Étude Op. 10 No. 5 in G-Flat
Vladimir Horowitz Lyrics

The inShot guy

When Roussea walks in😎

Golden Goblin

I like this recording it has good tempo and has an absolute good sounding piano.

Maestro_T

You've just got to love when someone has reached such a high level of virtuosity that they look like they are putting more or less zero effort into what they are doing.  Holy cow.

Elijah J

@Lujee- No, it was good. Horowitz wasn't taught technique but investigated himself to find what was easiest and comfortable for him. This is why his hands look so unorthodox on the piano; flat fingers and such. This is also one of the reason why he remembered everything and was still able to play well after he stopped playing for 12 or so years.

Lujee-

@Elijah J good technique??? His technique is awful, it’s astounding how he is such an amazing pianist playing how he does.

Elijah J

Horowitz developed good technique, which is why he was still able to play well in his later years.

Komachi osu!

One of the reasons is because his keys are modified to be way lighter than normal keys. That’s why it looks like he’s only lightly tapping them

emaramify

Like.

Jonny

Just brilliant.

But his wife certainly looks like she's thinking somethinge like
"...Not quite my tempo"

Doctor Rubik’s Cube

Guys, if you didn’t know that is Wanda Toscanini Horowitz , the daughter of the famous conductor Toscanini.

Graham Jones

Be kind to her. She has listened a million times from bar 1 over and over. She is a saint.

Julia Z.

@Emily Li hahaha omg

Emily Li

I think they cut off the part where she threw a chair at him

Gil Emmanuel Lambino

"Too slow... what étude do you think this is? Op. 10 No. 3"

Anyways Horowitz did played it as fast (if not fast) compared to the other interpretations I've heard thus far - he is truely a legend

oldgafirefighter

My late mother could still play this piece at age 92, I think that is what kept her mind sharp all those years. She was in the first class at Julliard to receive a BS back in 1942, just discovered her class foto.

andrew

would love to hear her❤️

Jerome G

He's so chill doing this piece compared to other people. Usually a lot puts a lot of emotion into the piece, such has smiling and bobbing their head and so on so on.. I like this.

Golden Goblin

@Pardock You gotta feel it inside not outside.

Swish King

Reiza thats why i play in the middle. I dont like horowitz because he should add a little bit more chopin essence but people like lang lang are just annoying when they play this piece

Reiza

@SB chun I agree, that's why it's wrong to say that musicians moving around "really feel" the music and to imply that still ones don't.

SB chun

+Reiza everyone is different

Reiza

You don't need to clown around "to feel the music". Horowitz is great proof of this.

Fvvv Ghdhj

Each fcking pressure on a key is perfectly shaped to have the best rendition possible and the soul of chopin. We can find pianist than can technically play this piece, but that insanely with such a spirit, we'll never find another one like horowitz...

rationalistx

Superb. Very crisp playing with very little use of the pedal.

Abhik Mazumder

Yet still very ringing and sonorous

bennemann

There is a G-sharp he plays with his little finger at exactly 0:43 which is played many times over in a very short amount of time, super cleanly and with barely any visible movement from his hand, despite the key depressing fully each time. As a pianist myself, I am in awe. I struggle to believe a 80-year-old hand can even do that! He was truly and undeniably a legend.

José Ayala

Teacher in the couch: Ok Vladi, now let's pass to Hanon N° 5

Dior Blois

@Lucas Ariel I thought about it and I agree

Lucas Ariel

@sebastian ciarfella which is pretty close to a teacher if you think about it

sebastian ciarfella

@Jimmy Lecomte it's his wife

Jimmy Lecomte

Is it his teacher?

Salva T

haha yes

Emily Taylor

One of the few pianists who understands that the pedal is easily overused. Magnificent interpretation of this piece.

Reena Chen

Black key etude should have been called “white keys are lava”

占卜547

Then the left hand wld be burned

Duolingo Owl

Stolen from Caner Metin on Rousseau’s video

王梓岳

Actually there are some white keys on the left hand....and a white on the right hand(1 page before the end) Lol

CoobieCube

RIP left hand

Kyokusei

dont tap the white keys

John Romano

I love her face at the end. "How you play it so good every time?" haha

But seriously, she must be amazed at the end of every piece he plays, just like she was here. I think we all are, really.

strukhoff

Actually, I think that was her typical disappointed look when he acted childish. He played it so straight until almost the very end, but then didn't arpeggiate the big chord and added a few octaves to the final note. He strayed from the score for some unnecessary showmanship, in her view. She was Toscanini's daughter and apparently inherited his severe personality. She seemed to be no fun at all, and was believed to have been a cause of Vladimir's depressive episodes.

InsertName125

@Juan Munoz Where did you hear that?

Juan Munoz

LOL That's his wife and I think they didn't really like each other haha. Afterall, Horowitz was also gay.

InsertName125

True. But, I've seen the entire film and she also gets really annoyed with him for showing off during the interview. It's cute.

Vasilis Themelis

Am I the only one that thinks that this is the best sounding performance of this piece?

Jade Deng

Did you see him yawning at the end? Truly a genius.

Jamal Dunning

It's a very bright and clean melody. The smoothness of the playing relieved a lot of stress. Yes very legato. 

Jonathan Herrmann

Amazing technique, he barely moves his arms and wrist, its all in the fingers and that is why it is so light!!

ProBIONICLEStudio

This is the best interpretation I've heard so far. He plays the ending very well.

philip biro

What a hero, I miss His playing, The greatest old man in history

Gianni Fabri

One of the best interpretations of this piece, and he was quite old when he recorded this!

Thibo Meurkens

It doesn’t even seem to take any effort from him! This is why he is one of if not the best pianist to ever walk this earth!

Katherina K.

A legend played by a legend :) I'm learning this piano composition and I swear, it's the most devine song I've ever played. When I play this, my fiingers are in Heaven! xD

Prolific Pineapples

Despite the few wrong notes, I think that this is the most sparkling rendition of Chopin's etude on YouTube.

Rachel

It's amazing that he's soo old, but still can perform with such velocity!

MusicIsMyLife6991

Very well. Thank you. I know that nothing by Chopin is impossible, I just wanted to be more confident in my ability to learn this piece. Thanks again.

Maria Johnston

Never have I heard somebody extract so much glitter and sparkle from a simple pentatonic scale as Chopin in has done here!

Curtis Begley

This was an amazing performance! The ending of this piece was excellent! :D

A&JProductions

I like how he makes this CHOPIN ETUDE look like a warmup

Olga Lesage

Not easy to "lighten up" when you've got television crew in your house and a camera pointing at you! Plus she smiles and seems (rightly) proud of her husband at the end!

Birraj Singh Taneja

Seems unreal how effortlessly he plays it and also how expressive it is despite being so hard to play, wife doesn't seem very impressed though lmao

Harvey Hammond-Miller

best version of this piece I have seen! he was the best pianist of the modern era, I rate this 1,000,000/30!

Diego Gorzynski

I wish I could get this "Piano" playing fast, he really gets it down to Pianissimo, damn it!

Ives Kristin Elman

this is sooo amazing! very crisp...very light and happy. I love his interpretation

Angry Face

No point with arguing with a blockhead... I love how he plays this piece and also everyone who can play this piece. I love how their interpretations on this and it is their contribution to the musical world. Liszt became famous because of his "cover" of various musical work of that time and including his own version, style and interpretation. so if horowitz for you is a egomaniac, then Liszt is the devil himself... so enjoy your version of Chopin, while I enjoy everyone's music

Leo T

Played perfectly. I am just beginning to learn this piece.

ManticTac

He's like "Oh hey you want me to play piano? Kay." -_- plays Chopin Etude op. 10 no. 5

Mercury

Only one thing I have to complain about: He makes it look toooooo easy XD Awesome.

Jo Smith

1:31 I love the face of Horowitz's wife after he is done playing. She sits there and blinks a couple of times, looking dazzeled like "What just happened???"

Jonas Bueno

Why can't I thank him in person for this? Life's unfair

howunoriginal2

Played so cutely!

LeCaptiv1

The woman in the video is his wife. She was the daughter of the most famous conductor of his time, Toscanini. This video is from the mid-80's. Horowitz died in 1989. What a remarkable talent he had for playing his instrument!

Gunwoo Kim

0:25 how does he hold the top notes so flawlessly with that tempo. amazing

Michal Kuric

Horowitz's genius playing always draws attention to itself and always expresses itself. (and non legato, no pedal)

m213m2

0:20 its like he fell asleep on the piano and you forgot and thought it was just a background track, then you realize, OH NO! HE'S AWAKE AND HE'S STILL PLAYING!!! what a genius playing this piece with such skills as if it's just an easy song :O

Marcus Beckett

BY far the best version of this piece on youtube, thank you for sharing.

musicfanBRA

This should give hope to all of us who are approaching old age. What skill, what memory!

Luxalpa

Nice. I wish I could see Chopin playing *dream*

Nikminnit

AHAHA I actually enjoy Horowitz's later recordings where he swaps technique for rawer emotion. But sorry I didn't get the joke ahaha

XOX EGERIC

Quelle métrique, quel tact et quel son fantastiques !

Kyle Moore

I feel like this is a combination of Debussy's Arabesque I and II played in double time 

Liam

2 ofy favourites, and you're very right.

Yelooh

I'd say it's the pentatonics of I with the triplet figure of II

dylan park

@Kyle Moore I can see where you're coming from.

vocaliise

What an unique interpretation, its sooo light

jude koan Kim

more like she's still amazed after all those years

Samuel Silliman

It seems like he's sitting very low. I've never seen another pianist whose elbows are below the keys.

Ally Vang

The melody and the song sound so happy.

Will Shaw

Diminuendo 0:30-40 absolutely marvellous!

ᴅᴇsᴛɪɴʏ

Oh, yes!

Adyr Sebastião Ferreira

Cherubim - Exatamente, amigo! Só um gênio toca assim, e só outro o identifica!

Cherubim

@Will Shaw And with this feeling for nuances he made all pieces sound wonderful.

Kwan Ryan

He makes it look so easy tho like "just press the right buttons at the right moment with the right strength and you'll get nice sounds"

Ivan E. Daza

0:45 no other pianist cares about highlighting that voice on the left hand, he does.

Max Wagner

listen to Lisiecki

Voldemort

I do

Raúl Pérez

in all fairness, he was 80 something at this point and probably played this etude for most of those years, while most pianists in the world are under 40. point is, experience develops interpretational intuition

Ivan E. Daza

@王梓岳 lol I use the YouTube app, it notifies me, also yes I am a pianist, kinda rusty on the classical side due to my fingers not receiving a proper training since my very childhood (when I should have been started on piano), but yeah, I know some things my fingers can't play very well

王梓岳

@Ivan E. Daza you reply so fast! you are also a pianist?

diego ferreira fernandez diego

Il joue magnifiquement bien!

Jan Marcos Kalinski

I just love the cords at the end, it is like: "I am playing smooth and nice, but from all the sudden, BAMMMMMM" :D

MegaSnake1000

Amazing!  His hands are like machines; They just go to the right keys!

Max May

@MegaSnake1000 That's the best part about playing music. It's insanely fun when your fingers "just know where to go".

Teresa Martos Gutiérrez

Omg, have you seen the final? His technique is perfect

Benoît Le Gall

Perfect !!😌✨🎶

Antonio Attisani

Fantastic! The ones who loved it please hear Maurizio Pollini playing the same.

Danny Boy

1:27 look at those octaves...just wonderful

エリック

The physical embodiment of every Butler

Maku Jimu

effortless yet very fantastic! :D

IQ

Horowitz striking the last chord: "Get off me"

Angry Face

Music is all about interpretation and expression, unless you know how to appreciate both those things, you are not a musician......

Galantski

Well done given his advanced years, but it's been played better by him and by others.

Ciro Campese

At 00.42 he is adding a tiny pause that makes his interpretation different from anyone else, it's almost jazz

MusicIsMyLife6991

Could anyone tell me how hard this piece is and how long it would take to learn? From the way I see it, there is no pattern on the right hand and it can only be learned just through patient practice.

Lyss27PIVI

love the ending horowitz is the greatest!

Thomas

suitable tempo, lyrical melody!!!!the best pianist!!!!

mitaibiru

what an artistry !!!

elizabethcorporation

holy shit... it's DIFFICULT and he is just calm... love it

Davis Robinson

For me, playing with this would be a nightmare. Every time I play a black key, I tend to move my hand inwards to reach it.

MrGer2295

So Beautiful ! Thank you very much !

infrantasi

. . . who is Wally Toscanini, daughter of Arturo! This is tame for Vlad the Impaler. There are recordings where he practically cracks the metronome in two!

randeringer

The whole piece is chock full of patterns actually. If you learn it with the right technique it's not that hard as far as hitting notes go. Playing it as well as horowitz is a different matter ;P

Terrantuladic

I love Horowitz, but only when he plays listz. He misses so many notes lol.

Gavin Matt

im beginning to learn this peace its extremely hard to be able to look like one is doing it so effortlessly like this is an amazing skill. nor do I think I would be able to. anyone who says otherwise is an idiot.

Hugo D

How did it go?

noodlery

Its because he is a showman

Mr. Coconut

That's right! I think lots of people hear the intended melody of the RH and think those are the only notes that need to be played, forgetting the accompaniment from the RH as well.

It's just one of those pieces that people can only see the difficulty IF you play it badly. To play it well you need to hide a few notes while emphasizing others, making it seem like there's a much simpler melody than there actually is

Epiccraftful

@Saved Scout nice profile pic

HipHop Anonymous

Yes, the bigger your hands, the more chords you can play, and the better form you will have when playing smaller triads and slightly bigger chords. Unfortunately I can only reach a 6th without sacrificing form.

AlainHubert

@ifelledtreebeard Just check out Valentina Lisitsa's rendition of this Etude and you'll understand what I meant by "very slight mistakes". She plays this absolutely flawlessly. But with a little less emotion.

This is a near perfect performance, I don't understand why so many people disliked.

GlynGlynn

Not at his best, but I would like to be able to play as good as that at his age!!!!

Dave

not the best comment I've seen, hoping you're not a fellow musician...

ihavevocaloid

Yeah, I did kind of realize that since he was old he wasn't playing perfectly in time either.

David Perkins

Depends what you mean by, perfectly in tine? Of course there's rubato in all good Chopin playing.... And here Horowitz' gentle flexibility majes it a playful, intimate piece. Compare Rubinstein's more rumbustious version, on YouTube, from Moscow, 1964. It IS stricter in time.

whothinksimawesome

How does he play with his fingers so outstretched?

Tan Nguyen

Wow. You're truly a legend!

demejiuk

Firstly i enjoyed this a lot I have the Vladimir Ashkenazy version and its nice to hear a contrast and see it performed.   A lot of talk of emotions, or lack of.1. Its a merry etude and i think Horwitz's interpretation is quite quirky and merry. Im not sure what kind of emotions people want to feel hearing this peice.  As for Horowitz demeanor, i think some people feel they need to be physically expressive to channel the emotions of a piece and others don't. I wonder if people just listened instead of watching they would still say it had no emotion.

Diego Gorzynski

You're right man, once i watched an interview and he said something like this: you won't see me doing this (leans back and forward) he said  one doesn't achieve any emotion by doing these kinda things. I totally agree, i hate watching pianist who draws the attention to themselves and their movements rather than their music. Of course some of them are necessary in order to get the intended sound, and Horowitz didn't need them because he played only his piano which had a different touchweight.

Papa mia

It is ego what makes one different from another. Without it every interpretation is all the same. At least that's what I think.

BeRightBach

I have little hands. Then I'm forced to play "like him", flat hands. But it definitely doesnt work xD No power and control on the last 2 fingers.... He's really great

shawntelle Jackson

Very Happy song.. Played very well

thesannie112

OMG this is soooo cool!! I LOVE Chopin!! I'll never be this good... :(

BlazeKenny

@Zaralyth Lisitsa just plays the notes. Horowitz plays it with a much more brilliant sound...

Mauricio Starosta

Very interesting! Thanks for posting!

harrykinomoto

Maybe not the most showy performances due to the lack of pedal....but it does make for interesting listening! Strongly recommended to all students of this lovely piece~

AlainHubert

Some very slight mistakes at 0:45 and 1:24, but a more subtle interpretation. Still very very nice.

Jonas Bueno

Horowitz, you own my fcking heart

Mattttsin

awesome! "truly a legend!"

Marek Williams

You cannot beat Horowitz! the greatest pianist!