Krystian Zimerman Plays The 3rd Ballad

I always liked hearing Zimerman on recording. Now you can see him all over the place on YouTube. The videos are very nicely produced and you see great shots of his hands. I think his technique exemplifies lessons seen on Craft of Piano. I think his hands appear small, yet he maintains an arch and plays so very strongly. I really like the way you can see how he keeps the arch open between thumb and second finger. This is one of the big omissions in my technique that Craft of Piano alerted me to. Zimerman is nice example for musicality, and he is also an instructive example pianistically. Take a look. This is my favorite of the Ballads.

OK here we go... Zimmerman's playing is of course beautiful and musical. His mastery of the Ballade is consummate. But I am going to go out on a limb here and say that this is NOT skeletality as I understand it or teach it. It LOOKS good, the shape of his hand... you mentioned his arch which seems to be in fine form. But look closely and listen closely as well. If he's using his skeleton to generate tone, why does he have to play so many notes staccato that aren't marked? He is constantly whipping his hand away from the board, supposedly to free his arm and the sound - but to free it from what? In skeletal playing you just touch the key, get the sound you want, and stay neutral. There's no need to leave... Also if you look really closely, occasionally you will see the arch cave a miniscule amount, literally for a microsecond, and then recover. This is the incorrect use of relaxation - it makes a 'nice' tone because you don't 'hit' the key, but the moment's loss of structural connection reduces the amount and variety of tone available to you. Then in very loud passages he will occasionally come off the bench - a sure sign that internally he is not using his skeleton as effectively as he seems to be. All the effort to lift his body off the bench is effort that is NOT going into his sound - it is actually ROBBING him of his capacity for producing big tone. Look at all those arm and body movements in the closing measures - it's all so dramatic but the effect is external, all those moves do nothing whatsoever for his sound. They are actually compensation for an unconsciously perceived LACK of connection - he has to make those big moves in an unsuccessful attempt to GET connected. Also, his basic posture is ever so slightly angled away from the piano - he doesn't have that characteristic slight forward lean that you recognize with Horowitz or Richter. This is one contributing factor to his 'light' sound. All these concerns make me question whether he is really skeletally connected, even though the external appearance of his hand shape is pretty good. Musical results of non-skeletal playing This appearance of skeletality without the substance manifests in the musical result as well. His sound is really beautiful, but to my mind unvariegated - the characters of the different sections of this Ballade are a little too uniform for my taste. It's nice music, but where's the story?! How about the metronomic regularity of the music from the C sharp minor culmination through the run home to A flat major: there are a FEW points at which he studiously inserts his rubato, but overall he plays like a clock ticking. But this is passionate music, there should be an eruption of eroticism going on here! SORRY!!! Who am I to criticize such a talented and respected colleague! I know this post will tick some people off, but I have a problem: I always say what I think, even when it looks like it's going to get me in trouble! AFF

You know, my brother who plays piano as a second instrument (he is primarily a drummer) noticed the caving in you mentioned, while I had missed it. Those are several very interesting points to consider. I'll check it out again and see if I can discern the things you brought up. Then I'll see if I can find the same things in other pianists I see, too. (I marvel that YouTube makes it so easy to conduct wide-reaching surveys.)

Ain't YouTube wunnerful!

Then in very loud passages he will occasionally come off the bench - a sure sign that internally he is not using his skeleton as effectively as he seems to be. All the effort to lift his body off the bench is effort that is NOT going into his sound - it is actually ROBBING him of his capacity for producing big tone. Look at all those arm and body movements in the closing measures - it's all so dramatic but the effect is external, all those moves do nothing whatsoever for his sound. They are actually compensation for an unconsciously perceived LACK of connection - he has to make those big moves in an unsuccessful attempt to GET connected. There seems to be a growing trend in concerting that the performance is becoming less . That is, pianists are swaying around more, making faces, affected hand gestures (Ones are not related to technique), etc. and making less music. It seems, Zimmerman here may be (Probably subconciously) falling victim to this. That said;

Hi Javacis, Nice Vers la Flamme with Gorowitz! Idono if I agree you should have seen some of the performers in the fifties-sixties with their hands more in the air than on the keyboard. In my wiew musicians are much better educated today generally speaking and all these competitions keeps pianists in shape for good or for bad. But great sound is a rare specimen these days why I don't know maybe out of riskaversion or change of demand from audiences.

There seems to be a growing trend in concerting that the performance is becoming less musical, and more theatrical. That is, pianists are swaying around more, making faces, affected hand gestures (Ones are not related to technique), etc. and making less music. It seems, Zimmerman here may be (Probably subconciously) falling victim to this. It's not that he falls into it unconsciously, he is too experienced and thoughtful a musician for that. I believe he cultivates it intentionally because he really experiences it as the best musical and technical solution. His pianistic universe does not contain the concept "skeletal connection" and so he uses other means to cultivate what he thinks is a free relationship to the keyboard which results, to a certain extent yes, in an alive and freely resonating sound - it's not all bad! I am just dissatisfied because to my mind it is limited, and I believe skeletality would free him from that limitation. AFF

I've Zimerman's Chopin Ballads on DVD for a few years. His playing is fine but not particularly moving. And I don't feel good about his motion which I think is not very efficient (???). He uses large arm movements and then right before he presses the keys, he captures his hands quite tight and slow it down. Also, I'm not absolutely sure but I believe he "presses" too much as he plays, and that disrrupted his arch sometimes. Any comments??

Thank God somebody agrees with me, I am sitting here waiting to get yelled at because I dare to criticize such a great pianist... Guess I can breathe easy for a little while longer... AFF

Thank God somebody agrees with me, I am sitting here waiting to get yelled at because I dare to criticize such a great pianist... Guess I can breathe easy for a little while longer... AFF I say, since this the "Piano master video discussion group", who is giving the criticism and who is receiving it is unimportant: All that matters is that it's justified, since we're on a level playing field now. With that in mind, I listened to his chopin ballades 4 & 1; and I think that whenever the music gets the least bit "exciting", he starts playing as fast and as loud as possible and ruins all the climaxes.