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+1 right here. He has one of the most unique Chopin Etudes sets I've ever heard.

Are you kidding? No.

That piece exemplifies what I meant about how technical requirements can get in the way of musical expression, and vice versa.

{HUMOR INTENDED}

IOS Player. Have you put in the time to master the classics of the piano repertoire?

The time required to be the best player here is measured in years. Most serious pianists have note-o-meters on their pianos and don't consider their time well spent until they reach 1,000,000 notes in a practice session. You have evidence of note playing ability but who is the composer? You. Give me a break. Have you ever written anything down for peer review? I didn't think so. All we can do is judge your "works" by the sounds you make and frankly... you seem to be winging it.

If I'm wrong sue me (or provide the PDF's) and stop harassing serious musicians with your fool's errand.

{HUMOR OFF}

This is the wrong place to be the agent provocateur. I'll catch you on the other Forum.

But I do think your creativity and ability to generate prose is impressive.

I like your music and wish I had spent the correct amount of note-o-meter sessions to get close to what you can do on a piano. But it's not the type of music a classical musician would appreciate or want to emulate. How can you compare artists that can't agree on what excellence means anyway? Is it the execution and interpretation of a masterwork or playing something spontaneously that you and no other have played before?

Who's the better ball player? Michael Jordan, Bath Ruth or David Beckham? Wrong! It's Marty Hogan (my racketball hero).

{HUMOR INTENDED}

I see LOS Player as a philosopher and musician who
would like to break down the walls of the ivory tower
we classical pianists build for ourselves. Good for you
Los Player !

Well, I took some time off from PW to reflect on this thread and would like to say the following:

1. Frederic Chiu is a mindblower! He is better (Off the scale) than me ( not to mention Prokofiev) I never would have discovered him. The apparent ease he plays with is staggering and helps one to be relaxed hearing the intense music somehow. Maybe a little more rubato, ms gooddog?

2. What I had envisioned when I posted the thread was a dozen posts like these, all in one place, demonstrating the remarkable talents of some forum members. For the listening experience, but also to appreciate the range of abilities present here and the value they bring to the community. Maybe even for them to come forward a bit more to share their insights.

3. I thought my outrageous (and, hopefully, appreciated humorous absurdity) would provoke a considered discussion of what "the best" is.... That certainly there are many who are, paradoxically, "the best" and what the elements of being the best are, both subjectively and objectively. All musicians, not just classically trained ones, can appreciate this as I would.

4. Thank you, Lady Bird, your depiction was indeed part of my intent. I would venture to say I have listened to and loved beyond measure, at least as much classical music as the average member here. I studied classical music early on and Chopin profoundly altered my outlook in expressing feeling in my playing. Though I became a jazz player, my roots are in something more "serious" (?). But, as Lady Bird understood, I have been truly put off by the "Ivory tower" approach she mentioned when I participated on other classical fora and perceived the elitist and, to my mind, often self destructive, constructs of classical institutions, performers and educators. Students and teachers areforced to submit to these establishments, as well as an audience that often has motives for their presence other than pure musical enjoyment. I had hoped PW as a classical might be different, and perhaps it is.

Here is a strange example on the opposite end of the spectrum:
I live in Istanbul. Recently it was reported that the leader here was going to attend a Mozart concert (a first!). An eminent actor made the unfortunate mistake that hearing such music and perhaps having a glass of beer would make a vast difference in the leader's outlook.
Well, that is double barreled, as the consumption of alcholol is prohibited for Muslim's, but also the ideology ( ideology?!) behind western music is aleo somehow subversive. The leader responded, incredibly, that Dutch a comment was indeed subversive and no leader should be subjected to such fascistic remarks. Fascistic! Mozart! So you can see here how music can inadvertently become a pawn in a political context. Mozart for godsake!

Historically, I think we all might agree that classical music, as the avowed pursuit of the intelligentsia, can be considered the "other" by autocrats and bigoted factions of the population. That it is a banner, along with the love of books and the free exchange of ideas, that haters of freedom desire to pull down. So why must the "serious" music establishment further enlarge that "otherness" by declaring sacrosanct conditions for participating in the pleasures based on the commonality of pure enjoyment? I am a cosmopolitan person, and reasonably intelligent, and if I can find a distaste for the rigidity of those who think classical music is some kind of religion, requiring educator priests, a catechism, and rigorous standards leading to often undeserved rewards and equally undeserved punishments for those who defy the status you,Nathan how much more so for those who only bring fear and hatred to the table? Does not the classical music establishment isolate themselves more and more from the common man with this attitude. And certainly, given the opportunity, will not the ordinary individual be borne aloft by musical greatness as much as the dedicated aficionado? Musical genius is not about technical prowess, evolving the art form, and engaging the elite as it is about its ability to reach something motive and profound in all of us, even across cultures. It belongs to all of us. Why damage it with undercurrents of theoretical complexity only understood by those who understand proper pedaling? Is it so serious after all? Who made it that way? As far as I understand it, music is what unites us, not separates us.

I feel it even on this thread. How could I, a mere jazz musician (and why anyone who has even attempted to understand the depth, evolution, all source embracing, complexity, compassion and intensity of the form can disparage it is as something of lesser value is beyond me... Except that people demean and fear stuff they do not understand or cannot feel) how would I dare to say something on the classical forum. Indeed I was told to go elsewhere!

5. Finally ( thank god he is going to shut up!) I am a writer as well as a musician. When I present an idea I wish to express it in the most compelling and layered way that occurs to me. This post was impulsive and I knew it would be provocative. I could have said: Please post videos or audio clips of the best guys and gals on the forum! But it seemed there was so much more to the conversation. I could not resist! Regards, Mike

I suspected the thread was posted in a tongue-in-cheek manner; meant to be part comedy, part discussion. Obviously the OP was making a purely braggadocios claim. And it did serve to highlight and give credit to some of the best here.



Mark...how did you get an image to post that was outside of the PianoWorld image library? I have never been able to get this to work! Has the technology been updated?

Funnily enough I thought it a good idea to post this on the 'other forum' was because the music played by the OP was non-classical, and kind of matched the heading of the other forum - didn't really think it was ivory tower stuff.... That said, there is an element of 'snobbishness' associated with classical music, and it's rather unfortunate. It reminds me of Columbo (you know, Peter Falk) where the classical musician is rich, lives in a big house, has a grand piano, is dead snobby (and egocentric) and isn't impressed by Peter Falk's overcoat or his rendering of chop-sticks - with all these traits he is evidently the baddy. Some of us ordinary folk like classical music, play it (badly in my case, but that's another story) and prefer it to other forms of music.
I have, incidentally (oh dear, should I say this?) come across what I would call 'intellectual snobbishness' associated with jazz - i.e. low-brows like me just don't understand / appreciate it. Fair enough!
Of course, the truth is, that there are lots of different people in the world and it isn't always sensible to categorise them based on their musical taste!

It feels funny to be asked about anything like this because I must be among the least sophisticated people here about anything like that.
I didn't even know there's a PianoWorld image library!

All you need to do is, first of all, don't be on the 'simple' reply box (at the bottom of this page) but on the "Use Full Editor" page, which you get by clicking the 'button' on the bottom right of this page. Maybe you're doing that already but I'm saying it just in case you're not familiar with that.

Then, you'll see that above the reply box there's a bunch of icons. The one that looks like some kind of scene with a blue background (I guess it's the sky, can't really tell what that whole thing is supposed to look like) ....click that icon.
Then, you get a little box that says "Enter the URL of the image you wish to display." Just do that, then click "OK," and you now have the image in your post.

EXCEPT, there are some kinds of images and URL's that don't work. I'm never sure if it will or not till I try it, but it seems like any URL that ends with "jpg" will work, also a couple of other common suffixes for pics.
You can do it with almost anything you find online.
I've never tried to do it with something of my own; it's always something from the internet.

Thanks, Mark, I’ve done what you suggested in the past but not recently. Mostly with my own images though....maybe there was an issue there. They were hosted on google, picasa, or Dropbox - maybe that’s the issue.

Back to the issue at hand - I can almost guarantee that I’m the best player on Piano World that is sending this exact message from a lounge chair at the beach in South Florida who is wearing a blue shirt and had a spinach, tomato and mushroom omelet for brunch this morning and who is listening to a Beethoven Sonata on an iPhone as I am typing. Almost.

What a thread)

Improvised

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs-cB01eskQ

Dave Frank
NYC

Pete, you are absolutely right. There are some jazz players and jazzophiles who believe their judgements and opinions are like money in the bank. The more they have the richer they think they are. But jazz is not nearly as institutionalized as the classical world as far as I know. It is very broad in what it assimilates as source material and there is no "standard" other than the standards in the jazz repertoire.
And jazz, which is a slang verb meaning... well, you know, implies a certain sense of fun that includes many pleasures, including purely intellectual approaches. So the environment is very conducive to a lot of people and includes juke joints ( do they still exist?) to concert halls.
Jazz has its own growth issues but they are different than what I am describing here,

Cmb13 you are Spartacus.

Dave that was a terrific stretch. And I loved watching the audience. But aren't you on the wrong forum? Still, if you were in your right mind when you posted, I thank you for it and for your willingness to commingle, at least for a brief shining moment, two great musical tributaries, classical and jazz.

Isn't this more like it? Sharing, in good humor, as opposed to confrontation or denigration? There is a lot of best here at PianoWorld.

@Mark_C:

A very easy way in which to post pictures / images is here:

https://imgur.com/

Just keep in mind your pictures / images will always be hosted by the site forever unless you decide to have them deleted but you have to make note of (or, copy) the specific website URL (for deletion) when you first post your items.

Just click on "New post" highlighted in the green button / tab in top left corner of the screen to add your pictures / images.

Yes, I am the best player on this forum. Not only that, but I am the best player who has ever existed in the history of the universe. I am 100% sure of this.

Which universe?

Good question.

How do you like these Chopsticks?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPzjHgMENrc


wish i could do this!

How about the Van Cliburn, next competition 2020. I believe I read a post where a member of this forum competed. The international competition takes 48 people.

https://www.cliburn.org/2020-amateur-competition/

Well, I can eat the nuts with the chopsticks!