Please, for those of you complaining that his rhythm's not good and his use of 'rubato' please remember this is a FANTASY - something associated with freedom and having no exact form. This whole cliché about Baroque music always being in a dead strict tempo where the metronome is always ticking annoys me a lot. Metronome's don't make music!
+Daniel Korts Yes I am aware of that sir - that no rubato is allowed in a fugue. But that doesn't mean it has to be played mechanically and metronomically. It must have the correct PULSE, but not be played like a machine. All music (particularly Bach) should be played it feeling. It's not about over-romanticising the music but playing with deep expression, understanding of the music and coherence - which András Schiff does really well. And I don't really think he plays the fugue with much rubato to be honest.
well imo he just changed tempo here and that is not supposed to happen in the middle of a fugue I have his other performance of this piece and it is better than this one
+Daniel Korts Yes there is a better performance of him playing this piece - is it the one at the Teatro Olimpico after the D minor Mozart Concerto performance? That's the best he's ever played it... There are some other recordings as well. No I do agree with you - although this is a very good performance, it's not his best.
How is is possible that BACH manages in his music to sum up virtually all that went before him, and.... in a piece like this... look all the way to our time? As a composer contemplating such imagination and fertility of invention, it just sort of makes you feel like.... why even try? Astonishing. AS IS THIS PERFORMANCE. Fabulous. Can you believe there are 45 "thumbs down" on this? And complaining about lack of pulse in a Fantasia is absurd.
@Kelly Fis6her Welcome to being a man-child, without the emotional and musical sentiment of your parents. Anyways, hopefully in the case you ignored what i said above, I hope you can refer me to another composer after 1800 who could take multiple melodies and weave them together into a fugue larger than 3 voices. If not, I’d refer you to A Musical Offering Ricercar a 6, the Great Fugue in G minor, the second half of the Cello Suite no 5 Prelude (you tell me or another cellist that the cello suites are crap and you’re DEFINITELY going to get stabbed by one of our dislodged endpins...), The orchestral suite in B Minor w/ the Badinerie, violin partita no. 6, Violin Sonata in G minor (featuring among the few occasions in music history where a normally monophonic instrument was used as a polyphonic instrument). If you have not heard a single one of those compositions or consider them crap, I’m afraid your knowledge of the later composers is severely lacking if not deficient enough for you to be thrown out of a musical position in a school immediately. Because every single composer that you would support would, quite ironically, agree more with me. No one before or since Bach had succeeded in integrating Polyphony so well into so many compositions on such a massive scale. He wasn’t ahead of his time, nor behind the styles of his day: he was in a time of his own. The only person I currently know who got close was Beethoven. His Grosse Fugue, as whimsical as it was, was remarkably complex for its day and remains quite renowned. But it still did not lay a finger on the massive structures of Bach’s writing. What I can tell you that will hopefully help you understand why Bach gets the love he deserves is because, unlike some of the composers in your playlist, Bach did not specifically write for a musician to improvise based on the notes themselves. Expression was often built from the chords of the piece rather than the rhythm. That’s evident in the basso continuo and harmonic counterpoints built over the melody. Bach often takes advantage of having independent voices by having melodic lines that contradict themselves in direction. No, the expression was implied between the notes, vertically and horizontally and not just in one dimension. Through that, Bach was able to construct a 2 dimensional grid from which a massive fugue could be built from a simple melody. And that’s just the beginning of it. Here for example, you hear the same melody over and over again in different voices. You also hear repeating harmony and bass parts as well in the fugue, holding independently in that two dimensional grid. Fantasias were not as well defined in the 18th century but this amount of chromaticism in that time period was quite absurd yet workable! Another thing you should know: Bach did not intend on developing one solid musical point. It, yet again, doesn’t come in the notes themselves but between them. How? Conversation. One voice makes a minor musical point. The others answer one by one. Then it goes into an arpeggiatic section with passing chordal structures before returning to the motif. Such concepts were strongly used for Large symphonic works of the 19th century. Seems ironic that for someone who distastes Bach’s music so much you can’t properly thank him for being the inspiration behind the music you like so much. If you really wanted to have a distaste of Bach, distaste every composer you have in that list. They all at some point admired Bach and worked his pieces to death. Mozart most of all, through CPE Bach.
Bach touched on things that wouldn't be common and explored untill like a hundred years after he died. If someone told me this was a piece from 1845 I would believe it.
What always amazed me about Schiff's playing is how his hands seems to glide across the keyboard so effortlessly. For me personally, my hands always feel so clumsy. I don't know how he's reached such a superb level of mastery and comfort in playing, but I hope one day to get even mildly close to that level of skill
I think a lot of it is muscle memory from intense practice over long periods of time. I was a court stenographer and I got to the point that I wasn't even thinking; my hands just flowed over the keys as people spoke words I didn't know were coming. I'm not sure it's comparable to high-level piano playing, but there's something in it.
Wunderbar, wie entspannt er sich im mittleren bis unterem dynamischen Bereich er sich bewegt. Nicht aufdringlich zum Zuhören zwingend, sondern einladend.
The fugue is excessively difficult for any pianist of ability. What a wonderful execution overall by Schiff and that he allows us to even study it, as it is a fascinating composition.
Probably the best piano interpretation of this piece I have heard over the years, Maestro Schiff never disappoints. ... even though, also over the years, I have come to view this piece as one of the very few pieces by Bach that actually sound better on a harpsichord than on a piano. As much as I appreciate Schiff's work here, he did not change my mind :)
The fact that we are allowed to comment and even criticize this performance is ironic. Magic fingers commanded by his imagination and understanding. Beautiful voicing. Such a great interpretation so different from others like Gould. What precious golden tone finger pedal I think Bach would have liked the sound of this piano and how it was interpreted.
@philippe573: Exactly. By the way, a nice touch was the Amazon commercial in the middle -- said NO ONE ever. András Schiff is a wonderful pianist, whose interpretations not only of Bach but of music from the Romantic Era are breathtaking. With artists such as András Schiff, Alfred Brendel, Glenn Gould, it is ironic we laymen can just critique at will.
Tim O'donnell that usually happens to most music lovers. It’s easy to love Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven. But to love Bach requires a prepared heart and mind. I’m glad that you now love the music that deserved to be loved the most.
@@MARTIN201199 c est mon cas. Bach est mon idole même. je suis intimement persuadé que c' est la musique la plus belle, la plus profonde, et qu' il est de loin le plus inspiré, créatif ( un nombre incalculable de melodies et d enchainement melodiques hors norme) . et dommage que certains ne soient pas d' accord avec moi.
vraiment ? j' en suis heureux. qu' aimez vous de Bach ? moi dans le piano j' aime particulièrement les toccatas bwv 910/916 (par glenn Gould) qui sont de vrai chefs d oeuvre d inspiration et de beauté. et bien sûr tout le reste que tout le monde connait. clavier bien tempéré, suite anglaise, concertos etc etc...
WHOA!!! Where has this insanely imaginative piece been all my life???? Been listening to Bach for the past 50+ years but this one has simply never popped up in front of me before now. FANTASTIC stuff - and the piano player is pretty cool too, lol!! THANKS for putting this on RUclips!!!!
This man turned me on to Bach nearly forty years ago and his playing has given me great pleasure many times since. However he wants to perform it is good enough for me.
A sublime musical journey that takes us to a realm indescribable by words. The voices in the fugue are so exquisitely delineated, and it all ends in the very decisive "D". Just perfect.
Technically one of the best pianists that maybe has ever existed, I don't hesitate saying although I'm not a professional piano player myself (doing my best though!) and I'ld rather not prefer mr. Schiff's interpretations. Still I think we're very lucky to have a pianist among us like Mr. Andras Schiff. Let's listen to his play and enjoy his talent, his incredible smooth key-handling en way of interpreting this particular, exceptional peace of Bach. No need or reason for the thumbs down at all. Henk Wilbrink, Netherlands, Philippines
I was just feeling guilty for my comment on A. Schiffs master class on trills, YT video where he said baroque ornaments are decorations,.. and was revising my opinion , while enjoying this piece without extra "unnecessary ornaments" (to quote myself), and then the 2:30's came along with extra notes added to the arpeggio's and then a completely superfluous ornament AFTER THE CADENCE at 2:50 AAaaaargh! to quote Linus.... but on the whole his performance is SUPERB.
Another extraordinary performance of the great artist András Schiff! What I find most amazing is the thought that Bach himself has not only composed but also played all this himself. All the organ pieces, inventions, fantasies, fugues, preludes, concertos, .. it is hard to imagine how this was possible ...
fantastique interpretation ! jouer apparament sans partition , bien qu un peu rapide par moment tout et juste et chaque note et audible separement ce qui et rare ! bravo et un grand merci a andras schiff pour ce moment hors du temps : pierre_xavier de chassot .
Fabulous Bach paying by a modern master. Reading through some of the other carping comments posted here, I am reminded of Sir Thomas Beecham's famous remark: "A musicologist is a person who can read music but can't hear it."
Felipe Forlin You've also to love playing it as well if you want it to remain in your head. Schiff plays Bach everyday - why wouldn't it remain in his head?
After a couple of years of playing, you don't need more than a couple of weeks of practicing a composition. Most of the work comes from the experience.
It's not actually that hard to memorize music. I'm sure you do it all the time, when you're humming along to your favorite tunes. When you play the piano, the memory is reinforced, because you have aural, visual, and tactile inputs. I have found that it is particularly easy to memorize Bach's music, and most teachers will insist on memorizing it in order to really internalize it.
Hooray for RUclips! I heard Maestro Schiff perform this last night (as encore to the English Suites) and now am delighted to re-listen on RUclips. Last night I was sitting where I couldn't see his hands, so this is even better, in that regard. Which is the more stunning finish? The Gigue of the English Suite #6, or the fugue performed here?
Listening to Professor Schiff play Bach is like taking a course in architecture. So satisfying! I’ve been able to say this about only one other pianist: Alicia de Larrocha.
The fantasia reminds me very much of dream music - the music I hear in the background of my dreams, that I can never quite capture, and which is forgotten soon after waking.
i love what he does with the Bach Pieces. on a side note, when we are getting interrupted by a commercial, for instance the guy that wants you to believe " Lot of People think it takes years to learn how to play the Piano......well here is a 'NEW Method' how you can learn piano in 3 Month or so " isn't that Precious ?!?
There is another RUclips video of Angela Hewitt playing this same piece on a Fazioli in the Greene Space. I love both Hewitt and Schiff, but I must say that Schiff's is by far the more absorbing performance.
Personally I prefer this work in harpsichord! but this version is very special because it is a piano played in the harpsichord style and the use of pedals is almost non-existent! It feels very staccato notes! thank you mr Andras
I usually prefer Bach performances with a more ''youthful/energetic'' feel to them, but hearing the huge musical awareness and control of Schiff is a really nice contrast to that
+Jacob Blank you're right :D The funny thing is, that this small melody is not written like this in the score, but a nice decorative invention by andras schiff
@@brotherritsch2014 Yes, of course. I said it tongue-in-cheek. There are only 12 notes in the musical alphabet soup and rhythmic patterns are not limitless so similarities are bound to happen although not deliberate on anyone's part - when one composer quotes another we are usually told in advance and the quotes are also quite obvious. In the orchestral literature, there are a few which I have found - I used to keep a log of such similarities but then I lost my log. It's just trivia. I remember one in Carmina which reminded me a lot of Puccini's La Boheme.
Uhhh...no hay dudas de que el Piano forte añade a la música de Bach un plus encantador...una resonancia espacial que no se percibía en la sonoridad...muy seca y metálica del clavecín...que abarcó todo el periodo barroco...! El pianista Andreas sabe traslucir las partituras...dotándolas de un encanto sonoro...especial y espacial...!
Love this performance and recording. What wasn’t Bach capable of? (yeah ok... opera... but it was probably too irrational for his tastes). As Rudin states earlier, we see some wonderful harmonic corners that lay open such possibilities for future composition in this keyboard piece. So many times in my musical life J.S. throws another sphere of creativity into the pool of inspiration. It cries “liar” at the cynic.
The cantatas are ALL essentially operatic in style - when compared to the operatic style of other composers of Bach's day - if, admittedly, not exactly in their lyrical content.
The Chromatic and Fugue Fantasy BWV 903 is one of Bach's most original works. The extraordinary prelude is a prodigy of skill, a long continuously modulating meditation in which each bar changes pitch, leading to a tense finale of incredible audacity, which is followed by a three-voice fugue that is serenely approached, creating an anti-climax unique in Bach's keyboard music. Asking for metronome regularity from Fantasy is like asking for tranquility from the waters of a mountain stream. Andras Shift's interpretation is obvioulsy excellent although, for my taste, the fantasy arpeggios need to "breathe" a little more. Despite being an ideal piece to exploit the sound possibilities of the piano, for me the record of preference is that of George Malcolm (Decca, 1961) at a pèdal harpshicord (Goble ?).
+Birgit M Well, considering that Bach's contemporary keyboard instruments did not possess a damper pedal of any kind, save possibly a proto-piano-forte that Bach saw near the end of his life, I would not say that this version is in any way a dishonest interpretation of the original intent of the piece. I think this piece is better suited to imitating the harpsichord than the cimbalom, anyway.
Bach was the 1st master magician-musician to really take advantage of the possibilities of tempered tuning both linearly and virtically. Often embedded inside of his counter point are chromatically altered harmonies that won't see The light of day for another hundred years. This essentially new ability to seamlessly integrate all those notes outside the key in far less diatonically constrained ways than any of his contemporaries (of which there were none) really made him a visionary piercing far ahead of his time. The rubato is simply a natural organic heartfelt out growth of the music because it isn't actually baroque in it's construction it's unclassifiable really. That's the ultimate truth of Bach pushing the envelope of which there are countless examples.
Please, for those of you complaining that his rhythm's not good and his use of 'rubato' please remember this is a FANTASY - something associated with freedom and having no exact form. This whole cliché about Baroque music always being in a dead strict tempo where the metronome is always ticking annoys me a lot. Metronome's don't make music!
I agree. A Fantasia is like a recitative time is looser.
no rubato in fugue allowed !
+Daniel Korts Yes I am aware of that sir - that no rubato is allowed in a fugue. But that doesn't mean it has to be played mechanically and metronomically. It must have the correct PULSE, but not be played like a machine. All music (particularly Bach) should be played it feeling. It's not about over-romanticising the music but playing with deep expression, understanding of the music and coherence - which András Schiff does really well. And I don't really think he plays the fugue with much rubato to be honest.
well imo he just changed tempo here and that is not supposed to happen in the middle of a fugue
I have his other performance of this piece and it is better than this one
+Daniel Korts Yes there is a better performance of him playing this piece - is it the one at the Teatro Olimpico after the D minor Mozart Concerto performance? That's the best he's ever played it... There are some other recordings as well. No I do agree with you - although this is a very good performance, it's not his best.
I can feel Bach's presence in the room watching Schiff and saying: "finally someone got it right!"
Listen Wanda Landowska 😉
It is a pleasure to watch Mr. Schiff's economy of motion and quiet passion. He brings us Bach in all his majesty...
+Ronald Pavellas Well said. Much better than all the pretend musicologists elsewhere in this thread.
This song has a romantic era feel to it. And it was written two eras before the romantic era.
The voicing in the fugue! What a miracle! A true master, as always.
0:00 Fantasy
5:57 Fugue
I thought you have my profile picture, haha!
Bach - the greatest miracle in all music!
Chopin as well
not even close
I would mention Mozart as well.
mozart ew
@@JumpDiffusion with all do respect: who would you consider?
How is is possible that BACH manages in his music to sum up virtually all that went before him, and.... in a piece like this... look all the way to our time? As a composer contemplating such imagination and fertility of invention, it just sort of makes you feel like.... why even try? Astonishing. AS IS THIS PERFORMANCE. Fabulous. Can you believe there are 45 "thumbs down" on this? And complaining about lack of pulse in a Fantasia is absurd.
@Kelly Fischer Serious or joking?
envy is a beast
@Kelly Fischer LOL!!!
@Kelly Fischer Get well soon!
@Kelly Fis6her
Welcome to being a man-child, without the emotional and musical sentiment of your parents.
Anyways, hopefully in the case you ignored what i said above, I hope you can refer me to another composer after 1800 who could take multiple melodies and weave them together into a fugue larger than 3 voices. If not, I’d refer you to A Musical Offering Ricercar a 6, the Great Fugue in G minor, the second half of the Cello Suite no 5 Prelude (you tell me or another cellist that the cello suites are crap and you’re DEFINITELY going to get stabbed by one of our dislodged endpins...), The orchestral suite in B Minor w/ the Badinerie, violin partita no. 6, Violin Sonata in G minor (featuring among the few occasions in music history where a normally monophonic instrument was used as a polyphonic instrument).
If you have not heard a single one of those compositions or consider them crap, I’m afraid your knowledge of the later composers is severely lacking if not deficient enough for you to be thrown out of a musical position in a school immediately. Because every single composer that you would support would, quite ironically, agree more with me.
No one before or since Bach had succeeded in integrating Polyphony so well into so many compositions on such a massive scale. He wasn’t ahead of his time, nor behind the styles of his day: he was in a time of his own. The only person I currently know who got close was Beethoven. His Grosse Fugue, as whimsical as it was, was remarkably complex for its day and remains quite renowned. But it still did not lay a finger on the massive structures of Bach’s writing.
What I can tell you that will hopefully help you understand why Bach gets the love he deserves is because, unlike some of the composers in your playlist, Bach did not specifically write for a musician to improvise based on the notes themselves. Expression was often built from the chords of the piece rather than the rhythm. That’s evident in the basso continuo and harmonic counterpoints built over the melody. Bach often takes advantage of having independent voices by having melodic lines that contradict themselves in direction.
No, the expression was implied between the notes, vertically and horizontally and not just in one dimension. Through that, Bach was able to construct a 2 dimensional grid from which a massive fugue could be built from a simple melody. And that’s just the beginning of it. Here for example, you hear the same melody over and over again in different voices. You also hear repeating harmony and bass parts as well in the fugue, holding independently in that two dimensional grid. Fantasias were not as well defined in the 18th century but this amount of chromaticism in that time period was quite absurd yet workable!
Another thing you should know: Bach did not intend on developing one solid musical point. It, yet again, doesn’t come in the notes themselves but between them. How? Conversation. One voice makes a minor musical point. The others answer one by one. Then it goes into an arpeggiatic section with passing chordal structures before returning to the motif. Such concepts were strongly used for Large symphonic works of the 19th century.
Seems ironic that for someone who distastes Bach’s music so much you can’t properly thank him for being the inspiration behind the music you like so much.
If you really wanted to have a distaste of Bach, distaste every composer you have in that list. They all at some point admired Bach and worked his pieces to death. Mozart most of all, through CPE Bach.
The most amazing piece of music ever . Nobody ever came close to Bach .
In artistic terms in western art only Rembrandt.
The most realistic Fantasy a I've ever heard. Clear as hell. Great exercise of playing without pedal Maestro Schiff!
EXCELLENT observation ! I thought of the (excessive) use of pedal in Alfred Brendel´s rendering of the Fantasie a while ago ...
I didn't even notice the playing without pedal until i read your comment. The playing is so good!
One of the best performances too is by Sergio Fiorentino
I've always regarded Mr. Schiff as one of the premier exponents of Bach's music. I think that this performance is testimony to same.
Bach touched on things that wouldn't be common and explored untill like a hundred years after he died. If someone told me this was a piece from 1845 I would believe it.
What always amazed me about Schiff's playing is how his hands seems to glide across the keyboard so effortlessly. For me personally, my hands always feel so clumsy. I don't know how he's reached such a superb level of mastery and comfort in playing, but I hope one day to get even mildly close to that level of skill
Minimized finger movements
I think a lot of it is muscle memory from intense practice over long periods of time. I was a court stenographer and I got to the point that I wasn't even thinking; my hands just flowed over the keys as people spoke words I didn't know were coming. I'm not sure it's comparable to high-level piano playing, but there's something in it.
The more you listen to Bach, the more interesting he becomes.
Wunderbar, wie entspannt er sich im mittleren bis unterem dynamischen Bereich er sich bewegt. Nicht aufdringlich zum Zuhören zwingend, sondern einladend.
Bach is timeless! The reason we play his music is because it’s just so good and it will always be!
For sure!
I really reaally fell in love with his performance style, how clear.... I'm glad to find this video playlist
The fugue is excessively difficult for any pianist of ability. What a wonderful execution overall by Schiff and that he allows us to even study it, as it is a fascinating composition.
Probably the best piano interpretation of this piece I have heard over the years, Maestro Schiff never disappoints.
... even though, also over the years, I have come to view this piece as one of the very few pieces by Bach that actually sound better on a harpsichord than on a piano. As much as I appreciate Schiff's work here, he did not change my mind :)
Same!
Schiff is one of the great masters and interpreters of J.S.Bach's music.
Bravo! I just love how intimately Mr Schiff knows this complex and moving piece. Wow. Breathtaking!
Bach would be beaming with pride if he had a chance to hear this performance.
Love the way that Schiff manages to shake his jowls in time with his trill at 7:56!
LMAO
One could only hope to shake one's jowls to something as meaningful.
Is he a basset hound, or what?
@@oriraykai3610 LOL !!!
I like the way Mr. Schiff interpreted the arpeggios in the fantasia part. Well played !
+Johann Sebastian Bach Vay be. Re Minor Bach seven bir türk daha buldum. Üstelik roy roy kazım da dinliyor. Tam benim kafa dengim olabilirsin :D
Herr Bach, kann Sie in Deutsch sprechen? ( ´∀｀)
Leider nicht, aber ich lerne.
P.S. I hope google translate translated that correctly :D
Ulan ne güldürdün be :D
And I like the way you wrote it. Thanks.
The fact that we are allowed to comment and even criticize this performance is ironic. Magic fingers commanded by his imagination and understanding. Beautiful voicing. Such a great interpretation so different from others like Gould. What precious golden tone finger pedal I think Bach would have liked the sound of this piano and how it was interpreted.
@philippe573: Exactly. By the way, a nice touch was the Amazon commercial in the middle -- said NO ONE ever.
András Schiff is a wonderful pianist, whose interpretations not only of Bach but of music from the Romantic Era are breathtaking.
With artists such as András Schiff, Alfred Brendel, Glenn Gould, it is ironic we laymen can just critique at will.
His dynamics are so good, I love Andras Schiff
What a masterpiece! Bach was such an incredible composer and only in recent years have i truly began to appreciate his extraordinary works
Tim O'donnell that usually happens to most music lovers. It’s easy to love Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven. But to love Bach requires a prepared heart and mind. I’m glad that you now love the music that deserved to be loved the most.
@@MARTIN201199 c est mon cas. Bach est mon idole même. je suis intimement persuadé que c' est la musique la plus belle, la plus profonde, et qu' il est de loin le plus inspiré, créatif ( un nombre incalculable de melodies et d enchainement melodiques hors norme) . et dommage que certains ne soient pas d' accord avec moi.
vraiment ? j' en suis heureux. qu' aimez vous de Bach ? moi dans le piano j' aime particulièrement les toccatas bwv 910/916 (par glenn Gould) qui sont de vrai chefs d oeuvre d inspiration et de beauté. et bien sûr tout le reste que tout le monde connait. clavier bien tempéré, suite anglaise, concertos etc etc...
WHOA!!! Where has this insanely imaginative piece been all my life???? Been listening to Bach for the past 50+ years but this one has simply never popped up in front of me before now. FANTASTIC stuff - and the piano player is pretty cool too, lol!! THANKS for putting this on RUclips!!!!
He has a very gentle touch on this work.Most pianists tends to be a little 'rough' at the beginning.
This man turned me on to Bach nearly forty years ago and his playing has given me great pleasure many times since. However he wants to perform it is good enough for me.
Philip Cresswell in my case was 24 years ago
00:00 - первый раздел Фантазии;
1:24 - 2 раздел Фантазии;
5:01 - кода Фантазии;
5:57 - Тема Фуги.
Спасибо!
2:56 ( 2:58 ) Recitativo, ( 5:59 ) 6:00 Fuga
A sublime musical journey that takes us to a realm indescribable by words. The voices in the fugue are so exquisitely delineated, and it all ends in the very decisive "D". Just perfect.
Sir Schiff is a man I would even admire for mistakes
Il pollice verso su questa esecuzione sa tanto della volpe con l'uva di La Fontaine.... Straordinario Andras Schiff!
Technically one of the best pianists that maybe has ever existed, I don't hesitate saying although I'm not a professional piano player myself (doing my best though!) and I'ld rather not prefer mr. Schiff's interpretations. Still I think we're very lucky to have a pianist among us like Mr. Andras Schiff. Let's listen to his play and enjoy his talent, his incredible smooth key-handling en way of interpreting this particular, exceptional peace of Bach. No need or reason for the thumbs down at all. Henk Wilbrink, Netherlands, Philippines
RUclips’a choice to place ads in the middle of videos really fucks up the ability to fully enjoy videos like this one
Probably my favorite performance of this piece. I'm seeing Schiff play the Goldberg Variations later this year. Can't wait!
How was it?
@@marymills3581 Easily one of my favorite concerts. Schiff is always so in the moment performing live. A joy to listen to
I was just feeling guilty for my comment on A. Schiffs master class on trills, YT video where he said baroque ornaments are decorations,.. and was revising my opinion , while enjoying this piece without extra "unnecessary ornaments" (to quote myself), and then the 2:30's came along with extra notes added to the arpeggio's and then a completely superfluous ornament AFTER THE CADENCE at 2:50 AAaaaargh! to quote Linus.... but on the whole his performance is SUPERB.
Er hat Bach wirklich verstanden - Kontemplation und Brillanz und alles, was diesen Erzvater der Musik so groß macht1
Another extraordinary performance of the great artist András Schiff!
What I find most amazing is the thought that Bach himself has not only composed but also played all this himself. All the organ pieces, inventions, fantasies, fugues, preludes, concertos, .. it is hard to imagine how this was possible ...
I don't even like Bach that much but this man makes me listen - what a special talent
fantastique interpretation ! jouer apparament sans partition , bien qu un peu rapide par moment tout et juste et chaque note et audible separement ce qui et rare ! bravo et un grand merci a andras schiff pour ce moment hors du temps : pierre_xavier de chassot .
Fabulous Bach paying by a modern master. Reading through some of the other carping comments posted here, I am reminded of Sir Thomas Beecham's famous remark: "A musicologist is a person who can read music but can't hear it."
Andras plays with such ease and economy of motion. It's great pleasure to watch
The placing of a noisy advert at the denouement of this magnificent chromatic fugue was diabolical.
I concur !
un Bach d'excellence et d'évidence,haute admiration
how can anyone remember all of this? I cant even remember hearing, imagine playing
If you do it enough, it becomes muscle memory after a while. You're not really thinking too much about it.
supahsekzy well, I imagine that by enough you mean A LOT then
Felipe Forlin You've also to love playing it as well if you want it to remain in your head. Schiff plays Bach everyday - why wouldn't it remain in his head?
After a couple of years of playing, you don't need more than a couple of weeks of practicing a composition. Most of the work comes from the experience.
It's not actually that hard to memorize music. I'm sure you do it all the time, when you're humming along to your favorite tunes. When you play the piano, the memory is reinforced, because you have aural, visual, and tactile inputs. I have found that it is particularly easy to memorize Bach's music, and most teachers will insist on memorizing it in order to really internalize it.
Hooray for RUclips! I heard Maestro Schiff perform this last night (as encore to the English Suites) and now am delighted to re-listen on RUclips. Last night I was sitting where I couldn't see his hands, so this is even better, in that regard. Which is the more stunning finish? The Gigue of the English Suite #6, or the fugue performed here?
The infinite superficiality of modern times has to listen ETERNALLY to this music 😑😑😑😑😑 !
Yesssssssss!
This here is some Bach playing! Musicianship of this caliber is its own authority.
Listening to Professor Schiff play Bach is like taking a course in architecture. So satisfying! I’ve been able to say this about only one other pianist: Alicia de Larrocha.
8:25-Fantastic!!! When Mozart got to know Bach's music he was shocked. This says it all.
Mozart was sent to us from heaven! Bach sent him.
Upon first hearing the music of Bach, Mozart said: "Finally! Something I can learn from!"
This is the *genius* of Bach, in a nutshell. Pushing the musical forms of the day to their absolute limit!
Schiff’s playing JSB was always among my favorite. But please, Compare this performance of BWV 903 to that of Angela Hewitt
The fantasia reminds me very much of dream music - the music I hear in the background of my dreams, that I can never quite capture, and which is forgotten soon after waking.
With all these Bach that he is playing perfectly. I’m convinced Schiff has 2 brains.
I was wondering why A. Schiff didn't record this piece before... At least I never found it in the gone record stores. What a wonderful performance.
Listen to his interview this same day before he played this. On this same channel, he explains.
Судя по коментариям и просмотрам таких хороших исполнителей в России не хотят знать. ОЧЕНЬ ЖАЛЬ. Замечательное видео. Спасибо МАСТЕРУ и команде.
Very serious pianist with a deep understanding of and insight into music.
Incredible composition and playing. One is just awestruck
I feel the guy in the background nodding his head along with the performance.
A hornet can be in front of him, and he will still be calm and relaxed in his playing. He makes it seem so effortless.
i love what he does with the Bach Pieces. on a side note, when we are getting interrupted by a commercial, for instance the guy that wants you to believe " Lot of People think it takes years to learn how to play the Piano......well here is a 'NEW Method' how you can learn piano in 3 Month or so " isn't that Precious ?!?
Ощущение такое, будто сидит САМ БАХ и в эту самую минуту СОЗДАЁТ очередной ШЕДЕВР!!!
Schiff could perfectly be a LOTR character without any makeup.
Fantazija - 0:00
Rechitativ - 2:59
Koda 5:00
Fuga - 6:00
There is another RUclips video of Angela Hewitt playing this same piece on a Fazioli in the Greene Space. I love both Hewitt and Schiff, but I must say that Schiff's is by far the more absorbing performance.
For those who look for perfection
Personally I prefer this work in harpsichord! but this version is very special because it is a piano played in the harpsichord style and the use of pedals is almost non-existent! It feels very staccato notes! thank you mr Andras
He's improvising on the improvisation
Robert Colby-Witanek It's a part to play freely and not an improvisation and he does not improvise there.
Castlevania Belmont's Revenge brought me here!
Beautiful performance !
Andras Schiff, a great pianist I like so much, and Bach's music of God...
Bach es un músico celestial. El Espíritu de Dios se expresa por excelente versión de su música.
Gracias,
Gonzalo
This is as good as it gets.
I usually prefer Bach performances with a more ''youthful/energetic'' feel to them, but hearing the huge musical awareness and control of Schiff is a really nice contrast to that
I really Love the way Mr. Shiffs is performing.
But we all know that that music was conceived for harpsichord.,.....
Bravissimo Schiff.
Восхищена исполнением Баха этим исполнителем!
Starting at around 5:00 there is a melody which sounds very similar to one in the first movement of Beethoven's op. 2 no. 3
+Jacob Blank you're right :D The funny thing is, that this small melody is not written like this in the score, but a nice decorative invention by andras schiff
It's possible Bach copied it from Beethoven - it happens all the time - As Picasso said, great artists steal from other artists....
@@violinhunter2 Bach died 20 years before Beethoven was born...
@@brotherritsch2014 Yes, of course. I said it tongue-in-cheek. There are only 12 notes in the musical alphabet soup and rhythmic patterns are not limitless so similarities are bound to happen although not deliberate on anyone's part - when one composer quotes another we are usually told in advance and the quotes are also quite obvious. In the orchestral literature, there are a few which I have found - I used to keep a log of such similarities but then I lost my log. It's just trivia. I remember one in Carmina which reminded me a lot of Puccini's La Boheme.
You refer to the second theme in the first movement of C major sonata. That part is in g minor, and indeed has a similar musical pattern.
This peace is insane.
1:52 is spicy jazzy arpeggios an then a purely romantic voice leading...
чудесное исполнение, импровизандо вне всяких похвал!!!:)
Such a beautiful work of art:).
Uhhh...no hay dudas de que el Piano forte añade a la música de Bach un plus encantador...una resonancia espacial que no se percibía en la sonoridad...muy seca y metálica del clavecín...que abarcó todo el periodo barroco...!
El pianista Andreas sabe traslucir las partituras...dotándolas de un encanto sonoro...especial y espacial...!
Great performance as usual from this great artist.
Fantasía cromática JS Bach. ,está maravilla ,no llegaban.grabadas acá donde vivo. 🇮🇷🙏😍 La exelencia 🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨✴️ 👏✴️
Love this performance and recording.
What wasn’t Bach capable of? (yeah ok... opera... but it was probably too irrational for his tastes).
As Rudin states earlier, we see some wonderful harmonic corners that lay open such possibilities for future composition in this keyboard piece.
So many times in my musical life J.S. throws another sphere of creativity into the pool of inspiration. It cries “liar” at the cynic.
Do you know the Coffee Cantata? That's a little opera!
The cantatas are ALL essentially operatic in style - when compared to the operatic style of other composers of Bach's day - if, admittedly, not exactly in their lyrical content.
How satisfying!
Does anybody know anything about the sound recording equipment used in the video? I think it sounds wonderful.
Magnificent, very magnificent. It's an wonderful work of art:).
Para tocar Bach es necesario sentir Bach, considero que este intérprete siente Bach.
I would not be here if we had a recording of the fugue by gould.
giorgos malefas Gould did record the Fantasia, and you can find it on You Tube.
Victor Lloyd But nof the fugue.
The Chromatic and Fugue Fantasy BWV 903 is one of Bach's most original works. The extraordinary prelude is a prodigy of skill, a long continuously modulating meditation in which each bar changes pitch, leading to a tense finale of incredible audacity, which is followed by a three-voice fugue that is serenely approached, creating an anti-climax unique in Bach's keyboard music. Asking for metronome regularity from Fantasy is like asking for tranquility from the waters of a mountain stream. Andras Shift's interpretation is obvioulsy excellent although, for my taste, the fantasy arpeggios need to "breathe" a little more. Despite being an ideal piece to exploit the sound possibilities of the piano, for me the record of preference is that of George Malcolm (Decca, 1961) at a pèdal harpshicord (Goble ?).
Bach is wonderful on cembalo 💜
Beautiful
It's hard to check "dislike" with such magnificent playing, but for me, there's just a color missing without the pedal, especially in this piece,
+Birgit M Well, considering that Bach's contemporary keyboard instruments did not possess a damper pedal of any kind, save possibly a proto-piano-forte that Bach saw near the end of his life, I would not say that this version is in any way a dishonest interpretation of the original intent of the piece. I think this piece is better suited to imitating the harpsichord than the cimbalom, anyway.
감동 그 자체입니다. 브라보! 안드라스 쉬프!
Bach was the 1st master magician-musician to really take advantage of the possibilities of tempered tuning both linearly and virtically. Often embedded inside of his counter point are chromatically altered harmonies that won't see The light of day for another hundred years. This essentially new ability to seamlessly integrate all those notes outside the key in far less diatonically constrained ways than any of his contemporaries (of which there were none) really made him a visionary piercing far ahead of his time. The rubato is simply a natural organic heartfelt out growth of the music because it isn't actually baroque in it's construction it's unclassifiable really. That's the ultimate truth of Bach pushing the envelope of which there are countless examples.
Divine!.. Thank you, Maestro!!!
I listen this every time I play Chess, 2 or 3 hours in a row.
Fantastic tune helps thinking !
OMG that crowd lol....