Welcome to another episode of TwoSet Oui Oui!
That's right, you guessed it,
we have here Sophie Oui Oui.
Oui!!!
(both) Oui!!!!!
For those of you who don't know,
Sophie toured with us on our tour in...
...2019, and 18, and 17.
- Oh my god it's been ages. - Wow.
So Sophie has picked 6 pieces that
she has recommended for all of us to listen to.
'Cause we did one recently on the violin,
where we did 8 classical pieces for the violin,
and you guys loved it, wanted to hear more,
and we thought,
- "Why not do one for piano?" - Mm-hmm.
But, we're not necessarily experts in piano music,
which is why we have Sophie Oui Oui...
Damn.
...who will be telling us her pick,
of what she thinks are the most epic
piano performances out there.
You should've given me 50.
Well, if you like this video, and want a part 2,
let us know!
Piano gang people, here we go.
Pah!
So, the first recording we're going to listen to is
Khatia Buniatishvili, playing the...
...Mephisto Waltz from Liszt.
Ooh.
That's the first time I've heard the names.
This part, is like, so fast.
It's like jumping, jumping...
It's so clean.
Her hands look like they're very agile and light.
- Yeah. - Just bouncing around.
Woo!
I don't even know what to say.
Have you learned that piece?
I'm learning it now.
Yeah.
For me, listening to that is like,
I think this is something that applies to violin as well,
all instruments.
It's like even though you can clearly hear
there's so much going on, it never...
...sounds like a challenging etude.
[She] made it look easy.
- *chuckles* Yeah. - Made it look like, "Oh you can do it."
- "If you try really hard, you can do it." - Yeah.
Yeah, that's what she does so...well,
there's like... *pfft*
I find...when you hear a really pro pianist play like,
something so loud, and also like so intense,
it doesn't sound like, bangy, you know what I mean?
That's what we all work on as pianists, you...
...you know, play really loud, but not...
...bangy, so you can't listen to it.
How do you work on that?
Like what...what is it that makes that...
- ...if you— - Listen.
Ooh!
I mean, probably with every instrument,
it's finding the balance of the intensity,
but not being...
...tense.
- That's a good way to put it. - Yeah.
- She looks super not tense during that too. She's like... - Yeah, she's just like...
Okay, next one....
Horowitz,
one of the old masters...
*gasp*
Yeah, I was gonna say,
it just looks like the hand was just floating on the keyboard,
- there's no movement or... - Yeah.
So efficient!
- Yeah! - That's like no wasted movement.
He's not even using his body to show,
he's like, "My fingers will speak for themselves."
Yeah.
The music's just...
...happening.
Yes, happening. That's a nice way to put it.
I'm also very...
...impressed, I mean,
don't take this the wrong way, but...
...when it comes to colours,
piano is...I find...
...harder to make...
...that many kind of variety of colour changes than the violin,
but yeah.
- That was so colourful. - I always thought of that as well.
- For pianos, like how do they even change the colour? - Yeah.
- It's like magic, it's like...magic trick. - It's like a...
It's like somehow with their fingers, boing.
With the violin you have like the contact point,
- you have vibrato, you have bow speed, - Yeah.
This...it's just these little...
Yeah, but that's true,
'cause on the piano, like you press the key
and a sound comes out,
and a lot of people, they like, just play the piano,
but you actually have to try to imitate other instruments,
or you know make...
...magic, 'cause there's so many different sounds
you can get out of a piano.
This is the amount of colour I have in my violin playing.
No, that's not true...
*laughs*
- Just like, one shade. - *chuckles*
What's mine? Like black.
*laughs*
- I wanna listen to it again, if you don't mind. - Yeah, yeah.
Whoa.
- Like what is that, what happened there? - What is that? Like—
- Can you tell us violin plebeians how he did that? - Okay, okay, okay.
Did you guys hear that?
What note was that?
- What note was it? - The B flat.
Yeah, listen to that B flat.
It just changed, and noth–
nothing changed in that image.
- Yeah, his body didn't...change. - It's like a still shot.
Yeah, how does a pianist...pianist do that?
I think first of all, you have to...
...hear it in your head.
- I knew she was gonna say that...! - Yeah...!
"Listen!"
"Yeah, listen!"
"You gotta hear and pre-empt it!"
No, 'cause—
I mean, if you can't hear that yourself in your head,
you can't produce it. It doesn't happen.
That's true.
- You have to imagine it. - Yeah.
So it's like the sound comes before you even play it,
right?
Yeah.
You have to imagine what you want it to sound like,
and then your fingers respond.
See if you...
...recognise the person playing?
Does it not say in the title?
It does, but...
*laughs*
Okay, we won't look at it.
Oh, I saw it, I saw it.
So...
Julia Fischer.
(both) Whoa.
Also guys,
you know Julia Fischer also plays violin really well,
- so uh... - Yeah.
She's a soloist as a pianist and a violinist.
There's only two people I know in this world
- that plays violin and piano both at like uh, - Yeah.
- this level. - Yeah.
And one's Julia Fischer, and one's Sophie Oui Oui.
FYI, Sophie plays the violin!
- There's this bit in our old show, - Ohhh!!!
- where Sophie gets the violin, and like...owns us. - Oh, in Vienna!
Everyone expected her to just be a pianist,
and the she grabs the violin, like...
Everyone's like, "Whoa!!!!!"
What made you put this on your top 10?
Personally this recording is kind of...
...special to me,
because I do play two instruments,
and there are always many people who say,
"No, that's not possible.
You have to choose one or whatever."
And then I'm like, "There!"
- *chuckles* - "It's possible!"
"That one!"
- She's proved to all the haters! - Yeah!
For Julia, would you say she's...
...primarily a violinist,
primarily a pianist, or equal in both?
I think she plays more concerts on the violin, for sure.
Mmm. And how about you, Sophie?
Can't say.
*chuckles*
- Her teachers' like, watching, like... - *laughs*
"Hmm..."
- That's true! - No... - Yeah...!
"Your answer determines what's gonna happen
to your next lesson, hmm."
They're like competing.
*chuckles*
Wow, must be nice to be so talented that
the teachers are competing.
- "No, come to my lesson more!" - Like "How much did you—
"No, no, come to my lesson more!"
So one piano teacher like,
"So how much did you practice on the violin last week?"
*laughs*
Well I think in this live recording,
she played...I think first half,
Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto,
- and second half, Grieg Piano Concerto, yeah. - No...!
Whoa!
I wonder if she practices 80 hours a day.
Dude, she would have to!
Alright, to put that into perspective,
that's like seeing an NBA basketball player
also be in the FIFA World Cup.
- Yeah...! - *laughs*
And they're playing one round after the other.
-Yeah...! - It's like the first 45 minutes are NBA,
- and then the halftime, they go for FIFA World Cup. - Yeah.
Mmm. That's good.
Damn.
I could listen to the whole thing.
- Yeah, it should just be this video. - Dude, yeah!
- "Just go watch this." - Just—yeah,
This is just—
We don't even explain it,
- There's just the whole 3 minutes. - Yeah...!
Just there.
- Dude, I got goosebumps at the beginning. - Same, same.
- You got goosebumps as well, right? - Same, yeah.
Yeah, frickin' hell.
I know, yeah.
I love this concerto, and I love this recording, like,
whenever I'm in the train or something and I want to...
...feel it, I listen to this.
Something about those...
...is it semiquavers?
- It doesn't just sound like a bunch of quick notes. - Yeah.
- There's an emotional intensity to it. - Yeah.
- It's like... - Yeah.
it's like someone's just constantly moving,
- Yeah. - and it's...
One of the things why this concerto,
or the beginning is so amazing, it's...
...you, as a pianist,
and I really want to play this with orchestra,
because you, as a pianist,
you're sitting in the middle of this massive orchestra,
who's just producing this long line of massive sound,
and you're just there, and you get to play your...
...semiquavers.
And those parts for me, as a pianist,
those are always the most fun,
where like the orchestra as the melody or something,
and you just...kind of play along, and...
Yeah, he...does that really well.
Mixing in the sound...into the sound of the orchestra.
'Cause that...if you play it like...
..."I'm a soloist, look at me"... - It's not good.
- Yeah, that wouldn't work. - That wouldn't work.
- Mess up the melody...yeah. - Yeah. *chuckles*
- But then if you just... - Yeah.
if you just play too like an accompanist...
- What's the point? - ...without...
Yeah, then it's also like,
"What are you doing?"
(both) Yeah.
*chuckles*
Whoa, dude.
Dude, he's so loud!
So massive!
- Bro, his hards are like... - Yeah.
Boom!
Yeah.
- Bong! - I can't tell if it's 'cause they mic'd it that way,
- or if he's actually just sounding massive. - Yeah.
No, believe me.
I heard him live recently, in Vienna,
and I've never heard him before,
and I have never heard anyone play that loud.
- *chuckles* - Real—oh okay, well there you go. - It was—no, it was—
It was so impressive,
and he played so loud and you think it's the maximum,
and then he gets even louder,
like how does he do that?
Wow.
How many piano strings does he break?
I don't know, but the thing is
if you play with the right kind of quality
you don't really break so many strings.
Well there you go.
If you're breaking piano strings,
- apparently it means you're taking... - Yeah...! *chuckles*
No, I don't want to say that! But...
*laughs*
Let's just say that...
...the percentage of them breaking...
...more often, if you hit more.
That was not English, but yeah, you get it.
- Yeah. - That was a very safe way to put it.
- Yeah. - Percentage.
- Yeah. Percentage. - It's all statistics.
- Yeah. - Probability.
- We're not telling you percentage, just... - Yeah.
...a percentage.
Okay. So the last one is...
...Grigory Sokolov, the...
..."master" master,
of piano playing.
Dang.
He plays once a year in Vienna, and it's like...
...sold out to the last seat,
on the stage, everywhere.
He comes out, it's really dark in the hall,
The lights are so dim, you almost don't see anything,
and it's just him,
no show, no nothing, and he just...
...makes music.
He is probably my favourite—
or one of my favourite pianists.
That—I learnt that piece before on piano.
Really?
Yeah.
Like an easier version, or exactly that?
I remember opening the book, it's the first piece,
- and I was like there's got this crossing... - Yeah.
Uh, what do you call it again?
- Hand crossing. - Hand crossing, yeah.
The first time I did hand crossing I was like,
"Yeah, I'm gonna learn it!"
That's why, that's why I know it.
Sophie's like, "Really? You can play it?"
I couldn't play probably.
I'll tell you one thing, it sounded um...
To me, my plebeian opinion,
which doesn't matter,
it sounded a lot...
...lighter and brighter than what I expected to hear
from Bach on the piano.
Like crystal balls.
- Alright, I'll stop embarrassing myself. - *chuckles* Yeah, she's like...
*chuckles*
*laughs*
Um...
Is there like a...
I mean, there probably is, but...
I'm trying to...
Uh...I can't.
Caught on my words.
But you know, like how in violin playing, there's...
...such a big spectrum
when it comes to interpreting Bach.
- Rolling chords, tuning down a semitone, no vibrato... - No vibrato...
How do pianos even approach that?
I don't think it's quite as extreme as it is on the violin,
but there's a lot of questioning
whether you play with pedal or not,
or the articulation with legato or not,
or you know.
'Cause the modern pianos are so different.
Or you played on a cembalo.
Well, there you go.
What was your favourite, Brett?
I think the uh...
I mean, I love all the pianists, don't get me wrong.
You guys are all amazing.
I'd say that Kissin one.
- I was thinking Kissin or Horowitz. - Yeah.
Holo...Horowitz...
But not necessarily the player,
also the piece, dude, just...
- Yeah, it's true, yeah, yeah. - Beautiful.
- Beautiful piece. - Yeah.
Thank you for introducing us,
and everyone watching, guys.
if you enjoyed this video, uh,
let us know, we'll do a part 2.
Because Sophie has another like, 500 recordings,
- Yeah...! *chuckles* - that she wanted to add to this list.
But we didn't have time today.
Thank you Sophie Oui Oui,
- anything you would like to say? - Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you for watching.
Subscribe, and...
...go practice, I guess.
*laughs*
"I guess."
Didn't Sophie say she wants to play the Rachmaninoff?
Orchestras out there, hire her!
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, she wants to play the Rachmaninoff! - Yeah!
Alright guys, please like and subscribe,
and we'll see you guys the next time.