Here is a video of Chopin’s Etude Op 25 No 1 that I played in a master class for Andrej Jasinski, the legendary teacher of Krystian Zimerman, among others. Watch the choreographic teaching style. I think his dancing and gestures replace the teacher yelling “Top voice, top voice!” and other instructions. Jasinski explained about Chopin’s style, texture, voicing… in a believable way. He is one of the most “Chopinesque” pianists/teachers around.
I liked Jasinski a lot as a teacher, more than others I played for… I like teaching by exemplifying different works and describing how similar or different they are. He is a great “exemplifier” (and I don’t mean the dancing, lol), and made connections with some five mazurkas, and even Mozart’s K491.
By the way, my favorite performance of this etude is by Stanislav Bunin. You can check him out on YouTube.
At the same master class I also played the Nocturne Op 62 No 2 (a much better piece), without choreography.
Jasinski conducted a series of master classes as guest of the Aldwell Center, at the Conservatory of the Jerusalem Academy of Music. The Aldwell Center offers young pianists a rich program of workshops and master classes with some of the greatest pianists and teachers alive.
Thanks, Ariel, for including me in your despatch list. It is a real pleasure to browse your website and blog.
Hi Ariel,
What a lovely site and blog! So on top of all the things you do so well (Jazz, piano and violin playing, composing…what did I forget?) you also write beautifully about music! I truly enjoyed watching the video of your master class with Jasinski. He was marvelous in the lecture/concert on the Chopin mazurkas that he gave in the Chopin symposium, where he danced some of the mazurkas, but I couldn’t imagine how expressive a pinky can be… (of course, yours too!) Sorry I missed that master class and thank you for posting it on your site! Look forward to explore more of your site and blog… Tamara