Chopin's Kingdom | A Conversation At The Piano With Garrick Ohlsson

Watch Garrick Ohlsson teach the music of Chopin, exclusively on tonebase!

"My kingdom may be small, but in it I am truly king," Chopin once remarked.

Though he limited himself to composing almost exclusively for a single instrument, the piano, it is there that Chopin established himself as one of music history's most revolutionary forces.

Winner of the 1970 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Garrick Ohlsson is joined by tonebase Head of Piano Ben Laude at in Ohlsson's home studio in San Francisco, where they explore the richness and influence of Chopin's music.

Free PDF: Tips from Master Pianists — Scales & Arpeggios
Ever wished you could learn how to play scales from Chopin or Rachmaninoff? Now you can.
In this free PDF, we explore scales and arpeggios – the backbone of a pianist's technical training – from the perspectives of master pianists including Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Chopin, and Brahms.

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[ADuchessInside]

I love listening to Garrick Ohlsson talk about Chopin! Or about anything, really. What a great pianist, teacher, and person. :)

[trevjr]

How wonderful to listen to someone talk about Chopin with the reverence he deserves. When I was young I was fascinated with Scriabin and considered Chopin lightweight. Now I realize it was because of the simple pieces that were in the books I had. When I saw that movie, Impromptu, I was amazed at the beauty and sometimes ferocity in his music. I checked out everything and played it all thru, even difficult etudes I played at 100 times slower speed, whatever I could do. I begged my teacher to assign me the C# etude and spent hours trying to get my left hand to sound like a cello. I was more fascinated with the Eb minor etude and would practice it with no pedal to get the inner voices quiet. I really grew up with Bach, Beethoven and Brahms but Chopin would send me to this other world of beautiful melodies and harmonies. As much as I love Scriabin there is something in Chopin, deeper, spiritual, different from anything else quality that I really cannot describe with words, but Ohlsson certainly knows and does a great job of describing it. Great video.

[stalkerstomper]

Most people don't realize just how insanely advanced Chopin's counterpoint and use of fundamentals is within all of that creative poetry and romanticism. I'd put him on the same level of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven when it came to the use of proper fundamentals and counterpoint. The genius in his music is just how well utilized it was as to seem to be simultaneously creative and improvisatory, all the while within a fundamental framework.

[islaadele]

He has a real gift for clear communication. Wonderful.

[flylooper]

Geez, stuff like these conversations make the entire internet worth it. Thanks.

[nateben-horin]

I'm coming to really love Garrick Ohlsson through these tonebase interviews

[meredith]

Garrick Ohlsson is a man of great erudition and imagination, he describes the compositional style of Chopin with compelling insight. A fascinating interview.

[da__lang]

"Even Chopin played badly still sounds pretty good." I love that quote. In fact, I've lived by it. 😄

[Felven]

Garrick's speech and vocabulary is amazing

[genevievelovell]

This is AWESOME!!! He’s a great speaker & pianist, love his passion for Chopin!!

[stephenpopovichl]

Wow first time I have watched tonebase and the interviewer is great also. Not pretentious, knowledgeable but does monopolizes with talk. Garrick is expressive of course and great knowledge but how often do you find someone who interviews this well? I will be back to this format!!! Very enjoyable.

[ThePianoTester]

Amazing interviewer also. Very knowledgeable. Mr Ohlsson speaks for himself...

[pablojuancoru]

Thanks for this lesson about Chopin, piano and music by a true master teacher, great pianist and over all, an artist ....like Garrick Ohlsson!!

[StephenJackson]

So much for Artur Schnabel and his "right-handed genius". Well said! Well done!

[Wyatt]

I notice his piano has it’s music board pulled off… no music stand. He’s like someone doing the NYT Sunday crossword in pen. That piano has such a lyrical sound.

[multimusicstudios]

A delightful, enlightening, and educational interview on Chopin and briefs of other significant European piano music composers.

[stephenarnold]

100% excellent interview. Many thanks.

[gchang]

Amazing interview!!! Amazing musician!!!

[davidsalazar]

Maybe the only two pianist I can listening talk about music and composers all day are Andras Schiff and Garrick Ohlsson.

[kpunkt.klaviermusik]

Such insightful thoughts. There are so many connections between all the composers and their works. Everything is related. How could you play Chopin without knowing the works of Bach and Mozart? And how could you play Bach without knowing the works of Chopin...