My famous teachers disagreed about Chopin - Cortot, Kapell, Steuermann (ft. Jerome Lowenthal)

[@VallaMusic]

wow - at around 4:25 - the agitato but dolente - opens up a whole new emotional landscape ! much wider - takes the 'etude feeling' out it and makes it intensely human - love it !

[@NataliaLavrovaBeauty]

Oh my goodness, how did I never know about this incredible channel and the wealth of glorious masters you have captured?! I guess that is what happens when the life hustle takes over and we are out here teaching 6/7 days a week and still trying to practice and perform, there is so little time for exploration. I studied with Jerry at Juilliard back in the early 2000s and can't wait to hear his interviews. Thank you for doing this work!!! I will make sure to come back to your videos when in need of some inspiration, reassurance and reminder of the greatness I am a part of.

[@_melzargard]

OMG!!! I *cannot believe* you guys got Marc-André Hamelin (my all-time favorite pianist) to record a lesson (lessons???) for Tonebase premium. As a subscriber, 2023 can't come soon enough!!

[@rachmusic9873]

Most of Marc-André Hamelin’s recordings are not on Apple Music. Out of curiosity, where do you listen to all his work? Did you purchase his recordings?

[@Varooooooom]

@@rachmusic9873I have some of his albums on iTunes

[@robertrodes1546]

I had the great pleasure of attending a master class by Jerome Lowenthal back in 1975 as a freshman piano student. I got there first thing in the morning, and wound up skipping all my classes that day to see the whole thing. What a marvelous teacher he was! I still remember him staggering in a sort of slapstick clown way while working with a young lady on Arlequin from Schumann's Carnaval, on the five octave scale notes. Staggering forward, Stamping on the floor and singing BUM ba bum bum Bum. Great stuff.

[@ajjohnsonmusic]

Tonebase is superb! Jam packed with amazing lessons across a wide range of pieces. Most of all I love the transcendental wisdom of Leon Fleisher in the series. I was also introduced to the Taubmann Technique via Tonebase, which I'm now following and getting tremendous benefits from.Thank Ben! You're doing an AWESOME job!

[@MrInterestingthings]

We're lucky there are audio tapes of Cortot talking about Beethoven and films of many great instrumentalists from the 40's and 50'steaching.There should be something from old Julliard ,Curtis,Indiana Peabody etc.Rosina and the countless others. I'm amazed that when the Great pianists came out and later many dvds and video they didn't either know or have access to the dozens of film I now find on youtube. Josef Lhevinne walking onto stage at HollywoodBowl, Kapell really shocked me on American t.v. Our record is not as great as Russian and eastern block countries,British,French t.v. There's so much out there Im continually blessed !

[@pablobear4241]

His masterclasses are great I wish they were translated... Him playing op 24 no 4 Mazurka is literally some of the best playing I have ever heard, he had a beautiful sound imagination, and voice at the piano.

[@hanshi3831]

I enjoyed this very much 😊 Thank you, Mr Lowenthal and tonebase!

[@fitshumor]

Thanks!

[@smurf902]

After seeing that Stokowski rehearsal with Lowenthal, it's absolutely a fact that Mr Lowenthal was a true technician in the highest regard

[@thatnicekid04]

I really love these videos. They are so inspiring.

[@PhillipLWilcher]

In a similar vein, my teacher had me collect every published edition of the complete works of Chopin ( although my library is now depleted) and study them intently, but then to say that ultimately, the best edition would be (or should be) my own. I think there is something profound in that, how it speaks to one's individuality as a creative entity; even to how one perceives even perfection if such a thing exists. Lowenthal: "That's me as I understood Kappell" and later: "I had many teachers" - I feel here that Mr. Lowenthal is saying much the same thing - yes? Yet is it also a fair thing to suggest that Music itself - more specifically Counterpoint - comes to prove the greatest of all our teachers. How could it not be! It certainly proved to be mine. Cortot, he was mainstay followed by Dinu Lipatti. I need now to immerse myself in the energy of Kapell, who much to my shame, I have not paid all that much attention to, but that unintended oversight on my part is about to change!

[@mikesmovingimages]

This is wonderful and a great encouragement. And if I would create my own, I'd be like George Lucas, constantly going back and changing things!

[@PhillipLWilcher]

@@mikesmovingimages That seems very appropriate to your user name here at KZbin.Going back and changing things, moving images about.

[@mikesmovingimages]

@@PhillipLWilcher what's with the snark?

[@PhillipLWilcher]

@@mikesmovingimages Snark? No. What I mean is that the thought you expressed about going back and changing things is in keeping with moving images about, which forms part of your user name. Where the act of moving images about is to change things, yes?

[@mikesmovingimages]

@@PhillipLWilcher OK, sorry misunderstood.

[@mikedarrah6945]

You dont need this. Just play european keyboard music starting around 1720 through 1917, then move to American jazz starting around 1923. Keyboard music moves in groups of two's and three's. See the groups, give them shape and motion. Read the Neuhaus Art of Piano Playing book. Listen to Horowitz to understand the possibilities a piano offers. Have fun! I agree that pianists don't understand agitato. They see agitato and play con fuoco. Fill your tub. Let it achieve calmado. Then brush your hand in the water. Agitato Now imagine the Pacific Ocean during a bad storm. Con fuoco.

[@mikesmovingimages]

I like your analogy. I have learned - taught myself! - that agitato is not a tempo or dynamic guide. I think one is to strive for a sense of being unsettled, unable to find repose or peace. It makes sense that it appears often at the beginning of Chopin's works. If all is right from the beginning the catharsis that his works achieve at their conclusion is empty.

[@mikedarrah6945]

@@mikesmovingimages Golden words! Delightful, thanks for sharing.

[@JRR31984]

(4:52. Perfect example of not necessarily maturity in, but differences in sounds of trebels/ "troubles" vs sorrow vs excitement vs exentuations, etc(??)(.))

[@kliberalsing]

Agitato dolente....makes sense.

[@sildurmank]

Great interview!! Pity you missed the subtitles here, sometimes it's hard to get what Lowenthal is saying.

[@ilirllukaci5345]

He was taught by Cortot and Kappell? "Speedball" I think is the term.

[@arnaud.lancelot]

His french is excellent😳

[@kliberalsing]

Piano artistry is indeed challenging to communicate, especially on modern-day platforms. But I do enjoy the American perspective and your way of doing/analysing/explaining things.

[@MyManinHavanna]

Thank you for this

[@meyerbeer13]

Where's your video about Oscar Levant?

[@asddfgfjhgjhu]

Amazing!!!

[@Varooooooom]

2:26 to skip the unnecessary

[@sammcbride2149]

Humans are different every day and music should be also.

[@MrInterestingthings]

Exactly, Change doesn't happen daily maybe ten or twenty years when one is talking about tradition or even interpretation !

[@qiweihuang5236]

may i ask what is the name of the first piece?

[@josephhapp9]

🙏🌹🙏 Another gem tempting me to subscribe. Time and $$ are a factor.

[@abk5294]

Is tonebase worth it for beginners?

[@PassionPno]

Nope. They cover mostly advanced pieces and some intermediate.

[@abk5294]

@@PassionPno thanks

[@benedictdsilva3954]

Interesting but the problem with Classical music is all different interpretations..No one heard Chopin play..Also it was a different piano..Pleyel with narrower keys they say.. Well read up a lot.. Watch performances and play soulfully and convincingly...

[@mikesmovingimages]

Actually, all the interpretations are a feature, not a bug. Even if we HAD heard Chopin play, he changed his approach to his own works over time anyway, by the testimony of his own students. Music is an ephemeral art. I think it is better we DON'T know how Chopin and the others played their music. It leaves more room for the investigation and exploration that keeps the music fresh. Instead of armchair critics comparing everything to Chopin's "definitive" recording.

[@seusenhortobi5237]

Please, add subtitles for non-English speakers!

[@PassionPno]

Coming from a non-native speaker, how about get these people learn English?

[@franzliszt9332]

@@PassionPno as a native speaker, what you said makes no sense.

[@mackiceicukice]

@@PassionPno Right now?

[@MrInterestingthings]

@@franzliszt9332 pookie dookie that makes Sense. How many languages do you want him to subtitle. Oh pshaw. Grow up!

[@galanis38]

Too long an introduction, but the (too few) minutes left were good.

[@SimonParker-hv6uu]

I didn't know Moses played the piano

[@jamescaserta6265]

I studied under the famous Ruboneoff.

[@chrissahar2014]

But why these teachers and pianists? Could there be viable interpretations and teachers that are not from your pianistic lineage?

[@tfpp1]

Well, my teacher lineage goes back through Liszt, Czerny, and Beethoven himself. So, there. LOL

[@philcortens5214]

Same here, most recently through Bill Pengelly and Lyell Gustin.

[@PeterFamiko-lw8ue]

Agitato!

[@ravenslaves]

I have this fantasy, wherein Chopin, and other great composers, couldn't actually _play_ their own music. They wrote it down for the sole purpose of annoying future students as more of a hoax than anything else. Until sound recording became a viable medium. At which point, those who lived to see the transition had to learn to play their own music. It's a lovely fantasy that got me through more than a few difficult pieces.

[@skateanddestroy10909]

Ravel was said to have an insufficient technique to play his own works. I had a funny theory that Bach’s works were created by AI, given that he composed so darn much and raised a handful of children on the side.

[@MrInterestingthings]

Not true. Many composers can't play or conduct their music . Richard Straussdidn't conduct well nor did Sir Davies or Rautavarra.Bartok was a great pianist and his Scarlatti shows that. now poopoo and kookoo.

[@JSB2500]

@@skateanddestroy10909 In my extensive experience, sex is greatly energizing. I think that explains both the number of children he had and the number of pieces he composed. 😃😄

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

I agree with you in part - here are the first of my 24 preludes (inspired by Chopin): kzbin.info/aero/PLYUhuuvIrJm1_v9DsIl9Zzrtm4GHp4IZ3 My Gnessin teacher came from Liberman, Nikolaev Lechitizky Czerny - Beethoven line.

[@meyerbeer13]

Rachmaninoff told Clara Haskil (who had a scholarship with Cortot) don't pay any mind to Cortot. He doesn't know anything.

[@daxxo-0]

u sure?

[@meyerbeer13]

@@daxxo-0 sure about what? Cortot was a great musician and a great pianist, but technique wasn't his forte.

[@daxxo-0]

@@meyerbeer13 No i actually didnt knew this. His technique definitely isnt the best, but musically its just simple yet so emotional. Cortot was and will forever be a great musician.

[@NikolaiVukovic]

@meyerbeer13 No wonder Rachmaninov's interpretation of Chopin was what it was (poor to say the least) if he couldn't see Cortot's genius.

[@meyerbeer13]

@@NikolaiVukovic i think he meant technically. Many people love Cortot (like me) who would admit that technically he wasn't the greatest. The classic example is when he came out with a well received Liszt sonata, and then Horowitz came out with one that totslly blew his away. But he was one of the greatest accompanists because his playing was clean with minimal pedal.

[@semperreg]

How boring they are!

[@mackiceicukice]

Who is “they” ?

[@meyerbeer13]

Interpretation isn't technique.

[@JRR31984]

5:05. Very GOOD, Italiano(?) lookers. (ie your(!) commitment; your specific history)

[@markkurochkin1785]

Sad fact: I'm an ordinary teenager, I shoot good music content, or rather I play the piano. but no one is watching me, God bless those who have read this)

[@MrInterestingthings]

Use yo brain.8billion people noone has time to notice ordinariness!There are tens of thouands some who have won their way to the best teachers and schools and won competitions.Many win and are never heard from again weaving beautiful legacies from the university. Why should anyone but your mother care about you or your unheard of achievements. Grow up.

[@JRR31984]

By 4:29 in THIS VIDEO, very GOOD. I still think your first is really GOOD BEFORE sorrow and should EASILY be considered as GREATNESS-- for movie and feelings' built up in them movies and or songs, ie climaxes(??)(....)(.)

[@druntopronto7598]

such a crap understanding of chopin this hollywood style playing.

[@aumarifa]

Can you name all pieces played in this video please?