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Gwendolyn, it's so great to see you again. I was a doctoral student in clinical psychology in the 1980's at Stony Brook, and on the side I took piano lessons with Mariko Sato. I remember seeing you give a masterful performance of Ravel's "Gaspard de la Nuit" at one of your doctoral degree recitals. You made such an impression on me that I remember it four decades later! Thank you for all you do in the world of great piano music! -- Cory
Wittgenstein : Believe me, I am an old pianist. As it is written it won't sound. Ravel : Believe me, I am an old orchestrator. I can tell you it sounds.
I was an artist walking out of my studio many years ago with one of the original walkmen and listening to Ravel's G Major Symphony. The second movement began and I stopped walking and stood still and cried. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. For the duration of that movement, it was as if no other piece of music had ever been conceived of.
I was a student of Dr. Mok's. I had dropped out of a major conservatory, where I was a minnow in a sea of better-equipped and better-connected pianists. By comparison to them, I was talented, but undisciplined and too interested in exploring the repertoire to focus on mastery. Dr. Mok took me on, and I don't think there's anyone else who could have (or would have) done what she did for me and the rest of the ragtag group in that class. I came out of the program playing near a world-class level, and have only continued to get better in the years since.
The masterly use of form and structure is often overlooked in the Left Hand Concerto. The Left Hand Concerto IS sentimental though; it's the decay of the leaves in the crisp Autumn dusk - that and those martial rhythms of war.
Very true. The recording of both Ravel Piano Concertos with Mr. Perlemuter accompanied by Jascha Horenstein & The Concerts Colonne of Paris is simply stunning. I have other recordings of both, but I still like this one best. This is despite being recorded in 1955 and only in mono sound. Still great!
Having written the above comment, I have since listened to the Samson François performance. To give credit where it is due… that’s quite a performance. Almost exactly the same length as Perlemuter’s, but surprisingly even darker in tone than I was expecting. Much credit to Robert Fleitz for bringing this to our attention. I will definitely find a copy of it to add to my collection. Brilliant performance. Thank you, Mr. Fleitz.
It really must be noted that François’s teacher Marguerite Long premiered the G major concerto! I also find it incredibly interesting that Mrs. Mok’s teacher Perlemuter studied Ravel’s music with Ravel himself. Surely he shared some stories with her…
I came to Perlemuters recordings around 2005. He was dead and tge Chopin he rerecorded was late after his technique was less. Who records all tge etudes in their 80s. He lived to be 97 or 98. Our last link to Ravel. RUTH Sleczenska almost 100 might have met him but she never studied w/him. But she met or trained w/everyone Hofmann,Rach,Godowsky etc.
My aunt bought me a recording of this when I was in high school in the 70s. I had never heard of Ravel. The flip side of the LP was the other concerto, in G. I absolutely fell in love with this work, actually both pieces. I am eternally grateful to my aunt who introduced me to this composer, and I have tackled many of Ravel’s pieces myself.
I love Ravel's concerto and it's obviously very innovative! but my favourite concerto written for Wittgenstein is actually Bortkiewicz's second concerto in C minor. It's so lush, melodic and romantic - a must listen for Rachmaninoff fans.
I heard for first time that S. Bortkiewitcz second piano concerto- thanks for pointing it. Well, he can definitely very write well for piano and orchestra- however, his harmonies are pattern-wise cliche, his emotions, although strong and poignant are just platitudes and standard regurgitated re-adapted into very familiar pianistic expressions - kind of like modern Salieri vs Rah or Ravel. Careful to compare a GOD like Ravel or Rah to (not even second grade like Straus or Mendelssohn who are first rate second grade composers 😊) but this SBerkiewitzh is third rate second grade composer- kind of. Just so much obvious stealing, borrowing, imitating, going for big but known cheap effects. Schmaltz and Schmooze type of music. To me personally - disgusting. ( Although I totally agree with you on the Rah progressions, Dark Vader or James Bond Hollywood-y moods/textures). Rather to hear silence, though - than that. But Ravel’s concerto for left or any other work by that music God is just: Ineffable miracle of Gift and Grace upon Earth and its earthlings!
And it's Samson François 100th Birthday this year. Good hommage! My favourite recordings from Samsons François are Chopin's Nocturnes and Études. His touchet is unmatched... Best recording of Ravel LH concerto, maybe Philllipe Entremont/Pierre Boulez...
Franz Schmidt (who composed several works for Paul Wittgenstein) anticipates the harmony of Bill Evans in much of his music (e.g. the Intermezzo from the A Major Quintet for piano (left hand), clarinet and string trio).
Ravel, who had been unable to fight in WWI because he flunked his medical screening, did his best to help by joining an ambulance corps. He knew about that war and about how it manned so many young men on both sides. Paul Wittgenstein was not the right pianist for this masterpiece but his credentials of losing his right arm on the battlefield impressed Ravel.
This concerto is maybe one of my top 5 favourite pieces, thanks for making a full video about it. Appart from Samson François, the two other ones i love as much are Aldo Ciccolini (with Jean Martinon conducting) and Krystian Zimerman (with Pierre Boulez conducting). If i had to pick one, i think i'd take Ciccolini.
I'm really amazed by "Ravel plays La vallée des cloches". There one can already hear the whole orchestration as Ravel just plays the piano. For me it is a truly moving piece.
GREAT film!!! I can't wait to listen to François with the Cluytens performance! He's my favorite conductor of the Beethoven symphonies, and I imagine that his exuberance in guiding an orchestra through fresh, unconventional treatments made for a great fit with François! THANKS for your work!
AH, now *here's* a really good, educational video, very well done and professional, with a compelling storyline, with everything put in proper and clear context. 👍👍
The Concerto in G might be more popular of the two concertos, but the Left Hand Concerto is in a completely other level! The latter is by far my favourite concerto.
Thank You very nice and interesting. I am so happy to see the image of Samson François, the unloved, restored here. When I was 20, I only listened to him, playing Ravel but also Chopin, I didn't like Cziffra - too brutal, not Rubinstein - soup... Of course we laughed saying that when he arrived on stage he rushed towards the piano, not greeting the audience... for fear of missing the piano or worse, so drunk he was, but as soon as the first note resonated, the magic worked. How many times have I looked at a score of a Ballade, Barcarolle or such Nocturne with a magnifying glass, saying "but wtf how does he do that????" (we did not say Wtf at that time)
LOVE Ravel, heard a quartent arrangement of Sonatine and started "consuming mass quanities" of not only Ravel but allĺlll Impressionists, even getting into Impressionist Art. I even learned to play La Vallee Des Cloches and DeBussy's Golliwog's Cakewalk even though I only took 4 years of piano back in Elementary Scool and was mainly a violinist. I knew about his Great War. Service (and Kreisler's on the other side) but didn't know about his friendship with Gershwin in the US, or that it was a head injury that had put him in the asylum. VERY informative youtube!
12:04 btw this excerpt is from one of his live performance of Chopin Concerto No.2, it’s absolutely brilliant. There is still time to make a video about him for 100th anniversary :)
Ravel has been my greatest influence as a composer and jazz pianist for over 60+ years! In my humble opinion, after living with Ravel all that time, Francois played the concerto too fast and with a sterility that left me cold! Sorry, but that’s my opinion! I feel the finest performances of these concerti are by Yuja Wang! Her performance of the 2nd movement in particular from the G major is wondrous! These are my personal favorite performances. Her Scarbo from Gaspard, by the way, is a marvel! incredible!
Favourite recording from when I heard it for the first time back in the '70s - Werner Haas/Alceo Galliera/Orchestre National de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo on Philips.
I heard Boris Giltburg playing the left-hand concerto live (unfortunately there is no CD recording), and it was a truly extraordinary experience. Boris has both the depth to go hard into the brutal parts and a magic touch for the more nostalgic and sorrowful moments of the concerto, all the while never over-doing it. His nuanced way of playing and his pedal work is really something else, when you hear him in person he is in a league of his own. Go see him live if you can, for Ravel or any music.
Thanks again so much to Gwendolyn Mok for joining me for this video! Be sure to check out her great content on Tonebase Premium and her wonderful recordings of Ravel. Stay tuned - we had such a fun conversation that we'll soon be sharing the whole interview!
A lot of metal musicians were inspired by certain classical masterpieces. So it's in fact the other way around. I'm a fan of both metal and classical music. Secondly I find it weird how you're referring to the left hand concerto as a "dark" concerto when there's nothing dark about it. But you do know a lot about this history and I appreciate learning from you. Cheers.
Thank you for your thoughts. Aside from the intro I don't find this work particularly dark. Interesting how people can have different perceptions of music. By the time the piano enters the work begins to sparkle with brilliance and the over-all feel for me is one of adventure with a sense of optimism. Gaspard de la nuit, Oiseaux tristes from Miroirs and the Passacaille from the Piano Trio, (and even Jeux d'eau) are examples of pieces from Ravel that I perceive as darker in feel than the left-hand concerto.
The video presenter is clearly one of those people who fetishize darkness and tragic contexts, as evidenced by his statement that the piece is somehow extra magical because Ravel was prematurely cut down, which is gruesome tragedy-addict logic, the kind of hellish reasoning which fuels witches to scheme gratuitous tragedies in our lives to achieve bogus aesthetic goals, I hate it, I hate people like that, I hate tragedy, I hate tragedians, I hate darkness kinks, etc. In that way, I'm no different than Shakespeare or God. "But wait, Shakespeare and God -" SHUT UP, VIDEO PRESENTER ADDICTED TO AN ANTI-GOOD TRAGIC VISION WHO IS BAFFLED BY MY JUDGMENTS AND REFLEXIVELY RESORTING TO SHALLOW DEFENSIVE RETORTS! You know nothing, all your factoids here in this video notwithstanding. Great artists like Shakespeare actually DESPISE tragedy, they do not want you to BATHE in tragedy like a morbid bubble bath, they want us to ESCAPE FROM IT! "But so why is Romeo & Juliet - " ROMEO & JULIET IS A SATIRE OF OUR SICK DESIRE FOR TRAGEDY MEANT TO STAY FUNNY ALL THE WAY TO THE END! I hate you people. You are tragedy fiends. You are tragedies-on-two-legs just craving validation. BLECH! 🤮😡
Interesting commentary. I respect the far greater discipline, talent and years of relentless practice and investigation of these Concert soloists. I would only add that we lesser mortals can still enjoy the interpretations of many of the great pianists who have mastered the technical aspects of the concerto and bring their own interpretations. I can not accept the premise that a great composition has only a single correct rendering. We each are fully entitled to our own preferences.
Juste un petit reproche: il est dommage que vous n'ayez pas montré quelques images de la vidéo où l'on voit S.Francois jouer le concerto, et tout spécialement la cadence : le contraste entre l'activité intense des doigts et l'immobilité du visage y est fascinant..
I used to think Alicia de Larrocha and Lawrence Foster had the best version until I hear John Ogdon perform it live on Meloclassic label. It was just phenomenal. No one had a sound like that.
Prokofiev's 4th Piano Concerto in B Flat Major Op 53 is also a left-handed concerto, commissioned by Wittgenstein. How much difficult this concerto is, compared to the Ravel one????
Great point and question! I studied that concerto in preparation for this video. In general the pianism in that piece is much more similar to what a pianist would be used to doing with their left hand: for example, neo-classical scalar passage work and harmonic chordal writing. It’s not easy by any means, but Ravel’s instrument-spanning, contrapuntal, grandiose writing is much more complex and much harder to negotiate with one hand (at least in my perception!)
I came loaded for bear, expecting the "wild genius" of the title to be presented as the problematic Wittgenstein - and was pleasantly surprised to find that the real wild genius had been credited: Samson François, whose version is still the standard after all these years. Bravo!
For me, Ravel's work always had this demonic aura's, since I first heard the "Bolero" when I was a child. It's curious, though, because I thought only I felt like this about it, but now I see so many people have this sensation.
It's funny that you emphasize the jazz elements. Personally I think of the G major concerto as the jazzier one, and for me the LH concerto is more Spanish. In the final cadenza the piano seems to be imitating the guitar, with those rippling arpeggios containing repeated notes (or are they just to help you know where to change your hand position?)
My favorite recording of this is one of my desert island discs: Gavrilov/Rattle/LSO on EMI. It's on RUclips - ruclips.net/video/9uaj-YlmG0k/видео.htmlsi=f3ukDOLrkDDIXVws - but the grotesquely compressed RUclips audio does NOT do it justice. To experience its raw power, you need to hear it on LP or CD on a very good audio system.
So, I reckon that the expression we are looking for is: Struggling with this Concerto for Left hand is like struggling to relief yourself with left hand only, being right-handed. Something always will seems a bit off.
3:09 it had been LYING dormant. Laying is what one does to something else. "Laying dormant" means you've been placing something called "dormant" somewhere onto something.
[10:08] Possessed or demonic quality… Well, that’s what Leszek Możdżer has and showed during and after his solo intro and Chopin’s Mazurka (G minor, op24no1) at his _Solidarity 2010_ concert. Devilish smile…
Who. Everyone is trying to be different now. When everyine is so fabulously well trained AND smart i dont know how theres space for so many on concert platforms. Unless youre an expert U cant tell différence. Personality has always been the thinh.
If you regularly appreciate programming like this, it may be worthwhile to pay for a RUclips Premium subscription. It's an additional expense, but well worth it to me - no ads (except those in the video itself, and Tonebase does not incorporate those).
Essentially, to the listener, there is NOTHING in the piano's soaring melodic and rhythmic complexities that reveals or even HINTS that all those notes are being sent out by a single hand rather than Two independent feverishly maneuvering sets of fingers. Actually, there's a lot more of that Recklessness and Addictive behavior among Classical Performers than a lot of the public realizes.. They manage by stage craft and a few loyal assistants to get properly dressed and stride those few steps across the stage to sit on the bench. Once the keyboard swims into view, they generally focus on the music, for the length of the performance... but only just...
He only used his left hand. In some interviews he even said that it was easier to play with one hand rather than two because Ravel’s writing imitates the motion of a violinist’s bow.
So glad I subscribed to your channel! there is no denying the brilliance of the Ravel GADZOOKS!!! Check out Dario Argento for a tracking shot and awesome music....
One of my first introductions to Ravel was Eliso Wirssaladze’s very intense performance of this. 🤯 ruclips.net/video/9k75oGTJ-fU/видео.htmlsi=6oelrnV__6tjvarh
Virsaladze is a standout! Great teacher,smart,Fabulous personality! Everything she touches becomes its best! She has integrity. Pletnev is amazing and even more frightening. Indulgent but you're never bored!
I'm all for popularising classical music. However if thé audience doesn't hear for itself "dark" or "culminating" I'm afrais educatofs are on a stick wicket. Not sure that you explain what makes it dark. Orchestration, tempo, rhythm. Now THAT would be learning something.
Why are they playing Alborado at 2:28?? Love the Emperor from Amadeus and his famous line, "I don't understand.... is it modern?" Why do we pronounce "pianist" as "PEE-n-ist....I mean, the guys doesn't play the PEE-an-no; he plays the Pi-AN-o. Interestingly, at 3:04, he says it the right way: "Pi-AN-ist". No, the "raw emotional power (3:09)" was not "laying dormant." It was LYING dormant. Learn the difference between to lay and to lie. 3:26. A thing cannot, by definition, be "so unique." A thing is either unique or it isn't; there is no degree of "so." You could say, "so unusual" or "so rare" but not "so unique." Always a good idea to just pronounce foreign languages without trying to add an accent. It just sounds silly when you say "Le Tombeau de Couperin" and pronounce the final "n" (which you wouldn't do in French). Why not just speak it like an English speaker? And you don't make any attempt to pronounce "François" with a French accent. After all, when was the last time you heard a native French speaker even make an attempt to imitate a British or American accent? And you pronounce "concerto" without any attempt to sound Italian, so why this contortion to pronounce terms à la française? Despite all my griping, I am grateful you made this video about one of the world's greatest composers. One day, I may attack Alborado, but....
Sometimes you leave a space after your four dots (why four, by the way?), and sometimes you don’t. After mimicking the pronunciation of "pianist", you forgot to add the closing quotation mark. At the end of that sentence, you’ve left an extra space after the full stop. When a quotation falls at the end of a sentence, sometimes you place the quotation mark after the full stop, and sometimes before. Once, you used an additional indent for a new paragraph, but in all other cases, they are bunched together. In short, the text is very sloppily formatted. Best of luck with AlboradA!
This is not a "short" video. Like every similar deal it goes on and on, repeating the same thing over and over. It's all about selling their new available-nowhere-else product at least $40/bottle.
Not "laying dormant"; LYING DORMANT !!! Two problems: In English, the present participle ot the verb "to lie" is LYING, not "laying" !!! "Laying" is the present participle of the verb "to lay" !!! Secondly: If one is dormant, he cannot lay anything; all he can do to to lie !!! To make an equivalently egregious error in music would earn one a sharp rap with the baton.
"Culminate into" does not seem proper English. "Culminate in" is the usual expression for an ending. "Murky", "demonic" are outdated ways of analysing music. the listener should be free to make his own opinion not be indoctrinated by the feelings of others...
Of course, my intention is never to "indoctrinate" but rather to present my analysis in simple language that make sense to me and hopefully illuminates things for a wide audience. I'm always interested to hear how others listen and view the music differently!
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Check out Tonebase Premium's Black Friday sale, the absolute best deal! There you can find more lessons on Ravel, Debussy, and more by master piano teachers, including Gwendolyn Mok! ✨www.tonebase.co/piano?
Idk guys, two days and i already learnt r.h. part
Gwendolyn, it's so great to see you again. I was a doctoral student in clinical psychology in the 1980's at Stony Brook, and on the side I took piano lessons with Mariko Sato. I remember seeing you give a masterful performance of Ravel's "Gaspard de la Nuit" at one of your doctoral degree recitals. You made such an impression on me that I remember it four decades later! Thank you for all you do in the world of great piano music! -- Cory
Wittgenstein : Believe me, I am an old pianist. As it is written it won't sound.
Ravel : Believe me, I am an old orchestrator. I can tell you it sounds.
I was an artist walking out of my studio many years ago with one of the original walkmen and listening to Ravel's G Major Symphony. The second movement began and I stopped walking and stood still and cried. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. For the duration of that movement, it was as if no other piece of music had ever been conceived of.
I was given that recording as a kid and still live it decades later.
I was a student of Dr. Mok's. I had dropped out of a major conservatory, where I was a minnow in a sea of better-equipped and better-connected pianists. By comparison to them, I was talented, but undisciplined and too interested in exploring the repertoire to focus on mastery. Dr. Mok took me on, and I don't think there's anyone else who could have (or would have) done what she did for me and the rest of the ragtag group in that class. I came out of the program playing near a world-class level, and have only continued to get better in the years since.
Thank you for sharing this fantastic story! 🥰
I was happy to teach you Jeffrey!
My favourite recording is Zimerman/Boulez on DG. Stunning, powerful as hell.
I love that recording too. I like Zimerman's glissandos in the faster section. They really rip.
The masterly use of form and structure is often overlooked in the Left Hand Concerto.
The Left Hand Concerto IS sentimental though; it's the decay of the leaves in the crisp Autumn dusk - that and those martial rhythms of war.
Never, everrrrrrr trust a classical musician who disdains sentiment. Mok was dead to me as soon as she said that.
Vlado Perlemuter is mentioned once as the teacher of Mrs Mok. To me, he was the player who played Ravels music the best.
Very true. The recording of both Ravel Piano Concertos with Mr. Perlemuter accompanied by Jascha Horenstein & The Concerts Colonne of Paris is simply stunning. I have other recordings of both, but I still like this one best. This is despite being recorded in 1955 and only in mono sound. Still great!
Having written the above comment, I have since listened to the Samson François performance. To give credit where it is due… that’s quite a performance. Almost exactly the same length as Perlemuter’s, but surprisingly even darker in tone than I was expecting. Much credit to Robert Fleitz for bringing this to our attention. I will definitely find a copy of it to add to my collection. Brilliant performance. Thank you, Mr. Fleitz.
It really must be noted that François’s teacher Marguerite Long premiered the G major concerto!
I also find it incredibly interesting that Mrs. Mok’s teacher Perlemuter studied Ravel’s music with Ravel himself. Surely he shared some stories with her…
I came to Perlemuters recordings around 2005. He was dead and tge Chopin he rerecorded was late after his technique was less. Who records all tge etudes in their 80s. He lived to be 97 or 98. Our last link to Ravel. RUTH Sleczenska almost 100 might have met him but she never studied w/him. But she met or trained w/everyone Hofmann,Rach,Godowsky etc.
@@MrInterestingthings Slenczynska*
Eliso Virsaladze's performance of this concert, for me, is the most powerful and stunning
My aunt bought me a recording of this when I was in high school in the 70s. I had never heard of Ravel. The flip side of the LP was the other concerto, in G.
I absolutely fell in love with this work, actually both pieces. I am eternally grateful to my aunt who introduced me to this composer, and I have tackled many of Ravel’s pieces myself.
Oh, please. the second movement of the G major concerto is one of the greatest works in the entire canon of classical composition. rp
Yes, that's very pretty. But it's the first movement of Prokofiev's g minor concerto that's THE greatest work.😊
No no no! It's the first mvmt of the Saint-Saens Gminor piano concerto which is one of the greatest works in the entire piano repertoire!😅
I love Ravel's concerto and it's obviously very innovative! but my favourite concerto written for Wittgenstein is actually Bortkiewicz's second concerto in C minor. It's so lush, melodic and romantic - a must listen for Rachmaninoff fans.
That's a fabulous piece. Indeed a whole video could be made about all the awesome Wittgenstein commissions!
@@tonebasePiano That'd be fantastic!!
@@tonebasePianoplease do omg 🙏🏽🔥
@@tonebasePiano ??? I didn't know there were even 2!
I heard for first time that S. Bortkiewitcz second piano concerto- thanks for pointing it. Well, he can definitely very write well for piano and orchestra- however, his harmonies are pattern-wise cliche, his emotions, although strong and poignant are just platitudes and standard regurgitated re-adapted into very familiar pianistic expressions - kind of like modern Salieri vs Rah or Ravel. Careful to compare a GOD like Ravel or Rah to (not even second grade like Straus or Mendelssohn who are first rate second grade composers 😊) but this SBerkiewitzh is third rate second grade composer- kind of. Just so much obvious stealing, borrowing, imitating, going for big but known cheap effects. Schmaltz and Schmooze type of music. To me personally - disgusting. ( Although I totally agree with you on the Rah progressions, Dark Vader or James Bond
Hollywood-y moods/textures). Rather to hear silence, though - than that. But Ravel’s concerto for left or any other work by that music God is just: Ineffable miracle of Gift and Grace upon Earth and its earthlings!
And it's Samson François 100th Birthday this year. Good hommage!
My favourite recordings from Samsons François are Chopin's Nocturnes and Études. His touchet is unmatched...
Best recording of Ravel LH concerto, maybe Philllipe Entremont/Pierre Boulez...
Those opening chords on the piano remind me of McCoy Tyner! Ravel wasn’t just influenced by jazz, he was influenced by jazz that didn’t exist yet!
Franz Schmidt (who composed several works for Paul Wittgenstein) anticipates the harmony of Bill Evans in much of his music (e.g. the Intermezzo from the A Major Quintet for piano (left hand), clarinet and string trio).
Ravel, who had been unable to fight in WWI because he flunked his medical screening, did his best to help by joining an ambulance corps. He knew about that war and about how it manned so many young men on both sides. Paul Wittgenstein was not the right pianist for this masterpiece but his credentials of losing his right arm on the battlefield impressed Ravel.
I meant “it maimed”
This concerto is maybe one of my top 5 favourite pieces, thanks for making a full video about it. Appart from Samson François, the two other ones i love as much are Aldo Ciccolini (with Jean Martinon conducting) and Krystian Zimerman (with Pierre Boulez conducting). If i had to pick one, i think i'd take Ciccolini.
I'm really amazed by "Ravel plays La vallée des cloches". There one can already hear the whole orchestration as Ravel just plays the piano. For me it is a truly moving piece.
GREAT film!!! I can't wait to listen to François with the Cluytens performance! He's my favorite conductor of the Beethoven symphonies, and I imagine that his exuberance in guiding an orchestra through fresh, unconventional treatments made for a great fit with François! THANKS for your work!
fantastic content, we thank you profusely!
Favorite recording, after many years and hearing all the competition:
John Browning, piano
Erich Leinsdorf, conductor
Philharmonic Orchestra
At this moment my favourite rendition of the Left Hand Concerto is by Alicia de Larrocha with the London Philharmonic under Lawrence Foster.
that is my favorite too
Thank you very much! Very well done. Very moving and inspiring!! Bravo 👏
I love the authentic instruments recording by Jos van Immerseel and Claire Chevallier, great textures and the historic sound works so well
AH, now *here's* a really good, educational video, very well done and professional, with a compelling storyline, with everything put in proper and clear context. 👍👍
The Concerto in G might be more popular of the two concertos, but the Left Hand Concerto is in a completely other level! The latter is by far my favourite concerto.
Thank You very nice and interesting. I am so happy to see the image of Samson François, the unloved, restored here. When I was 20, I only listened to him, playing Ravel but also Chopin, I didn't like Cziffra - too brutal, not Rubinstein - soup... Of course we laughed saying that when he arrived on stage he rushed towards the piano, not greeting the audience... for fear of missing the piano or worse, so drunk he was, but as soon as the first note resonated, the magic worked. How many times have I looked at a score of a Ballade, Barcarolle or such Nocturne with a magnifying glass, saying "but wtf how does he do that????" (we did not say Wtf at that time)
I love his Mother Goose suite. Never do I not love this gentle soul
LOVE Ravel, heard a quartent arrangement of Sonatine and started "consuming mass quanities" of not only Ravel but allĺlll Impressionists, even getting into Impressionist Art. I even learned to play La Vallee Des Cloches and DeBussy's Golliwog's Cakewalk even though I only took 4 years of piano back in Elementary Scool and was mainly a violinist. I knew about his Great War. Service (and Kreisler's on the other side) but didn't know about his friendship with Gershwin in the US, or that it was a head injury that had put him in the asylum. VERY informative youtube!
12:04 btw this excerpt is from one of his live performance of Chopin Concerto No.2, it’s absolutely brilliant. There is still time to make a video about him for 100th anniversary :)
More Ravel please, for non-musicians!!! This was amazing except for the other piano pieces used in the background.
you know the concert is going to be wild when a dark souls boss is playing it
Thanks for these interesting insights into Ravel.
I am not a pianist yet this video gave me some insight into the issues that pianists attend.
Ravel has been my greatest influence as a composer and jazz pianist for over 60+ years! In my humble opinion, after living with Ravel all that time, Francois played the concerto too fast and with a sterility that left me cold! Sorry, but that’s my opinion! I feel the finest performances of these concerti are by Yuja Wang! Her performance of the 2nd movement in particular from the G major is wondrous! These are my personal favorite performances. Her Scarbo from Gaspard, by the way, is a marvel! incredible!
Favourite recording from when I heard it for the first time back in the '70s - Werner Haas/Alceo Galliera/Orchestre National de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo on Philips.
Loved this presentation.. thank you
This level of talent was so beyond my faculties that I gave up trying to play piano and ended up a brain surgeon instead. True story.
Absolutely brilliant and fascinating presentation of one of the most enigmatic pieces of piano music. Thank you kindly.
I heard Boris Giltburg playing the left-hand concerto live (unfortunately there is no CD recording), and it was a truly extraordinary experience.
Boris has both the depth to go hard into the brutal parts and a magic touch for the more nostalgic and sorrowful moments of the concerto, all the while never over-doing it.
His nuanced way of playing and his pedal work is really something else, when you hear him in person he is in a league of his own. Go see him live if you can, for Ravel or any music.
Bore-is. 🥱 Nerds who are spiritually untouched by trauma cannot truly understand great music, they can only hope to adequately mimic those who do.
Ravel's "Bolero" is my very favorite
Thanks again so much to Gwendolyn Mok for joining me for this video! Be sure to check out her great content on Tonebase Premium and her wonderful recordings of Ravel.
Stay tuned - we had such a fun conversation that we'll soon be sharing the whole interview!
A lot of metal musicians were inspired by certain classical masterpieces.
So it's in fact the other way around.
I'm a fan of both metal and classical music.
Secondly I find it weird how you're referring to the left hand concerto as a "dark" concerto when there's nothing dark about it.
But you do know a lot about this history and I appreciate learning from you. Cheers.
Excellent video thanks so much
Love this, thanks
Thank you for your thoughts. Aside from the intro I don't find this work particularly dark. Interesting how people can have different perceptions of music. By the time the piano enters the work begins to sparkle with brilliance and the over-all feel for me is one of adventure with a sense of optimism. Gaspard de la nuit, Oiseaux tristes from Miroirs and the Passacaille from the Piano Trio, (and even Jeux d'eau) are examples of pieces from Ravel that I perceive as darker in feel than the left-hand concerto.
The video presenter is clearly one of those people who fetishize darkness and tragic contexts, as evidenced by his statement that the piece is somehow extra magical because Ravel was prematurely cut down, which is gruesome tragedy-addict logic, the kind of hellish reasoning which fuels witches to scheme gratuitous tragedies in our lives to achieve bogus aesthetic goals, I hate it, I hate people like that, I hate tragedy, I hate tragedians, I hate darkness kinks, etc. In that way, I'm no different than Shakespeare or God. "But wait, Shakespeare and God -" SHUT UP, VIDEO PRESENTER ADDICTED TO AN ANTI-GOOD TRAGIC VISION WHO IS BAFFLED BY MY JUDGMENTS AND REFLEXIVELY RESORTING TO SHALLOW DEFENSIVE RETORTS! You know nothing, all your factoids here in this video notwithstanding. Great artists like Shakespeare actually DESPISE tragedy, they do not want you to BATHE in tragedy like a morbid bubble bath, they want us to ESCAPE FROM IT! "But so why is Romeo & Juliet - " ROMEO & JULIET IS A SATIRE OF OUR SICK DESIRE FOR TRAGEDY MEANT TO STAY FUNNY ALL THE WAY TO THE END! I hate you people. You are tragedy fiends. You are tragedies-on-two-legs just craving validation. BLECH! 🤮😡
Interesting commentary. I respect the far greater discipline, talent and years of relentless practice and investigation of these Concert soloists. I would only add that we lesser mortals can still enjoy the interpretations of many of the great pianists who have mastered the technical aspects of the concerto and bring their own interpretations. I can not accept the premise that a great composition has only a single correct rendering. We each are fully entitled to our own preferences.
Juste un petit reproche: il est dommage que vous n'ayez pas montré quelques images de la vidéo où l'on voit S.Francois jouer le concerto, et tout spécialement la cadence : le contraste entre l'activité intense des doigts et l'immobilité du visage y est fascinant..
I used to think Alicia de Larrocha and Lawrence Foster had the best version until I hear John Ogdon perform it live on Meloclassic label. It was just phenomenal. No one had a sound like that.
Samson was a Keith Moon on that piano
Are there any recordings of a pianist using both hands in this piece ?
I can't play Ravel's concerto for left hand. Why? Because my left hand has only five fingers.
Prokofiev's 4th Piano Concerto in B Flat Major Op 53 is also a left-handed concerto, commissioned by Wittgenstein. How much difficult this concerto is, compared to the Ravel one????
Great point and question! I studied that concerto in preparation for this video. In general the pianism in that piece is much more similar to what a pianist would be used to doing with their left hand: for example, neo-classical scalar passage work and harmonic chordal writing. It’s not easy by any means, but Ravel’s instrument-spanning, contrapuntal, grandiose writing is much more complex and much harder to negotiate with one hand (at least in my perception!)
I came loaded for bear, expecting the "wild genius" of the title to be presented as the problematic Wittgenstein - and was pleasantly surprised to find that the real wild genius had been credited: Samson François, whose version is still the standard after all these years. Bravo!
Have you done a video on Hindemith's LH concerto? Another great piece that Wittgenstein wrapped on.
Amazing! Was wondering whether you all could do a video on Scriabin next...
Scriabin is definitely overdue…will keep it in mind!
For me, Ravel's work always had this demonic aura's, since I first heard the "Bolero" when I was a child. It's curious, though, because I thought only I felt like this about it, but now I see so many people have this sensation.
It's funny that you emphasize the jazz elements. Personally I think of the G major concerto as the jazzier one, and for me the LH concerto is more Spanish. In the final cadenza the piano seems to be imitating the guitar, with those rippling arpeggios containing repeated notes (or are they just to help you know where to change your hand position?)
My favorite recording of this is one of my desert island discs: Gavrilov/Rattle/LSO on EMI. It's on RUclips - ruclips.net/video/9uaj-YlmG0k/видео.htmlsi=f3ukDOLrkDDIXVws - but the grotesquely compressed RUclips audio does NOT do it justice. To experience its raw power, you need to hear it on LP or CD on a very good audio system.
This is also the one I heard 1st
What do you think of Leon Fleisher’s interpretation? I also like Krystian Zimmerman.
Gwendolyn Rock !
So, I reckon that the expression we are looking for is:
Struggling with this Concerto for Left hand is like struggling to relief yourself with left hand only, being right-handed. Something always will seems a bit off.
Why didn't you include footage of the premiere with Wittgenstein and Ravel??
3:09 it had been LYING dormant. Laying is what one does to something else. "Laying dormant" means you've been placing something called "dormant" somewhere onto something.
It's also a favourite piece of Yuja Wang's
Very good
Jean-Philippe Collard + Lorin Maazel + ONDF
For me, no recording comes close to the one of Samson Francois. It's wonderful.
🙏
[10:08] Possessed or demonic quality… Well, that’s what Leszek Możdżer has and showed during and after his solo intro and Chopin’s Mazurka (G minor, op24no1) at his _Solidarity 2010_ concert. Devilish smile…
Who. Everyone is trying to be different now. When everyine is so fabulously well trained AND smart i dont know how theres space for so many on concert platforms. Unless youre an expert U cant tell différence. Personality has always been the thinh.
Such an insightful video. But am I tripping or much of the sheet music line was not matching the music for parts of the video?
Very good, but RUclips is killing the Golden Goose with so many commercial breaks. I stopped before the end ………
It's not RUclips but tonebase channel that chose to have mid-roll ads.
If you regularly appreciate programming like this, it may be worthwhile to pay for a RUclips Premium subscription. It's an additional expense, but well worth it to me - no ads (except those in the video itself, and Tonebase does not incorporate those).
Essentially, to the listener, there is NOTHING in the piano's soaring melodic and rhythmic complexities that reveals or even HINTS that all those notes are being sent out by a single hand rather than Two independent feverishly maneuvering sets of fingers.
Actually, there's a lot more of that Recklessness and Addictive behavior among Classical Performers than a lot of the public realizes.. They manage by stage craft and a few loyal assistants to get properly dressed and stride those few steps across the stage to sit on the bench. Once the keyboard swims into view, they generally focus on the music, for the length of the performance... but only just...
there's a Robert Casadeus recording.
François is great for Liszt. He's a tad too reckless for Ravel, but interesting in that way. Ravel liked precision and sensuality.
So, did Samson Francois use just his left hand on this recording or did he cheat and use both?
He only used his left hand. In some interviews he even said that it was easier to play with one hand rather than two because Ravel’s writing imitates the motion of a violinist’s bow.
I'm so glad he didn't have experience WW II. Oh the Left hand concerto. What about La Waltz ande Tombeux de Couperain
🤘
Play it?! What about to write it?
So glad I subscribed to your channel!
there is no denying the brilliance of the Ravel GADZOOKS!!!
Check out Dario Argento for a tracking shot and awesome music....
Great story and script. The pink playhead is sometimes _ahead_ of the sound, which is disturbing.
Is "Vicken Stein|" the correct spelling? Is it not "Wittgenstein" ? I didn't know that Ludwig was musical.
Is ravel the only composer to do a left hand only piano concerto? 🤔🤔🧐
Please note, you can also be angelic as well.😁🎶🎹🎶Play On
This video was so passionately conveyed. I loved it. The sheet music "bar" was a little too fast for the music though...
Too many interruptions with ads!! I was interested, but gave up.
One of my first introductions to Ravel was Eliso Wirssaladze’s very intense performance of this. 🤯
ruclips.net/video/9k75oGTJ-fU/видео.htmlsi=6oelrnV__6tjvarh
Virsaladze is a standout! Great teacher,smart,Fabulous personality! Everything she touches becomes its best! She has integrity. Pletnev is amazing and even more frightening. Indulgent but you're never bored!
What if you only have a right hand?
I'm all for popularising classical music. However if thé audience doesn't hear for itself "dark" or "culminating" I'm afrais educatofs are on a stick wicket.
Not sure that you explain what makes it dark. Orchestration, tempo, rhythm. Now THAT would be learning something.
Actually, it isn't nearly as bad as it sounds.
An allusion to the saying regarding Wagner?
@@skzion2 One could say that about some of Wagner's works.
Just because it scares you doesn't mean it's demonic. Trying to scare everyone away to make you seem superior?
I say there is no need to interpret the composers music just play it like it was written not add or take a way.
Why are they playing Alborado at 2:28??
Love the Emperor from Amadeus and his famous line, "I don't understand.... is it modern?"
Why do we pronounce "pianist" as "PEE-n-ist....I mean, the guys doesn't play the PEE-an-no; he plays the Pi-AN-o. Interestingly, at 3:04, he says it the right way: "Pi-AN-ist".
No, the "raw emotional power (3:09)" was not "laying dormant." It was LYING dormant. Learn the difference between to lay and to lie.
3:26. A thing cannot, by definition, be "so unique." A thing is either unique or it isn't; there is no degree of "so." You could say, "so unusual" or "so rare" but not "so unique."
Always a good idea to just pronounce foreign languages without trying to add an accent. It just sounds silly when you say "Le Tombeau de Couperin" and pronounce the final "n" (which you wouldn't do in French). Why not just speak it like an English speaker? And you don't make any attempt to pronounce "François" with a French accent. After all, when was the last time you heard a native French speaker even make an attempt to imitate a British or American accent? And you pronounce "concerto" without any attempt to sound Italian, so why this contortion to pronounce terms à la française?
Despite all my griping, I am grateful you made this video about one of the world's greatest composers.
One day, I may attack Alborado, but....
My god. I haven’t seen this level of pedantry in a very long time.
@@mostafa12890 Right? Thank you!
@@paules3437nah dog that wasn’t a compliment
@@mostafa12890. A long time? Never.
Sometimes you leave a space after your four dots (why four, by the way?), and sometimes you don’t. After mimicking the pronunciation of "pianist", you forgot to add the closing quotation mark. At the end of that sentence, you’ve left an extra space after the full stop. When a quotation falls at the end of a sentence, sometimes you place the quotation mark after the full stop, and sometimes before. Once, you used an additional indent for a new paragraph, but in all other cases, they are bunched together. In short, the text is very sloppily formatted.
Best of luck with AlboradA!
This is not a "short" video. Like every similar deal it goes on and on, repeating the same thing over and over. It's all about selling their new available-nowhere-else product at least $40/bottle.
Not "laying dormant"; LYING DORMANT !!! Two problems: In English, the present participle ot the verb "to lie" is LYING, not "laying" !!! "Laying" is the present participle of the verb "to lay" !!! Secondly: If one is dormant, he cannot lay anything; all he can do to to lie !!! To make an equivalently egregious error in music would earn one a sharp rap with the baton.
Famous Basque composer.
Very interesting and informative video. Pity about the silly little comic interjections. Not funny at all.
You look much better without the beard.
A lot of talk with very little music and very little musical insight
"Culminate into" does not seem proper English. "Culminate in" is the usual expression for an ending.
"Murky", "demonic" are outdated ways of analysing music. the listener should be free to make his own opinion not be indoctrinated by the feelings of others...
Of course, my intention is never to "indoctrinate" but rather to present my analysis in simple language that make sense to me and hopefully illuminates things for a wide audience. I'm always interested to hear how others listen and view the music differently!