you can't play eight lines at the same time (emotional 😢)
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- čas přidán 27. 10. 2022
- I wish I colored the voices differently, but alas, what you see is what you get.
I would describe the first color as bronze. If you follow that bronze voice, you will see that it changes motifs every 4 measures. The other colors consistently follow this pattern, if you follow them individually, with the only exception being the marigold color used at the end.
Video used:
Marc-Andre Hamelin plays Charles-Valentin Alkan: Grande Sonate, 'Les quatre âges', Op.33, 30 ans
• Hamelin Plays Alkan: G...
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Yes
@@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji ur mom
0:24 necessary gesture
I love the flare lol
Saw Hamelin live a few years ago. It was a small theatre with a small group of audiences. The whole concert was a transcendent experience. One of the greatest pianist of recent times.
Agree
ALKAN? Can we all agree that even in different video format, TheExarion introduces us some of the coolest pieces and performances ever?
Not to take away from Exarion, but equal thanks to Hamelin. Without him, I would probably never know about composers like Alkan, Godowsky, Medtner, Feinberg, Sorabji, etc.
@@imdarealani Yeah, right
@@LisztAddict Cool music.
Lol hanelin played alkan a alot
Really sad he never recorded le preux
Alkan is my most favourite composer and Hamelin is my most favourite pianist! Just perfect duo for me.
Инесса, разлогинься
His technique and more importantly his musicality is just stunning. I heard him play the Concord Sonata and Ravels Gaspard de la nuit last week. Best experience ever!
This piece has to be one of the greatest compositions ever made, this sonata is God level.
Christ, Hamelin always taking virtuosic piano playing to another level
Alkan really did make some beautiful music. It would be a joy to hear it on a more mellow instrument like a period style piano.
OMG 8 VOICE FUGUE VREY EMOTIONAL 😭😭😭
*the brow wiping is a must
Loving all the hamelin content!
Marc-Andre Hamelin is probably my favorite pianist because he plays amazingly and he has a great 20'th century and modern repertoire.
Wow! That's extremely impressive, yet I have to be honest, I can't hear them all. Maybe I need to listen over and over but still, Hamelin is insane
Each of the voices are colored in the score on the video. It's practically impossible to pay attention to all of the voices at once, but by looking at the score colors, you can try following a few.
@@imdarealani I've tried, I just can't seem to hear most of the inner voices. I can hear both the bass and melody just fine, and one under the melody. Yet between those I can't hear
@@YuvalS.8026 MAH plays the fugue extremely quietly here, and the audio quality isn’t doing it any favors either - not to mention, Hamelin’s recording here isn’t perfect (although tbh, it’s still the best of the video recordings I was able to find, based solely on his technique). His Hyperion recording is available somewhere on CZcams, with sheet music. Outside of that, I’d say Mark Viner has a great performance of the fugue where you can hear everything with relative ease.
Finally! The one I was hoping to see the most. (Besides Katsaris 64 2)
We have copious audiovisual evidence to affirm that MA Hamelin is the greatest piano virtuoso in the history of mankind. I remember chatting with him behind stage, that day he played Brahms' 2nd piano concerto with consummate ease. He is such a down-to-earth gentleman.
You're all boring saying he or she is the best pianist in the world on absolutly all the video possible featuring any pianist. Start growing a bit honestly.
Alkan literally modulated to 10 sharps, A# major/Fx minor
11 sharps: E# major.
@@rosiefay7283 I saw Fx Cx Gx, and occasionally Dx. Chopin modulated to D# major in some pieces. I think no one beats Alkan's 11 sharps
@@JP-fp8uc Reicha wrote a piece in B# major
@@wilh3lmmusic interesting. Where can I find it?
@@JP-fp8ucThere's a set of fugues by Reicha on CZcams, with the score showing. He does some pretty weird things in those fugues, like a fugue subject consisting of one note being repeated a dozen or so times, a fugue in 5/8, answers to the subject at all sorts of weird intervals, including the tritone. I don't think there's a whole fugue in B# major, but one of the fugues does modulate to keys like that throughout its length, and it uses triple-sharps in one or two places.
When Hamelin wipes his brow, you know shit is about to get REAL! ❤😂
His flawless technique never ceases to amaze and astound. It's because of his incredibly relaxed and perfected technique that allow him to play anything (and improvise!) and make it look effortless.
Had this on my iPod NANO back when I was TEN years old haha. CZcams mp3 converter never forget
The wonders of Hamelin could go on and on...I'm just thankful I got to hear him live one time.
Я плакал, когда слушал его впервые, когда моя мечта исполнилась, он приехал Москву 😢
I will never ever challenge this one😂
If anyone can do it, its MAH. Just an absolute genius
Hamelin 🤤
Alkan
QUASI-ALKAN
Sorabji
Hamelin is a beast!!!
My goodness the technique! 0:24 lol😅
Name of the piece?
Alkan - Grand Sonata "Les Quatre Ages", Mov 2 "30 Ans" aka Quasi Faust
i studied the piece up to this point. yikes
Unrelated, but I wish Katsaris recorded this work (and Alkan, in general).
I particularly wish he did the op 39 symphony
@@EntelSidious_gamzeylmzyeah
In a perfect world cziffra and katsaris would record all of Alkan’s music
@@LisztAddict Cziffra improvising Alkan is wild
@@therealransu yes 😍😍😍😍
MAH…..SuperDuper Artistry
Imagine playing organ, having two feets to play two lines. 8 voices are way easier (if you have the coordination). Imagine your name being Bach and being able to improvise these 8 lines independentely.
Hammy
Hammy the Lin
Hamelin is one of the greatest pianists of the modern era - I love many of his recordings and interpretations, but to me his Alkan is often too fast. From the recordings I've heard, my personal favourites are those by Mark Viner and Ronald Smith.
Raymond Lewenthal, in his pioneering Alkan album, claimed that to play this fugue you have to be two octopi and a squid. He counted NINE parts in total, which I have never checked as this section is an absolute nightmare and you are lucky to get out alive. Of course Hamelin is the man for the job - if he had more fingers he could probably play even more simultaneous voices and still let all of them sing. I don't care for the way he bashes through the surrounding sections here though.
알캉 30대 푸가는 전설이다...
Emotional LMAO
My favorite part is when I read, written on the sheet, "It's Alkanin' time". As soon as I read the gracious warning, or dare I say the surprising spoiler, I was filled to the brim with overwhelming joy and ecstasy. What followed was one of the most memorable moments in my entire life.
and he Alkaned all over the place
It’s super cool intellectually but in reality it’s too much to listen to at once 😅
I think that’s kinda the point of it. So this piece is the 2nd movement in Alkan’s Sonata, entitled “Les Quatre Ages” (or “The Four Ages”). There are four movements, corresponding to a man’s experience during his 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. (Fun fact: This sonata was dedicated to Alkan’s father who passed away 8 years after the score’s creation.)
This movement corresponds to a man’s 30’s, and is easily (imo) the movement with the most to say, which makes me believe that Alkan thought that one’s 30’s is where they encounter the most existential crises and has to break away from the temptations of the devil (hence why the nickname he gave this movement is “Quasi Faust”; according to Wikipedia, “Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust… [who was] highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.”)
I find this fugue to be something of a meditation on sins/past experiences - which can be an overwhelming experience for anyone who’s earnest about it - before true enlightenment is achieved. Notice at 1:35, Alkan ascribes “Le Seigneur” (“The Lord”) to the low bass notes after this meditation is over. Very intentional. Not just that, but the topmost line of chords in the treble clef at 1:35 imitate the subject of the fugue. The other chords in the treble imitate the bass voice introduced at 0:58. And the topmost chords in the bass clef at 1:35 imitate the voice introduced at 0:40. So, imo, there’s a suggestion that the experiences that received reflection during the fugue are being shown in a powerful and much clearer light once this man aligns himself with God (I’m not a religious person btw, I’m just talking in context of the musical writing).
So is this fugue overwhelming? Absolutely, but not without artistic purpose! :)
@@TheExarion oh that’s super cool! 😯 thanks for taking the time to explain 🙏
I love how the composer's name isn't mentioned in the description at all
Oh shoot, thank you for bringing that to my attention! Fixed now.
@@TheExarion Sorry, I didn't mean to be a dick haha
Se decía de Alkan que tenía manos de una extensión asombrosa. Mostraba sus manos orgullosamente y decía "cuero, mira como se estira" y que tenía tanta fuerza en los dedos que no necesitaba levantar los brazos mientras que Lizst debía trabajar desde los suyos para lograr efectos orquestales. También que Rubinstein (Anton) empezó a estudiar la obra de Alkan y la dejó porque según dijo "se basaba en una extensión anormal de la mano"
Source?
Investiga
@@carlosguaymas6507 what?
I think Rubinstein was talking about Henselt's Piano Concerto.
If you count the repeated it's 11 voices
I didn’t count 8 lines bro. Only if the definition of line means simultaneous notes sounding 😅
At 1:25 there are clearly 8 voices
“Line” in this case loosely means “new musical motif being introduced in the piece”. If you follow the color-coded sheet music I made, then you’ll hopefully see what I mean when I talk about lines (and you can even count the colors). Outside of that, I really don’t know how to make it simpler to understand.
@@TheExarion You could rewrite it on 8 staves ...
nah. at that point I would just want to hear a string octet play it.
@@TheExarion Do you count the thirds as one or two lines, now I counted 7 😅🤯
I have to say, there’s no purpose nor joy in trying to perfect such piece 🎃
ok
No, you really don't have to say that. There's no purpose nor joy in your saying such thing.
I'm still not sure if the reason Alkan is so rarely played is because there's so much waste in his compositions or because they're too hard.
Alkan has many pieces rich in music out there (e.g. Op.15, Op.76, many works in Op.35 and 39, and his most musical set imo, Op.63). Much of it is forebodingly difficult (probably unintentionally so; I doubt Alkan wrote anything solely for the sake of difficulty - except for his more academic stuff, like the etudes for feet alone), but many of his works are quite accessible too. Not just that, but many of his works are also incredibly artistic - including the one I posted in this video. He has two pieces about wind (Op.15 No.2 and Op.39 No.1), one about the railroad (Op.27, Le chemin de fer), this sonata about a man in his 20's, 30's, 40's, and 50's (Op.33, Les Quatre de Ages), a nocturne about a cricket (Op.60bis), etc. etc. Say what you will about his musicality, but the man was abundant with ideas - especially ideas on how to translate poetic concepts into piano music.
As far as "waste" goes, I can assure you that the segment I highlighted in this video is nothing of that sort. From another comment I left:
This piece is the 2nd movement in Alkan’s Sonata, entitled “Les Quatre Ages” (or “The Four Ages”). There are four movements, corresponding to a man’s experience during his 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. (Fun fact: This sonata was dedicated to Alkan’s father who passed away 8 years after the score’s creation.)
This movement corresponds to a man’s 30’s, and is easily (imo) the movement with the most to say, which makes me believe that Alkan thought that one’s 30’s is where they encounter the most existential crises and has to break away from the temptations of the devil (hence why the nickname he gave this movement is “Quasi Faust”; according to Wikipedia, “Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust… [who was] highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.”
I find this fugue to be something of a meditation on sins/past experiences - which can be an overwhelming experience for anyone who’s earnest about it - before true enlightenment is achieved. Notice at 1:35, Alkan ascribes “Le Seigneur” (“The Lord”) to the low bass notes after this meditation is over. Very intentional. Not just that, but the topmost line of chords in the treble clef at 1:35 imitate the subject of the fugue. The other chords in the treble imitate the bass voice introduced at 0:58. And the topmost chords in the bass clef at 1:35 imitate the voice introduced at 0:40. So, imo, there’s a suggestion that the experiences that received reflection during the fugue are being shown in a powerful and much clearer light once this man aligns himself with God (I’m not a religious person btw, I’m just talking in context of the musical writing).
So is this fugue overwhelming? Absolutely, but I would be hard-pressed to call it a waste of any sort.
@@TheExarion I know Alkan's works very well, he's a wonderful composer whom I like a lot. I didn't say the passage in the video was a waste, the sonata Les Quatres Ages is amazing, however it's hard to deny a lot of Alkan's compositions aren't at that level (the prime exemple being his Allegro Barbaro). It's not big of a problem though, a lot of composers have a big or small part of waste in their catalogue (Mozart or Tchaikovsky for example) yet they are still top rank composers
@@arielorthmann4061 Ahhh, I see I see. Yeah, then I would say that, generally speaking, the difficulty (or perceived difficulty) of many of his works is what prevents him from being more popular in modern times.
EDIT: I am also reminded of a remark I've heard several times over the years: "The musicality of Alkan's music is not worth the difficulty." An overall subjective statement of course.
oh this hurts my ears. Sounds too erratic. There are pianists who dont show off and make truly beautiful music unlike this one. At least this person could have checked out what the results would be before commiting such blatant atrocity on stage!! .. .. .. sorry,just had to speak for all the sad,lonely oppressed trolls who have too much time on their hands. This work, interpretation and expression is pure bliss. I have to press play every time it finishes..thanks!
There are not 8 lines there are 8 voices on two lines.
oops my definition of lines for the purpose of this video is different than yours
edit: also what you call “lines”, I call “staves”
actually no, you're incorrect, there are ten lines, five on each stave.
@@AsrielKujo Lmao.