That is one ugly piano.

I think you are right.
PS: I think I was just fooling around a bit.

I win!!!

Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118, No. 2 -- Mystery"amateur" pianist to be named later

Oh, Kenneth took a long break. Maybe that explains something.

PIANO MAN

Kenneth J. Rosenthal, MD
Rosenthal Eye Surgery, Great Neck, New York
Kenneth J. Rosenthal, MD, is a Julliard-trained pianist. When he plays the piano, he says he feels challenged in ways that dwarf even the most complicated surgical case.

“Playing the piano provides an emotional peak that cannot easily be duplicated by anything else. I lose myself in the oasis of the music,” Dr. Rosenthal explains. In addition to the joy that playing brings him, his avocation offers other benefits. “Learning new music challenges my intellect and keeps my cognitive skills at their prime,” he adds.

One of Dr. Rosenthal’s high points as a pianist came in 2006 when, at the encouragement of Spencer Thornton, MD, his friend and mentor, he performed at the Hawaiian Eye Meeting after a hiatus in public performance spanning almost 2 decades. “There were 850 people in the audience, and I conquered a lifelong battle with stage fright and received a standing ovation for my performance of Chopin’s Fantasy Impromptu,” recalls Dr. Rosenthal. “My stage fright was completely absent throughout the performance and from then on.”

I am not sure about the standing ovation though...

Source: http://bmctoday.net/crstoday/2011/09/premiumpractice/article.asp?f=escape-route

You're not claiming he got into Juilliard I hope?

I think this is what he says of himself (I just copied and pasted). I doubt it of course, or, as Mark wrote on his page, he must have forgotten a lot if it is true... (I don't think Mark was serious though. I don't think it is possible to go to Julliard and forget so much...)

Indeed, reminds me of a kleenex dispenser that my grandmother had. As an amateur pianist (I confess I feel a little bad for poor Dr. Rosenthal - he didn't ask to get dragged into this mess) I will simply add that I quite often pay lots of cash to go and see 'professional' pianists. Is an artist really a professional? I say that with absolutely zero intent to disparage. "Professional" implies training and the real artists of this world have something that can't be taught. That is why it's worth paying a lot of money to see them perform.

I don't like that piano either, but I wouldn't mind converting it into cash if I had it. This is what he says on his YouTube channel:

The piano, lent to Dr. Rosenthal courtesy of Louis Spencer Smith of Bosendorfer Las Vegas, has a very interesting and unique history.

Valued at over $800,000 it is the only one of its kind in the world. It is a replica of the Bosendorfer piano given in 1869 as a gift by Austrian Emperor Franz Josef von Hapsburg to Emperor Meiji of Japan.

Can a replica really be that expensive though??

Maybe he went to Julliard, but was a Banjo performance major!

what has become of PW?

PW hasn't changed much in the 3 years or whatever it is that I've been here. Still mostly made up of smart, interesting, dedicated people with a few complete nut jobs who get their jollies stirring up big stupid debates thrown in. 97% useful, 3% freak show.

Well said.

I'm not sure if I was serious or not. All I knew was, it was nicer than to just say that he's full of s__t.

How has this thread received this many replies?

Actually, don't answer that.

Because the guy just made it too easy.


Sorry, too late.

He is not Juilliard-trained. He studied piano since the age of 7 with the same teacher who happens to have gone to Juilliard. Nuances.

All I knew was what it said in the description on the video: "....Kenneth J Rosenthal, MD a world renowned ophthalmic surgeon and Julliard Trained pianist...."

I'm not disagreeing that he's not Juilliard trained, just pointing out that this is what's claimed on there.

If he doesn't want it to be claimed, he's had plenty chance to correct it. (It's on his own channel.)

I only hope that, one day, with diligent practice and focused effort, I will play this poorly.

Without knowing a thing about you except what you just said, I would bet a few nickels that I'd prefer your playing to his right now.

Training by osmosis? by proxy?

Wow, you are fast on the reply! (shuffles off to find the sheet music)

Just curious... Did you remove your YouTube comment yourself?

Not that I know of!

I went on there again and maybe clicked something accidentally, which I've been known to do.

Only one way to find out: I'll post on there again.
And we'll see what happens....

Most of us on this board are amateurs. I would hope we'd be more supportive of one of our own who dares get up and perform in front of a crowd. Just sayin'.

OK....I have the answer.

This is what I tried to post:

"Looks like my comment disappeared, maybe by accident....we'll see from what happens with this.....
Dr. Rosenthal, you'd be well advised to remove this video. It doesn't reflect well on you, and it's being mocked a bit on a piano discussion site.
Also it does not seem credible that you are Juilliard trained. Assuming this isn't so, you might want to correct it.
By the way it seems also that you misread a lot of notes in the score."

When I clicked "Post," this appeared (in red):

You have been blocked by the owner of this video.

Let's see if he at least corrected the Juilliard thing....

NO

He's got balls.
But, unfortunately, in the wrong place.

Truly, he would be well advised to remove the video. The fact that he doesn't realize how poorly it reflects on him, reflects even worse on him.

I didn't even know people could delete comments themselves because there are so many bad comments that people just leave there. I hope he didn't report you and that it was not the people of the YouTube administration who removed the comment...
(It could also be that when somebody is blocked his/her comments are automatically deleted.)

I know, CA. I should have added a in my message. But my point still stands. Watch the vid without sound, and look at the expressions of the page turner. She's looks practically mortified!

I truly don't mind about that.
Yes, messages can be sent on youtube. At least so far I haven't gotten anything from him.


That has surprised me because as far as I know, we are always able to delete whatever comments we want from our own videos.


So far apparently not, but we'll see.


I don't think they could have acted so quickly. I'm assuming it was he himself.

I can well understand that he disliked my comment, but I'd be surprised if he's not able to realize there was good advice in it -- like, that the video embarrasses him, that it's bad to claim to have training that you don't have, especially when it's not credible, and that he's misreading the score.

If all those things are OK with him, then they're OK with me too.

BTW, he also has a video of Clair de lune. He misreads that score too.

I wish you'd give this a break. He played this before his fellow ophthalmologists and they were quite appreciative.

That's fine (more or less).
But that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about it being on YouTube, which exposes him to people like us, who are (rightly) mocking his performance, and, more importantly, to his patients and prospective patients, and to his colleagues out in the world, who won't react as politely as those in attendance did.

Having it on youtube reflects not just on his musicianship, but more importantly, on his judgment. It's an awful thing for a high-level professional to have out there.

This does him a service, whether or not he follows it, because even if he doesn't, I would bet that the input will make him hesitant to display this kind of playing as widely as he has.

Maybe people don't know they can delete them... I don't have a channel, so I was just making assumptions...

Cinnamonbear, yes, I noticed her face... It is not easy to turn pages when people make mistakes because then you don't know where they are!