Chopin: The Greatest Piano Composer | Classical Destinations With Simon Callow

The historic city of Warsaw was home to Poland's greatest composer and pianist, Frederic Chopin. Simon tours its beautiful countryside retreats in an exploration of Chopin's life and work.
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[@superblue3684]

To me, Chopin is the best musician of all time : his music is incredible.

[@jazzpiano22]

In my opinion Chopin is far above the others as a piano composer. His style and harmonics are genius and unique and has laid the ground for modern music. But as always, music is a question of taste.

[@GourSmith]

You can’t say he “layed the ground” for anything … Bach, Mozart and Beethoven and a good few others would be more accurate if we’re talking “classical” composers. And even then there’s other cultures that had different foundational impact on what we call music … Chill. But Chopin is one of my favorites-I’m not arguing about him.

[@jonathan130]

Of course, but that doesn’t change the fact the hes one of the best

[@gspaulsson]

@@GourSmith I was listening to a nocturne on the radio the other day. I knew it wasn't Chopin, but it sure sounded like him. Turned out to be Glinka.

[@cameronhill8345]

Rachmaninoff bro!

[@GourSmith]

@vandelayvidz “dude” what? 🤨

[@984francis]

Nothing Callow about Simon. What a charming presenter 👏

[@willsjaime]

Very tasteful and elegant, like the music.

[@diamondtiara84]

What beautiful architecture; and what a history! I never even gave Warsaw a thought, until this video, my mistake.

[@tonyman2c]

Indeed, Chopin was the greatest pianist of all time!.

[@JLFAN2009]

No, that distinction belongs to Liszt; but Chopin was certainly a greater composer than Liszt. The two were neck and neck as teachers.

[@mrs.g.9816]

God gave Chopin a special gift! He was placed in beautiful surroundings and his gift nurtured by loving parents and wise teachers. It's amazing that he created this music despite the formidable health problems, suffering and heartbreaks in his life. If I had to pick favorites out of the works of Chopin (and it would be hard to pick favorites), it would be his mazurkas. You can't express Chopin's music in words, paintings or drawings. You can only imagine the worlds, atmospheres and emotions his music conveys. I feel the same about the music of Ralph Vaughn Williams. Imagine how much more ethereal Chopin's music would have been, with insights that come with maturity, had he lived to be an old man!

[@smb123211]

I've tried to leave Chopin over the years - wandering to Brahms, Bach, Rachmaninoff, Berkowitz, Debussy. But I always return to Chopin. Many do not realize how conservative his writing was. I am still in awe of the wealth of originality and stunning pieces he produced in a few short years. The other night I was playing the last movement of the 3rd Sonata and found myself thinking of Chopin's idea of structure, repetition and sheer, evolving beauty. Wonder what we would have had if he'd lived longer.

[@arturdankovsky8293]

and then you come to realise how he detested the structure of a sonata and realism strucks in!

[@smb123211]

@@arturdankovsky8293 Yep, Chopin's sonatas and concertos always seem a tad "forced" even if many of the movements are brilliant. He was truly a miniaturist of art.

[@jennyrussellobrien1582]

Well this was an absolute jewel of a programme. Beautiful intelligent and informative. Thank you Simon Callow for your supremely eloquent presentation.

[@adamsimmons59]

Thank you.

[@dincanforbes1230]

It doesn't t matter whether Chopin was the greatest composer for the piano there were many. He wrote exclusively for the forte piano and brought great poetry for us to listen to

[@nintendianajones64]

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

[@LuigiRBG]

Mr.Callow your videos are absolutely gorgeous, I’m from Colombia and I adore how much passion you put in them. Congratulations also to your production team, just out of this world. I will keep shouting “encore” all the way from Southamerica. Gracias Simon. Luigi

[@radamik]

That piano at 4:36! Absolutely gorgeous! also - Chopin’s first cousin on his mother’s side came to the U S and was a Union general in the American Civil War - going to see if I can track down descendants. Have always wondered when Chopin’s music was first heard in the U S - so interesting to me how in the mid 19th century contemporary culture crossed the Atlantic. If Chopin had been in better health and lived longer, P T Barnum might have brought him to the U S just like he did with Jenny Lind!

[@Jeff_Seely]

I love the documentaries of the arts from Callow, who adds a disctictful romance to the story of the life of Chopin. Thank you for hosting this!

[@deealex1402]

great documentary. chopin is a legend.

[@stephanebelizaire3627]

Very Good Series for the Benefit of all and the promotion of Fine-Arts .

[@emilyhutjes]

Thank you very much. 💖🎹🌷🌷🌷

[@rebuzz6866]

I would love to move into these servants quarters. They definitely had very high standards of living in Poland at the beginning of 19th century.

[@Hoss_Delgado977]

"Later the house burned down and he committed suicide. Uhmm... in this third room..." Mr. Callow you can't just drop a bomb like that and continue without a beat lmao

[@Hoss_Delgado977]

At 4:00

[@lesliefigueras7708]

was that somebody in the third room that vanished when he entered or what!!

[@nanthilrodriguez]

The other thing I really hate in documentaries is just telling the life of a famous person, without contextualizing the contributions for which we remember them. There was no mention of his music, explanation of his creations, how his life circumstances effected his creations... but good damn if we didn't get a 15 minute excerpt on WW2's effect on Poland... but not a single mention of his Revolutionary Etude which he composed after the outbreak of war while he was in Paris... You know, something GERMAINE TO THE TOPIC OF THE VIDEO

[@chopin_live]

Thank you 🙏

[@aux_anges]

They've got musical benches in Warsaw. Black, polished, you press a button and they play Chopin for you. Go in autumn, when the foliage is golden, take a walk after dark, press the buttons. Feel it. Also, Nocturne op 9 no 2 is insanely erotic. Sorry, guys in the comments who think other piano composers are better: you need ovaries to get that.

[@nanthilrodriguez]

I really hate it when documentaries about subject A spend more than half of its duration on something else.... in this case, Warsaw and WW2... nothing whatsoever to do with Chopin, which is why I'm here.

[@xaviern338]

This documentary is missing SO MUCH

[@tiadiad]

You can tell a musician lived there by how little visual art is up on the walls: 3:00

[@eddiebeato5546]

Indeed, they are all great composers! Of course, Chopin, like F. Liszt, took advantage of the much improved mechanism of the piano, and with lighter sensitive action, the Polish composer had at his disposal an instrument of remarkable possibilities and potencies (piano-forte, check out the last Ballad in F minor by the same composer) to expressing a wide range of human emotions. I am not denying the possibility that former composers had achieved the same results (aesthetically speaking) with less resourceful instruments, or with compositions (such as fugas or counterpoint, Gregorian chants, etc) lacking the chordal harmonic complexity and extraordinary virtuosity of latter composers. That said, Beethoven and Mozart, and I must here Include Bach, are the founding fathers of what we may understand to be “romanticism,” and everything else built upon the cornerstones of the former masters are just slight variations of their compositions, an euphemism, for what some may flippantly call plagiarism, but I would disagree on such unfair accusations. Frederick Chopin’s beautiful nocturnes are testament to a remarkable original mind of the first order! We have no clue whether Bach or Mozart loaned some of their ideas from lesser known composers. True, one can trace some compositions by Chopin as bearing striking similarity to the music of Beethoven and Mozart (e.g., Chopin’s famous Prelude in C minor, is, on closer hearing, a variation of QuI Tollis from Mass in C minor by Mozart.) Chopin’s famous Impromptu in C sharp minor has some sweeping passages, copied almost at dictum, from the last Third Movement of The Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. Once again, they are great composers!

[@lvb1770]

JESUS, the intro commercial blew my %$^## speakers out. WTF?

[@michaelspeir6086]

Chopin: the flair of Hummel and the depth of Beethoven.

[@syb7239]

Very refine program with backgroud ~~

[@2012photograph]

I m envy of Europe because they better job in preserving their past vs my hometown of City of New York

[@buzabuba7326]

@13:48 “In 1814, after a failed love affair…” Chopin had a love affair aged 4?! How about that…

[@bealreadyhappy]

Please list the music played in your description thank you. I don’t understand why you haven’t.

[@TerryUniGeezerPeterson]

Cho-pah

[@bobbyboygaming2157]

LOL this guy was in Ace Ventura When Nature Calls!! I was like, "I've seen this guy before lol", He plays the character "Vincent Cadby"

[@bealreadyhappy]

13:52 you said 1814. That makes him only 4yrs old!!!

[@OstblockLatina]

What does exactly Warsaw's and Poland's 20th century history that takes so much of this documentary's time has to do with Chopin and his music? He died in 1849. Perhaps if you didn't spend so much time describing things that are completely irrelevant for the subject of this documentary, interior design of a bankrupt count's house, meticulously relating the gruesome affair of smuggling and then playing hide the thimble with Chopin's heart etc., you would be able to actually tell us anything about his personality, playing technique and interesting events and fun facts from his life and creative activity both in Poland and in France. Like i.e. the fact that a lot of his compositions are lost to humanity forever not just because he tore the transcriptions, but also because during his countless Parisian concerts he improvised a great deal and there was still no means at the time to record the sound, neither any of their witnesses wrote down the notes of those pieces. Also, I don't know if Chopin sheltered any petty jealousy towards Liszt. At least not when it came to music (Sand romanced several artists before Chopin, Liszt might have been on that list too). Chopin knew his value very well and knew he stood out, so I don't understand how he would need to be jealous of anyone's musical talent and compositions. Especially since the style of both artists varied GREATLY. Also, Chopin dedicated several of his own compositions to Liszt, and if that doesn't say "I like that guy", than I don't know what does. Fun fact: Liszt's bust had been erected in the Royal Łazienki Park next to that huge Chopin monument showed in the above documentary. It is commonly believed both men were close friends and proximity of both sculptures is meant to symbolize it.

[@mrkiplingreallywasanexceed8311]

Simon Callow is such a big ol ripe fruit isn't he? Such a succulently plump, fragrant tender morsel. Such a great voluminous, billowing sail, such a deliriously frabjous old queen who always sounds right on the cusp of clutching his pearls and dabbing limply but fretfully at his brow which is not very sweaty but somehow he always makes like everything is always just too, too much. He's like a Mills and Boone heroine or a character in a Sheridan play...like a male version of Lydia Languish who's got nothing better to do than sit mooning around all day pining away and swooning.... Don't misunderstand, I love the old thesp but God I love cream teas too but after twenty minutes, is definitely left feeling rather bilious....in need of a palate cleanser and a digestif.....

[@kellypeterson2625]

More on Chopin and less on Warsaw

[@keithcloyd6097]

Please just say for your title, " In my opinion" Chopin: The Greatest Piano Composer, or One of the greatest piano composers. Beauty is in the Eye of the beholder or the ear of the listener. For years, my favorite composers (top 1- 3) were Chopin, Debussy, and Liszt. Now after hearing tons of piano works by Liszt , I never heard before, (transcendental etudes, opera transcriptions, Annees de pelerinage, etc.), my top 1-3 are , Liszt, Debussy, Chopin. I listen more to Liszt and Debussy on a daily basis. (Not to mention Rachmaninoff & Ravel) That being said, I would put the 4 ballades of Chopin right up there with any pieces ever written for the piano. Yea, as Mr Tuney Toons indicated. Its a matter of personal taste.

[@fellopiantube7607]

Chopin > Taylor Swift

[@kavi9391]

Liszt: hold my beer!

[@jamesmyers4691]

A Chopin biography, this is not.

[@pabloamicarelli3351]

It has never been promoted as that 🤷‍♂️....video descriptions talks about visiting the countryside surroundings of chopin's youth

[@ergbudster3333]

Using Chemtrails as their logo. Ha ha ha! How sarc is that?

[@williammcveigh7860]

Every about this video is absolutely beautiful except the speaker. He mumbles and talks to fast. What a shame since what he says must be very interesting.

[@keithcloyd6097]

Another comment (2nd one) about Chopin being considered the greatest composer for the piano (video title). Chopin wrote 2 piano concerto and they are nice. However in my opinion, his 2 concerto do not compare with Rachmaninoff's 2nd & 3rd concertos. I would go/pay to hear a live performance of the Rachs 2 & 3 but not Chopin's concerts.

[@pR-ms4cr]

Chopin était 100% français. Il est nait de deux parents français. Sa mère est devenue française avant la naissance de Chopin. Son passeport affirme cela en notifiant que Chopin est né de deux parents français. Le débat est donc définitivement clos.

[@peace-now]

I cannot agree Chopin was the greatest piano composer. There are so many candidates. I personally think that Beethoven is.

[@stelun56]

A pretentious remark; have you ever experienced Bach?

[@gerhardrohne2261]

"The Greatest Piano Composer of the 19.century"?? check out Beethoven, check out Schubert, check out Schumann, check out even Rossini, who wrote more for the piano than this international french-polish european...

[@jacobscardino4330]

Found the comments section contrarian, guys!

[@pabloalvez915]

Don't forget Mendelssohn, he was a unique pianist too!

[@WallyOtt]

Isn't it great that a film about Chopin evokes the memory of the best people who have ever walked this world?

[@pabloalvez915]

@@WallyOtt definitely, a biopic has got to be made about Chopin, though not a PC one.

[@richardque1036]

Chopin piano sonata unlike any other sonata ,it resemble a poet.

[@jaroslawpeter3586]

In my opinion it is not complete to analize Chopin's powerful universal music and the fact that was enslaved by Russia.

[@bealreadyhappy]

Please list the music played in your description thank you. I don’t understand why you haven’t.