When I have a two voice duet texture in the right hand of a Bach piece, I always imagine how ABBA would sing it: the top voice is Agneta-bright and steely; the bottom voice is Frida-soft and round. The difference is achieved through different finger weight and attack. Works wonders imo!
I remember reading something where Glenn Gould said he could teach everything you needed to know about playing the piano in an hour. Or something like that. Would you ever do a video on the lesson you'd give someone if they were only going to get one piano lesson for life?
Am I crazy or does his 'neutral' playing at 3:10 sound better than when he was trying to make it sound "beautiful' at 6:24? That's the crazy thing about music performance - the audience isn't experiencing the sound of music, but your state of being - your energy - while playing. He was totally relaxed at 3:10 and you could feel it, and what he played just sounded nice.
Wholeheartedly agree (and no, you're not crazy). The "straight" rendition is far more enjoyable; the rubato, over-pedaling and romanticism of the later renditions are, well, not my cup of Bach tea by a long shot.
Why the top descending line's dotted crotchets , in colouring the LINES video ,is played as if there are no dotes there but the little rests? Would oboe breath before each one of them? It w'd be interesting to read some comments ,maybe explanations on this...
PLEASE BEN, DO A VIDEO ABOUT BACK/NECK PROBLEMS...I see lots of young performers and rising stars like Daniil Trifonov which have horrible body position. That affects of course elbow, arm, fingers. His case is a clear example of technique focused mostly in "finger playing"...while his whole back position will keep giving him problems.
I really don't think he is playing with fingers only. His arms are obviously involved too. He also has a beautiful sound which with finger only technique would be impossible.Notice when he stands and walks his upper back is curved - maybe he was born that way .
If you play with fingers only you can fully relax the rest of the body, so playing with fingers is actually the goal, well for basically all music before beethoven. After that it is sometimes required to have whole body to reach enough force. Though i have to say Trifonov seems to have improved his relaxation he seems less tense in recent time.
@@mackiceicukice I was talking about Daniil Trifonov when I mentioned mostly "finger" focused. Yes, I think Giltburg has scoliosis or some other back issue...but comparing his back position in this video and his RUclips video playing La Valse, you can see that in La Valse he forces his position a lot more...so he can improve his position. If not...his back issue will get worse. I have scoliosis and looked for an Alexander technique teacher who was also a pianist to work on that...from that point I understood many other technique issues which my "main" piano teacher didn't address because most piano teachers don't have a whole body approach to playing.
@@lucvandoornick2323 It's not a question of relaxing. It's a question of knowing how your position affects playing, helps it or takes you to the road of future lessions. A bad back/neck/body position it's the result of not realizing the mechanichs of the whole body in sound production. Of course in Mozart the use of arm/shoulder weight is not as necessary as in Liszt, but if your shoulder joints are not free, or if you place your head forward, you'll have problems in Mozart too. I have seen recent Trifonov performances and yes, it has improved but there are still a lot of issues like the head forward, the bad elbow position in many occasions, and not enough arm/shoulder weight when playing forte. There are music schools which incorporate Alexander technique classes (or other body movement teaching), but it should be present in all music performance schools. In instrument playing the mechanics of the movement of the entire body movement should be studied and implemented as in dance. We play seated, but the whole body takes part.
@@LC-bb6kn I am sure he knows ALL this and he has close friends to advise him. BTW Trifonov also has a gorgeous sound and cantabile , so he doesn’t play with fingers only - don’t WATCH him close up when he plays.
That video was really interesting thank you for this I have one question, how did they make the voices stand out back in the time on an harpsichord? I thought they were no possible nuances in sound on that instrument
You have a very slight amount of control on the harpsichord, probably not enough that a listener would perceive it. On the clavichord, however, you have much more variability, although that instrument is too quiet to be used in ensembles with other instruments.
When you play Bach on the organ, it's absolutely dead due to no dynamics. With piano, it all comes alive. If Bach lived today, he couldn't let go of piano!
@williamevans3902 It's Рахманинов, and х is an uvular "h" sound. It's transcribed in modern English as "kh" but at the time the French transcription was popular, which was "ch."
When I have a two voice duet texture in the right hand of a Bach piece, I always imagine how ABBA would sing it: the top voice is Agneta-bright and steely; the bottom voice is Frida-soft and round. The difference is achieved through different finger weight and attack. Works wonders imo!
As the greatest ABBA fan, I love your way of thinking!!! 😘🤓❤️🥰😍
Thank you so much for these great insights Boris Giltburg! Amazing detail to great musicianship
I always learn so much from your videos. Thank you, for your genuinely high quality content!
Another amazing video. This confirmed to me that recording myself is so beneficial. Thank you so much!!!
Saw this guy playing the 3rd Bartok concerto, what a great artist.
Nice analysis! Thanks!
Merci for this.
My whole ambition is to play like Boris’s first playing!
I thought he was going to pull out a funky disco beat metronome app. 😋 Love your playing Boris!
When will the part two of the Liszt etudes video come out? Great video!
Tone base is amazing!
I remember reading something where Glenn Gould said he could teach everything you needed to know about playing the piano in an hour. Or something like that. Would you ever do a video on the lesson you'd give someone if they were only going to get one piano lesson for life?
Am I crazy or does his 'neutral' playing at 3:10 sound better than when he was trying to make it sound "beautiful' at 6:24? That's the crazy thing about music performance - the audience isn't experiencing the sound of music, but your state of being - your energy - while playing. He was totally relaxed at 3:10 and you could feel it, and what he played just sounded nice.
Wholeheartedly agree (and no, you're not crazy). The "straight" rendition is far more enjoyable; the rubato, over-pedaling and romanticism of the later renditions are, well, not my cup of Bach tea by a long shot.
To be fair, he didn't like that version much either when he listened to it.
Why the top descending line's dotted crotchets , in colouring the LINES video ,is played as if there are no dotes there but the little rests? Would oboe breath before each one of them? It w'd be interesting to read some comments ,maybe explanations on this...
What's with the breathing?
He’s probably wearing a lapel mic
You need to do it if you want to improve
Me gustaría que fuera en español
what is the piece at the end?!
I think the short clip at the end is from the 4th Movement of Samuel Barber's Sonata Op. 26.
@@arabesque52 i found it, its the 7th prokofiev sonata
@@elizaneja That's good. Sorry about the mistake.
@@arabesque52 No, no worries at all. Thanks for answering
PLEASE BEN, DO A VIDEO ABOUT BACK/NECK PROBLEMS...I see lots of young performers and rising stars like Daniil Trifonov which have horrible body position. That affects of course elbow, arm, fingers. His case is a clear example of technique focused mostly in "finger playing"...while his whole back position will keep giving him problems.
I really don't think he is playing with fingers only. His arms are obviously involved too. He also has a beautiful sound which with finger only technique would be impossible.Notice when he stands and walks his upper back is curved - maybe he was born that way .
If you play with fingers only you can fully relax the rest of the body, so playing with fingers is actually the goal, well for basically all music before beethoven. After that it is sometimes required to have whole body to reach enough force. Though i have to say Trifonov seems to have improved his relaxation he seems less tense in recent time.
@@mackiceicukice I was talking about Daniil Trifonov when I mentioned mostly "finger" focused.
Yes, I think Giltburg has scoliosis or some other back issue...but comparing his back position in this video and his RUclips video playing La Valse, you can see that in La Valse he forces his position a lot more...so he can improve his position. If not...his back issue will get worse.
I have scoliosis and looked for an Alexander technique teacher who was also a pianist to work on that...from that point I understood many other technique issues which my "main" piano teacher didn't address because most piano teachers don't have a whole body approach to playing.
@@lucvandoornick2323 It's not a question of relaxing. It's a question of knowing how your position affects playing, helps it or takes you to the road of future lessions.
A bad back/neck/body position it's the result of not realizing the mechanichs of the whole body in sound production. Of course in Mozart the use of arm/shoulder weight is not as necessary as in Liszt, but if your shoulder joints are not free, or if you place your head forward, you'll have problems in Mozart too. I have seen recent Trifonov performances and yes, it has improved but there are still a lot of issues like the head forward, the bad elbow position in many occasions, and not enough arm/shoulder weight when playing forte.
There are music schools which incorporate Alexander technique classes (or other body movement teaching), but it should be present in all music performance schools.
In instrument playing the mechanics of the movement of the entire body movement should be studied and implemented as in dance. We play seated, but the whole body takes part.
@@LC-bb6kn I am sure he knows ALL this and he has close friends to advise him. BTW Trifonov also has a gorgeous sound and cantabile , so he doesn’t play with fingers only - don’t WATCH him close up when he plays.
That video was really interesting thank you for this
I have one question, how did they make the voices stand out back in the time on an harpsichord? I thought they were no possible nuances in sound on that instrument
You have a very slight amount of control on the harpsichord, probably not enough that a listener would perceive it. On the clavichord, however, you have much more variability, although that instrument is too quiet to be used in ensembles with other instruments.
Different manuals, registers and articulations.
ruclips.net/video/nz7JakMMG-c/видео.html
This is a good showcase ^
When you play Bach on the organ, it's absolutely dead due to no dynamics. With piano, it all comes alive. If Bach lived today, he couldn't let go of piano!
Well, interesting video, but I don’t think we should play Bach like chopin.
To my taste this is somewhat oxygen less. I would articulate every eight note.
Too legato, too romantic, not enough voice independence...the neutral version is closest to being musical.
What's with pronounciation of Bach? There's no K in Bach, it's Bah
It depends from where you are from
Humbug. Merry Christmas!
@williamevans3902 Who said it was Rah and not Rach?
@williamevans3902 It's Рахманинов, and х is an uvular "h" sound. It's transcribed in modern English as "kh" but at the time the French transcription was popular, which was "ch."
No. It's not "Bah". It's exactly how Boris pronounces it at 2:00.
Really hoping my family gets me a tone base subscription for Xmas 🥲🥲🥲
Just no!!!!!!!!