Stravinsky: Three Movements from Petrushka (Won Kim, Ullman)

Stravinsky’s joyous & psychedelically colourful transcription of 3 Movements from Petrushka. I’d heard some of Stravinsky’s other piano music before I got around to this, & didn't get the impression he was a terribly good composer for the instrument – but by the time I finished with this, I was like: Yeah, alright, he's a genius at this too. Just think of the number of textures here that you find basically nowhere else – the rapidfire planing chords at the beginning of the Russian Dance (weird to use the term planing, since the technique is used in such a drastically different way from Debussy), the bassoon line that peeps out from the middle of the texture at 0:55, the muted chordal tremolos at the beginning of The Shovetide Fair, the shy oboe at 8:44, the exuberant canon over the E pedal at 14:01, & all those wild passages of bright, obsessively folkish counterpoint (the 5 main melodies in The Shovetide Fair are derived from Russian folk songs, it turns out). And’s it’s not just about these moments – the whole piece just reverberates with such an unusual & compelling style – percussive & anti-lyrical yet intensely melodic, with long passages constructed from the repetition of tiny motivic cells. Plus there’s the lovely harmony too – from the lydian/dorian colour at the beginning (which then slips right to the opposite end of the dark/bright spectrum by deploying the Locrian #2 at 0:20 – the E seems tonicized in the RH, but there’s also that Bb in the LH), the dirty chords punctuating the end of the Russian Dance, the ecstatic 7th chords at 9:13 (when the violins let the melody loose), the tritone-ized folk tune at 9:50 – all great stuff.

[AshishXiangyiKumar]

Won Kim
00:00 – Danse Russe (Russian Dance)
02:44 – Chez Pétrouchka (Petrushka's Room)
07:34 – La semaine grasse (The Shrovetide Fair)

Ullman
16:18 – Danse Russe (Russian Dance)
18:58 – Chez Pétrouchka (Petrushka's Room)
23:54 – La semaine grasse (The Shrovetide Fair)

Won Kim has a brilliant, hard-edged approach to the work, with some beautifully crisp articulation and surefooted handing of some of the most diabolical contrapuntal passages (2:10, 10:34). Ullman has a more generous & impressionist approach, dwelling more on the narrative nature of certain passages (21:11), & magicking up some gorgeous soundscapes (see e.g., the luminous halo of sound at 23:54).

[tchaffman]

0:07 I realized at the glissando how unique it is to hear the sound of the hands in the background moving around the piano in recordings

[radudeATL]

To be able to play this music with this degree of precision and accuracy is mind-blowing.

[na-kun]

0:21 chords create such strange and impossibly good harmony

[notmytempo]

2:10 Unbelievable brilliance and clarity of counterpoint. You look up a limitless open night sky, the cosmos is on display shooting stars flash and dash across your vision.

[nemo]

Even in this piano version, Stravinsky's massive dynamic bombs can still be observed. This man was a wild genius.

[lucasamory]

What a way to return! We've all missed you immensely Ashish!

[johnchessant]

1:15 Rite of Spring!
5:30 Milhaud's Scaramouche!
8:16 Enescu's Suite No. 2!
8:42 Stravinsky's Symphony No. 1!
13:07 Poulenc Sonata for Four Hands!
15:12 Rite of Spring!

[Sam-zjmw]

There is a minute or so in here, 11:14 - 12:15 which is staggering. The clarity. The glory.

[iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiivy]

I have a book with this in it. I first saw it when I was about 13 and I was struck by feelings of amazement and abject horror when seeing something like this. Thanks for the upload!

[adanmartinezpiano]

I have heard this before but never looked at the sheet music. Looks intimidating as hell!!

Edit: A letter

[footlessgums]

My my, such clarity! Won Kim really does a splendid job here. I feel every slight, wooden nuance of Petrushka's movements here. Oh what a tragic story though. The sorrow unrequited love can bring

[CameronGuarino]

This channel should be the entire website

[FlorianBriegel]

Mesmerising performance by Won Kim. Suits Stravinsky‘s writing for piano imo. I enjoyed it very much.

[dedede]

they performed russian dance with a level of precision i didnt even think was possible, amazing

[adrianomeis]

I’ve loved this music since always, every single note, every single melody, rhythm and different sounds. But the final remains for me something mysterious. Perhaps I wanted that that the last dance could not have an end

[AgnesRonan]

So glad to see another video from Ashish! I really think this channel helps expose new people to classical music. Without this channel I might never have discovered so many pieces I now love dearly.

[lygazvbx]

Won Kim’s performance at 12:31 is just amazing

[XavierMacX]

Two great interpretations of one of the most difficult solo pieces in the rep. Having practiced (but never performed) most of this, Won Kim's clarity and voicing is kind of unreal. This is especially true if you understand the mental and physical implications of what you're seeing. And no... most of the difficulty doesn't come from all the black on the page or the three (sometimes four) staves, although it definitely adds to it.


I'd put this up here with Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit and Barber's Sonata as some of the most difficult solo music to pull off well. None of those are even in the top ten most difficult piano pieces, but probably at least top twenty/thirty.

[fazergazer]

As always the challenge is to being out the central themes against a daunting and dense background of technical filigree. Syncopated minimalism. Each pianist accomplishes all this with sensitivity and requisite bravado. Technical capacity to spare. Musical clarity and precision. Each is masterful and memorable performance setting the bar high for any mere mortals who would take on this stupendous challenge!