Chopin's Ballade No. 1 for Orchestra (arr. Timothy Schmidt)
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- Months in the making, this arrangement of one of Chopin's most popular works translates his virtuosic piano writing into the dynamic and timbrally-rich strokes of the symphony orchestra. Ever since I learned and performed the Ballade, I have heard in the accompaniment of its A theme pizzicato strings, in its brilliant rendition of the B theme a brass fanfare, and in its coda the rousing chaos of dozens of musicians primed to snap... and so the list goes on. Motivated by an orchestration assignment to realize at last this years-long dream, I have transformed the Ballade into a bubbling, rumbling orchestral force.
Music composed by Frédéric Chopin
Music arranged by Timothy Schmidt
Composition completed on July 30, 2021
Website: www.timothy-sc...
Twitter: / timothyschmidt_
Music composed using Dorico: www.dorico.com/
Music produced using Cubase: www.cubase.com/
Music performed primarily using NotePerformer: www.noteperfor...
Other virtual instruments used:
BBC SO Core: www.spitfireau...
Visualization created using Kauna: www.microsoft....
Images created using ArtBreeder: www.artbreeder...
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License: creativecommons...
The things I’d give to hear this performed live.
I wonder what it takes to get something like this setup. To the author: would you like to see this happen with a really symphony?
Of course I would! The audio here is only a mockup and wouldn't compare in the slightest to an actual orchestra performing the piece.
@@TimothySchmidthow expensive would it be to get this recorded by a real orchestra
@@corneliusklassen8513Depends! If an orchestra just wanted to play it, they'd pay me for parts and performing rights haha. Hiring an orchestra would be very expensive for 10 minutes of difficult music - probably close to 5-figures.
Oh, so contemporary composers also have to be rich to succeed@@TimothySchmidt
SIMPLY ASTONISHING!! I am positively rattled!! This needs to be played by a real orchestra!! Exquisite work, Mr. Timothy Schmidt. Sublime!
Wow, thanks! Glad you enjoy it :)
@@TimothySchmidt Very much agreed!
Now even though its still Febuary, my April feels complete.
5:30 goosebumps...
The coda sounds like circus music LOL
I can literally see that obese elephant dancing the rumba...
ahhh youve ruined it for me 😭
well done 😅
It is because of the sound and limits of synthetic music, but if you know the Ballade no. 1 you find that it is a good choice.
Sounds reminiscent of Merry-Go-Round of Life (Howl's moving castle)? And the original left hand has that jumpy bass, offbeat figure. Menacing circus music may fit just brilliantly here :)
Wow, the first theme underwent quite a metamorphosis, the pizzicato strings bringing out its hidden waltzyness, and the grace notes in the woodwinds adding an almost whimsical tint.
Yeah, those were little orchestration touches I always seemed to hear in the original work. Hoping I didn't overdo it!
Such a beautiful transcription. Hopefully one day you can find an orchestra to play this since the computer generated audio doesn’t do your transcription justice haha
Beautiful, powerful arrangement. I was hesitant to listen because Chopin's first Ballade is near and dear to me, and I wasn't sure how well it would translate. But you did an incredible job, although I would've loved to hear participation from a piano in the piece.
Thank you! As my favorite piano piece, it was also important to me to treat the original material with great care. But yeah I left out a piano, as I felt it would either be redundant to or come nowhere close to the musicality of the original :)
While Chopin's genius shines through, something is lost here. It's the piano.
While things like the third Etude sound magnificent orchestrated, the Ballades are my true love in the Eden of Chopin.
They sound at home on the pianoforte with their creator.
I agree completely. Don’t get me wrong, it’s clear that the creator of this video has put in a lot of work into this creative endeavour (bravo to that!) and the result is very interesting to listen to, but as you said, the Ballades just don’t really work orchestrated.
Maybe it’s because the constancy of the musical voice and line of thought (after all, Ballades are very ‘linear’ in nature) gets interrupted when the different instruments try to take over from the other, but we lose that crucial sense of intimacy and self-searching reflection this piece is so famous for. The first theme suffers the most in my opinion (possible due to the computer-generated audio) as it just sounds too much like a nonchallant waltz for me, no philosophy, no sense of exploration, etc.
I know this probably wasn’t what the arrange was going for, so once again, congratulations to them on completing their project! Needless to say though, nothing compares to the original for me! As Debussy said, “with the piano alone, he discovered everything.”
Im glad someone said that...
Best orchestration of the best piano piece. The restatement of second theme at 7:40 is my ABSOLUTE favorite. The contrast between string and wind is toooo good
Holy crap that's beautiful. Chopin must be one of the hardest composers to orchestrate given how indigenously pianistic his music is but you did an amazing job 👏
Thank you! I think in general you're absolutely right, but I always sensed grandeur of a scale transcending the piano in this particular piece, hence my arrangement. :)
He most definitely is.
No, no. It doesn't work for orchestra...well, at least this inferior arrangement of Chopin's masterpiece for piano.
Breath taking. I got goosebumps at the climaxes.
I come back to this so often. I cannot express how special this piece is to me.
@@ethanbrowncomposer same
same
I was not sure too, but this turned out to be amazing! I got goosebumps at the climaxes (although I would have played more fortissimo the third time the theme B comes out, that b flat in the bass, and the "il più forte possibile" the octave D in the bass). Some personal thoughts:
I would have liked the main theme to be played by a violin, my ear was ready to hear it ahahah. The chords in pizzicato are actually cool with the orchestra, even if at the piano I tend to play them legato. I couldn't hear some more virtuosic passages (like the scale at 1:59 or the arpeggios at 2:50) but I think that's just mixing struggle, as long as this is played by a computer. Then I would have played some parts in a different tempo, but again, this is played by a computer so you can't do much with the rubato. Excellent work! Keep it up and congratulations
Edit: the presto con fuoco part is amazing, furious, perfect
Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts! Pretty much everything turned out the way I wanted to, so orchestration, balancing, and tempo choices are pretty much just creative differences, not limitations of the software. That being said, these are some great ideas!
THIS IS SUBLIME. I need to hear it played by a real orchesta
I wasn’t sure how well Chopin‘s ballade could translate as an orchestral arrangement, but it seems you have done it perfectly. Well done!
Thank you!
I see why this isnt played like this, just this "fake" recording made me cry, I cant imagine how overwhelming it would be to here it live with real instruments. Stendhal syndrome but fatal....
I have just visited your website. You are so young, and that's amazing. I feel really bad for taking so long to search for an orchestrated version of the Ballade. I should have listened to that masterpiece since day 1 of its releasing. I have no more words to say other than THIS IS BRILLIANT.
Haha well thank you for listening to it now and sharing such kind words!
Looks cool but the coda seems funky and not dramatic
My only complaint would have to be how the 6/4 meter sounds like a 3/4 meter. This ballade ended up sounding like a waltz everytime the first theme was repeated. I guess the timpani accenting the 1st & 4th quarter notes highlighted the waltz rhythm. All in all, I thought it was a great effort. I'd love to hear the other ballades or maybe even the Barcarolle or Polonaise Fantasy orchestrated. I wonder what Chopin would've thought, seeing as he was not particularly great at orchestral scores.
Interesting observation - I definitely see how that can come across, but the theme in particular follows the original score quite closely, so I'm not sure how that would be mitigated. No plans for other such orchestrations at this time, but I appreciate the listen to this one!
9:27 WOW THATS AMAZING
I definitely want real orchestra version.
the coda sounds like a circuses
song
So beautiful.. I don't know how you managed to make a computed orchestra sound so good. This is my favorite piano piece and thank you for making this art!
Thank you, glad you like it!
@@TimothySchmidtHey Timothy, great video! Gotta ask if you’ve released the score for the orchestration that can be downloaded/purchased?
@@sammyc3720 Hi there! The score is not currently available to the public. If you're interested in acquiring a copy, please send a formal inquiry to the email on my channel page.
This is absolutely epic. Question though, where could I get those background images? They look great.
Thanks! As mentioned in the description, the images were created using ArtBreeder: www.artbreeder.com/
I do not like the sound of synthetic music, but I am happy to have found this video and that you shared your magnificent work with us, it really deserves a real orchestra! Thank you!!
Thank you, glad you like it and can hear the potential for a true performance!
Very amazing! Especially the part at 5:30! This months of efforted brilliant piece definitely worths more than 5 thousand views.
Thanks!
Этот эпизод …. Так страстно и мощно …. Чего всегда стремиться добиться пианист … результат не всегда достигается .. до 8..03 …Кода звучит очень трагично … Как и должно быть …
Siento que se pierde la armonía de la mano derecha cuando tiene que destacarse, como en los arpegios, suena demasiado la mano izquierda y se pierde en lo que se tiene que focalizar. Aun asi hermosa la melodia y los instrumentos utilizados, grande Chopin ♥️
this was supposed to be an impossible job, since the ballade is extremely pianistic in its writing. the but the overall idea was kept in essence. amazing! the coda sounded extremely sarcastic, just like my first impression when I heard it on piano for the first time. Chopin is SO CRUEL! he will never deliver what you want. just like a movie with sad ending.
Why did youtube spend so long to recommend me this
it seems Tchaikovsky 👍🏻👍🏻
I came prepared to dislike this. But I have to admit that even though I definitely prefer the original piano solo, this is pretty dang good!
Just played along to this, incredible work! Was so much fun!!
Idk why others find it attractive : /// actually the magicness of its melody isn't even closely accurately captured at all like its far away by orchestration and has no very short boundaries throught matching instruments colours to each other u can easily get excited by ballade no1 melody but the main secret that keeps this ballade alive and interesting was lost everywhere in the sound of wrong orchestration : /// sorry for my bad opinion im bad but thats what i think
Maybe because music is a subjective thing! No piece is going to please everybody. Thanks for the opinion, it's no better or worse than the others :)
This is almost as bad as a John Carpenter soundtrack. Only thing possibly worse would be deafness.
Wait, I take that last sentence back.
Haha this comment is awesome! Thanks for the interaction 😂
Sounds like Wagner 😅
Your cinematic side comes through even in your more orchestral work. Very well done as always, the color changes throughout convey and augment the piece.
Thank you! This was quite the passion project for me, glad to finally be able to share it with the world :)
I always wondered what the G minor ballade would sound like as a symphony. I’m excited. U should try arranging the other three, especially the 4th one!
this is actually a really good arrangement, but i would give the 1st climax a bit more insanity and anger. The 2nd climax(the heroic triumphant chords) could use a larger brass section. I would actually see this performance if i could.
Two very good points that a conductor would do well to give to his orchestra!
ballade 1 by itself is already a powerful and incredible music, but that orchestration has reached another level, great work!
goofy
Incredible! Any other classical piano pieces in the pipeline?
Thank you! None at the moment, but that door isn't necessarily closed!
This is VERY fun to play along with. Well done!
Thanks!
A bunch of people in the string section gonna earn an aneurism trying to play this. Cool arrangement though.
Escuchen está balada de principio a fin. Una de las piezas más hermosas que he escuchado. Renovación espiritual.
Beautiful! that's all i can say to describe this masterfully arranged composition.
Wow, Love the Variations✨
I thought it was impossible
Dang this was waaaay better than I expected. Amazing!!
Incredible!! Thank you Mr. Timothy. what a beautiful arrangement. Definitily worthy of being played live!!!
Thank you for listening!
It's awesome! I love the Ballad No1.
Your orchestration was absolutely powerful and invigorating!!! Thank you so much for this! It's really amazing to hear! This needs to be performed by a real orchestra urgently! I'm rooting for this to happen with your wonderful work! Bravo! Bravíssimo! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Thank you, that would indeed be neat, hopefully some day! Glad you enjoyed my work :)
I LOVE THIS CODA really well made surprised me but how i think it could have been best made
Que increible!
Es loquisimo!!!!!!!!!!
Wow! This has really opened my mind - I can now see how Chopin could have maybe thought some parts of this work as specific parts of an orchestra, in the same way Liszt did it
🍷 amazing
The coda gave my goosebumps
It's sounds very naturally. What program do u use to make such sound?
I include those details in the bottom of the description!
@@TimothySchmidt oh, sorry, thanks
One of the best orchestral arrangement of a piano solo I've ever heard, very cinematic and beautiful. A little quiet on the strings but this is amazing, bravo!
Im such a diehard for Chopin since I was 12, this is a very excellent arrangement. When I saw this I immediately listened knowing that Chopin's pieces are extremely hard to orchestrate-however, you did really well! Its only virtual orchestra yet it sounds sublime and powerful already, I believe if this gets performed by a real orchestra, the full potential of your arrangement can flourish, lastly-you captured the "storytelling" element of this ballade really well; I rarely comment on RUclips videos but I really want to express how amazing this is, thank you and keep it up!
Thank you for the kind words!
Amazing work! Chopin's Ballades were designed to convey a narrative, with evolving themes meant to represent characters, dramatic development sections ment to transition between 'episodes' as if it were a play, as if there is a hidden narrator describing whats happening between scenes. The codas too, which arent common in Chopin's music, which feel like the end of season of a TV show, ending on a cliffhanger. Its all by design and I think your orchestration captures the cinematic spirit of this work beautifully, whether that was intentional or not! Chopin also wasnt very skilled with orchestral writing, so this definitely adds something. I would love to get ahold of a midi of your orchestration to analyze!
I had many of the same thoughts that inspired me to undergo this project! Thank you for putting to words that which I felt more comfortable putting to music :)
Amazing job👏👏👏. Is it performed by a real orchestra? It sounds more like something artificial
I wish it was real! But no, NotePerformer and BBCSO as noted in the description.
I just stumbled upon you channel today and it was the best thing ever happened to me! Keep up the good work brother!
Thanks, will do!
like I'm dying this is too beautiful❤❤❤🥹🥹🥹
Woah, Honestly lost for words to say how magical this rendition of already an insane Ballade is. Amazing job man, truly extravagant :) just wondering though, will this be on spotify?
Thank you! No, this will not be making its way to any streaming platforms unless I can get an orchestra to record it someday haha
A unique work of art.
While listening to it, I am dreaming about climbing at the top of the background mountains.
How did you manage to make the orchestral sound that realistic? Specifically strings
Everything but the percussion is played back by NotePerformer, which does most of the heavy lifting for the phrasing, tuning, and spatialization attributes that help the overall sound! There are places where I tweaked its sound under the hood, but mostly I just wrote what music I wanted to in notation and NotePerformer took care of the rest :)
THANK YOU SO MUCH THIS IS GOOD, the best a MIDI file can get
THANK YOU RUclips ALGORITHM
Absolutely amazing, this should be played by a real orchestra
Amazing work! I especially like the climax at around 5:30. Any plans on orchestrating other piano works?
Thank you! No plans currently - I just don't have the level of understanding and love for any other piece that I garnered over many years for this Ballade to undertake such a project on my own time!
Could you do an orchestral version of the Chopin Waltz waltz in E minor b56 please?🙏🙏🙏
Barring a commission, I'm afraid not... I'm not really familiar with that piece!
5:30 ☺️
Wow this is amazing, i hope some day an orchestra will play your arragenment
Haha thanks, I hope so too!
Lay off on the percussion. This is Chopin, not John Williams.
You do know the original piece is written for an exclusively percussive instrument, right?
You know exactly what I mean. It's totally unidiomatic for the time this was written in and totally and certainly not in style for Chopin. @@TimothySchmidt
Ok, thanks!
so many haters for such a masterpiece, congrats Timmy
The best arrangement I’ve ever seen. I’m like this so much even though this is the first video I’ve ever seen of this channel, this is with it a doubt the best I’ve ever seen.
Please read this
Thank you, flattered you like it so much!
@@TimothySchmidt I loved it
First vid I saw on this channel as well. Subscribed immediately
It gives me Strauss vibes in some parts
The ending it's kinda Tchaikovsky and Mahler 😭😭😭💖💖
This is exceptionally well-done, very sophisticated choices!!! You deserve a thousand congratulations
The coda is just not easily replicable on orchestra otherwise it’s all really great
From Ravel we have many pieces also in two versions. I always prefer the piano. But here I am super-amazed. Great work.
I congratulate you on the wonderful arrangement, extraordinary sense and, at least in part, retaining Chopin's spirit. As a Chopin purist, I never thought I would ever approve of an orchestral arrangement of his works, I heard many attempts and it was always impossible to listen to it for a long time. Beautiful, almost piano-like performances :)
Thank you! I definitely needed many years of playing this piece as well as studying orchestration before I felt ready to do this arrangement any justice :)
Can you do one for the ballade no. 4? i’ve always wondered how it would sound
Absolutely beautiful. I felt like dancing with the stars
Beautiful! Chopin would be proud of such a beautiful arrangement! Good job Mr Timothy Schmidt!
Thank you!
Anyone here for second theme in orchestra just like me, here you are - 7:38
The music of Chopin, his music for the piano, has its life and its death on the Piano...nothing else could substitute this condition, because if it also seems to work through another medium this is not without the destruction of the typical style and way to conceive art created by Chopin
I disagree, but thank you for the comment!
I don't feel the emotions searched in Ballade no1
0:43 that "dum dum" sounds jazzy
Simply just astonishing. It really fits with ballade no.1's grandeur but somewhat moody atmosphere
simply beautiful
So beautiful! Thanks
I'd say this arrangement eloquently reveals why Chopin wrote his astonishing Ballade 1 for piano - and not orchestra.
Thank you!
I enjoyed the whole arrangement but that of the coda part is really impressive.
Please don't do this! Chopin's music is uniquely suited to the piano. In fact he was not a great orchestrator. His genius made huge innovations in piano writing. The character of his music is DESTROYED, not enhanced by trying to orchestrate it. The nobility and power of this ballade becomes soupy and bombastic here. Chopin hated those qualities in music.
Thanks for listening! Regarding Chopin's gift for and contributions to piano writing, I'm definitely with you! Hence this Ballade finding its place as my favorite piano work ever since I learned it, it's truly in a league of its own as far as I'm concerned. But I must disagree with the claim that this by necessity precludes any attempts of orchestration. There are many examples of well-regarded works for one instrumentation receiving new and/or different life in another. Just look at what the master of orchestration, Ravel, achieved! Arrangements like his all the way down to modest attempts like mine do not strive to replace or subvert the material from which they came but showcase a love and respect for the original work such that we cannot help but learn from and find inspiration in it. Such is the way of countless composers over the centuries!
@@TimothySchmidt Thank you for addressing my comment. I realize that transcriptions and arrangements are abundant throughout music history, and have often given the public greater access to various works. In my opinion (just speaking for myself), some composers' piano works succeed as orchestral transcriptions while others don't. Ravel, Debussy, Beethoven, Mozart, any number of composers had command of orchestral writing as well as piano writing. Even so, they presumably chose which medium best suited a particular work. Chopin is nearly unique in the sense that his writing was so specifically pianistic (he supposedly hated orchestral effects on the piano). He just didn't seem to think orchestrally. A familiar example is the ballet Les Sylphides, featuring someone's orchestration (Glazunov?) of Chopin's music. I'll grant it sounds pretty, but the potency and directness of the music is diluted by strings, winds, etc. A dancer once said to me, "It sounds so much better with the orchestra." I begged to differ.
I think my initial comment was unnecessarily harsh. My feelings about the topic haven't changed but, after your very thoughtful reply, I reconsidered my manner of expressing my opinion. Best wishes to you.
Fair points! So we'll just have to disagree on the potency of Chopin in an orchestral context. I would agree there are works for piano that would prove rather awkward in another instrumentation and have indeed turned down requests to arrange some pieces on those grounds. But I always found this Ballade to be so grand in scale, so grandiose in gesture, that I could easily imagine violins singing out melodies, woodwinds trading solos, brass covering soft harmonies, etc. This in no way takes away from the piece as a magnificent and idiomatic piano work that needs no arrangement to be thoroughly enjoyed and understood!
Amazing!! 3 more ballads to go!!
Does NotePerformer understand the phrase "presto con fuoco?" Other than that, pretty nice overall.
Not sure what you mean by that - the tempo of the presto section was determined by me and my tastes, not NotePerformer. Orchestras are more cumbersome than virtuoso pianists and cannot be expected to match their most extreme tempi!
I think this tempo suits it better, maybe a tiny bit faster, not more.
It would sound muddy and rushed if it were played way too fast even on a piano
This is a masterpiece I got goosebumps listening to it
amazing work👏👏
Thank you!
Jesus Christ!! Johannes Brahms could not have done a better job. This is crazy. 30k views is criminally under viewed
One of the best arrangement I've ever seen!
Great achievement! This is really beautiful!