Merci pour l'explication dans le langage des "précieuses ridicules" ! Ainsi les Barricades Mystérieuses sont les rideaux des "miroirs de l'âme"... bravo pour le tempo, cela fait quarante ans que je le cherche 😊
One of the most sensual pieces I know and now that I finally discovered the meaning of the title it is even more so! I really like this slower tempo, it's beautiful...
As Couperin was in fact the inventor of the form, this one is just one among many pieces he composed for clavecin that follows the specific sheme of rondo. But this one is far beyond the others regarding its rhythmic captivity and beautiful game of harmonic transformations, especialy in the 3rd couplet I adore most. As to proper tempo to play it, it is known that harpsichord has short tone duration and thus asks for ornaments and quick execution, but having in mind the principle also valid in music that a piece should have life of its own, I see no reason why shouldn't we play it today in wide gesture, pointing out all the beauty of accordic transformation, enriched with character of modern piano sound and enjoy the very piece in totality of its numerous layers.
I don't know why this piece that's over 300 years old now is so haunting. I wonder if Couperin ever thought that this particular little keyboard piece, from a much larger set of pieces, would continue speaking so movingly and so lovingly to countless generations of musicians and listeners throughout the many years and centuries after his passing?
An interesting interpretation. Most keyboardists charge through this because of the tempo marking 'vivement' which actually has two meanings. The first is, "vigorously, ardently." The other, and more probable meaning is, "sensibly, deeply." That said, it sounds better on a harpsichord when played at a slower tempo, though maybe not as slow as you have done because the sound resonates more beautifully. The other challenge is the three segways when the main theme returns, which when played, fast sounds awkward and allows no pause for consideration of what had just come before it. The bottom line is what sounds musical and tasteful, and there's no shortage of opinions here. The master class lesson by Scott Ross and a student shows him "reining in the horses" so to speak, arriving at a more restrained tempo. He also brings up 'notes inégales' in which some notes are given different time values depending on the shape of the musical line.
I saw you talking about this piece over a year ago and it completely reawakened my interest in the piano at a very unhappy time in my life. I learned it, fell in love with music again, and it got me through a bad time. Such a small thing as a stranger’s passion for a piece can have a massive impact on others. Life and love and happiness are made of an infinite number of small miracles- even a kind word to a person in the street can change things forever. Thank you and God bless you.
So well said and the same for me. The beauty of this piece and the beautiful way he played it broke through to my heart in exactly the way I needed at this time. Tears flowing. Grateful to have found this. Be well.
You have spoken words so rich with love and truth. Trouble vanishes. I heard the same thing in this episode and am thankful to have found this response in another. Thank you!
I am learning this intriguing piece and for me, the mysterious barricades are when the labyrinth of the way to the end of the piece turns into the barricade of a maze - and I have to find a way through so it is once again a labyrinth. The moment when it changes back is truly mysterious but magical. The way was always open even though it looks impossible although once found, it is so easy to see. I could be playing this for the rest of my life.
Very beautiful sir ! One of the greatest harpisicordists of all time, Scott Ross also plays it not fast , he even uses rubato. His interpretation is also very beautiful ❤
Your playing is sensitive and magnificent, and your prior explanations are (almost) essential... I will add that these "mysterious barricades", beyond the suggestive "winks" of the "precious" and also of the Versailles courtesans, evoked the various roadblocks and tests enigmatic and which had to be decoded to reach the heart of the desired lady, (not to mention her bed !)… some also speak more directly of the different petticoats and complicated garments which had to be unraveled with patience and address to reach the perfumed skins of the beauties who haunted the Court as well as the fashionable Salons…. Although this piece was written after the death of Ninon de Lenclos (who loved to make fun of precious people and who, it is said, had hundreds of lovers), her life and all the poems dedicated to her are as many " barricades” that many were unable to cross ! (in her hotel on rue des Tournelles, Ninon had a harpsichord, but was also a very talented lute player, and sang and danced very well ! ) Between the amorous interludes (since love, from her point of view was often too quickly) she raised a few barricades before the next “assault” by taking up the harpsichord or “touching” her lute. These barricades sound good on your piano, but let’s imagine them (without purism) on the harpsichords of the time ! (e.g. by Scott Ross)… Bravo and thank you for this impeccable tempo, because most play it much too quickly. Votre jeu est sensible et magnifique, et vos explications préalables sont (presque) indispensables … j’ajouterai que ces « barricades mystérieuses », au delà des « œillades « suggestives des « précieuses » et aussi des courtisanes versaillaises, évoquaient les différents barrages et épreuves énigmatiques et qu’il fallait décoder pour arriver jusqu’au cœur de la dame désirée, (pour ne pas dire jusqu’à son lit !)… certains parlent aussi plus directement des différents jupons et vêtements compliquées qu’il fallait dénouer avec patience et adresse pour atteindre les peaux parfumées des belles qui hantaient aussi bien la Cour que les Salons à la mode…. Bien que cette pièce fut écrite après la disparition de Ninon de Lenclos (qui adorait se moquer des précieuses et qui eut, dit-on, des centaines d’amants), sa vie et tous les poèmes qui lui ont été dédiés sont autant de « barricades » que beaucoup n’ont pu réussir à franchir ! (dans son hôtel de la rue des Tournelles, Ninon avait un clavecin, mais était aussi une joueuse de luth très talentueuse, et chantait et dansait très bien !) Entre les intermèdes amoureux (puisque l’amour, de son point de vue était souvent trop rapide) elle relevait quelques barricades avant le prochain « assaut » en se mettant au clavecin ou en « touchant » son luth. Ces barricades sonnent bien sur votre piano, mais imaginons-les (sans purisme) sur les clavecins de l’époque ! (par exemple par Scott Ross)… Bravo et merci, pour ce tempo irréprochable, car la plupart joue cela beaucoup trop vite.
I like the explanation of the title. I heard a different story actually that Les Barricades Mystérieuses could also be the gates of heaven as being the mysterious gates nobody knows about. But the fluttering eyelashes works very nicely with all the mordants. Great tempo.
I love the way you introduce and talk about the music. You carry on the tradition of Landowska and Weissenberg. Please consider this the highest compliment. I can just picture the fluttering of 'Les Barricades Mysterieuses' as the ladies flirt and pose in the court! Thank you for this wonderful insight!
Très belle version. Concernant le tempo, effectivement beaucoup de musiciens ont tendance à jouer trop vite, perdant au passage toutes les subtilités et l'ambiance quasi sensuelle que génèrent les harmonies magnifiques de Couperin. Pour moi, le regretté Scott Ross a donné la meilleure vision de ce morceau (dans la vidéo où il donne un cours à la Villa Medicis), en imaginant ce morceau comme "un long train avec des wagons très luxueux et sensuels..."....Et le tempo auquel il le jouait donc, avec toutes les petites variations et accentuations comme celles que vous interprétez très bien, est pour moi LE tempo parfait, et la manière la plus noble de jouer cette splendide pièce. Encore bravo et merci!
I thought I’de forgotten what this was, after many years away from the piano. Thank God I found this and you and your beautiful rendition of it, similar to my own. Can’t stop crying, tears of joy. I have a piano tuner coming tomorrow, can’t wait to get the written music and start playing again. Thank you so much. 🩵
Thank you for the Barricades, and that tempo. I played it about that speed on my little Harpsichord, and on the piano. I always loved teaching this piece to my students, for they could play the harpsichord in my office, and feel it there, then to feel it on the piano. Wish I'd known about the Eyelashes en Versailles in those old days. Merci M. Helge Antoni pour votre lecons, Merci beaucoup. (Je suis canadien mais mon francais n'est pas gentil, alors.) But I keep trying!
This video is wonderful in so many ways: the personality of the pianist, the information about the piece and its MYSTERIOUS title, and of course the soulful performance. (I also happen to consider the piece itself the most perfect gem every composed for keyboard.) I have only one "complaint." I have yet to find a video which brings out the full romanticism of the wave of feeling inherent in the passage beginning at Minute 4:37 of this video and climaxing at 5:00-5:15. (I am reminded of the build-up in Rachmaninoff's Etude Tableau in E-flat minor.) I want to hear it played with even more speeding up and heightened volume. I think this would be fully in keeping with this pianist's empathy with this piece and with his sense that it can be played to its advantage on a piano and not a harpsicord.
50 years ago my harpsichord teacher explained the symbolic meaning of the mysterious barricades: they are the voluminous petticoats worn by the ladies at the French court. The piece represents the rustling sound their dresses made as they walked through the palace halls.
2:40 where he started playing This is absolutely gorgeous! The way you have explained the piece and that historical informations was just on point, this is an amazing piece and your playing have made it much prettier! Bravo❤
Let me do this in English just out of courtesy to other visitors: Such joy to see and listen to this! I certainly don't expect you to remember, but once upon a long time ago, early nineties, I was an aspiring reporter who wrote a feature featuring you in Göteborgs-Posten. I was still a teenager, I think 17 at the time, but for some reason both the editors and you gave me a chance. It turned out great, thanks to your generous storytelling. And then, I went abroad for an international experience, and one day in the spring of 1994 I stumbled upon a dressed up musician on a Washington DC street. His name was Elliot Gibbons. He was playing this very piece, and I stopped, amazed. I bought his CD and went back home. When you returned to perform at the theatre in my native Kungsbacka, I handed you an illegally burned CD copy of this. I think this must have been just around the time when you discussed the piece with your colleague, but you hade never yet performed it live. Another year or two, and you were yet again back in Kungsbacka - and performed it as a part of a romantic series that you had collected for that evening. A great memory! And forever a favorite composition.
This is the most marvellous piece, the feeling changes if you play it fast or play it slow. It was the piece that got me back into playing the piano and it keeps me entertained to this day. Thank you for the information on the meaning of the title as well.
My intuition said the title for this wonderful piece had to do with the obstacles, physical and/or imaginary, that a man finds when he pursues a beautiful woman. Thank you for your performance, and for the explanation.
I recall hearing your explanation in the past, so perhaps I forgot to comment four years ago. Thank you for bringing Couperin to life. Matching an eloquent programmatic link to eyelashes with the way you play offers such a rich experience. I know the French talk of "le mot juste." You have matched those words with such thoughtful rubati, and notes inegales, it is a rare delight. Chapeau bas.
Great job ! I was myself asking what was the meaning of the "Mysterious Barricades" You gave me the answer ! Although, living neae Versailles and knowing the somtuous gardens, I was considering that it could have been related with the trimmed hedges which are dividing some parts of the garden in a kind of labyrinth withI mystrerious paths.
Thank you for the beautiful performance and for explaining the meaning of the title of this composition. I'm a guitarist and it was the first piece I put on RUclips. There is a secret passion in it that I feel every time I play it.
Oh my word….now I see how I want to play this exquisite piece . It makes me sad and joyful in equal measure . Thank you for I shall now start to see the sweeping changes of emotion and mood in this very visual piece and will relish every turn and phrase as I play.
Yes, you have found the right tempo. In fact, the racing-mentality of the harpsichordists is wrong by definition. Thanks for your sharing with us your fine, beautiful realization of this piece, your personal emotions, and the meaning behind the title of this piece. Bravo!!!
Vielen Dank für das Teilen dieser fein gefühlten, sich völlig adäquat anhörenden Interpretation dieses Stückes; auch daß die kräftig geführte linke Hand sich unaufdringlich, aber gleichzeitig hör- und nachspürbar vorhanden zeigt, finde ich ganz prima: Chapeau!
Thank you for such a beautiful video. How delightful to know what Les Barricades Mysteriuses really means…..it makes such perfect sense! I’m so glad I’ve found your channel.
Merci pour cette belle musique et vos explications. Je n'ai pas trouvé les 2 autres morceaux de Couperin préférés dont vous avez fait mention au début.... ?
Very beautiful performance. I had the same experience as you when studying to play this piece on the harpsichord. My tempo went slower and slower until I came down to a slow one which is approximately yours. It was Albert Schweitzer who stated that most of Bach's pieces gain expression when played slowlier, and imho, this applies to this piece of Couperin, too.
Hi Helge, every musician find the right tempo for pieces he feels and loves. And what he feels and loves reproduces on the keyboard. This is one of my favorite pieces. Thanks!
I am glad to find this video again! I was introduced to this piece in the guitar which opened up my exploration of the original harpsichord and very transcription for almost every other instrument. I prefer this slower tempo to savor the harmonies of this magnificent piece.
A few years ago I was traveling with my car listening to the radio. Voilà, Les Barricades Mystérieuses for harpsichord! I thought... beautiful piece but... I'd like to hear it played at very slow tempo on a grand piano, I think it would be much more better! I'm not a musician and I can't play piano, so I ended up searching on youtube and, among a lot of versions for the most disparate instruments (excep bongos and maracas!), here come out Helge Antoni with my same though... beautifully crafted in music!! I was so proud that a splendid piano player, as you are, has had my same feeling before me! Thank you also for the interesting explanation of the title meaning.
This piece absolutely mesmerizes me. Hope to learn it someday as it really seems as enjoyable to play as it is to listen to. Many thanks for this wonderful video and performance.
Great rendering and tempo. And a special thank you for explaining what was behind the name of this amazingly beautiful piece. With much gratitude, from San Jose, California.
Hi Helge.. . I just found your video today... and you touched my soul with your interpretation. When I close my eyes, I imagine Versailles, the king, , flirting ladies, thanks to your play. I practice this piece myself and it is a great inspiration for how to play it. Well thank you. 👍
Hi Jozef, Thanks for your heartfelt message. It makes me very happy! - This is truly a magical piece and whenever I share it with my audiences something special happens. Wishing you all the best practicing " Les Barricades"!
Got into an argument years ago about what the title refers to, on RUclips and I cited this video as my proof. Of course, this video had just been removed. But now is returned. Please don't remove again? I think his tempo is perfect, as I play it the similar tempo on my harpsichord
This is a wonderful piece that, at first hearing, made me wonder: 'What the...?' and wish that I could stop my car and write down the title. ('It's called what?). Fortunately, I managed to remember. It sounds amazing on piano, though I'm equally fond of the guitar interpretations and even one on the therbo which to my 🏴ear has a near human quality. I like the story of the eyelashes, but wonder if these weren't the superficial expression of social forms and graces (les Barricades) that Couperin might have been expressing as a kind of dance. Just a thought.
I agree this piece is often played way too fast. I think historically this had to do with instrument it was 1st played on. I think reason this was played fast on harpsicords was to illuminate the 'mystery' written in the music (e.g.: all the tied dissonant notes that sustain across chord changes create an evolving harmonic movement) As harpsicords don't sustain for long, they played it fast so one could hear the tied note before it died away. I really enjoyed this performance and would have though it excellent but with one notable exception, the rubato. On the main repeating theme, the use of rubato where the chord transition was on the IV chord. (imho) is done in the wrong place .. if rubato was to be used, I believe it should have been right on the tail end off of the V chord.. On the repeating main theme I prefer the tempo to be solid and almost mechanical thru-out except when the phrase ends ..there should be a slight delay before the next section. In the other sections I generally liked Mr. Antoni's use of rubato, especial on the last section played well ahead of the beat before the last theme repeated at the end. PS I don't mean to be critical of this amazing performance. We hear things subjectively and I'm expressing my opinion on a much-loved piece.
Bravo pour avoir trouvé l'explication du titre. Mais, justement, tout tient à un battement de cil. Et, à mon humble avis, ce battement de cil est le mordant du ré (D) de la mesure 4. Ce mordant écrit en doubles croches doit à la fois s'intégrer à la ligne descendante et (dans le même temps) opérer un très-léger ralenti, imperceptible, qui souligne la signification (amoureuse !) de ce battement de cil, le tempo reprenant immédiatement de façon inexorable au do (C) suivant. En fait, peu importe le tempo général que vous choisissez : sauf s'il est trop rapide il doit pouvoir permettre d'opérer clairement ce très faible ralentissement, à peine sensible, sur le mordant (et seulement le mordant) qui souligne le regard de la dame comme d'un léger battement de cil, à peine visible. Toute la réussite du morceau tient à cette nuance sur une seule note du couplet et je ne connais pas de pianiste qui la rende vraiment correctement. Il n'est bien donné que sur un instrument à corde pincée, et souvent très bien à la guitare. Sans doute tout simplement à cause du très incommode changement de position de la main gauche qu'impose la guitare au moment du mordant. ruclips.net/video/JfNm76TKgWQ/видео.html&ab_channel=WilmingtonClassicalGuitar
I had heard one theory that it was from the flames coming from barrels used as barricades during the french revolution. Do we know for sure about any of these? This particular piece is so wonderful no matter what instrument is playing it but I prefer the harpsichord. I also love the way you have slowed it down. Just like Fur Elies it usually is played fairly fast but when I heard it played much slower, oh wow it was so good. Another piece that is mysterious who exactly was Elise? When you play it do you slow it down? it seems much more dramatic that way, more intense.
Am I the only one distracted because the OP looks like Michael Palin? I get a strange Monty Phyton vibe from this vid. Great playing thou I just discovered F. Couperin, his music is so beautifull and subtle
Thanks you pour votre amour de ce répertoire français.Vous connaissez sans doute Marcelle Meyer dans Rameau , c'est merveilleux , in the fifties , également au piano. Merci d'aimer cette musique , essayez si vous pouvez sur un forte piano , ce peut être avantageusement plus intime comme ressenti. PS . Pour moi Couperin c'est une autre façon de parler français tout comme Dowland , Purcell et un interprète comme Alfred Deller avec les folksongs sont la plus belle façon de parler anglais.
I always wondered about the meaning - and would never has guessed it! (how poetic). The tempo is to my liking too. Does the music (I have the sheet music) require those cadences though? They really seem to artificially stop the flow and flow is what this piece is all about.
Dear sir, your interpretation is lovely, and it fits the piano as an instrument brilliantly. It also fits your sensibility, definitely! But, you probably are aware that: - players in the style of historically informed performance might say that there's too much rubato for that era, in your interpretation? - definitely the harpsichord does not have the same sustain and the same expressiveness as the piano, so a faster tempo might make more sense on harpsichord, but not necessarily on piano. - there are in fact countless interpretations of the meaning of "les barricades mysterieuses". While your mysterious expert might be right in pointing out a somehow conventional (among ''les precieuses'', at least) (de)codification, ''les vrais precieuses'' would not stick to the (very exclusive, otherwise) conventions of the Versailles' language trends&fads. I'll leave the decision for the referent of this metaphor open, while noting that a mysterious barricade is something that invites conquering while being meant to resist this act. By no means these comments are a criticism of your performance. In fact I love it, and when playing this piece on classical guitar, I kind of borrow not only your tempo, but your dynamics, more generally (rubato included). I don't think that we should stick to the style of the era when a piece was composed. As we shouldn't stick to the instrument for which a piece was written. If I may add to the myriads of interpretations about the meaning of the mysterious barricades, that's the best description for any artistic object: something that at the same time invites conquering and resists it. And I think that you definitely manage, through your interpretation, to conquer something of the elusiveness of this piece. Congratulations!
Lovely performance. I prefer pieces to be played slower. IMO, pianists play Chopin and Mendelssohn too fast, and when they do that, their music loses its bite. Couperin was very prophetic and knew how music would eventually sound like, when he would no longer be around.
Thank you, mâitre, for solving the riddle of the title, both intuitively and by investigation. Beautiful and moving and, um, sexy performance. This piece was my own introduction to any kind of baroque or classical music, when I was 11.
Too much rubato makes it difficult to maintain the elegance that I expect from music of that time. I agree that it shouldn't be played too fast; playing it fast makes articulation difficult, and difficult for the audience to savour it's structure.
Nope. You seem to vary the tempo according to ... ... ... whatever. The performances which I like maintain a consistent tempo. As if the players are just determined to roll it out using a steam-roller. And I don't very much like the harpsichord - clattery old contraptions, that they are. By comparison, the modern piano is just a wonderful device.
I've loved this piece of music for more than 50 years--I even learned to play it--and now I know what its title means! Thanks!
Merci pour l'explication dans le langage des "précieuses ridicules" ! Ainsi les Barricades Mystérieuses sont les rideaux des "miroirs de l'âme"... bravo pour le tempo, cela fait quarante ans que je le cherche 😊
One of the most sensual pieces I know and now that I finally discovered the meaning of the title it is even more so! I really like this slower tempo, it's beautiful...
As Couperin was in fact the inventor of the form, this one is just one among many pieces he composed for clavecin that follows the specific sheme of rondo. But this one is far beyond the others regarding its rhythmic captivity and beautiful game of harmonic transformations, especialy in the 3rd couplet I adore most. As to proper tempo to play it, it is known that harpsichord has short tone duration and thus asks for ornaments and quick execution, but having in mind the principle also valid in music that a piece should have life of its own, I see no reason why shouldn't we play it today in wide gesture, pointing out all the beauty of accordic transformation, enriched with character of modern piano sound and enjoy the very piece in totality of its numerous layers.
I don't know why this piece that's over 300 years old now is so haunting. I wonder if Couperin ever thought that this particular little keyboard piece, from a much larger set of pieces, would continue speaking so movingly and so lovingly to countless generations of musicians and listeners throughout the many years and centuries after his passing?
An interesting interpretation. Most keyboardists charge through this because of the tempo marking 'vivement' which actually has two meanings. The first is, "vigorously, ardently." The other, and more probable meaning is, "sensibly, deeply." That said, it sounds better on a harpsichord when played at a slower tempo, though maybe not as slow as you have done because the sound resonates more beautifully. The other challenge is the three segways when the main theme returns, which when played, fast sounds awkward and allows no pause for consideration of what had just come before it. The bottom line is what sounds musical and tasteful, and there's no shortage of opinions here.
The master class lesson by Scott Ross and a student shows him "reining in the horses" so to speak, arriving at a more restrained tempo. He also brings up 'notes inégales' in which some notes are given different time values depending on the shape of the musical line.
I saw you talking about this piece over a year ago and it completely reawakened my interest in the piano at a very unhappy time in my life. I learned it, fell in love with music again, and it got me through a bad time. Such a small thing as a stranger’s passion for a piece can have a massive impact on others. Life and love and happiness are made of an infinite number of small miracles- even a kind word to a person in the street can change things forever. Thank you and God bless you.
So well said and the same for me. The beauty of this piece and the beautiful way he played it broke through to my heart in exactly the way I needed at this time. Tears flowing. Grateful to have found this. Be well.
You have spoken words so rich with love and truth. Trouble vanishes. I heard the same thing in this episode and am thankful to have found this response in another. Thank you!
I am learning this intriguing piece and for me, the mysterious barricades are when the labyrinth of the way to the end of the piece turns into the barricade of a maze - and I have to find a way through so it is once again a labyrinth. The moment when it changes back is truly mysterious but magical. The way was always open even though it looks impossible although once found, it is so easy to see. I could be playing this for the rest of my life.
I think what adds the beauty and the mystery to this piece are the dissonances which the piece is full of them.
Very beautiful sir ! One of the greatest harpisicordists of all time, Scott Ross also plays it not fast , he even uses rubato. His interpretation is also very beautiful ❤
Lovely!🤩👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Many thanks for all your inspiring comments!🤗🙏🏻
Yes, this is the right tempo.
Your playing is sensitive and magnificent, and your prior explanations are (almost) essential... I will add that these "mysterious barricades", beyond the suggestive "winks" of the "precious" and also of the Versailles courtesans, evoked the various roadblocks and tests enigmatic and which had to be decoded to reach the heart of the desired lady, (not to mention her bed !)… some also speak more directly of the different petticoats and complicated garments which had to be unraveled with patience and address to reach the perfumed skins of the beauties who haunted the Court as well as the fashionable Salons….
Although this piece was written after the death of Ninon de Lenclos (who loved to make fun of precious people and who, it is said, had hundreds of lovers), her life and all the poems dedicated to her are as many " barricades” that many were unable to cross ! (in her hotel on rue des Tournelles, Ninon had a harpsichord, but was also a very talented lute player, and sang and danced very well ! ) Between the amorous interludes (since love, from her point of view was often too quickly) she raised a few barricades before the next “assault” by taking up the harpsichord or “touching” her lute. These barricades sound good on your piano, but let’s imagine them (without purism) on the harpsichords of the time ! (e.g. by Scott Ross)…
Bravo and thank you for this impeccable tempo, because most play it much too quickly.
Votre jeu est sensible et magnifique, et vos explications préalables sont (presque) indispensables … j’ajouterai que ces « barricades mystérieuses », au delà des « œillades « suggestives des « précieuses » et aussi des courtisanes versaillaises, évoquaient les différents barrages et épreuves énigmatiques et qu’il fallait décoder pour arriver jusqu’au cœur de la dame désirée, (pour ne pas dire jusqu’à son lit !)… certains parlent aussi plus directement des différents jupons et vêtements compliquées qu’il fallait dénouer avec patience et adresse pour atteindre les peaux parfumées des belles qui hantaient aussi bien la Cour que les Salons à la mode…. Bien que cette pièce fut écrite après la disparition de Ninon de Lenclos (qui adorait se moquer des précieuses et qui eut, dit-on, des centaines d’amants), sa vie et tous les poèmes qui lui ont été dédiés sont autant de « barricades » que beaucoup n’ont pu réussir à franchir ! (dans son hôtel de la rue des Tournelles, Ninon avait un clavecin, mais était aussi une joueuse de luth très talentueuse, et chantait et dansait très bien !) Entre les intermèdes amoureux (puisque l’amour, de son point de vue était souvent trop rapide) elle relevait quelques barricades avant le prochain « assaut » en se mettant au clavecin ou en « touchant » son luth. Ces barricades sonnent bien sur votre piano, mais imaginons-les (sans purisme) sur les clavecins de l’époque ! (par exemple par Scott Ross)…
Bravo et merci, pour ce tempo irréprochable, car la plupart joue cela beaucoup trop vite.
Wonderful. Also appreciate the explanations.
I like the explanation of the title. I heard a different story actually that Les Barricades Mystérieuses could also be the gates of heaven as being the mysterious gates nobody knows about. But the fluttering eyelashes works very nicely with all the mordants. Great tempo.
I love the way you introduce and talk about the music. You carry on the tradition of Landowska and Weissenberg. Please consider this the highest compliment. I can just picture the fluttering of 'Les Barricades Mysterieuses' as the ladies flirt and pose in the court! Thank you for this wonderful insight!
Thanks a lot !Really appreciate your comment.
Thank you so very much!!!! Following the tempo of your heart and soul !!!!
Très belle version. Concernant le tempo, effectivement beaucoup de musiciens ont tendance à jouer trop vite, perdant au passage toutes les subtilités et l'ambiance quasi sensuelle que génèrent les harmonies magnifiques de Couperin.
Pour moi, le regretté Scott Ross a donné la meilleure vision de ce morceau (dans la vidéo où il donne un cours à la Villa Medicis), en imaginant ce morceau comme "un long train avec des wagons très luxueux et sensuels..."....Et le tempo auquel il le jouait donc, avec toutes les petites variations et accentuations comme celles que vous interprétez très bien, est pour moi LE tempo parfait, et la manière la plus noble de jouer cette splendide pièce.
Encore bravo et merci!
Thank you for an intelligent and considered conversation... and a really lovely performance.
I thought I’de forgotten what this was, after many years away from the piano. Thank God I found this and you and your beautiful rendition of it, similar to my own. Can’t stop crying, tears of joy. I have a piano tuner coming tomorrow, can’t wait to get the written music and start playing again. Thank you so much. 🩵
Thank you for the Barricades, and that tempo. I played it about that speed on my little Harpsichord, and on the piano. I always loved teaching this piece to my students, for they could play the harpsichord in my office, and feel it there, then to feel it on the piano. Wish I'd known about the Eyelashes en Versailles in those old days. Merci M. Helge Antoni pour votre lecons, Merci beaucoup. (Je suis canadien mais mon francais n'est pas gentil, alors.) But I keep trying!
Fantastic performance. I believe your tempo is perfect for piano and describes the beauty of women but also their mysteriousness. Well done.
This video is wonderful in so many ways: the personality of the pianist, the information about the piece and its MYSTERIOUS title, and of course the soulful performance. (I also happen to consider the piece itself the most perfect gem every composed for keyboard.) I have only one "complaint." I have yet to find a video which brings out the full romanticism of the wave of feeling inherent in the passage beginning at Minute 4:37 of this video and climaxing at 5:00-5:15. (I am reminded of the build-up in Rachmaninoff's Etude Tableau in E-flat minor.) I want to hear it played with even more speeding up and heightened volume. I think this would be fully in keeping with this pianist's empathy with this piece and with his sense that it can be played to its advantage on a piano and not a harpsicord.
50 years ago my harpsichord teacher explained the symbolic meaning of the mysterious barricades: they are the voluminous petticoats worn by the ladies at the French court. The piece represents the rustling sound their dresses made as they walked through the palace halls.
Oh! Another version! Sounds very French!
Cette interprétation a plus de sens que les sourcils, à mon avis, mais les deux sont séduisantes, merci.
Merci! @@GhtPTR
Wow ❤
2:40 where he started playing
This is absolutely gorgeous! The way you have explained the piece and that historical informations was just on point, this is an amazing piece and your playing have made it much prettier! Bravo❤
Bravo, vous avez compris le sens de ces "barricades" , toutes remplies de pudeur...😌😌😌😌🤗🤗🤗
Bravo! plein d'émotions merci beaucoup!!🙌👏🏻👏🏻🤗🎉
Let me do this in English just out of courtesy to other visitors: Such joy to see and listen to this! I certainly don't expect you to remember, but once upon a long time ago, early nineties, I was an aspiring reporter who wrote a feature featuring you in Göteborgs-Posten. I was still a teenager, I think 17 at the time, but for some reason both the editors and you gave me a chance. It turned out great, thanks to your generous storytelling. And then, I went abroad for an international experience, and one day in the spring of 1994 I stumbled upon a dressed up musician on a Washington DC street. His name was Elliot Gibbons. He was playing this very piece, and I stopped, amazed. I bought his CD and went back home. When you returned to perform at the theatre in my native Kungsbacka, I handed you an illegally burned CD copy of this. I think this must have been just around the time when you discussed the piece with your colleague, but you hade never yet performed it live. Another year or two, and you were yet again back in Kungsbacka - and performed it as a part of a romantic series that you had collected for that evening. A great memory! And forever a favorite composition.
Well done, Andreas!
This piece is so soothing. I love listening to it.
It's played "beautifully slow" in the 2011 movie The Tree Of Life, too. I prefer the slower play myself. Thanks for sharing!:-)
This is the most marvellous piece, the feeling changes if you play it fast or play it slow. It was the piece that got me back into playing the piano and it keeps me entertained to this day. Thank you for the information on the meaning of the title as well.
I like the way you have interpreted this piece! The tempo is great! :) Such a beautiful piece played by a great musician! Thank you!
My intuition said the title for this wonderful piece had to do with the obstacles, physical and/or imaginary, that a man finds when he pursues a beautiful woman. Thank you for your performance, and for the explanation.
I recall hearing your explanation in the past, so perhaps I forgot to comment four years ago. Thank you for bringing Couperin to life. Matching an eloquent programmatic link to eyelashes with the way you play offers such a rich experience. I know the French talk of "le mot juste." You have matched those words with such thoughtful rubati, and notes inegales, it is a rare delight. Chapeau bas.
Great job ! I was myself asking what was the meaning of the "Mysterious Barricades" You gave me the answer !
Although, living neae Versailles and knowing the somtuous gardens, I was considering that it could have been related with the trimmed hedges which are dividing some parts of the garden in a kind of labyrinth withI mystrerious paths.
Beautifully played, your tempo feels right indeed ! And I love the background story you give to the title…
In my opinion this sounds how I would play it myself. If I could.
Meu coração está tão partido 💔
This has now become my favourite version of this beautiful piece of music!
Ive been learning this song for the past couple of months, thanks for the enlightenment!
Thank you for the beautiful performance and for explaining the meaning of the title of this composition. I'm a guitarist and it was the first piece I put on RUclips. There is a secret passion in it that I feel every time I play it.
Dear Helge, thank you very much!
This is the tempo I was looking for.
Oh my word….now I see how I want to play this exquisite piece .
It makes me sad and joyful in equal measure .
Thank you for I shall now start to see the sweeping changes of emotion and mood in this very visual piece and will relish every turn and phrase as I play.
Yes, you have found the right tempo. In fact, the racing-mentality of the harpsichordists is wrong by definition. Thanks for your sharing with us your fine, beautiful realization of this piece, your personal emotions, and the meaning behind the title of this piece. Bravo!!!
Vielen Dank für das Teilen dieser fein gefühlten, sich völlig adäquat anhörenden Interpretation dieses Stückes; auch daß die kräftig geführte linke Hand sich unaufdringlich, aber gleichzeitig hör- und nachspürbar vorhanden zeigt, finde ich ganz prima: Chapeau!
Thank you for such a beautiful video. How delightful to know what Les Barricades Mysteriuses really means…..it makes such perfect sense! I’m so glad I’ve found your channel.
The Eyelashes of the Ladies. Well, that truly explains why this piece resonates. I'm trying to learn it now and this gives me inspiration. THANK YOU!
Grazie per questa splendida esecuzione e per la simpatica spiegazione della scelta dei tempi.
now, we need to know the bpm of those fluttering eyelashes behind those fancy fans in Versailles :)
Merci pour cette belle musique et vos explications. Je n'ai pas trouvé les 2 autres morceaux de Couperin préférés dont vous avez fait mention au début.... ?
thanks for your uploading
i love your tempo
i wish i could play just like you😍
It's such a beautiful piece, I love the tempo you ended up with. Great introduction and explanation as well! 🙂
Very beautiful performance. I had the same experience as you when studying to play this piece on the harpsichord. My tempo went slower and slower until I came down to a slow one which is approximately yours. It was Albert Schweitzer who stated that most of Bach's pieces gain expression when played slowlier, and imho, this applies to this piece of Couperin, too.
Perfect tempo and thanks for explaining the title’s significance!
Thanks for the anecdote !
The ladies’ eyelashes makes perfect sense but I still prefer it on harpsichord. Just simply the sound and sharper attack.
Hi Helge, every musician find the right tempo for pieces he feels and loves. And what he feels and loves reproduces on the keyboard. This is one of my favorite pieces. Thanks!
Beautiful piece and outstanding performance.
Cette interprétation me donne des frissons.
Beautifully played and wonderful story. So many of us have wondered about the meaning of this lovely piece of music. Many thanks.
I am glad to find this video again! I was introduced to this piece in the guitar which opened up my exploration of the original harpsichord and very transcription for almost every other instrument. I prefer this slower tempo to savor the harmonies of this magnificent piece.
A few years ago I was traveling with my car listening to the radio. Voilà, Les Barricades Mystérieuses for harpsichord! I thought... beautiful piece but... I'd like to hear it played at very slow tempo on a grand piano, I think it would be much more better! I'm not a musician and I can't play piano, so I ended up searching on youtube and, among a lot of versions for the most disparate instruments (excep bongos and maracas!), here come out Helge Antoni with my same though... beautifully crafted in music!! I was so proud that a splendid piano player, as you are, has had my same feeling before me! Thank you also for the interesting explanation of the title meaning.
Beautiful, and thank you so much for the title explanation !
This piece absolutely mesmerizes me. Hope to learn it someday as it really seems as enjoyable to play as it is to listen to. Many thanks for this wonderful video and performance.
Great rendering and tempo. And a special thank you for explaining what was behind the name of this amazingly beautiful piece. With much gratitude, from San Jose, California.
Absolutely superb
Hi Helge.. . I just found your video today... and you touched my soul with your interpretation. When I close my eyes, I imagine Versailles, the king, , flirting ladies, thanks to your play. I practice this piece myself and it is a great inspiration for how to play it. Well thank you. 👍
Hi Jozef,
Thanks for your heartfelt message. It makes me very happy!
- This is truly a magical piece and whenever I share it with my audiences something special happens.
Wishing you all the best practicing " Les Barricades"!
Got into an argument years ago about what the title refers to, on RUclips and I cited this video as my proof. Of course, this video had just been removed.
But now is returned. Please don't remove again?
I think his tempo is perfect, as I play it the similar tempo on my harpsichord
I very much enjoyed your introduction and performance. Thank you
Beautiful.......
2:45
日本から応援👊😄📢いたします
This is a wonderful piece that, at first hearing, made me wonder: 'What the...?' and wish that I could stop my car and write down the title.
('It's called what?).
Fortunately, I managed to remember.
It sounds amazing on piano, though I'm equally fond of the guitar interpretations and even one on the therbo which to my 🏴ear has a near human quality.
I like the story of the eyelashes, but wonder if these weren't the superficial expression of social forms and graces (les Barricades) that Couperin might have been expressing as a kind of dance.
Just a thought.
I agree this piece is often played way too fast. I think historically this had to do with instrument it was 1st played on.
I think reason this was played fast on harpsicords was to illuminate the 'mystery' written in the music
(e.g.: all the tied dissonant notes that sustain across chord changes create an evolving harmonic movement)
As harpsicords don't sustain for long, they played it fast so one could hear the tied note before it died away.
I really enjoyed this performance and would have though it excellent but with one notable exception, the rubato.
On the main repeating theme, the use of rubato where the chord transition was on the IV chord.
(imho) is done in the wrong place .. if rubato was to be used, I believe it should have been right on the tail end off of the V chord..
On the repeating main theme I prefer the tempo to be solid and almost mechanical thru-out except when the phrase ends ..there should be a slight delay before the next section. In the other sections I generally liked Mr. Antoni's use of rubato, especial on the last section played well ahead of the beat before the last theme repeated at the end.
PS
I don't mean to be critical of this amazing performance.
We hear things subjectively and I'm expressing my opinion on a much-loved piece.
Every day it got slower and slower and slower. Correct!! Play it slow and bring out the ringing arpeggios.
Bravo pour avoir trouvé l'explication du titre. Mais, justement, tout tient à un battement de cil.
Et, à mon humble avis, ce battement de cil est le mordant du ré (D) de la mesure 4. Ce mordant écrit en doubles croches doit à la fois s'intégrer à la ligne descendante et (dans le même temps) opérer un très-léger ralenti, imperceptible, qui souligne la signification (amoureuse !) de ce battement de cil, le tempo reprenant immédiatement de façon inexorable au do (C) suivant.
En fait, peu importe le tempo général que vous choisissez : sauf s'il est trop rapide il doit pouvoir permettre d'opérer clairement ce très faible ralentissement, à peine sensible, sur le mordant (et seulement le mordant) qui souligne le regard de la dame comme d'un léger battement de cil, à peine visible.
Toute la réussite du morceau tient à cette nuance sur une seule note du couplet et je ne connais pas de pianiste qui la rende vraiment correctement.
Il n'est bien donné que sur un instrument à corde pincée, et souvent très bien à la guitare. Sans doute tout simplement à cause du très incommode changement de position de la main gauche qu'impose la guitare au moment du mordant. ruclips.net/video/JfNm76TKgWQ/видео.html&ab_channel=WilmingtonClassicalGuitar
Would you share the sheet music you used?
I had heard one theory that it was from the flames coming from barrels used as barricades during the french revolution. Do we know for sure about any of these? This particular piece is so wonderful no matter what instrument is playing it but I prefer the harpsichord. I also love the way you have slowed it down. Just like Fur Elies it usually is played fairly fast but when I heard it played much slower, oh wow it was so good. Another piece that is mysterious who exactly was Elise? When you play it do you slow it down? it seems much more dramatic that way, more intense.
by no meas... French revolution - 1789. Couperin was dead for more than half of a century by that time.
It is great, the tempo is good
Lovely Enthralling. Idf thats the real meaning f thetitle. its perfect! :-) I always senses some sort of love i this piece.
Am I the only one distracted because the OP looks like Michael Palin? I get a strange Monty Phyton vibe from this vid. Great playing thou I just discovered F. Couperin, his music is so beautifull and subtle
bravo
The slower tempo is very nice, if only to catch the many novel, intriguing harmonic progressions, often lost in the rushed tempi.
Thanks you pour votre amour de ce répertoire français.Vous connaissez sans doute Marcelle Meyer dans Rameau , c'est merveilleux , in the fifties , également au piano.
Merci d'aimer cette musique , essayez si vous pouvez sur un forte piano , ce peut être avantageusement plus intime comme ressenti.
PS . Pour moi Couperin c'est une autre façon de parler français tout comme Dowland , Purcell et un interprète comme Alfred Deller avec les folksongs sont la plus belle façon de parler anglais.
I always wondered about the meaning - and would never has guessed it! (how poetic). The tempo is to my liking too. Does the music (I have the sheet music) require those cadences though? They really seem to artificially stop the flow and flow is what this piece is all about.
Dear sir,
your interpretation is lovely, and it fits the piano as an instrument brilliantly.
It also fits your sensibility, definitely!
But, you probably are aware that:
- players in the style of historically informed performance might say that there's too much rubato for that era, in your interpretation?
- definitely the harpsichord does not have the same sustain and the same expressiveness as the piano, so a faster tempo might make more sense on harpsichord, but not necessarily on piano.
- there are in fact countless interpretations of the meaning of "les barricades mysterieuses". While your mysterious expert might be right in pointing out a somehow conventional (among ''les precieuses'', at least) (de)codification, ''les vrais precieuses'' would not stick to the (very exclusive, otherwise) conventions of the Versailles' language trends&fads. I'll leave the decision for the referent of this metaphor open, while noting that a mysterious barricade is something that invites conquering while being meant to resist this act.
By no means these comments are a criticism of your performance. In fact I love it, and when playing this piece on classical guitar, I kind of borrow not only your tempo, but your dynamics, more generally (rubato included). I don't think that we should stick to the style of the era when a piece was composed. As we shouldn't stick to the instrument for which a piece was written. If I may add to the myriads of interpretations about the meaning of the mysterious barricades, that's the best description for any artistic object: something that at the same time invites conquering and resists it. And I think that you definitely manage, through your interpretation, to conquer something of the elusiveness of this piece.
Congratulations!
Wonderful interpretation and introduction to the piece. It’s too bad the piece isn’t longer. :)
I prefer this piece at a slower tempo, fairly close to this rendition.
Çziffra
A very considered and coherent performance, fine work. Just too much rubato for my taste in music from this era.
Lovely performance. I prefer pieces to be played slower. IMO, pianists play Chopin and Mendelssohn too fast, and when they do that, their music loses its bite. Couperin was very prophetic and knew how music would eventually sound like, when he would no longer be around.
Trop de rubato extrêmes , mais interpretation acceptable. Tempo trop rapide, eh oui !
Thank you, mâitre, for solving the riddle of the title, both intuitively and by investigation.
Beautiful and moving and, um, sexy performance.
This piece was my own introduction to any kind of baroque or classical music, when I was 11.
2:44 with much rubato and fading in and out. Totally gay.
Too much rubato makes it difficult to maintain the elegance that I expect from music of that time. I agree that it shouldn't be played too fast; playing it fast makes articulation difficult, and difficult for the audience to savour it's structure.
Nope. You seem to vary the tempo according to ... ... ... whatever.
The performances which I like maintain a consistent tempo.
As if the players are just determined to roll it out using a steam-roller.
And I don't very much like the harpsichord - clattery old contraptions, that they are.
By comparison, the modern piano is just a wonderful device.
It should be forbidden to play baroque music on the piano.
Too fast, much too fast
2:43