I’m kinda wishing I never came across these beautiful unequal temp videos on you tube, because now hearing classical / romantic music on equal sound horrible to me. 😢
You can still tune your piano in some unequal-well temperament, the possibility is always here. Especially playing things like from Bach it is worth considering.
MUSIC THEORY Unequal temperament is a temperament that keeps pure or nearly pure intonation in some keys and accumulates the dissonances in the little-used keys In musical tuning, a Temperament is a tuning system that slightly compromises the pure intervals of just intonation to meet other requirements. Most modern Western musical instruments are tuned in the Equal Temperament system. Tempering is the process of altering the size of an interval by making it narrower or wider than pure. "Any plan that describes the adjustments to the sizes of some or all of the twelve fifth intervals in the circle of fifths so that they accommodate pure octaves and produce certain sizes of major thirds is called a temperament." Temperament is especially important for keyboard instruments, which typically allow a player to play only the pitches assigned to the various keys, and lack any way to alter pitch of a note in performance. Historically, the use of Just Intonation, Pythagorean Tuning and Meantone Temperament meant that such instruments could sound "in tune" in one key, or some keys, but would then have more dissonance in other keys. The development of Well Temperament allowed fixed-pitch instruments to play reasonably well in all of the keys. The famous Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach takes full advantage of this breakthrough, with pieces written in all 24 major and minor keys. However, while unpleasant intervals (such as the wolf interval) were avoided, the sizes of intervals were still not consistent between keys, and so each key still had its own character. This variation led in the 18th century to an increase in the use of Equal Temperament, in which the Frequency Ratio between each pair of adjacent notes on the keyboard was made equal, allowing music to be transposed between keys without changing the relationship between notes.
@@joangarcia-alsina2932 Tone is different from tempo. Tempo rubato (Italian: stolen time) is a musical term referring to expressive and rhythmic freedom by a slight speeding up and then slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the discretion of the soloist or the conductor. Rubato is an expressive shaping of music that is a part of phrasing. Soloists and conductors leave their unique mark on their performances by their choice of tempo variations and other distinctions like a fingerprint or energy signature. For example, Glenn Gould and Leonard Bernstein have different energy signatures from other musicians and conductors. Leonard Bernstein credits J.S. Bach as being the greatest composer, because he alone discovered the underlying, fundamental elements of music and demonstrated everything anyone needed to know to learn music.
could you describe that in wishy washy regular people terms cause bruh i switched to music from art in my first year of highschool cause i didnt like the art teacher but even then i understood absolutely 0% of what the music teacher tried to teach about music theory along with the entirety of the last two rows around me
Listening like this, I hear the design of the piece happening in such a way as to reveal the full color of the tonality. Bach is immeasurable. Very good!!
This is one of those performances where I'm left awed by what a genius Bach was instead of focusing on the skill of the performer (which here is considerable). This the best kind of performance.
I already commented on the camera work, but I love that the performers head is shadowed and in profile so that we don’t focus on her but on the music. I have no idea who is playing, and even the piano isn’t identified. It looks just like a wooden crate…with keys.
Absolutely beautiful playing from Helen Yorke. Full of music - her amazing technique is hardly noticeable because she lets us hear what the music is meant to be. Sheer musicality and beauty in music. What more can one hope for. Thank you Helen for your great skills and hard work to make our lives better.
okay but why is youtube recommending me this now 9 years after it got posted? I COULD’VE SEEN THIS 9 YEARS AGO AND BECAME A MUCH MORE ENLIGHTENED HUMAN BEING
What should I play Bach on then? All I have is a good Kawai digital. It can do many things, like tunings, temperments, disable touch sensitivity and various instrument sounds. What I can't change is the keyboard itself which mimics a grand.
@@batner you should play Bach on whatever you want. I mean that when I buy a recording of beach's keyboard works, I prefer them on harpsichord. I suppose you if you want to play bach, you should do so on whatever instrument you have :)
@@TimothyAsbridge_TENOR yeah... you can call this beast a keyboard if you want to. I have the Kawai CS-11. I think you are joking but in any case all of digital pianos have tuning options and as far as I know all higher-end ones have temperaments. I googled the cheapest Kawai ES-110 digital piano manual, it has the same temperament options my piano has except user-defined temperament. The comparable Yamaha P-125 doesn't have temperament options but the P-515 has. Also you can use any MIDI capable keyboard and a piano VST, all piano VSTs I know have temperament options. If you are not familiar then VST is a software synthesizer/instrument that runs on your own computer instead of the much weaker computer inside a digital instrument and generates the sound. It is fun to play with, for example I have a VST that is modeled on Steinway model D (Pianotec) and I run it on a pretty strong computer. So I disable my piano's local Kawai sound and plug the computer generated sound back into the audio-in plug of my piano. Same for Yamaha CFX grand (Garritan), plug it back into my piano and now it sounds like a Yamaha grand. Lots of fun. Also million configuration options for everything in both VSTs. Even minor things like how loud is the sound of the pedal mechanism.
What a treat! I wonder if Bach wrote the right hand first or the left, or both at once? My guess is that he wrote the right hand first quickly followed by the left. It's astonishing to think that one person could write so much good music. It's also a great achievement to learn to play it so well. Bravo!
Wow. Kudos to everything about this performance, from the tuning to the technique. Two measures into the piece I finally found within myself an artistic understanding of unequal temperament rather than simply an academic one. Such calm, clarity, and relaxed confidence.
Thanks. This is the calmness that you've stumbled upon. The temperament allows tension to be set up, and released, and a real sense of travelling somewhere. ruclips.net/video/LQXEq3XOrjU/видео.html is a recording of a piece in which also I found unexpected calm. ruclips.net/video/LQXEq3XOrjU/видео.html is another performance by other performers. Is it the performers or does the tuning do something? There is also something about the resonance of the instrument which allows much more sustain pedal to be used.
Only a guess but this may be a Broadwood fortepiano. It certainly sounds wonderful in the keys that were used in this piece - very clean - true fifths with no obvious beating that you get in equal temperament. OK this is sublimely played - excellent!
It's actually an 1885 Bechstein. Here's an 1819 Broadwood. ruclips.net/video/mnTDkj5dYYc/видео.html. And the tuning of the Bechstein is suitable for the whole repertoire, as tuned for the Nice International Piano Competition last year ruclips.net/video/mnTDkj5dYYc/видео.html
I was completely blown away at the virtuosity. As I listened I felt it was a modern take on Bach because the speed she played at, but then realized my video was playing at 1.5 times speed. After putting it back to normal speed I became very much enamored.
I learne this piece recently, and while it is an incredibly beautiful piece in and of itself, the unequal tuning somehow makes it sound so warm and soothing.
The best piano I've ever played, bar none, was a Bechstein. It was so beautiful that I had to play scales and arpeggios to get used to the sound. It had a lusher sound than this one, but this piano is perfect for Bach.
This is an 1885 Bechstein, before receiving new hammers, and now about to be restrung. Here is a recent recording of the instrument ruclips.net/video/rfqhL7UaB3Y/видео.html
@@unequally-temperedMay I ask you a question please about this piano? Is it straight-strung? Because the tenor and bass of this piano is wonderful for this literature.
@@aelfrice What a lovely observation. It's a Model III Bechstein of 1885 cross strung but the tuning gives a resonance with which we're possibly unfamiliar. It's even better with straight strung instruments but rather transforms the cross strung too. ruclips.net/video/xh0iLiUZfbw/видео.html is a recording that I don't normally refer to as a note went out during the performance - I had an impossibly short time to retune the instrument before the start - but see what you make of the resonance.
to me glenn gould always sounds mechanical and brutal... nothing compared to what this person is doing... i dont really understand what everyone has with him
@@MrKmpm I know what you mean, but Gould is very frequently the exact opposite of mechanical and brutal. If you do not like his approach you may not have had the opportunity to hear it. I have never heard anyone draw out individual lines as well as Gould. Because I am a Gould fanatic, I have listened to pieces numerous times, focusing on a different line each time just to hear the shape of each. His ability to craft simultaneous precisely calibrated crescendos and diminuendos is unreal. I can get pretty close at times, but it is always an approximation in my case. With Gould, you always get the sense that every note is exactly as he has conceived it in his head, and that he is thinking of every note at once. I do not hear every single piece the way he does, but it is almost always compelling to me. And then there are the moments of pure ecstasy he conveys, as intense as anyone ever.
@@MrKmpm Gould's voicing is amazing and he plays with tempo in an interesting way. Over time, he changed his mind, too. But I think she sounds more like the late Roslyn Tureck...to my unprofessional ears.
this is sooo beautiful, both the tuning and the playing (of course!). i usually don't like hearing bach on a modern piano, but this is wonderful. most (or at least *many*) harpsichords are tuned to some unequal temperament.
Such a fascinating sound.. not only in the temperament but the actual instrument.. and so well played.. The Gigue really highlights the tuning.. so strange and intriguing that I can't listen to "regular" performances without wanting more of this..
Phenomenal job making the melody pop out. I studied Bach in my piano master class (when I was a music major) and can confidently say this was expertly done. I truly can appreciate your ability of restraint to not blast through the piece, but to truly experience the note. Well done!
Equal temperament doesn't yield this beautiful crystal-clear kind of sound. Wow! Equal temperaments 'fudging' of intervals means we're always listening to music that is slightly out-of-tune. Bach advocated equal tuning so he could write music in every key, which is an advantage, but listen to this tuning! A revelation most of us have never heard!
Whether Bach advocated "equal interval tuning" might be a matter of debate but he expected tuning that would allow equal facility to play in all keys. This tuning does, and each key is different.
This is a misunderstanding; well tempered clavier not equal tempered; meantone tuning was still in use which gives 8 good keys and 4 poorer ones. Well Temperament distributed tuning errors differently to allow all keys (with different 'colours') then about 200 years ago genuinely Equal temperament took over with every key sounding the same and each as good or bad (depending on opinion ie bad 3rds/6ths) as any other
@@johnsmith-ch7fg I think that it wasn't until the 1870s that Equal Temperament really became universal, exploited by the Big Brand piano manufacturers in Germany. A concert grand of 1859 ruclips.net/video/9QaW4rrjkd0/видео.html takes a strong unequal temperament really well as if it was made for it.
How do ten fingers coordinate in such a way with all those keys to produce the sounds which in turn made me experience such a feeling? We are miracles and don’t even know it. Bravo! ❤️
Je vous écoute tous les jours , surtout en revenant de marcher le matin tôt , cela me fait du bien au cerveau . J'ai un Facebook Bernard Rocaille , si jamais , pour communiquer . Encore merci d'avoir posté cette vidéo réconfortante dans ma solitude !
Can we ever truly 'know' how Bach is 'supposed' to be played? I don't know. What I do know is that, to my ears, everything about this performance sounds so 'right' on it's own terms that other considerations don't seem to matter.
I play a lot of Bach on guitar, and I tend to change tempo, feeling and accent as the mood takes me, and yet to me it still always sounds satisfying. It seems there is no right or wrong way, just Bach, but counterpoint is key.
Amen! Screw the "purists". Baroque as an era was heavily based on improvisation, plus Bach loved to transpose his own and others' works for different combinations of instruments. So pretty sure he'd be fine with this!
@@pianoplaynightAgreed - and in any case his music is so well constructed it's pretty much unbreakable and can survive even the most egregious stylistic contortions intact.
I saw an interview with Andras Schiff once and I'm sure he said that Bach never specified instrument (for keyboard works). Even though the 48 are for well-tempered klavier, I seem to remember that Schiff said instrument wasn't specified. If you listen to C sharp major prelude Book II, it sounds completely different (and better) on a pipe organ. Likewise, the C major book II prelude makes much more sense on an organ than on any other keyboard with its long sustained first base note.
I really don't care about temperament stuff, but this woman is giving a wonderful interpretation!!! Who damn is she? Agogically wonderful! Name, please.
@@oldionus Yes, but playing un-metronomically is not enough. The difficult thing is where (i.e. WHY) playing un-metronomically, so that the agogic changes “reveal” musical (and human) reasons. This lady (I don't know her name...) plays with agogical (and timbral) intuition and sensitivity. Such elegant thoughts in her mind!
@@oldionus I always thought it was Bach's style to play to a metronome because that's how he wrote it. It has a mesmerizing effect to hear it at blazing speed.
@@k1001001 metronomes as we know them weren’t invented till about 65 years after Bach’s death. There were devices that could keep time, but they made no sound so the performer had to watch them for time. They also were not very accurate and produced unequal beats. As far as I know, there is no evidence that Bach used such a device regularly, if at all.
The minute differences in intonation between different note combinations certainly make for a much more 'HDR' sound, reminds me of when i started playing baroque clarinet, each note slightly different from it's neighbour
The piece, the sensitive playing, the temperament, even the camera angle that catches the sunlight shining on the keyboard... Like the Small Faces sang in the song 'Itchykoo Park:' "It's all too beautiful!" (And to be quite honest, I don't really hear any problematic intervals with this temperament, either.)
Such incredible articulation. All the precision that is required of JSB but with a wonderful humanity that is sometimes lacking in even some of the most notable interpreters of Bach. Thank you! And YT, throwing in an add in the middle of a performance is as in poor taste as adds in meditation videos.
10:34 Gigue fullon delightful. Helen Yorke, never heard of her, and how sad I haven't! incredible articulation, phrasing, ornamentation. the tuning's the cherryon the cake. interesting; she does this openHand flick/relax thing that one of my first RSM teachers did. wonder if they share a pedagogic teacher-history from circa 60's? Helen York, yes BUT maybe Natalia Trull? Great, incredile Tchaikovsky winner?
I’m kinda wishing I never came across these beautiful unequal temp videos on you tube, because now hearing classical / romantic music on equal sound horrible to me. 😢
I feel you
You can still tune your piano in some unequal-well temperament, the possibility is always here. Especially playing things like from Bach it is worth considering.
It's the musical equivalent of the "true level" rick and morty scene.
Coul not agree more
MUSIC THEORY
Unequal temperament is a temperament that keeps pure or nearly pure intonation in some keys and accumulates the dissonances in the little-used keys
In musical tuning, a Temperament is a tuning system that slightly compromises the pure intervals of just intonation to meet other requirements. Most modern Western musical instruments are tuned in the Equal Temperament system. Tempering is the process of altering the size of an interval by making it narrower or wider than pure. "Any plan that describes the adjustments to the sizes of some or all of the twelve fifth intervals in the circle of fifths so that they accommodate pure octaves and produce certain sizes of major thirds is called a temperament." Temperament is especially important for keyboard instruments, which typically allow a player to play only the pitches assigned to the various keys, and lack any way to alter pitch of a note in performance. Historically, the use of Just Intonation, Pythagorean Tuning and Meantone Temperament meant that such instruments could sound "in tune" in one key, or some keys, but would then have more dissonance in other keys.
The development of Well Temperament allowed fixed-pitch instruments to play reasonably well in all of the keys. The famous Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach takes full advantage of this breakthrough, with pieces written in all 24 major and minor keys. However, while unpleasant intervals (such as the wolf interval) were avoided, the sizes of intervals were still not consistent between keys, and so each key still had its own character. This variation led in the 18th century to an increase in the use of Equal Temperament, in which the Frequency Ratio between each pair of adjacent notes on the keyboard was made equal, allowing music to be transposed between keys without changing the relationship between notes.
Splendid explenation. I have learned something inmportant. Thank you.
But this is not what we use to call "rubatto"?.
@@joangarcia-alsina2932 Tone is different from tempo.
Tempo rubato (Italian: stolen time) is a musical term referring to expressive and rhythmic freedom by a slight speeding up and then slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the discretion of the soloist or the conductor. Rubato is an expressive shaping of music that is a part of phrasing.
Soloists and conductors leave their unique mark on their performances by their choice of tempo variations and other distinctions like a fingerprint or energy signature. For example, Glenn Gould and Leonard Bernstein have different energy signatures from other musicians and conductors. Leonard Bernstein credits J.S. Bach as being the greatest composer, because he alone discovered the underlying, fundamental elements of music and demonstrated everything anyone needed to know to learn music.
Little used keys WTF are you talking about? No such thing in my world geeez
could you describe that in wishy washy regular people terms cause bruh i switched to music from art in my first year of highschool cause i didnt like the art teacher but even then i understood absolutely 0% of what the music teacher tried to teach about music theory along with the entirety of the last two rows around me
Listening like this, I hear the design of the piece happening in such a way as to reveal the full color of the tonality. Bach is immeasurable. Very good!!
This is one of those performances where I'm left awed by what a genius Bach was instead of focusing on the skill of the performer (which here is considerable). This the best kind of performance.
Indeed, the best kind of performance is one which you don't notice.
Truly he is genius!!! I am never tired of his music forever!!!! Long live BACH!
I already commented on the camera work, but I love that the performers head is shadowed and in profile so that we don’t focus on her but on the music. I have no idea who is playing, and even the piano isn’t identified. It looks just like a wooden crate…with keys.
@@journeymancellist9247 Yes! It's the music that matters!
Absolutely beautiful playing from Helen Yorke. Full of music - her amazing technique is hardly noticeable because she lets us hear what the music is meant to be. Sheer musicality and beauty in music. What more can one hope for. Thank you Helen for your great skills and hard work to make our lives better.
okay but why is youtube recommending me this now 9 years after it got posted? I COULD’VE SEEN THIS 9 YEARS AGO AND BECAME A MUCH MORE ENLIGHTENED HUMAN BEING
Same here. It showed up on my page today for the first time.
Yeee RUclips Algo got drunk :-P
God works in His own time.
This RUclips recommendation is the best Christmas present
I agree.......simply delightful.
I love the way she rolls into each movement without a pause
This intonation sounds gorgeous, with a crystalline clarity that perfectly shows Bach's outstanding music. The playing is exquisite too
Absolutely beautiful! I don't think bach played like a robot. This is perfect.
and Neither do I! 🤣
This is Helen Yorke, by the way.
this is zizi XD
Dear J Dane. Is the pianist Helen Yorke? Wonderful playing!
Best regards Uffe Flong
What instrument is she playing on?
@@lawrence18uk violin
@@ileryon4019 no idiot it's a viola
I normally don't like hearing Bach's keyboard work on pianos, but this performance is wonderful.
What should I play Bach on then? All I have is a good Kawai digital. It can do many things, like tunings, temperments, disable touch sensitivity and various instrument sounds. What I can't change is the keyboard itself which mimics a grand.
@@batner you should play Bach on whatever you want.
I mean that when I buy a recording of beach's keyboard works, I prefer them on harpsichord. I suppose you if you want to play bach, you should do so on whatever instrument you have :)
@@batner you’ve got a digital keyboard which does temperaments?! Didn’t think that was a thing what’s the model please?
@@TimothyAsbridge_TENOR yeah... you can call this beast a keyboard if you want to. I have the Kawai CS-11.
I think you are joking but in any case all of digital pianos have tuning options and as far as I know all higher-end ones have temperaments.
I googled the cheapest Kawai ES-110 digital piano manual, it has the same temperament options my piano has except user-defined temperament. The comparable Yamaha P-125 doesn't have temperament options but the P-515 has. Also you can use any MIDI capable keyboard and a piano VST, all piano VSTs I know have temperament options.
If you are not familiar then VST is a software synthesizer/instrument that runs on your own computer instead of the much weaker computer inside a digital instrument and generates the sound. It is fun to play with, for example I have a VST that is modeled on Steinway model D (Pianotec) and I run it on a pretty strong computer. So I disable my piano's local Kawai sound and plug the computer generated sound back into the audio-in plug of my piano. Same for Yamaha CFX grand (Garritan), plug it back into my piano and now it sounds like a Yamaha grand. Lots of fun. Also million configuration options for everything in both VSTs. Even minor things like how loud is the sound of the pedal mechanism.
@@batner thank you I wasn’t joking
This is Bach's first Partita (collection of dances with a prelude at the beginning) for the keyboard, in B-flat major.
Thank you for informing us what inexplicably was left out of the description. Is it that hard to include the name of the song?
@@thsu8 - I thought that, but then I clicked the 'Show more' just underneath the text...
@@MyMy-tv7fd It was just added. It wasn't there 9 months ago.
2020 random recommendation crew are all up in these comments. I enjoyed this video a lot!
I mean I listen to a lot of micro tonal and atonal shitt on youtube, but zero classical! I'm there with ya!
What a treat! I wonder if Bach wrote the right hand first or the left, or both at once? My guess is that he wrote the right hand first quickly followed by the left. It's astonishing to think that one person could write so much good music. It's also a great achievement to learn to play it so well. Bravo!
What an amazing performance. Tuning is appropriate to the piece. Sounds very natural. Quite possibly Bach preferred this particular tuning.
Wow.
Kudos to everything about this performance, from the tuning to the technique. Two measures into the piece I finally found within myself an artistic understanding of unequal temperament rather than simply an academic one. Such calm, clarity, and relaxed confidence.
Thanks. This is the calmness that you've stumbled upon. The temperament allows tension to be set up, and released, and a real sense of travelling somewhere. ruclips.net/video/LQXEq3XOrjU/видео.html is a recording of a piece in which also I found unexpected calm. ruclips.net/video/LQXEq3XOrjU/видео.html is another performance by other performers. Is it the performers or does the tuning do something? There is also something about the resonance of the instrument which allows much more sustain pedal to be used.
I love the expressivity in this performance!
It's wonderful to hear Bach interpreted so gracefully!
Only a guess but this may be a Broadwood fortepiano. It certainly sounds wonderful in the keys that were used in this piece - very clean - true fifths with no obvious beating that you get in equal temperament. OK this is sublimely played - excellent!
It's actually an 1885 Bechstein. Here's an 1819 Broadwood. ruclips.net/video/mnTDkj5dYYc/видео.html. And the tuning of the Bechstein is suitable for the whole repertoire, as tuned for the Nice International Piano Competition last year ruclips.net/video/mnTDkj5dYYc/видео.html
She plays with such tenderness and character. What a treat! Happy Holidays :)
I don't know what it is but this interpretation gave me the chills almost immediately.
The pure intervals are so satisfying. And a delightfully heartfelt performance. It made my evening.
To quote Sibelius' words to Wilhelm Kempff, "You did not play that as a pianist but rather as a human being."
I love the way you played this partita, it transported me to a different world where everything is perfect!
I was completely blown away at the virtuosity. As I listened I felt it was a modern take on Bach because the speed she played at, but then realized my video was playing at 1.5 times speed. After putting it back to normal speed I became very much enamored.
Bach: Keyboard Partita No.1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825
More from this performer please. I'm absolutely in love.
That sound makes me almost cry its so perfect.
This performance is golden - simply golden!
Toujours écoute et regarde cette belle vidéo , l'ami Bach dans ma vie .
I learne this piece recently, and while it is an incredibly beautiful piece in and of itself, the unequal tuning somehow makes it sound so warm and soothing.
Traumhaft schön gespielt ❤️ 👏👍❤️💚🧡 There is Music behind every single note she plays! Wonderful ❣️
WONDERFUL interpretation of one of Bach's lesser-known masterworks for the keyboard.
Please excuse my wording: "Wie geil ist das denn, bitteschön!?" Just wonderful musicianship and tuning!
First time hearing and the amount of divine guidance is incredible.
great sound. She also seems to have great natural control over the pace and dynamics. Very much enjoyed
She is playing very well and the piano sounds superb. Her phrasing is so musical. Great explanations of tuning tenique.
A gorgeous performance requiring no words of adulation, just listen, thanks Helen!!!
What a brilliant pianist, and what a magnificent piano.
The best piano I've ever played, bar none, was a Bechstein. It was so beautiful that I had to play scales and arpeggios to get used to the sound. It had a lusher sound than this one, but this piano is perfect for Bach.
This is an 1885 Bechstein, before receiving new hammers, and now about to be restrung. Here is a recent recording of the instrument ruclips.net/video/rfqhL7UaB3Y/видео.html
@@unequally-temperedMay I ask you a question please about this piano? Is it straight-strung? Because the tenor and bass of this piano is wonderful for this literature.
@@aelfrice What a lovely observation. It's a Model III Bechstein of 1885 cross strung but the tuning gives a resonance with which we're possibly unfamiliar. It's even better with straight strung instruments but rather transforms the cross strung too. ruclips.net/video/xh0iLiUZfbw/видео.html is a recording that I don't normally refer to as a note went out during the performance - I had an impossibly short time to retune the instrument before the start - but see what you make of the resonance.
Fantastic performance. Technique and tone reminds me of Glenn Gould. Love the tuning.
to me glenn gould always sounds mechanical and brutal... nothing compared to what this person is doing... i dont really understand what everyone has with him
@@MrKmpm I know what you mean, but Gould is very frequently the exact opposite of mechanical and brutal. If you do not like his approach you may not have had the opportunity to hear it.
I have never heard anyone draw out individual lines as well as Gould. Because I am a Gould fanatic, I have listened to pieces numerous times, focusing on a different line each time just to hear the shape of each. His ability to craft simultaneous precisely calibrated crescendos and diminuendos is unreal. I can get pretty close at times, but it is always an approximation in my case. With Gould, you always get the sense that every note is exactly as he has conceived it in his head, and that he is thinking of every note at once. I do not hear every single piece the way he does, but it is almost always compelling to me.
And then there are the moments of pure ecstasy he conveys, as intense as anyone ever.
@@MrKmpm Gould's voicing is amazing and he plays with tempo in an interesting way. Over time, he changed his mind, too. But I think she sounds more like the late Roslyn Tureck...to my unprofessional ears.
this sounds so clear and at ease
this is sooo beautiful, both the tuning and the playing (of course!). i usually don't like hearing bach on a modern piano, but this is wonderful.
most (or at least *many*) harpsichords are tuned to some unequal temperament.
i enjoyed playing this video at different speeds to hear the voicing.
love the brightness of the piano
The instrument has since received new hammers and voicing - ruclips.net/video/rfqhL7UaB3Y/видео.html
Salutes to her remarkable teacher! This is one of several remarkable performances on RUclips by his students.
Such a fascinating sound.. not only in the temperament but the actual instrument.. and so well played..
The Gigue really highlights the tuning.. so strange and intriguing that I can't listen to "regular" performances without wanting more of this..
beautifull, such delight to work with this sintonia in the background, lovely work, pls more
Such a rich yet bright tone! Thank you for sharing.
Very mellow and listenable.
The ultimate lockdown recital. 👌🏼
Amazing. Found new ideas and interpretations in a partita that I've heard countless times. Thank you O mighty algorithm!
Beautiful performance, sensitive playing.
Phenomenal job making the melody pop out. I studied Bach in my piano master class (when I was a music major) and can confidently say this was expertly done. I truly can appreciate your ability of restraint to not blast through the piece, but to truly experience the note. Well done!
Equal temperament doesn't yield this beautiful crystal-clear kind of sound. Wow! Equal temperaments 'fudging' of intervals means we're always listening to music that is slightly out-of-tune. Bach advocated equal tuning so he could write music in every key, which is an advantage, but listen to this tuning! A revelation most of us have never heard!
Whether Bach advocated "equal interval tuning" might be a matter of debate but he expected tuning that would allow equal facility to play in all keys. This tuning does, and each key is different.
one needs 12 pianos nothing else
This is a misunderstanding; well tempered clavier not equal tempered; meantone tuning was still in use which gives 8 good keys and 4 poorer ones. Well Temperament distributed tuning errors differently to allow all keys (with different 'colours') then about 200 years ago genuinely Equal temperament took over with every key sounding the same and each as good or bad (depending on opinion ie bad 3rds/6ths) as any other
@@marcorighini6201 This tuning allows playing in all keys. One piano, the right tuning . . . and here's the result.
@@johnsmith-ch7fg I think that it wasn't until the 1870s that Equal Temperament really became universal, exploited by the Big Brand piano manufacturers in Germany. A concert grand of 1859 ruclips.net/video/9QaW4rrjkd0/видео.html takes a strong unequal temperament really well as if it was made for it.
Those intervals simply pierce
I enjoyed this immensely. Beautifully sonorous and articulate. Thank you.
Ugh it makes me cry every time
Absolutely beautiful. Thank you...whomever you are!
The ornaments are devilishly difficult in the opening movement. I played this on my harpsichord masters recital. Such a joy to play!
How do ten fingers coordinate in such a way with all those keys to produce the sounds which in turn made me experience such a feeling? We are miracles and don’t even know it. Bravo! ❤️
Woww!! Really great playing and lovely sounding in this temperment
Cela me fait encore du bien au cerveau , jamais lassé . Merci madame , et Bach !
Je vous écoute tous les jours , surtout en revenant de marcher le matin tôt , cela me fait du bien au cerveau . J'ai un Facebook Bernard Rocaille , si jamais , pour communiquer . Encore merci d'avoir posté cette vidéo réconfortante dans ma solitude !
god i love this one so much
Try ruclips.net/video/AHAZjcPmtrs/видео.html too
so nice. thank you for sharing your music
It’s almost criminal you haven’t listed the name of this magnificent performer. If anyone finds out please comment! Thank you!
The pianist is Helen Yorke :)
Helen Yorke, I was told....
Is it not in the title?
@@jc5512 Considering some of the other comments, I assume it was added later :)
@@robiaster it's interesting how it seems like a video that was uploaded 9 years ago, changed its title within the past 4 days
Exquisite on so many levels
Wonderful pianism!
Gorgeous! Heart melting
Very nice playing at the highest level and beautiful tuning which I will try at my instrument. I may subscribe based only on this video.
Try ruclips.net/video/yffLniiZAoc/видео.html
Can we ever truly 'know' how Bach is 'supposed' to be played? I don't know. What I do know is that, to my ears, everything about this performance sounds so 'right' on it's own terms that other considerations don't seem to matter.
I play a lot of Bach on guitar, and I tend to change tempo, feeling and accent as the mood takes me, and yet to me it still always sounds satisfying. It seems there is no right or wrong way, just Bach, but counterpoint is key.
Amen! Screw the "purists". Baroque as an era was heavily based on improvisation, plus Bach loved to transpose his own and others' works for different combinations of instruments. So pretty sure he'd be fine with this!
@@pianoplaynightAgreed - and in any case his music is so well constructed it's pretty much unbreakable and can survive even the most egregious stylistic contortions intact.
I saw an interview with Andras Schiff once and I'm sure he said that Bach never specified instrument (for keyboard works). Even though the 48 are for well-tempered klavier, I seem to remember that Schiff said instrument wasn't specified. If you listen to C sharp major prelude Book II, it sounds completely different (and better) on a pipe organ. Likewise, the C major book II prelude makes much more sense on an organ than on any other keyboard with its long sustained first base note.
@Fliszt Actually here is link ruclips.net/video/KbJI-tP6tNA/видео.html
Un vrai plaisir , merci madame .
Perfection, composer and performer!
What a beautiful playing!
Really marvelous and expressive. Thankyou!
Gorgeous!
Beautiful ... seems to express the 'synergy' of Bach's counterpoint
Simply exquisite upload-thank you.
Always come back to this.
I really don't care about temperament stuff, but this woman is giving a wonderful interpretation!!! Who damn is she? Agogically wonderful! Name, please.
Agree that the interpretation is very sensitive and musical. Bach should NEVER be played metronomically.
@@oldionus Yes, but playing un-metronomically is not enough. The difficult thing is where (i.e. WHY) playing un-metronomically, so that the agogic changes “reveal” musical (and human) reasons. This lady (I don't know her name...) plays with agogical (and timbral) intuition and sensitivity. Such elegant thoughts in her mind!
@@oldionus I always thought it was Bach's style to play to a metronome because that's how he wrote it. It has a mesmerizing effect to hear it at blazing speed.
@@k1001001 metronomes as we know them weren’t invented till about 65 years after Bach’s death. There were devices that could keep time, but they made no sound so the performer had to watch them for time. They also were not very accurate and produced unequal beats. As far as I know, there is no evidence that Bach used such a device regularly, if at all.
All these opinions, and no one answers your question 😅. Sorry I can’t either, but I had to laugh
That is a beautiful tuning
Wow!! Love it
Beautiful sound and musicality....
Wonderful 💕❣️👍👏
Thank you!!
the coolest gigue ever, and of course, the sarabande is beyond words!!
Very beautiful -- the temperament really seems to make a difference
Thank you, Helen York, what you did was not easy, but you did it quite well.
Wonderful playing!
Magnificent.
The minute differences in intonation between different note combinations certainly make for a much more 'HDR' sound, reminds me of when i started playing baroque clarinet, each note slightly different from it's neighbour
Stellar!
This sounds really cool.
You are a very good pianist
would not have noticed the tuning other than it sounds really good
That's what it's meant to do!
The piece, the sensitive playing, the temperament, even the camera angle that catches the sunlight shining on the keyboard... Like the Small Faces sang in the song 'Itchykoo Park:' "It's all too beautiful!" (And to be quite honest, I don't really hear any problematic intervals with this temperament, either.)
Beautiful performance. If only we knew the performer.
Such incredible articulation. All the precision that is required of JSB but with a wonderful humanity that is sometimes lacking in even some of the most notable interpreters of Bach. Thank you!
And YT, throwing in an add in the middle of a performance is as in poor taste as adds in meditation videos.
Wonderful!
10:34 Gigue fullon delightful. Helen Yorke, never heard of her, and how sad I haven't! incredible articulation, phrasing, ornamentation. the tuning's the cherryon the cake. interesting; she does this openHand flick/relax thing that one of my first RSM teachers did. wonder if they share a pedagogic teacher-history from circa 60's? Helen York, yes BUT maybe Natalia Trull? Great, incredile Tchaikovsky winner?
Thats a heck of a memory card she's stuck in the back of her head. Bravo.