Chopin's 1st Ballade. One of the most beautiful and substantial works in the entire solo piano repertoire, and the piece of his most dearest to me. Although a bit of craziness would have been fun (and... is coming...), hitting 1M subscribers after only starting my channel 10 months ago is still so hard to believe, and the piece closest to my heart - dedicated to you as a token of gratitude - was only piece I felt fit to celebrate the 1M milestone. Thank you for 1M ♥

The fact that you saved this for your 1 million special says a lot about you as a pianist. Such an awesome choice. Brilliantly performed. Now go celebrate! Congrats, Rousseau!

Have you seen the film The Pianist? I still get shivers thinking about the Ballade scene...

“Spring, the season I met you, is coming. A spring without you. . . . . Is coming”🕊

"I am, I was a pianist" that scene always makes me cry

-What do you do? -I am... I was a pianist.

Chopin died at 39, imagine what he could’ve compose if he would’ve lived a longer life.

*_"Maybe...just maybe, the light can reach even the bottom of a dark ocean"._*

The hardest part about learning this piece is trying not to cry while listening , change my mind.

I feel ashamed for people who expected for Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 and didn't enjoy this beautiful piece

The time has come for another _special_ video, see you in 24 hours!!!

Rousseau is absolutely LEGENDARY for putting no ads in this beautiful piece of music! Ballade No. 1 by Chopin is one of my favorite pieces, thank you. I hope you hit 5M soon. I know this was 4 years ago, sorry If I'm too late.

This must be my favorite piece of all time. The fact that Chopin composed this masterpiece at 21 years old is absolutely unbelievable. The part at 7:48 must be the most beautiful and epic part I've heard on piano, very complex and with plenty of notes which match perfectly with each other. Truly a magnificent piece, congrats to Rousseau for playing it so well. I hope I'll be able to do the same in a couple of years.

Don't lie. This isn't your first time here. And if it is, it probably won't be your last one either.

YESSS MY BODY IS READY.

Came here after watching Your Lie in April. Years before watching the show and even knowing of it's existence this was already my favourite Chopin piece and one of my favourite pieces of music in general. I am probably in the minority for this because I knew about the piece before knowing about the anime and I think that most people who know both (And watched the show) got to know about this amazing piece from there. It definitely now has these new added memories with it that I will always think about when listening to it. Wonderful piece used in a wonderful show.

I've finally been able to play this memorized, and I just performed it at a charity concert at school today :D

Ready for round 2?

Beethoven ALWAYS SOUND LIKE he's GOING TO PUSH SOMEONE OFF A CLIFF CHOPIN ALWAYS SOUNDS LIKE he is the one being pushed

I've listened to a lot of music but that recapitulation of the second theme from 4:48 to 5:10 is truly one of the most beautiful and simultaneously dramatic passages in all of music. The first time I heard it I became obsessed with this piece, and even though I've heard it so many hundreds of times its beauty never wears out.

april again...

Rousseau, you deserve an enormous congratulations for this achievement. Watching you grow online has been an amazing inspiration to aim for the same! What you do is truly incredible. The 1st ballade is one of my favourite piano pieces too, so I'm doubly happy to see you perform it! Here's to the next million! (we expect it to be soon...)

A "No. 1" for 1,000,000 and then a "No. 2" for...?

I keep coming back to listen to this beautiful piece of art. Thank you Rousseau, it's like a breath off fresh air after a hard day's labor. I hope you are alright. May you eventually keep uploading. May the Lord keep you and bless you.

The part at 3:47 always makes me feel like I’m so at peace with myself! Such a beautiful sound!

You did it, you utter maniac!

Doctor: You have 10 minutes to live... Me:

Hey. I know you probably won’t read this, but I genuinely want to say thank you I suffer from bipolar disorder and I’m currently having a manic episode, I tried so many things to calm myself down but to no avail I can’t play the piano right now as it’s 3 in the morning Then I remembered your videos and remembered that it used to calm me down during panic attacks, I decided to give it a shot and holy hell I feel less energised now, thank you so so so much, you have no idea how grateful I am as manic episodes can be both physically and mentally painful for me You’re doing god’s work and I can’t thank you enough

for some reason every video he posts has no ads, love it

It looks hard But when you start practicing it It’s even harder

7:54 absolute eargasm

I can't stop crying when i hear this piece. It's like Chopin poured EVERYTHING into this piece. Each of his pieces you can find a singular emotion, but this one, it's too much to bare. It's like he summed his entire life into this piece. His Anger, his frustration, his joy, and what little happiness he could find and the validation he sought for not being able t fight for his home country. Everything is in this piece, the culmination of his life, and it makes me cry experiencing it al at once.

This is incredible Rousseau, I came here after watching The Pianist. Made me realise how extraordinary Chopin is. You nailed this performance=) 8:12 - those octaves 😮

Chopin! What a beautiful way of celebrating 1M subs! Congratulations!

"After playing Chopin, I feel as if I had been weeping over sins that I had never committed, and mourning over tragedies that were not my own." - Oscar Wilde

5:38 to 5:48 is such an amazing part for 10 seconds

doesnt matter if you came from The Pianist or Your Lie in April theyre both great cinematic masterpieces

This is very meaningful to me. I have a friend who is a classical pianist. He inspired me to play the violin ever since I heard him play this. He was my closest friend and sadly, He had passed away not to long ago.. I can only dream of performing this with him. I miss you bud I will never forget how much you mean the world to me.

"Did it reach her?" "I hope it reached her" 💔

4:55 this part is my absolute favourite part. An astonishingly beautiful piece indeed.

Chopin could've just stopped at 8:39 but he really wanted to hit that 9 minute mark huh

Spring is coming, a spring without you is coming...

one of the top iconic classic ballade that was in YOUR LIE IN APRIL just love it

6:13 Fantaisie-Impromptu mode activate A brilliant performance, as always!

Chopin really just didn't want anyone to play his music.

So guys, we did it.

Yuzuru Hanyu's performance introduced me to this peace of art. I always get teary listening to this, his performance is liquid gold, I recommend watching it.

Man, that buildup from 7:29 until the badass section at 7:46 and beyond has to be one of the greatest things ive EVER heard on piano. Chopin was a fucking genius

This is literally my favorite piece from Chopin, thank you for blessing us with this masterpiece of a video, once again.

No wonder Yuzuru used Chopins Ballade. His music are a masterpiece!

I'm so fucking proud of being polish. Its a very good one, mate, Congrats on 1m!

2:19 is the best thing I’ve ever heard and I’m sure that only Chopin could have composed it.

-The Pianist -Your Lie in April -Chopin Everyone's here because of at least one of these

The single greatest piece of music ever created, perfection at its finest

This is THE performance that got me to start taking piano seriously 6 months ago. The range of expression, both technical prowess and beautiful emotion, is something I'm working hard to achieve. Thank you for inspiring me.

It's Ballade No.1 I believe!!

One of my friends heard this and said:" What's this? A circus song?" Long story short, he's not my friend anymore.

Im not a pianist, not a virtuoso... just a headbanger, a Brazilian heavy metal vocalist... and I love classical music and this is sooooooooo perfect, touching! thanx so much for this beautiful piece of work!

After 1000 years from now I’m sure people will still listen to Chopin’s music & they will never forget Chopin’s Name.

_“I met the girl under full bloomed cherry blossoms, and my fate has begun to change.”_

0:00-5:30 *pain* 5:31-5:57 ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ 5:58-end *pain*

This piece give me weird nostalgia of my homeland in Germany and I love it so much thank you I love the emotion you put into this piece you truest are a one of a kind pianist

Chopin's music just hits differently, in the sense of the way it is able to emulate emotions and use them to tell a story, not a one that is made of words, but of pure emotions. Rousseau has become my favorite pianist because he is a storyteller that uses music.

you're here because: - the pianist is freaking great - the amazing composer - kaori's last farewell to kousei - yuzuru's breath-taking skate to this wonderful piece

Plot twist, has 2 million subs in 24 hours Ok, new video

This is too beautiful, causes goosebumps.. ❤❤

My very favourite Chopin piece! Thank you so much, you play it beautifully!

Hey Rousseau, I watched every of your classical pieces so many times cause it gives me chills. I'm 19 years old and I played piano for 8 straight years till I stopped at the age of 13 because I just didnt have the motivation to do so and never really practised. I did win contests playing as a duo with my best mate playing cello so it was basicly a hobby, but not really something I truly truly loved. (Outside of the contest phase in my life I only practised like 15 minutes a day..) Now, 5 years later YOU singlehandingly brought back my passion for piano and I'm playing more than ever. My favourite piece is Un Sospiro (no, I can't play it yet), which is above my level, but I finished Arabesque now and I'm hoping to be able to play Claire de Lune in a few months (even though the minute 2:00 part looks a lot harder..) Thank you so much for providing the sheet music for FREE and the videos are helping me so much in terms of finger movement and double checking the notes I read from the sheet. You deserve every single sub, I hope you're soon going to be able to make a living from youtube, if not already. Greetings from Germany!! Edit: Some clarifications

After two years of lot of practice, I CAN FINALLY SAY: Im able to play twinkle star

To me, this is the most beautiful piece of music ever written. Well done, what a fantastic performance.

my favourite piano piece ever… such incredible feeling Thanks Rosseau and Chopin

Everybody expecting for Hungarian Rhapsody 2... *proceeds to upload twinkle twinkle little star*

- What are you? - I am... I was a pianist. - Can you play something? - 0:00

my favorite piece of music and one of the best (if not the best) and most moving compositions ever created, beautifully preformed.

7:54 this part is absolutely insane chopin was a genius.

Wow! You nailed the hardest part of the piece, the coda, I would hate to be in your shoes recording this piece as its long and difficult most of the time, but really hard towards the end. Loved that FF7 piece you did the other day, great stuff was not expecting that, cheers.

Chopin’s thought process: 8:39 Should I stop here? Nah 8:52 the little touch up? Hmm, a little more... 9:15 yeah I just broke 9 minutes I think I’ll call it a day

This remembers me the movie "The Pianist", where Splitzman fights for his life playing this piece to the german soldier. Such an epic moment!

also my favorite piece, I could play your interpretation on repeat over and over--and have!❤ beautiful as always😊

Nothing is more sorrowful, heartbroken and lonely than Chopin's first Ballade. Beautiful interpretation.

"Szpilman.. now that's a name for a pianist."

После этой пьесы в фильме "Пианист"начал учиться на инструменте❤

Simply piano ads be like: Day 1: playing happy birthday Day 3: *THIS* Edit: bruh I have way too much likes for a stolen joke

Such a lonely ballade, filled with joy and sorrow, love and hatred, happiness and despair. Chopin composed this early in his career, what the hell do you have to go through to create something of this magnitude? Perhaps he had depression, he was sickly throughout his life, and was paraded around Europe as a prodigy, hard with his shyness. There are things we’ll never know about this man, all we have is his music and we cry with him. He was a poet of the keys, and his works live on as reflecting humanity in its most vulnerable. We are just sacks of love and sorrow, reverie and pain. We were born to survive, not to live, and he portrays that feeling of pitiful anger, loneliness, and longing in this ballade. It’s his Magnus Opus, it’s Chopin composed in keys.

Wow wow wow, I can't stop listening at this! Thank you Rosseau to bring me every day happiness!

The joy, hatred, giddiness, and splendour of this ballade is just beyond any other.

Me watching this: 1:20 - Gee, that doesn't look so hard... Maybe I'll try and learn it? 1:29 - Or is it? 2:06 - Oh, yeah, I remember now. It's Chopin.

4:48 This is definitely my favorite part of the piece. The beauty and feelings that Chopin's music transmits is incredible. I love him.

Thank you so so much for this! I would listen to this while driving every day for awhile. I love this song so much. It has a special place in my heart, for I learned it in secret for my recital performance last May. It is forever my “secret song” :)

To me, the whole of Ballade sounds outstanding!!! amazing i couldnt miss any part of it

finally finished this Ballade No.1 in G minor. 3 months, 3hours per day, 3 times I want to give up, and 3 times I picked it up immediately when I watch this video. Although there are lots of I cannot handle very beautifully, I still learned a lot from finishing a masterpiece. Granted, it is hard, and it took me lots of time which I could play video games with my friends, but I got more than playing video games. Thanks a lot, for helping me pursue my practice.

7:54 . All his Etudes paid off for something!!

I stopped counting how many times I listened to your wonderful interpretation. For me, the best part is the coda, definetely ;)

The buildup of emotion from 7:30 onwards has gotten me to cry on several occasions, beautiful piece

Somehow, I can feel the emotions behind this piece... it's like a beautful story with a sad ending, like it's abruptly spiraling into uncontrollable fall, but they tried to stand up again

Screw it, I'm typing this comment as a pledge to myself to one day learn this piece and perform it as elegantly as you, Rousseau. I have been learning the piano since August of 2018, but I know I still have a long way to go. One day, I will learn the 1st Ballade, and when I do, I will come back to this comment and I will declare in having fulfilled that dream.

guys, he's referring to this as "round 2", it's his second subscriber special. in his first special, he played Liszt - La Campanella, because this is round 2 of the Liszt specials, it has to be hungarian rhapsody no°2 edit: *my brains have now been blown out of my head*

Brilliant performance! Thank you

I have been playing 11 years, trained by a master for 9 of those years. I always wanted to learn this piece and I am finally really attempting it. I thank you for this video, I have been referring to it for hand placements. Thanks for the awesome video and the beautiful music that you play!

0:00 to 9:46 my favourite part 🤩