adding clara's theme into this was simply DEVASTATING--reminds everyone musically not just of the grief the Doctor is fighting through, but what, or who, precisely he is grieving. incredible arrangement and performance as well
Thanks! So glad you like it. Yes that's how I meant the addition of Clara's theme. Well, that AND it foreshadows just what, or (better) who, he is fighting for. Which is heartbreaking again if you know that nevertheless, despite all that sacrifice, he didn't get Clara, not the way he was fighting for.
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! I'm content, though. Making and posting this video, to me, is not about getting attention, but about sharing something moving, something good, something beautiful, something encouraging.
This piece, and kind of the entire episode's narrative, reminds me of J. S. Bach's great Chaconne for solo violin (Partita No. 2 in D Minor), which has earned effusive praise through history, including from Johannes Brahms and Joshua Bell. I like the original orchestral version of this music, but I think, like Bach’s Chaconne (for solo violin, or a piano transcription, like Busoni’s), there is actually something meaningful about that this music is carried by, and expressed by, only one musician. To me it's like how the Doctor persevered against his prison (including his own grief) all alone; how all by himself he was trying to answer: “How long can I keep doing this, Clara? Burning the old me, to make a new one?” So it’s a Chaconne for Solo Doctor.
You bring up a very interesting point, because the story I've heard contextualize Chaconne was that Bach had lost his wife, and in his grief he felt the need to create a piece where every stroke had some sort of additional sound (almost giving the illusion that it's two violins playing!). Now if this story is true, it would be one hell of a comparison, since I consider the 12th Doctor and Clara to be platonic soulmates. Also, I can't help but mention the constant increase in layers in both pieces (Partita No. 2 and Shephard's Boy) which does convey a sense of increasing intensity of emotion while simultaneously giving the illusion of a disembodied sound, like a haunting echo almost? (I can tell I am reaching now- I'll end it here)
4:12 I never noticed it was there. That subtle hint of Clara’s theme in The Shepherd’s Boy. That makes this song hit even harder now. This was absolutely amazing. Be proud of yourself. Holy crap. I’m in awe.
Thank you!! Yeah, I'm so happy that I was able to add Clara's theme and it worked, both musically and narratively. It's not there in the original orchestral work. I suppose Murray Gold could have known this could work musically and it's a deliberate hint, but I doubt so - without the actual melody from Clara's theme, there's little connection - the chord progression is not the same. The addition of Twelve's 4-note theme in the following phrase (bass octaves) is similar - the chord progression is different from the cited passage, and in a sense its last note (F) clashes - but narratively that works, as his Doctor identity and what he's trying to do for Clara are dissonant against each other in this and the next episode.
holy heck I'm late to the party, but this is the best arrangement of The Shepherd's Boy I've ever heard by a long shot, you managed to capture every detail of the original piece perfectly! definitely going to have to try and learn this myself
Thank you! It was a labor of love - I didn't want to lose anything that musically mattered. I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you're learning it, I hope you find my sheet music of it at Musescore (link in the video description) - username MusicOrator.
I barely ever comment on videos, but I just had to with this. I cannot stop listening to it! Absolutely astonishing - the interpretation, the performance, the addition of Clara's theme and 12's, just incredible. I have ALL the feels listening to this, thank you for sharing it with us!
There’s this mountain of pure diamond. It takes an hour to climb it and an hour to go around it, and every hundred years a little bird comes and sharpens its beak on the diamond mountain. And when the entire mountain is chiseled away, the first second of eternity will have passed.’ You may think that’s a hell of a long time. Personally, I think that’s a hell of a bird
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Yes, I hope he would understand it as a compliment to his own amazing work. I tried to contact him before publishing this (copyright etc.), but I couldn’t figure out how to reach him.
When I memorized this, I had enough trouble memorizing the rhythm of the bass (pinky) part during the modulation section (measures 38-49), that I did something I usually don't: wrote words for it. I tried to make them fit what is happening in the original montage. So if you'd like that reminder, or want to use my words to memorize it yourself, here they are (starting with the F chord/deceptive cadence) (measure by measure; I put them in as a card each in Anki): m. 38, F: "Shepherd's boy says." Dies, prints. The door's dead-end. m. 39, C: "It's 2 mill-i-on years into the future." m. 40, G: Hits wall, "And then the shepherd's boy says" (stricken). m. 41, Dm: And events in the cycle, they accelerate. m. 42, Am: He jumps out, and falls into the sea. (fire, puzzle). m. 43, F: Slams the door, digs, "I'm in 12." "I confess" "I'm in (m. 44) Hell." m. 44, low C: (Hell.") 'Are you still scared?' The word BIRD. "I'd say twenty mill." m. 45, G: Realizes. Fist, punch, "Ow!" "seconds in eternity?" m. 46, Dm: "And he SAYS: 'There's this mountain of pure diamond.'" m. 47, B-flat: (" ') It takes an ho-ur to climb it and an ho-ur to go a-round (m. 48) it." m. 48, last F chord: (" ')-round it.'" The Veil strikes; teleporter prints. Coughing, cough. (Clips even faster) m. 49, Gm: Plucking, the stool, SMASH dives through; plunging in. Then the fi-re-place (m. 50 downbeat)
Congratulations! That's a wonderful transcription with a few DW musical Easter eggs in there too. Great job articulating all of those notes - way beyond my abilities - a really committed performance. Bravo!
Thank you! That means a lot to me, since (if I understand correctly) you are the one who so brilliantly orchestrated the original music! Including those darn little 16th notes which seem to keep driving the music forward, like Gold said about the ticking "restless" rhythms in the Twelfth Doctor's theme. For in this montage we saw the Doctor pushing so, so hard, wanting to give up but determined to get up, get out, and win. So I was delighted that this music and those references could be synthesized: it's Clara being with him in his mind (her theme) plus his own determination to save (his own theme) her, that get him out.
This is just absolutely, positively amazing! I've never been blown away by such subtle cues in the score, such as the leitmotif used to signify Clara's theme in the underlying chord progressions. Absolutely wonderful wonderful job!
Well hello, Doctor! Wherever and whenever you are right now, I am very glad you enjoyed it so much! ;) Yes, I didn't want to leave out anything that played a role in the overall story of the original orchestral music (such as the quiet, but driving 16th notes). And I am glad that I was able to add to it both Clara's theme and the Twelfth Doctor's theme (the four-note "horn" motif) and a few other little layers, that they work together not only musically, but narratively. ("Am I spoiling the magic? I work at this stuff, you know.") Anyway, thank you very much for your kind and intelligent comment!
Gorgeous cover! Love the nod to Claras theme in there as well. . .to remind us of what the Doctor was fighting for when we first heard this beautiful piece of music. Fantastic job!
Absolutely beautiful. This brought me to tears, especially the part with Clara's theme. Broke my heart in the best way. You are an incredibly talented musician. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world.
I almost found myself yelling "ARRGHHHH" and wanting to punch glass at the crescendo at the very end. Such a masterful performance of great interpretation of this! As so many others stated the inclusion of Clara's theme rounds it out perfectly. Well done!
Coming across this performance by "chance" a few months ago inspired me to finally get back to learning how to play the piano myself, after many years' break, and every so often I come back to it to remind myself of my goals. I know it is a very long time before I'll be able to play anything even close to this, but it helps me to keep going. What I am basically trying to say is, thank you both for this beautiful piece and for being an inspiration to me.
This is, without question, the definitive piano version of this piece of music. I had full-body goosebumps by the end. Absolutely exquisitely composed and performed - the way you weaved the narrative into the music by incorporating Clara's theme and hammering the notes when the Doctor punches the wall is just 10/10. Thank you for sharing this.
I'm a hardcore Whovian, my entire house is painted like the TARDIS, but I have a completely untrained ear for music. I appreciate the focus and effort, but the nuance and detail are lost on me most of the time... until someone pointed out that Clara's theme is incorporated into this piece, and it blows my mind. This is Fantastic!
i've been obsessed with learning this song on every instrument i can play for about a year and a half now. i've gotten a few down simply because it's nearly impossible to play every single part on each instrument; i haven't even attempted piano because of how many different elements of the arrangement you can play in one go. yet i'm watching your video and can pick out each instrument's line from the original piece (i got so excited at how you incorporated elements of the long horn notes around 3:15 along with the woodwinds??? huh???) as you go along, and your ability to weave everything together is masterful. this is a work of art. and adding in clara's theme? you've taken (what is in my opinion) the greatest piece of music ever composed for television and made it your own - giving it new meaning. thank you so much for this video. again, a masterpiece.
Thanks, I'm glad you like it! Yes, a lot of the fun of working on this was analyzing the orchestra version (by ear) and then trying preserve what I thought were important elements in a piano version. Sometimes in more pianistic ways - in some section the LH preserving baseline and chords and rhythms via certain ways of breaking those chords. It made the C minor iterations a bit oddly waltz-like but I just could not give up the percussion rhythms nor properly imitate the brass section there. Yes, definitely the long horn notes in the top of the LH there (taking advantage of pedal) - sometimes the RH could take those notes more easily but they demanded a more heroic technique. And yes, the RH there is handling the harmonized melody which is in strings and woodwinds there. And yes, I added Clara's theme, and then (next iteration) the Doctor's 4-note horn theme in the bass - you will notice that its last note F clashes with the chord, which I like as that in the narrative the Doctor's Doctor identity (saving people) is both at work in, and yet clashing with, his love for Clara and what he's trying to do here.
@@musicOrator it's incredible!!! your musical knowledge is so deep and intricate ahhhh :) i used your arrangement as a backbone for a very basic one for me to relearn hand independence (it's been a while since i played properly) and have been slowly adding in elements. so so much respect for you.
Better than the official soundtrack -wow, thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And yes, this piece and this series are my favorite from the show too.
Hello Alexandra. I'm a very big fan of Doctor Who and of course "Heaven Sent" is my favorite episode. I was searching for some related videos and when your piano solo appeared I started to cry. Not only is it better than the original, but it touches the heart. You've probably been practicing for years, so in a way, you're that little hell of a bird too. By publishing the video, you share in 5 minutes the chiseling of years. I will be eternally grateful.
Wow, thank you, derlinyou! Doctor Who seasons 8-10 are my favorite, and “Heaven Sent” may well be my favorite episode too. And yes, I did feel a tiny bit like the Bird/Doctor, facing this and other struggles, as I worked on this over years, although most of why it took me so long was that, for a while, I practiced it only very occasionally. You make me grateful that I became determined to share a performance of this music, so that you could hear and enjoy and be touched by it.
Probably the best interpretation out there! Well done. I'm also glad to see my title still being used "Breaking the Wall" haha, I didn't think it would spread so much!
Wow, thank you! Yes, when I first arranged this I searched for what others called Murray's piece, and I wanted my version to be findable by those common titles. Your title makes a lot of sense. And I prefer it to "The Shepherd's Boy" actually, because though I do appreciate Moffat's point of the power of stories (and the Doctor himself filling the role of that storyteller, that lowly shepherd's boy here), and I appreciate the point about that he is fulfilling his "duty of care," that is, his love ("Love is a promise") for Clara, those things are lifeless without his own (costly, painful!) work to actually realize them. So many of us fail at this precise point: intending good, but failing to actually do the hard thing despite the suffering along the way. So it is all the more meaningful that the Doctor here IS “breaking the wall” (doing the impossible), IS the “hell of a bird.” I didn't know you invented this title - good job!
That's a hell of an arrangement! Wonderfully played! That's an outstanding rendition. Thank you so much for sharing; best version I've ever heard of this fantastic piece of music.
There's this emperor, and he asks the youtube viewer how many seconds in this arrangement. And the viewer says: "there's this performance of pure diamond. It takes 4:58 to watch it, and 4:58 to listen to it, and every so often another pianist comes to appreciate the diamond performance. And when the entire performance is over, the first replay of the day has passed. You may think that's a hell of a short number. Personally I think that's a hell of a performance." Absolutely genius, Alexandra. Genuinely one of the most incredible arrangements i've ever heard! Unfortunately, I found the musescore (and the recently added dropbox) score quite hard to read, with all the interweaving voices and whatnot; so decided to give an attempt at 're-scoring' (basically, split into 3 stave format in some areas) for ease of reading for my own use (using Sibelius). I'm still yet to note down how to divide the hands on this middle stave, though. I'm happy to share with you directly if you are interested though, for your feedback, as well as the fact that obviously it is your work I've played with :) Once again, I have to say what wonderful work this is!
Wow, thank you, fellow pianist! And I love the reference to the story the Doctor recites (to himself) here. I’m sorry you’re finding the Musescore score hard to read. I think I edited it recently but maybe it’s not posted yet - or it’s still hard to read. I originally wrote it in Finale, with the voices in different colors. My pdf (from that?) of this also has some of the hand divisions marked. Anyway, you are welcome to re-score it into 3 staves, and yes I am curious what you come up with. I’m hesitant to list my email address here - could you perhaps message me via Musecore? (Because I’m not sure RUclips has messaging.)
@@musicOrator I'll see what I can do. Don't blame you for wanting to withhold your email from public domain. I'll take a look at the pdf again in case I missed anything but I'm pretty sure I captured everything you put in. I'll send over promptly, as I love this arrangement :)
You've captured the spirit and the tradition of the art. You've copied the work, but you've also made meaningful personal alterations to the original. This is what I look for in remixes and juxtapositions of the media I collect. I appreciate that you have made the sheet music available, and for what its worth. I will steward it. Your performance is not only instructive in understanding how the piece is intended to be played. But its also moving. Continue making your art.
Sorry, I thought I had responded months ago to your gorgeous comment. Thank you! I don’t arrange or compose music much, so I am thankful for how this one turned out, not only musically but also narratively. May your music studies go well!
Also as it turns out I prefer this to the original orchestral version and keep listening to it pretty much daily since I found it. Great-great-great, thank you!
This is a beautiful piece. The constant ebb and flow of all the various moving parts is wonderful, and really gives the song the depth it has in orchestral form. Free sheet music is amazing too.. I'm going to start learning today - thank you!!!!
I woke up this morning, thinking about this song and how I should challenge my beginning piano skills with a piece that like this moved me from the start. I will NEVER forget the episode from which this came, and how once again, Capaldi's Doctor was mirroring things going in my life. This performance is grand, and inspirational. Thank you for the extra comment about the Bach piece, and now I have even more music to look up and enjoy and delve deep into.
Your comment makes me very happy, especially as a fellow lover of this episode and Capaldi’s Doctor, as fellow pianist, and as a music teacher. I’m glad to introduce anyone to Bach’s profound Chaconne, and I hope you found it as inspirational as I do. Tackling (challenging) pieces I love has really helped my musical progress over the years, so I say, go for it! Though, probably not this arrangement yet nor Busoni’s of Bach’s piece, for neither is beginner-level at all. I sometimes think I should make an easier arrangement, leaving some things out...Anyway, don’t give up :)
It's so rare to find a RUclips video that brings tears to my eyes. Thank you so much for sharing your aamazing and wonderful talent. That was truly beautiful to hear and beautiful to watch you play. ❤
Superb -- both your playing and your commentaries. You, like no one else, have illuminated for me the parallels among deep work in music and in fiction writing and higher maths. The world is fortunate in having you as a performer and composer.
Wow, thank you very much! Parallels are great :) Yeah, my analytical heart really enjoys this piece of music and how it connects with the story. With the additions of Clara’s (darkened) theme and this Doctor’s theme (dissonantly, at one point) in my arrangement, I mean not only the story of this episode, but the Series 7b-9 themes of how Clara has shaped and motivated the Doctor. In particular here, his love for Clara is both inspiring and clashing with his Doctor-promise (which she often encourages him to keep, including when he was a child and right before she died). He determines to burn old him (Clara’s "die right, die like I mean it"), “to make a new” him in order to save (“never give in, never give up” “I’m the Doctor, and I save people”, “Just save someone” (her)). And he succeeds (?), as the music also tells us by the key change, breaking the harmonic cycle and breaking out, though the end is foreboding - is he even still the Doctor?
Truly a Masterpiece. It just combines the Doctor's grief and determination to save Clara perfectly. I always have to Shed a tear when i hear this because it's just so meaningful and emotional. Great Work!
I fell in love with this piece when I saw the episode, then came across the score on Musescore, then just went back to it and saw the link to here. Beautiful!!! Totally love it!
Absolutely phenomenal cover of my favorite Murray Gold piece from Doctor Who. I love how you picked up on all the subtleties in the arrangement and were able to capture the emotion of the song. Hope to see you do other covers in the future.
Thank you! Yeah, I didn't want to leave anything out because all those subtleties work together to make this wonderful Gold piece what it is. I'm glad you enjoyed my arrangement.
I keep coming back to this. The original score itself is already soundtrack to my current woes, but when I fancy a fix of grand piano, I put your version on. There are other piano versions out there that are certainly very nice, but yours is my favourite so far!
Thank you! I'm sorry that your life is hard right now. But I'm glad my version of this inspiring piece is a meaningful part of your life. May you have the steadfast perseverance of the Doctor.
Thanks. Yeah, in a way. I only had my friend's help recording this for a short time. This was the first full take (and I later found out, the only full take), which is why my arms at the end (after the last hard jumps) are sort of "don't move so it doesn't break".
This is amazing AND impressive. I love this so much, I love this song and I love that you made it into a piano song.. and it sounds exactly like the original.. pacing and all... AMAZING.
After watching this video, I have started to think that I fell in love with you 😅 So beautiful! And how you transferred all the emotions of the song and everything 😍😍
Thank you, glad you like this so much! I love the narrative of emotions in this piece, and getting (as pianist) to act the part of the Doctor, in a way - and who doesn't love him in this? Persevering all alone, despite his own doubts, despite his pain, despite the great cost, with all the emotional ups and downs of the cycle, over and over, out of unwavering love for his dear one - and eventually breaking out? (And yet even then, problems remain.)
Hey you probably won’t see this but I actually learned to play your arrangement about 3 years ago. Needless to say you do it a lot better than I ever did but it was fun playing so thanks. I haven’t played much piano since COVID started but you make me want to pick it up again
You are very welcome! I myself practiced this only occasionally for years. Whatever you choose to do (practice this again, practice other music, not practice piano), please don't be discouraged. We don't have to play something perfectly (or even well) to make playing it worthwhile. So I'm glad that you enjoyed learning and playing my arrangement. And I'm honored that you deemed it worthy of your practice! I know it's not exactly easy (hence my wondering whether I should make an easier version....). Anyway, Godspeed!
Strange at it seems to say this about some music from what's meant to be a kids' sci-fi show, I think this is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written, and I felt a little sad thinking I would never hear it played by an orchestra. But your solo performance of it is more than enough to satisfy that desire. Well done, and thank you so much for sharing it!
Thank you and you are very welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I suspect Moffat targeted the show not only at kids, but also the other generations in families, offering some profound themes, especially in the episode this music was in. This piece, and kind of the entire episode's narrative, reminds me of J. S. Bach's wonderful and great Chaconne for solo violin (Partita No. 2 in D Minor), which has earned effusive praise through history including from the likes of Brahms and Joshua Bell. I do like the orchestral version of this music (which is now available, including at ruclips.net/video/j2We5UDqC5A/видео.html, as “The Shepherd’s Boy”), but I think, like Bach’s chaconne (for solo violin, or one of the piano transcriptions, like Busoni’s), there is actually something meaningful about that this music is carried by, and expressed by, only one musician. To me it's like how the Doctor persevered against his prison (including his own grief) all alone. All by himself trying to answer his question: “How long can I keep doing this, Clara? Burning the old me, to make a new one?” It’s a Chaconne for Solo Doctor.
@@musicOrator I don't listen to much classical music and hadn't heard of chaconnes, so I listened to the one you mentioned, as well as a rendition of its transcription for the piano. I agree there is a strong similarity with A Hell of a Bird, particularly in the piano version of the chaconne; I felt that the violin arrangement conveyed more desperation as opposed to determination. The link to The Shepherd's boy wouldn't work for me but I have found it on RUclips in the past, although I thought it was played by a synthesiser rather than an orchestra. But I don't think it matters to me any more, as your chaconne for the Doctor is more than good enough for me!
@@samjones80 Well, my inner, classically-trained musicology teacher is glad you listened to Bach's Chaconne (both versions). I may be stretching the term to call Gold's piece a chaconne, since it departs from the repeated progression during the key modulation. But I myself practiced (though I never polished) the Bach-Busoni transcription, so I sense a strong similarity. Anyhow I’m happy you like my version!
Thanks. I don’t remember anymore exactly how this synthesis came about. But I think I was thinking how very essential Clara is in this story - who is the cause of his grief, who is so central even to how he thinks, and as we later learned, for whose sake alone (to try to save her) he suffered this entire cycle for those 4.5 billion years - otherwise “he could have left anytime he wanted.” So I think this narrative thread made me wonder whether her musical theme could be combined at the right point in this. Because I have loved instances of theme combination in other music, which I even studied in Mendelssohn’s 1st Organ sonata. And I found that yes her theme could be included. And then, so could his signature 4-note theme too; except not fully, yet even that very dissonance (F against G) fits the narrative (the clash between his Doctor-promise (Doctor theme) and his promise/duty-of-care for Clara).
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adding clara's theme into this was simply DEVASTATING--reminds everyone musically not just of the grief the Doctor is fighting through, but what, or who, precisely he is grieving. incredible arrangement and performance as well
Thanks! So glad you like it. Yes that's how I meant the addition of Clara's theme. Well, that AND it foreshadows just what, or (better) who, he is fighting for. Which is heartbreaking again if you know that nevertheless, despite all that sacrifice, he didn't get Clara, not the way he was fighting for.
Me "Oh you're being hyperbolic there with that comment" - Gets to the bit - "Sorry, I was wrong."
the youtube algorithm is not being nice to you, because this should have millions of views at this point. I mean, c'mon youtube
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! I'm content, though. Making and posting this video, to me, is not about getting attention, but about sharing something moving, something good, something beautiful, something encouraging.
Personally, I think that's a hell of a performance!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
omg the inclusion of clara''s leitmotif 😭😭😭😭😭💕💕
I was really happy that this worked. I'm glad you appreciate it.
Personally I think 12th Doctor is one hell of a doctor.
Yes, he's my favorite Doctor too.
This piece, and kind of the entire episode's narrative, reminds me of J. S. Bach's great Chaconne for solo violin (Partita No. 2 in D Minor), which has earned effusive praise through history, including from Johannes Brahms and Joshua Bell. I like the original orchestral version of this music, but I think, like Bach’s Chaconne (for solo violin, or a piano transcription, like Busoni’s), there is actually something meaningful about that this music is carried by, and expressed by, only one musician. To me it's like how the Doctor persevered against his prison (including his own grief) all alone; how all by himself he was trying to answer: “How long can I keep doing this, Clara? Burning the old me, to make a new one?” So it’s a Chaconne for Solo Doctor.
@SLHK SLHK Thank you! Wishing you also have success and keep enjoying music.
EXTREMELY well phrased.
@@notTHATJohnSmith Why thank you!
@@musicOrator
You're MORE than welcome.👏👏👏
🥂
🙂
You bring up a very interesting point, because the story I've heard contextualize Chaconne was that Bach had lost his wife, and in his grief he felt the need to create a piece where every stroke had some sort of additional sound (almost giving the illusion that it's two violins playing!). Now if this story is true, it would be one hell of a comparison, since I consider the 12th Doctor and Clara to be platonic soulmates.
Also, I can't help but mention the constant increase in layers in both pieces (Partita No. 2 and Shephard's Boy) which does convey a sense of increasing intensity of emotion while simultaneously giving the illusion of a disembodied sound, like a haunting echo almost? (I can tell I am reaching now- I'll end it here)
4:12 I never noticed it was there. That subtle hint of Clara’s theme in The Shepherd’s Boy. That makes this song hit even harder now. This was absolutely amazing. Be proud of yourself. Holy crap. I’m in awe.
Thank you!! Yeah, I'm so happy that I was able to add Clara's theme and it worked, both musically and narratively. It's not there in the original orchestral work. I suppose Murray Gold could have known this could work musically and it's a deliberate hint, but I doubt so - without the actual melody from Clara's theme, there's little connection - the chord progression is not the same. The addition of Twelve's 4-note theme in the following phrase (bass octaves) is similar - the chord progression is different from the cited passage, and in a sense its last note (F) clashes - but narratively that works, as his Doctor identity and what he's trying to do for Clara are dissonant against each other in this and the next episode.
@@musicOrator even more brilliant that you thought of that yourself! Murray Gold would be proud
@@Jim_The_Fish Thank you!
🤯
@@musicOrator That's freaking amazing
Absolutely LOVE the little weaving in of Clara's theme toward's the end!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I want to rewatch heaven sent again because of this masterpiece of a cover
I know I'm two years late to this, but this is amazing.
And hearing the way you blended in Clara's theme gave me chills.
holy heck
I'm late to the party, but this is the best arrangement of The Shepherd's Boy I've ever heard by a long shot, you managed to capture every detail of the original piece perfectly!
definitely going to have to try and learn this myself
Thank you! It was a labor of love - I didn't want to lose anything that musically mattered. I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you're learning it, I hope you find my sheet music of it at Musescore (link in the video description) - username MusicOrator.
I barely ever comment on videos, but I just had to with this. I cannot stop listening to it! Absolutely astonishing - the interpretation, the performance, the addition of Clara's theme and 12's, just incredible. I have ALL the feels listening to this, thank you for sharing it with us!
There’s this mountain of pure diamond. It takes an hour to climb it and an hour to go around it, and every hundred years a little bird comes and sharpens its beak on the diamond mountain. And when the entire mountain is chiseled away, the first second of eternity will have passed.’ You may think that’s a hell of a long time. Personally, I think that’s a hell of a bird
Absolutely beautiful! Murray Gold would be proud you did such an amazing job with his work
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Yes, I hope he would understand it as a compliment to his own amazing work. I tried to contact him before publishing this (copyright etc.), but I couldn’t figure out how to reach him.
@@musicOratorCovers tend to not require licenses since they’re not the original version. And are artistic representations.
When I memorized this, I had enough trouble memorizing the rhythm of the bass (pinky) part during the modulation section (measures 38-49), that I did something I usually don't: wrote words for it. I tried to make them fit what is happening in the original montage. So if you'd like that reminder, or want to use my words to memorize it yourself, here they are (starting with the F chord/deceptive cadence) (measure by measure; I put them in as a card each in Anki):
m. 38, F: "Shepherd's boy says." Dies, prints. The door's dead-end.
m. 39, C: "It's 2 mill-i-on years into the future."
m. 40, G: Hits wall, "And then the shepherd's boy says" (stricken).
m. 41, Dm: And events in the cycle, they accelerate.
m. 42, Am: He jumps out, and falls into the sea. (fire, puzzle).
m. 43, F: Slams the door, digs, "I'm in 12." "I confess" "I'm in (m. 44) Hell."
m. 44, low C: (Hell.") 'Are you still scared?' The word BIRD. "I'd say twenty mill."
m. 45, G: Realizes. Fist, punch, "Ow!" "seconds in eternity?"
m. 46, Dm: "And he SAYS: 'There's this mountain of pure diamond.'"
m. 47, B-flat: (" ') It takes an ho-ur to climb it and an ho-ur to go a-round (m. 48) it."
m. 48, last F chord: (" ')-round it.'" The Veil strikes; teleporter prints. Coughing, cough. (Clips even faster)
m. 49, Gm: Plucking, the stool, SMASH dives through; plunging in. Then the fi-re-place (m. 50 downbeat)
Congratulations! That's a wonderful transcription with a few DW musical Easter eggs in there too. Great job articulating all of those notes - way beyond my abilities - a really committed performance. Bravo!
Thank you! That means a lot to me, since (if I understand correctly) you are the one who so brilliantly orchestrated the original music! Including those darn little 16th notes which seem to keep driving the music forward, like Gold said about the ticking "restless" rhythms in the Twelfth Doctor's theme. For in this montage we saw the Doctor pushing so, so hard, wanting to give up but determined to get up, get out, and win. So I was delighted that this music and those references could be synthesized: it's Clara being with him in his mind (her theme) plus his own determination to save (his own theme) her, that get him out.
Simply astonishing... The best solo arrangement there is on the internet.
Thank you! I'm glad you like it.
This is just absolutely, positively amazing! I've never been blown away by such subtle cues in the score, such as the leitmotif used to signify Clara's theme in the underlying chord progressions. Absolutely wonderful wonderful job!
Well hello, Doctor! Wherever and whenever you are right now, I am very glad you enjoyed it so much! ;) Yes, I didn't want to leave out anything that played a role in the overall story of the original orchestral music (such as the quiet, but driving 16th notes). And I am glad that I was able to add to it both Clara's theme and the Twelfth Doctor's theme (the four-note "horn" motif) and a few other little layers, that they work together not only musically, but narratively. ("Am I spoiling the magic? I work at this stuff, you know.") Anyway, thank you very much for your kind and intelligent comment!
Gorgeous cover! Love the nod to Claras theme in there as well. . .to remind us of what the Doctor was fighting for when we first heard this beautiful piece of music. Fantastic job!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. And yes, that was exactly my intention with Clara's theme - well said!
Absolutely beautiful. This brought me to tears, especially the part with Clara's theme. Broke my heart in the best way. You are an incredibly talented musician. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world.
I almost found myself yelling "ARRGHHHH" and wanting to punch glass at the crescendo at the very end. Such a masterful performance of great interpretation of this! As so many others stated the inclusion of Clara's theme rounds it out perfectly. Well done!
Coming across this performance by "chance" a few months ago inspired me to finally get back to learning how to play the piano myself, after many years' break, and every so often I come back to it to remind myself of my goals. I know it is a very long time before I'll be able to play anything even close to this, but it helps me to keep going.
What I am basically trying to say is, thank you both for this beautiful piece and for being an inspiration to me.
You are very welcome! I'm glad. Never give up, never give in.
I know that's a cliche comment at this point, but that doesn't make it untrue.
I think you're one hell of a pianist!
This is, without question, the definitive piano version of this piece of music. I had full-body goosebumps by the end. Absolutely exquisitely composed and performed - the way you weaved the narrative into the music by incorporating Clara's theme and hammering the notes when the Doctor punches the wall is just 10/10. Thank you for sharing this.
This is played and arranged so well. Very good job
Oh my Word!!!! this is absolutely amazing!!! love the addition of claras theme too!! was awesome!
It never, ever gets old.
I'm a hardcore Whovian, my entire house is painted like the TARDIS, but I have a completely untrained ear for music. I appreciate the focus and effort, but the nuance and detail are lost on me most of the time... until someone pointed out that Clara's theme is incorporated into this piece, and it blows my mind. This is Fantastic!
Thanks!! Yes, I was able to add both Clara's theme and also Twelve's 4-note theme, after it.
i've been obsessed with learning this song on every instrument i can play for about a year and a half now. i've gotten a few down simply because it's nearly impossible to play every single part on each instrument; i haven't even attempted piano because of how many different elements of the arrangement you can play in one go. yet i'm watching your video and can pick out each instrument's line from the original piece (i got so excited at how you incorporated elements of the long horn notes around 3:15 along with the woodwinds??? huh???) as you go along, and your ability to weave everything together is masterful. this is a work of art.
and adding in clara's theme? you've taken (what is in my opinion) the greatest piece of music ever composed for television and made it your own - giving it new meaning. thank you so much for this video. again, a masterpiece.
Thanks, I'm glad you like it! Yes, a lot of the fun of working on this was analyzing the orchestra version (by ear) and then trying preserve what I thought were important elements in a piano version. Sometimes in more pianistic ways - in some section the LH preserving baseline and chords and rhythms via certain ways of breaking those chords. It made the C minor iterations a bit oddly waltz-like but I just could not give up the percussion rhythms nor properly imitate the brass section there. Yes, definitely the long horn notes in the top of the LH there (taking advantage of pedal) - sometimes the RH could take those notes more easily but they demanded a more heroic technique. And yes, the RH there is handling the harmonized melody which is in strings and woodwinds there. And yes, I added Clara's theme, and then (next iteration) the Doctor's 4-note horn theme in the bass - you will notice that its last note F clashes with the chord, which I like as that in the narrative the Doctor's Doctor identity (saving people) is both at work in, and yet clashing with, his love for Clara and what he's trying to do here.
@@musicOrator it's incredible!!! your musical knowledge is so deep and intricate ahhhh :) i used your arrangement as a backbone for a very basic one for me to relearn hand independence (it's been a while since i played properly) and have been slowly adding in elements. so so much respect for you.
Thank you! Sounds like a great project. @@emmaduke
My favorite series. My favorite music. This is a better than official soundtrack. BRAVO 👏
Better than the official soundtrack -wow, thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And yes, this piece and this series are my favorite from the show too.
A hell of a cover, very moving. Sending my kindest regards, all the best to you, Alexandra! ^^
Thanks!! Yeah, this music has stuck with me for years. Thanks for the kind regards, and I'm sending you my kindest regards too!
Hello Alexandra. I'm a very big fan of Doctor Who and of course "Heaven Sent" is my favorite episode. I was searching for some related videos and when your piano solo appeared I started to cry. Not only is it better than the original, but it touches the heart.
You've probably been practicing for years, so in a way, you're that little hell of a bird too. By publishing the video, you share in 5 minutes the chiseling of years. I will be eternally grateful.
Wow, thank you, derlinyou! Doctor Who seasons 8-10 are my favorite, and “Heaven Sent” may well be my favorite episode too. And yes, I did feel a tiny bit like the Bird/Doctor, facing this and other struggles, as I worked on this over years, although most of why it took me so long was that, for a while, I practiced it only very occasionally. You make me grateful that I became determined to share a performance of this music, so that you could hear and enjoy and be touched by it.
this is magnificent
Wonderful
Probably the best interpretation out there! Well done. I'm also glad to see my title still being used "Breaking the Wall" haha, I didn't think it would spread so much!
Wow, thank you! Yes, when I first arranged this I searched for what others called Murray's piece, and I wanted my version to be findable by those common titles. Your title makes a lot of sense. And I prefer it to "The Shepherd's Boy" actually, because though I do appreciate Moffat's point of the power of stories (and the Doctor himself filling the role of that storyteller, that lowly shepherd's boy here), and I appreciate the point about that he is fulfilling his "duty of care," that is, his love ("Love is a promise") for Clara, those things are lifeless without his own (costly, painful!) work to actually realize them. So many of us fail at this precise point: intending good, but failing to actually do the hard thing despite the suffering along the way. So it is all the more meaningful that the Doctor here IS “breaking the wall” (doing the impossible), IS the “hell of a bird.” I didn't know you invented this title - good job!
Fantastic!
Absolutely astonished. Mind blown. You are extremely talented. Thank you for posting this. AMAZING.
Thank you!! Glad you enjoyed this.
That's a hell of an arrangement!
Wonderfully played! That's an outstanding rendition.
Thank you so much for sharing; best version I've ever heard of this fantastic piece of music.
Thank you! I wanted to do this music justice. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
9
There's this emperor, and he asks the youtube viewer how many seconds in this arrangement. And the viewer says: "there's this performance of pure diamond. It takes 4:58 to watch it, and 4:58 to listen to it, and every so often another pianist comes to appreciate the diamond performance. And when the entire performance is over, the first replay of the day has passed. You may think that's a hell of a short number. Personally I think that's a hell of a performance."
Absolutely genius, Alexandra. Genuinely one of the most incredible arrangements i've ever heard!
Unfortunately, I found the musescore (and the recently added dropbox) score quite hard to read, with all the interweaving voices and whatnot; so decided to give an attempt at 're-scoring' (basically, split into 3 stave format in some areas) for ease of reading for my own use (using Sibelius). I'm still yet to note down how to divide the hands on this middle stave, though. I'm happy to share with you directly if you are interested though, for your feedback, as well as the fact that obviously it is your work I've played with :)
Once again, I have to say what wonderful work this is!
Wow, thank you, fellow pianist! And I love the reference to the story the Doctor recites (to himself) here. I’m sorry you’re finding the Musescore score hard to read. I think I edited it recently but maybe it’s not posted yet - or it’s still hard to read. I originally wrote it in Finale, with the voices in different colors. My pdf (from that?) of this also has some of the hand divisions marked. Anyway, you are welcome to re-score it into 3 staves, and yes I am curious what you come up with. I’m hesitant to list my email address here - could you perhaps message me via Musecore? (Because I’m not sure RUclips has messaging.)
@@musicOrator I'll see what I can do. Don't blame you for wanting to withhold your email from public domain. I'll take a look at the pdf again in case I missed anything but I'm pretty sure I captured everything you put in.
I'll send over promptly, as I love this arrangement :)
@@musicOrator Thanks for the reply! I dropped you a line on MuseScore :)
Best version of this piece I've heard so far
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I loved it!! Thank you for uploading :))
This is such a beautiful rendition of a beautiful song. Thank you for sharing this.
You've captured the spirit and the tradition of the art. You've copied the work, but you've also made meaningful personal alterations to the original. This is what I look for in remixes and juxtapositions of the media I collect. I appreciate that you have made the sheet music available, and for what its worth. I will steward it.
Your performance is not only instructive in understanding how the piece is intended to be played. But its also moving. Continue making your art.
Sorry, I thought I had responded months ago to your gorgeous comment. Thank you! I don’t arrange or compose music much, so I am thankful for how this one turned out, not only musically but also narratively. May your music studies go well!
Really-really awesome! WoW! I love the title, and I envy your creativity (and piano skills).
Also as it turns out I prefer this to the original orchestral version and keep listening to it pretty much daily since I found it. Great-great-great, thank you!
This is a beautiful piece. The constant ebb and flow of all the various moving parts is wonderful, and really gives the song the depth it has in orchestral form. Free sheet music is amazing too.. I'm going to start learning today - thank you!!!!
I woke up this morning, thinking about this song and how I should challenge my beginning piano skills with a piece that like this moved me from the start. I will NEVER forget the episode from which this came, and how once again, Capaldi's Doctor was mirroring things going in my life. This performance is grand, and inspirational. Thank you for the extra comment about the Bach piece, and now I have even more music to look up and enjoy and delve deep into.
Your comment makes me very happy, especially as a fellow lover of this episode and Capaldi’s Doctor, as fellow pianist, and as a music teacher. I’m glad to introduce anyone to Bach’s profound Chaconne, and I hope you found it as inspirational as I do. Tackling (challenging) pieces I love has really helped my musical progress over the years, so I say, go for it! Though, probably not this arrangement yet nor Busoni’s of Bach’s piece, for neither is beginner-level at all. I sometimes think I should make an easier arrangement, leaving some things out...Anyway, don’t give up :)
This only having 26k views in 2 years is a crime.
It's so rare to find a RUclips video that brings tears to my eyes. Thank you so much for sharing your aamazing and wonderful talent. That was truly beautiful to hear and beautiful to watch you play. ❤
Brilliantly done!
Thank you!
Superb -- both your playing and your commentaries. You, like no one else, have illuminated for me the parallels among deep work in music and in fiction writing and higher maths. The world is fortunate in having you as a performer and composer.
Wow, thank you very much! Parallels are great :) Yeah, my analytical heart really enjoys this piece of music and how it connects with the story. With the additions of Clara’s (darkened) theme and this Doctor’s theme (dissonantly, at one point) in my arrangement, I mean not only the story of this episode, but the Series 7b-9 themes of how Clara has shaped and motivated the Doctor. In particular here, his love for Clara is both inspiring and clashing with his Doctor-promise (which she often encourages him to keep, including when he was a child and right before she died). He determines to burn old him (Clara’s "die right, die like I mean it"), “to make a new” him in order to save (“never give in, never give up” “I’m the Doctor, and I save people”, “Just save someone” (her)). And he succeeds (?), as the music also tells us by the key change, breaking the harmonic cycle and breaking out, though the end is foreboding - is he even still the Doctor?
Truly a Masterpiece. It just combines the Doctor's grief and determination to save Clara perfectly. I always have to Shed a tear when i hear this because it's just so meaningful and emotional. Great Work!
Great arrangement. Great performance.
Personally, I think you're one hell of a bird. Well done.
Thank you! This is incredible work. I love this music. Another reason to keep learning to play the piano. ❤️🔥
I just listened again, and it's still as amazing and fresh as when I first heard this performance 3 weeks ago. ❤️
Thank you! I was just playing this again today myself. I'm glad you still enjoy it too :)
Ooo goosebumps
Beautiful
Thank you.
I fell in love with this piece when I saw the episode, then came across the score on Musescore, then just went back to it and saw the link to here. Beautiful!!! Totally love it!
Thanks, so glad you do! Obviously I fell in love with this music in the episode too :)
That was a beautiful piece of music! 🎧 incredible job! 🎉 👏👏👏
Thank you!! I'm glad you liked it.
The was one of the best episodes and one of the best covers 🤗
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Absolutely phenomenal cover of my favorite Murray Gold piece from Doctor Who. I love how you picked up on all the subtleties in the arrangement and were able to capture the emotion of the song. Hope to see you do other covers in the future.
Thank you! Yeah, I didn't want to leave anything out because all those subtleties work together to make this wonderful Gold piece what it is. I'm glad you enjoyed my arrangement.
@@musicOrator You're welcome. You should post others if you decide to do more.
That sounds amazing!!!
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I keep coming back to this. The original score itself is already soundtrack to my current woes, but when I fancy a fix of grand piano, I put your version on. There are other piano versions out there that are certainly very nice, but yours is my favourite so far!
Thank you! I'm sorry that your life is hard right now. But I'm glad my version of this inspiring piece is a meaningful part of your life. May you have the steadfast perseverance of the Doctor.
@@musicOrator 😚
What an incredible arrangement! Bravo!
You killed it! Great performance, thank you. This song and the scene its associated with will stay with me forever.
You are welcome! Glad you enjoyed it. Indeed, the original scene and music are powerful :)
That's one hell of playing session
Thanks. Yeah, in a way. I only had my friend's help recording this for a short time. This was the first full take (and I later found out, the only full take), which is why my arms at the end (after the last hard jumps) are sort of "don't move so it doesn't break".
Machine-like precision. Thank you.
Brilliant! Bravo! I love your performance. Murray Gold would be proud.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yes, I hope he would.
Excellent interpretation. Exemplary inspiration. Elegant iridescent, and above all, very well played. Highly commendable. Dobry robota.
Beautiful cover of a beautiful Murray Gold piece. Lovely!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed and like it!
okay this is amazing wtf!!! im listening to this everyday now lol!!
I'm glad you enjoy it!
This is my favorite piano cover video!♥
Personnaly, I think that's a hell of performance
Thank you! I'm thankful I have the training to play this. I'm glad you enjoyed the piece.
This is amazing AND impressive. I love this so much, I love this song and I love that you made it into a piano song.. and it sounds exactly like the original.. pacing and all... AMAZING.
Wow, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Love this! Such a beautiful piece of music! ❤❤
You deserve so many more subscribers this is amazing
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
AMAZING!!! thank you for uploading
After watching this video, I have started to think that I fell in love with you 😅 So beautiful! And how you transferred all the emotions of the song and everything 😍😍
Thank you, glad you like this so much! I love the narrative of emotions in this piece, and getting (as pianist) to act the part of the Doctor, in a way - and who doesn't love him in this? Persevering all alone, despite his own doubts, despite his pain, despite the great cost, with all the emotional ups and downs of the cycle, over and over, out of unwavering love for his dear one - and eventually breaking out? (And yet even then, problems remain.)
Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic!
Thanks! I hope it made you as happy as the 9th doctor when he said that :)
This is the best piano interpretation of the piece! Although she plays something wrong at one point. I love it, and play it again abd again...
"Personally, I think that's a hell of a bird."
Exactly!
This is the best thing I ever heard,,,ITS AMASSING!,I LOVE IT.ITS BEAUTIFULL! YES.
Wow, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much.
Your overtones killed me. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hey you probably won’t see this but I actually learned to play your arrangement about 3 years ago. Needless to say you do it a lot better than I ever did but it was fun playing so thanks. I haven’t played much piano since COVID started but you make me want to pick it up again
You are very welcome! I myself practiced this only occasionally for years. Whatever you choose to do (practice this again, practice other music, not practice piano), please don't be discouraged. We don't have to play something perfectly (or even well) to make playing it worthwhile. So I'm glad that you enjoyed learning and playing my arrangement. And I'm honored that you deemed it worthy of your practice! I know it's not exactly easy (hence my wondering whether I should make an easier version....). Anyway, Godspeed!
This is so beautiful, you have played so wonderfully, wow you deserve all good things, keep playing amazing stuff, 💖
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
You are absolutely phenomenal
Wow, thank you. It was a labor of love. Glad you enjoyed it.
wow
that's all i got, it's really good
This is amazing. Thank you!
You did Fantastic
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Strange at it seems to say this about some music from what's meant to be a kids' sci-fi show, I think this is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written, and I felt a little sad thinking I would never hear it played by an orchestra. But your solo performance of it is more than enough to satisfy that desire. Well done, and thank you so much for sharing it!
Thank you and you are very welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I suspect Moffat targeted the show not only at kids, but also the other generations in families, offering some profound themes, especially in the episode this music was in. This piece, and kind of the entire episode's narrative, reminds me of J. S. Bach's wonderful and great Chaconne for solo violin (Partita No. 2 in D Minor), which has earned effusive praise through history including from the likes of Brahms and Joshua Bell. I do like the orchestral version of this music (which is now available, including at ruclips.net/video/j2We5UDqC5A/видео.html, as “The Shepherd’s Boy”), but I think, like Bach’s chaconne (for solo violin, or one of the piano transcriptions, like Busoni’s), there is actually something meaningful about that this music is carried by, and expressed by, only one musician. To me it's like how the Doctor persevered against his prison (including his own grief) all alone. All by himself trying to answer his question: “How long can I keep doing this, Clara? Burning the old me, to make a new one?” It’s a Chaconne for Solo Doctor.
@@musicOrator I don't listen to much classical music and hadn't heard of chaconnes, so I listened to the one you mentioned, as well as a rendition of its transcription for the piano. I agree there is a strong similarity with A Hell of a Bird, particularly in the piano version of the chaconne; I felt that the violin arrangement conveyed more desperation as opposed to determination.
The link to The Shepherd's boy wouldn't work for me but I have found it on RUclips in the past, although I thought it was played by a synthesiser rather than an orchestra.
But I don't think it matters to me any more, as your chaconne for the Doctor is more than good enough for me!
@@samjones80 Well, my inner, classically-trained musicology teacher is glad you listened to Bach's Chaconne (both versions). I may be stretching the term to call Gold's piece a chaconne, since it departs from the repeated progression during the key modulation. But I myself practiced (though I never polished) the Bach-Busoni transcription, so I sense a strong similarity. Anyhow I’m happy you like my version!
Love it, congratulations! ❤
Thank you so much for this!
A very nice piece of work :)
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Bravo! Excellent work :)
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Personally I think that's a hell of a cover
Thanks. I'm glad it came together in a piano arrangement reasonably well.
Amazingly talented
Thank you!
Simply epic !!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Very good job !
Beautiful ❤. Love from blighty
What on earth inspired you to include bits of Clara's theme in this arrangement? Truly, truly incredible. It works so well.
Thanks. I don’t remember anymore exactly how this synthesis came about. But I think I was thinking how very essential Clara is in this story - who is the cause of his grief, who is so central even to how he thinks, and as we later learned, for whose sake alone (to try to save her) he suffered this entire cycle for those 4.5 billion years - otherwise “he could have left anytime he wanted.” So I think this narrative thread made me wonder whether her musical theme could be combined at the right point in this. Because I have loved instances of theme combination in other music, which I even studied in Mendelssohn’s 1st Organ sonata. And I found that yes her theme could be included. And then, so could his signature 4-note theme too; except not fully, yet even that very dissonance (F against G) fits the narrative (the clash between his Doctor-promise (Doctor theme) and his promise/duty-of-care for Clara).