

[@royrosales81]

Great interview! Thank you

[@sanfordpress8943]

Eloquent. Funny. A bit arrogant. Brilliant. Fabulous

[@bealreadyhappy]

Though he plays well, he isn’t involved. He is not an emotional person as was Chopin.

[@chessematics]

16:08 "insubstantial pieces like... NINTH SYMPHONY"??????!??!?!?!!! WHAT??????

[@strats991]

What's the piece being played at 22:22?

[@primusnocturn]

So cool to listen to this conversation

[@AulicExclusiva]

Excellent questions.

[@thomasbunner734]

I returned to watch this wonderful and enlightening interview again after a few years. Mr. Ohlsson is a gifted teacher, having an encyclopedic knowledge and repertoire of music, and so forthcoming with it. Thanks so much!

[@caphaddock1126]

I learnt so so much in 30 minuts!!

[@otaviosantosdealbuquerque]

Such a rich interview. Thank you 🙏🏼

[@jbswreckfest19283]

Sounds like this chopin guy made some pretty decent stuff

[@raulperez2308]

yea he was quite good

[@janearao7058]

Who is the interviewer? This is just fascinating.

[@babonicarlos]

Pianist Ben Laude

[@ericastier1646]

rubinstein is about as bad (no reversed meaning) a reference for playing Chopin's music as one can get, horrowitz is a close 2nd. These people did not understand Chopin, they used his music for fame. Ohlsson scare's himself by speaking disfavorably of Horrowitz as he knows he is backed by a whole nepotistic clan that owns the industry and artists have to be formatted in the system if they are to not be shunned, he tries to reverse disingenuously what he said.

[@adrianwright8685]

why don't grand pianos have a score rack? Pianists always seem to dump scores on the strings - along with their handkerchiefs, bouquets of flowers and any other detritus they happen to pick up!

[@ericastier1646]

Despite common misunderstanding Chopin's country was not a single country. His father culture and nationality prevailed in his character and he could have returned to Poland later in life and be a peripherical artist but chose not to. Every one of his letter to his Father was in French, and his father always spoke French to him since birth. French was his goal and ideal nationality, Polish his geographic nationality. Just as a side note officially there's no ambiguity at all, the law made him French by his father.

[@RolandHuettmann]

Delicacy in playing and listening. Thank you.

[@chopin.played.simply]

Great interview! I just spotted a few things: - It seems the quote "My kingdom may be small, but in it I am truly king" might not actually come from Chopin. I could not find it in any source/book, and on the Internet there aren't many results if you search this phrase - also most of the results reference either Garrick Ohlsson or this video. I think it may be a misquote of this one (by Marceli Antoni Szulc, from the book "Fryderyk Chopin i utwory jego muzyczne"): "The popularity of Chopin was constricted to salons; but in them he was the solitary king" I translated the above from the Polish original: "Popularność Chopina ograniczała się na salonach; ale za to był w nich królem samowładnym" That's the only source I could find that mentions anything similar. But if there are more sources, I'd be happy to hear about them. - At some point Garrick Ohlsson mentions that "Chopin was probably jealous of Liszt", but this may not necessarily be true. The original author of this theory is Harold C. Schonberg (born in 1915, so long after Chopin's death) and he wrote it in his book "The great pianists" (first edition 1962). The original quote from the book is: "(...) there was always a tinge of jealousy and spite on Chopin's part". But this book seems quite biased and contains a lot of subjective phrases like "maybe", "probably" etc. For example, in the same book, the author calls Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, Liszt's partner, "a very stupid woman" (this is a direct quote from the book). Also, Schonberg doesn't mention where he gets the information from (we don't know if he heard that from someone connected to Chopin, or if it's just his personal view). I haven't found any other sources that would mention this alleged "jealousy". - You can't really say that Liszt was a rockstar and Chopin was just a "poor little sickly thing" - even though Chopin did not give concerts, he can definitely be called a "rockstar" of the salons - people overall described him as very charming, charismatic etc. when performing in salons. - I would not agree you can call Chopin a "snob". He liked the salons (they were also a necessity if he wanted to make a career), but at the same time he distanced himself from them, so that they don't affect his music or personality. This can for example be seen in this letter from Stephen Heller to Robert Schumann: "I do not see Chopin at all. He is wallowing in the aristocratic mire up to his ears. he is refined to the highest degree. [...] He prefers high salons to high mountains, the stifling fumes of gaslight to the clean mountain air, but he composes - which is simply incomprehensible - completely the opposite, that is extremely beautifully and profoundly" - Lastly - this is my personal opinion - I think musicians should not project their feelings onto music - I believe it should be the opposite: it's the music that creates feelings inside you, and you just follow them. If you do this, you can relax (that's how I understand what Chopin called "letting yourself go") and go with the music, as opposed to going against it (and trying to impose/project something onto it). But of course this is a personal view and everyone can have a different view. Once again thanks for the great interview!

[@MezasRealm]

lets not forget he lived til 39......!!!definitely up there with the Monsters!!

[@MDkid1]

1:44 please?

[@kingvii7250]

For me, as a Swede... classical music means what I would call "Vienna-classic" (roughly between 1750 - 1800, with Mozart and Haydn etc. Befor that Barogue and after Romantic, with Beethoven with one foot in "Vienna-classic" and the other foot in the Romantic era.

[@fab0017]

what piano melody is that 30 seconds into the video?

[@paulmccarthy8345]

It's a fragment from Chopin's G minor Ballade.....

[@Scouzeboy]

Great Video. I'm trying to work out the brand of Piano. Is it a Bosendorfer salon piano. Great Sound. (Boudoir piano)

[@die_schlechtere_Milch]

What is the number of the "modulating prelude"?

[@NEMO-NEMO]

Don’t forget Vivaldi!!!! He is the original!

[@PabloGonzalez-oq8xf]

Chopin was definitely left handed... everyone knows this.

[@tomgnau]

Wonderful.