Yuja Wang master class with Leon Fleisher: Schubert Piano Sonata No 19 in C minor D 958

movements 2 - 4, Schubert Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor, D. 958
Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall Mar 31, 2004
0:00 Adagio
9:50 Menuetto
16:41 Allegro
New Yorker article about the master class: www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
Credit: Étienne Barilier www.amazon.com/Piano-chinois-F...
#YujaWang #Schubert #LeonFleisher #CarnegieHall #WeillRecitalHall #masterclass
Playlist: • Yuja Wang Archives
This recording is provided by Yuja Wang Archives yujawang.nicerweb.com/
王羽佳存庫

[@funklover24]

This is a wonderful lesson. Yuja was 17 years old at that time. Her outstanding talent is obvious.

[@ericastier1646]

I agree, i see she already had that supreme muscle memory and ease of playing.

[@drdellaman]

What an amazing teacher. What an amazing student. She had the skill, but she also listened and now she is up at the top.

[@NoxLegend1]

Well obviously she listened was that ever a question?

[@stepaushi]

@@NoxLegend1 yes, it was

[@NoxLegend1]

@@stepaushi are pianists known for not listening to their teachers?

[@terpentoon]

Fascinating. I am often astonished how musicians can agree on so many details. Music is realy an universal language.

[@angellejarzaguitar141]

What a gifted young pianist she was then, no wonder who she is now, amazing!

[@bethchen1859]

Adding the score makes this masterclass even more informative. Thank you! And for uploading! This is pure gold

[@gregoryludkovsky5185]

ABSOLUTELY PURE GOLD , THIS IS HOW THE MUSIC !!! SHOULD BE TAUGHT

[@pmathew63]

Well said

[@ftumschk]

This is one of the most joyful things I've seen in a long time. Fleisher (RIP) was such a brilliant teacher, and Wang is such a gifted, attentive pupil. The fact that they're having so much fun in exploring this wonderful music is the icing on the cake.

[@ericastier1646]

I don't think that is what is happening here.

[@ftumschk]

@@ericastier1646 Then I must have watched a different video.

[@ericastier1646]

@@ftumschk no, but you projected your own fabricated view.

[@NikoHL]

​@@ericastier1646 So what do you think is happening? 🤷‍♂️

[@ericastier1646]

@@NikoHL The same as in most masterclasses which it must be recalled is a public event/performance viewed by the faculty and other students. Both the master and the student are being intensely observed by a live audience. Master teaching is a performance in itself expected to match the reputation of the guest celebrity. So there is pressure, and the student is under pressure as well to look competent and not embarrass him/herself. Here Yuja is superb and at ease as she can do anything he asks. And he is fully aware that she is marvelous using her the best he can to showcase his own musicality. It's a mutual win/win cooperation. So it's close to "having much fun together" but they're really each doing what is best for themselves. However i think that after this session, Fleischer probably developed keenness and high esteem for Yuja and if he'd met her again, his goals would encompass generosity toward her. What i didn't like in the original comment is that it surmised that these two people are following fun, they are, but that is not their main drive, they want to give satisfaction to the audience and maintain or build their reputation.

[@albertliu1068]

He is a great teacher but it also takes talent with someone like Yuja to execute the instructions & variations!

[@pauliberg3492]

How she leans into the piano..uses a soft elbow .and the sound she creates..marvelous..what a tremendous master and pianist

[@georgeboateng1848]

The detail and precision of what's being communicated in the various sections is amazing!

[@alphashanahan4323]

She really truly listens and executes the guidance. What a delightful experience it must be for the mentor to have such a student. Obviously, Leon Fleisher is so pleased as he uttered so mahy "very good" all throughout the exercise. Aside from Yuja Wang having the talent, she definitely advanced fast because she seems to have such a good attitude towards being mentored. I have seen some master class videos where most of the students really just go ahead and play their usual way despite the helpful guidance given them.

[@fredericlinden]

Obedience is a spiritual virtue.

[@neiladlington950]

@@fredericlinden Oh.

[@ericastier1646]

very good comment. I think he was blown away when he asked her is she could replay the ending with a descrescendo when hands going up in the registers and he clearly didn't expect much but she did so well that he showed surprise and delight. I do think that Chinese are very good at obedience and humility as learners. Also she already had a happy pleasant smiling demeanor and she was pretty. She had everything needed, i think she knew nothing could stop her success.

[@adde767]

'How long can you hold that?' - Beautiful effect!

[@jean-jacqueskaselorganreco6879]

giving a Masterclass to Yuja is for any teacher the summit of what can happen. pure joy

[@ericastier1646]

not at all the context when this was filmed. He was the superstar highly revered professor while she was one in many hundreds but i agree if you mean that she is the perfect student giving full satisfaction to her teacher.

[@PaulJones-oj4kr]

the summit??? What? Far from it.

[@victorsj88]

Yuja Wang was to become one of the greatest pianists of the 21st century. And Fleisher imparts a tradition that went back to Artur Schnabel, his teacher, and ultimately to the Vienna of Beethoven and Schubert.

[@amirmotahari6186]

not Artur, but Karl Ulrich!

[@MrKlemps]

@@amirmotahari6186 What do you mean really? LF studied with AS whose teacher was.....two generations back to Beethoven. KUS was a student of his father a generation PRIOR to LF.

[@meredith218461]

Fleisher the wonderfully insightful teacher, and a young receptive Yuga Wang already showing formidable promise. What a privilege for us the viewers!

[@ronl7131]

Wonderful & historic record of “how magic happens”….the wonderful journey and interactions along the way….uplifting…..a joy….young Poet with senior Artist….

[@MusicLover-oe3ig]

Some time ago I had the fortune as audience at Leon Fleisher's master class twice. Needless to say each occasion was truly an inspiring and eye-opening experience. Yuja was such a talent who could pick up small details of arm movement or a prick in no time. A joy to watch both at work!!

[@ericastier1646]

Same here, i was in the audience at one masterclass a few years before this was filmed and this video brought back that atmosphere and how i felt in that year. At the same time Yuja reminded me of many Asian female students who all were very talented, some of them are concert pianists now but others not.

[@rolandoreyes3144]

Aha! Leon Fleisher, the Obi-Wan Kenobi of the Piano World. This is what they called him during Yuja's time at Curtis. I remember reading this many years ago where a master class was held at Carnegie’s Weill Hall with four pianists, Inon Barnatan, Yuja Wang, Hiroko Sasaki, and Mana Tokuno. Here, just like Obi-Wan, the Jedi master introducing the ways of the Jedi to Luke Skywalker, Fleisher the master in question, is leading four young musicians through the mystical landscapes of the late sonatas of Schubert. Yuja's fast unbridled exuberance of youth in contrast with Fleisher's legendary slow articulation of rhythm, melody, and harmony is gripping to behold. Today, she still exhibits her youthful enthusiasm to the extent that she is dub the fast fingers of the classical world. In this lesson, she has problems with negotiating simpler, more songful passages of the slow movement. "How long can you hold that? How Long?" Yuja slows it down. He hums... he extends his left hand over the keyboard, slowing her a bit... "That was fun, I thought." She stares at him. "In terms of metronome beating off 6th beat, there were great distortion. But, I think in terms of the demand of the material, (She scratches her chin, staring) I think we are on the right track." "Beauuutiful." he said it 10 or more times. Yuja at this young age shows a kind of joy in the challenge of the difficult C-minor sonata. Her sounds are full of life. They sang out after the initial touch, like a guitar trill. "She came at age 15, and began swallowing up repertoire, a very fast learner," said Garry Graffman. "She has a wonderful sound in hugely difficult pieces, with a convincing vision, like scenes in her mind, not just well-played notes on the paper." So, what happened to the other three? Inon Barnatan currently serves as the first Artist-in-Association of the New York Philharmonic. Hiroko Sasaki, recently release her Debussy Preludes Book I & II. Mana Tokuno just finished her piano recital at Williams Hall, New England Conservatory, Boston: Schubert, Schumann, Fauré, Yoshimatsu, Scriabin. May the Force be with them!

[@germanbigdaddy]

Very illuminating, and very in-depth. Reminds me of my private education at advanced level. Of course, Yuja was the perfect student. With her technical prowess and her innane understanding of music. And i see the generous teacher there. That's how a Jedi is made...

[@mikethelma]

Perhaps you meant "innate" rather than "inane"?

[@Daniel_Ilyich]

I think her strengths and weaknesses haven't changed. She's great in virtuosic music because of her velocity, quicksilver articulation, and sense of pulse. In more lyrical works, she just isn't convincing most of the time.

[@test-ks7ux]

That is nice to hear. I attended her recital at the Concertgebouw in Holland at the weekend. Of course her chops are insane but the interpretation of the music was the standout for me - quite the most beguiling playing of an instrument I've ever heard. There must have been five standing ovations at the end.

[@adriancheale1784]

According to this, it's NOT her interpretation, but somebody elses!!! It seems to me that she's been taught how to do, and not how to interpret/think. This is how I see it !! (I'm not saying she's not good)

[@amaurylopez5558]

Sounds like “when the student is ready, the teacher will come “. Beautiful In this case of such search for perfection.👍🎼🫶🏼 Ms Wang and Mr Fleisher are great on the same page 👏🏼🎶

[@ericastier1646]

They're not "on the same page". This is a authoritative figure teaching a student. It's not a relation of equals at all. In those days students respected the teacher as an authoritative father figure. She only had one option: to do as he says, this is not a dialog.

[@rosebud946313]

I wish Yuja would play more Schubert in her repertoire.

[@richardwhitehouse8762]

Can't quite believe how young Yuja Wang looks but hey. Such fantastic teaching. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@skimask777]

This must have work well for her because when I look at her now playing she uses the same principles. He was a good teacher for sure.

[@ottohadinata1978]

What a beautiful heavenly sound. Love them so much. They are so sensitive and very listening to the sound and the color. Love them. Thanks Leon and Yuja. Love you 😘😘😘😘😘

[@amirbazazi3747]

As an amateur pianist, the way he just plays the right hand section at 17:17 with his left hand because it was more convenient for him is absolutely mind-blowing to me🤯

[@ballintogher]

He lost the use of his right hand in his 30's due to a neurological condition

[@marcojimenez595]

@@ballintogher He regained it, I have heard him in 2006, in-person, play Schubert B Flat D. 960. I believe injections of botox had helped him.

[@hans-joachimdreher2287]

Ein wunderbares Video. Yuja hat die einzigartige Auffassungsgabe - Zuhören, Verinnerlichen und Umsetzung. Herr Fleisher ist ein Lehrer für Supertalente. Sein Unterricht trägt unglaubliche musikalische Früchte. 👍

[@eckosters]

What a gem. And how wonderful to watch this right now, shortly after Leon's passing. I saw him in concert once, in Amsterdam in the Concertgebouw, it must have been around 2010. He played a LH piece, I forget which one, but also a 2-handed piece. And here he is with a very young Yuja, she was only 17. She doesn't say a word, not even when he says 'talk to me about this'.... but she is able to really translate his coaching into different and better sound. "The barometer of my success: so creepy' :) Rest in Power, Leon. and keep going, Yuja

[@ericastier1646]

Having been in a compariable music school in the same years as Yuja, most graduate piano students that came from Asia had very little english when they arrived, their admission was purely on their pianistic skills and the professors knew it and didn't care. They learned english enough after two years to hold a basic conversation. I have a friend from China who had a masterclass with Fleischer 2 years before this video was filmed and said now 20 years later as she is fluent she feels so bad when viewing her own masterclass video tape and Fleischer said all the right things to her but she did not understand most of it.

[@dankg55]

Leon Fleisher is a true legend. What happened to his right hand is a pity. It was probably the most difficult thing to overcome for him. He had such a chance to study with the holy Artur Schnabel, the Beethoven Master, during his childhood !

[@sorim1967]

Well, he has recovered his right hand some time ago - thankfully.

[@KevinShermanPiano]

@@sorim1967 unfortunately he hasn't fully recovered. He found temporary treatments that allows him to use his right hand, but the problem still persists. It's the worst that can happen to a pianist

[@hester1955]

How gratifying it must have been for him to work with such a great student.

[@ericastier1646]

for sure.

[@kantiano]

many thanks for sharing this master class!

[@davidwhite2949]

She sounded better and better over the course of instruction. What a great teacher!

[@JackieLastrada]

In the words of Yuja herself....She’s uploading info to her hard drive at her teachers behest...and downloading the results to the masses!!! Download complete. Lesson recieved.🔥

[@willdon.1279]

For me, musically totally untutored you begin to have an inkling of the depth, density required to make what I can only call part of the magic at this supreme level. Gary would have been working on her, but the refinement is staggering (and Yuja still so young, yet so smart)

[@Bilytkid]

What a great teacher. So much information.

[@feifeskufus]

That smile at 3:50ish is just pure delight

[@pauliberg3492]

the best masterclass I have ever watched..super..absolutely the best.even his voice sounds like music..his thoughts make music..the words ....cosmic patience..long notes .little notes..

[@nickk8416]

Another great Masterclass to watch is "Bolet Meets Rachmaninoff" 1984 or so from Scotland with 6 very fine pianists playing the Rach 3. My favorite of all time and it's still on KZbin.

[@ericastier1646]

He was good at making the masterclass look great for the audience. If i could choose i would want a masterclass from Yuja piano teacher in China who developped her technique.

[@tombufford8659]

Behind the scenes of the great performances. Tremendous insights !

[@eytonshalom]

thanks for posting. wonderful teacher , lovely student

[@mccellobennett1577]

It doesn't get any better than this!❤

[@dengshujun2001]

Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks for the precious video!

[@wordgoog]

"It needs . . a cosmic patience." 2:16

[@gregoryludkovsky5185]

NOT NECESSARILY .... IT JUST TAKES TWO TO TANGO !!

[@ymest269daniel9]

This is amazing. Thank you for sharing!

[@DaveFrank]

the internet at it's BEST

[@Highinsight7]

yup!

[@manaharav]

Yes,actually learn something.

[@logalogalog]

My piano teacher, Dr William A Phemister was a pupil of Leon Fleischer. I can see some of his style in the video.

[@oliviaedralin1436]

This is really amazing to watch!

[@RayGlen9]

Loved it, thanks so much for sharing this special milestone in Yuja's musical life. Must admit, I envy her parents - would be so proud if she were my daughter!

[@OscarLiu24]

@Louis Ferland this video is from 2004, Yuka would have been 17

[@ericastier1646]

She does have this happy successful child aura even now.

[@semrabahcivan8627]

Thank you for sharing, amazing Masterclass.

[@rweaver6]

AWESOME. And who had the foresight to preserve this for posterity?... Thank you.

[@ericastier1646]

She already had that supreme muscle memory and technique. I was in conservatory a year before in a different university where Leon Fleischer also gave a masterclass. Things have changed since, that very close guiding of the student and physical contacts is probably no longer politically correct but what still is ? She played so effortlessly, her muscle memory so expert that this must have been a treat for Fleischer to express his ideas on top, i do believe professors in those days indulged in teaching young asian female students with a closeness that bordered on intimacy but was still within accepted conventions. And there were many Asian female students many more than males.

[@soebredden]

How beautiful to experience!!

[@daniela.harris9052]

Fabulous teaching. Sympathetic, exacting, encouraging.

[@lorettaslovak7735]

Daniel A. Harris m

[@NoxLegend1]

I think when you deal with a prodigy there is a different technique to be applied during teaching. I'd venture to say most teachers of that caliber mostly work with the best either way. You have to give them creative freedom. At that point in her life she's already one of the best among her peers. He is polishing her and giving her the tools to execute what she want's to express in her own style.

[@karlakor]

Fleischer seems to have infinite patience, but then his students were probably of such a high caliber that his patience was seldom tested. I wonder how he would have handled a knucklehead like me if I were a student of his.

[@douglasdickerson5184]

Wonderful insights!

[@PaulJones-oj4kr]

Fleisher's time with Wang is instructive. He is the maestro piano teacher. She would have benefitted greatly from as much exposure to him as possible. Her teacher, Grafman, a great talent, has never been a match for Fleisher. I was fortunately enough to work with him many times and he changed my musical life. Since Wang's exposure, she's gone off on her own into readings that are brilliant, musical, and showcase her technical prowess. That's it.

[@AL-pu7ux]

Paul Jones Interesting her general approach in the video and now sounds more fleisher than grafman

[@pauliberg3492]

to see music breathe !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what an experience .

[@mogomarkas3187]

Ashamed that there are not more music teachers like Maestro Fleisher. Those who really teach, instead of demonstrating their "bravura" and then saying to the student, "Do it like me!". Fleisher himself said that loosing the capicity to play with his left hand helped him to be a better teacher... really helping the student to find his or her personal sound and meet personal challenges,for no two musicians are the same.

[@ericastier1646]

political correctness killed this type of close almost artistic intimate teacher - student relation. Also authority is no longer respected and younger folks expect to speak as equal to their teachers. Basically teaching in Fleischer's style would be impossible now.

[@mogomarkas3187]

@@ericastier1646 Yes, however they are still some good and wise teachers out there, if one has the patience to keep searching.

[@ericastier1646]

@@mogomarkas3187 The problem is not the teachers but younger generations who has not learned to respect their elders by their parents and at school.

[@mogomarkas3187]

@@ericastier1646 I guess that I was lucky to parents who loved and supported me throughout my trials and tribulations. Kind regards 🎼

[@ericastier1646]

@@mogomarkas3187 For sure. It's not as common as one thinks. I do believe in discipline and strict teaching for younger kids.

[@user-pn4bg6iv6z]

非常的thanks！

[@eldergeektromeo9868]

Yuja is a master "listener", that makes her the piano master she is, and becomes.......

[@composercaleb6592]

RIP Leon Fleisher 😢

[@Karlinberlin1]

What a staggering talent.

[@dengshujun2001]

Thanks for sharing!

[@falamimire]

WOnderful .When will Yuja play the entire sonata in concert??Such a beautiful sound.Listen to her playing the Scriabine sonata n°2 live and Chopin nocturne in C# minor also in Japan!!!!The reference now to me!!!

[@donaldcase491]

Leon Fleisher was a brilliant pianist in his time until his career was severely restricted by a mysterious neurological condition called focal dystonia of his right hand. You can see his masterful teaching skills in this video.

[@downpatmusic]

De dah dah dah dah, hold that, dee daa dah dah dah.. I think we are on track. Pretty cool job!

[@soebredden]

---and she became one og the greatest!

[@bh5606]

Amazing.....lovely.

[@tedtombling2770]

Fascinating. Like peeping around the door getting a lesson you haven't paid for. 🙂

[@ransomcoates546]

He makes a point that has always interested me - how to judge the time between bars.

[@tomatojuice12]

Peter thanks for this great video. I hope that institutions share these master classes publicly and freely. Do you have more videos?

[@harbinguy1]

Wonderful video! She was only 17 when this video was made, only two years living in the US, probably why she didn't ask any questions.

[@rsjmd]

It would seem she picked up what he was saying immediately and then to give him what he wanted as if she could understand him and immediately perform it.

[@HenJack-vl5cb]

Priceless!!!!

[@KUNGFUTOMATO]

Beautiful

[@ronl7131]

...wonderful vid....on many levels....🙂

[@watutman]

At 8:36 he tells her the same thing Earl Wild would tell her, Stop the extra movements of your shoulders, arms, etc.

[@NoxLegend1]

Now that became her brand. If you aren't as good as her it just comes across as ridiculous.

[@casanow5833]

Fascinating fascinating, that based on the humming he seems tone/pitch challenged? Yet the piano pianist expresses what his voice desires...

[@HopperDragon]

My teacher with perfect pitch sounds just like this while singing. I think it's more just that he's not a singer, and it isn't practical to perfectly sing the notes of melody that have such a wide range.

[@JDS0409]

The making of a superstar

[@DaveC_2024]

Love her

[@KUNGFUTOMATO]

Class indeed

[@canman5060]

Masterclass as always.Play according to the master tells you.

[@corean3polar]

Yuja needs to play more Schubert plzzz

[@burjreview]

Not her main teacher. Yuja is now giving master classes herself.

[@alfonsogutierrez1392]

Cosmic patience🌠cosmic passion

[@pauliberg3492]

WONDERFUL---

[@karthiksheshadri6600]

now Im starting to understand how she got so good so fast.

[@m.a.3322]

9:00, 12:05, 20:45, 22:15, 27:48, 28:55

[@1247111]

she's so cute, very

[@BeautifulClassics]

Oh Schubert, how great thou art.

[@kathng8354]

Missing him 😔

[@musicfanBRA]

Erlkoning starts at about 10: min. And you can see she was already a great pianist at that young age.

[@magusl9628]

musicfanBRA she does not play Erlkönig

[@extanegautham8950]

he's basically modeling for her how to feel and phrase the music. so many musicians are virtuoso at the technical, but detached from the emotional, and also lacking the depth you need for schubert...i love some of her concertos, and fllying fingers show pieces, brilliant, but for this kind of music, i prefer others. maybe when she is older and more mature.

[@NoxLegend1]

It's different when you're teaching a prodigy.

[@extanegautham8950]

@@NoxLegend1 what is different? exactly my point. she is prodigious in producing flashy shiney stuff, but cant play to save her life, warm, profound, slow, emotional music. i doubt she listens to it or even appreciates it. the proof is in her inability to hear waht Leon is telling her....she cant reproduce it...a lamborghini where a bicycle would be better., or a walk

[@MrInterestingthings]

Must come back to this . Music making is not moving fingers . Everyone does that . Communicate . Here the simplest Adagio is a challenge !

[@barrywilkins884]

Now there's some cheap advice at 2:26...."it needs listening"!!! To all musicians everywhere, listen to yourself "intently" as you play....and remember to be "patient" as the man said.

[@33quin97]

that great but where is the 1st movement

[@DorianLS]

This is dated December, 2016, but I suppose that's the date Peter put this up. Yuja looks about 15 years old here.

[@dot8209]

It's from the 31st March 2004

[@autumngirl951]

I was waiting for the LH repeated 7th chords - the ONLY section I cannot play. Skipped right over it.

[@adamblock5141]

Anyone see Fleisher live?

[@markchiang3449]

The teacher played very well with his left hand：)

[@Johannes_Brahms65]

If only Schubert could have seen this ..

[@frankfeldman6657]

How old is she here? She already plays like a goddess.

[@GHuyiheng]

18yo

[@R.Williams]

@@GHuyiheng She's 16, born in 1987

[@timothybolshaw]

She was just 17 the previous month. Indeed, Yuja was one of the best young pianists already at age 14. Before her 18th birthday, she successfully replaced Radu Lupu playing Beethoven Piano Concerto No 4 (her favourite of the Beethoven concertos) to excellent reviews.

[@christopherperaskevas2605]

Rip Leon

[@dibaldgyfm9933]

I disconnect when LF says You get a beautiful sound is the slow attack, you can use weight, slide. The sound of the piano is not affected by the softness of handmovement. However, there is an important psychological effect of "slow attack with weight", and especially distributing the force between the fingers is important in this setting, where the melody above is to be emphasized.

[@vz6365]

9:46 😌😭❤

[@seancloser]

That Schubert adagio is different from a Beethoven adagio is the most confusing words I have ever heard. I hear sth like this very often. I just don't find any sense in that. Can anyone explain it better?

[@falamimire]

NO one but him.