Smarty-pants musician plays Chopin’s ‘Waterfall’ Étude while paddling in water

29 January 2021, 12:39

Chopin’s ‘Waterfall’ Étude? Talk about jumping in at the deep end...

“What Happens When I Play Chopin’s ‘Waterfall’ in the Water?” this musician asked himself one day, as lockdown began to take its toll on his creative mind.

The piano Etude – famously so difficult that one of the instrument’s great virtuosos, Vladimir Horowitz, downright refused to play it in public – is a fiendish study for hand-span and arpeggios, and one of Chopin’s most feared and adored.

And for smarty-pants pianist Traum, he just had to see whether he would sink or swim when tackling the tough piece.

Standing shin-deep in a pool, he gave an impressive performance of Chopin’s notoriously difficult study from the water and, suffice to say, it went swimmingly.

Read more: Chopin’s face is brought to life in artist’s incredible 3D portraits >

What Happens When I Play Chopin "Waterfall" in the Water

As someone who is partial to experimental piano-playing, this musician is no stranger to quirky renditions of famous compositions.

The only other video on his YouTube channel – which has already amassed over 60,000 views since it was launched earlier this month – is a video of Traum performing Liszt’s ‘La Campanella’... with actual fire.

One viewer even suggested in the comments that for his next performance, the pianist should play Debussy’s ‘Clair de lune’ on the moon.

Traum, you know what to do... *refreshes channel page*