- 39
- 38 096
Daniel Marcus
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 12 เม.ย. 2006
"The Yeoman Of The Guard" (1888) by Arthur Sullivan
Both Billy and Artie considered “Yeoman of the Guard” their best work and it did very well. It ran for over a year which before them would have been unthinkable. This was the kind of libretto/lyrics that Sullivan had been waiting for in all the years with Gilbert. Utterly human. Completely logical. No Topsy-Turvy (which Sullivan hated) and no coincidences or resolutions based on baby-switching.
The music is quite complex and sophisticated in that simple way that disguises itself. It’s among Sullivan’s very best but it’s perhaps the least friendly of the hits. It’s quite austere. Very dry. I would say perhaps, unforgiving. There are comic numbers and beautiful songs but there is a sadness that permeates. The presence of death is always there. The music that accompanies the entrance for the execution (‘The prisoner comes’) is just stunning. The repeated dirge bell in it is foreshadowed constantly in the repeated base octaves of the overture.
The two great acting roles (there are others but these are simply on another level) in all their musicals are in this show: Jack Point and Phoebe-I would venture to say that Phoebe is the greatest acting role in all of G&S. George Grossmith (Jack Point) was the celebrity name of the company (and the pride of place as the company star has always gone with whoever the patter comedian is in any production of the shows) but not quite given to going deep. When Gilbert was told that the guy touring the rest of Britain with it was going in a much darker direction he surprised the stage manager by telling him he was all for it. For those following along in my notes I have not a whit of a doubt that the reason Phoebe is the finest of all the acting roles in all the shows is that it was originated by Jessie Bond. She was capable of acting at a level nobody else in the company could get near. All you have to do is see what roles she originated. She’d been in the company since almost the beginning and although she played the title role in “Iolanthe” it’s not a role the audience takes much notice of. It was when she played Pitti-Sing in “The Mikado” that she broke out as the company’s finest (and prettiest) actress. From then on she was the favorite woman for the audiences and her next (and last) three roles were written specifically for her.
She is the only actor from the company that Gilbert wrote a fan letter to. There was no ulterior motive in it. He knew what he had.
The overture is very spare in its themes and it’s the most complex in that Sullivan does something far more opera/classical in it then for the others by taking a little counterpoint figure under “Were I Thy Bride” and then developing it for its own sake in astonishing ways-particularly when it returns near the end which is beyond exquisite.
In fact “Were I Thy Bride” is the throughline of the entire overture. Other than the martial music that begins and ends it all the entire overture is connected to Phoebe. Take that as you will. There are two measures that are my favorite in all of the overtures. They aren’t splashy and no, not gonna tell you which.
Gilbert’s death in 1911 is a stunner. He built a pond/lake behind his country manse, Grims Dyke (I’ve stayed there) and it was open in season for kids in the neighborhood to play and swim in when they liked. One summer day a 17 year old girl (Ruby Preece, for those in the know) got into trouble in the lake and started to panic. Gilbert, at 74 years old, jumped in to save her. And did. But suffered a heart attack right there at the lake and died. His last words were to Ruby when he reached her: “Put your arms on my shoulders and don’t struggle.”
The music is quite complex and sophisticated in that simple way that disguises itself. It’s among Sullivan’s very best but it’s perhaps the least friendly of the hits. It’s quite austere. Very dry. I would say perhaps, unforgiving. There are comic numbers and beautiful songs but there is a sadness that permeates. The presence of death is always there. The music that accompanies the entrance for the execution (‘The prisoner comes’) is just stunning. The repeated dirge bell in it is foreshadowed constantly in the repeated base octaves of the overture.
The two great acting roles (there are others but these are simply on another level) in all their musicals are in this show: Jack Point and Phoebe-I would venture to say that Phoebe is the greatest acting role in all of G&S. George Grossmith (Jack Point) was the celebrity name of the company (and the pride of place as the company star has always gone with whoever the patter comedian is in any production of the shows) but not quite given to going deep. When Gilbert was told that the guy touring the rest of Britain with it was going in a much darker direction he surprised the stage manager by telling him he was all for it. For those following along in my notes I have not a whit of a doubt that the reason Phoebe is the finest of all the acting roles in all the shows is that it was originated by Jessie Bond. She was capable of acting at a level nobody else in the company could get near. All you have to do is see what roles she originated. She’d been in the company since almost the beginning and although she played the title role in “Iolanthe” it’s not a role the audience takes much notice of. It was when she played Pitti-Sing in “The Mikado” that she broke out as the company’s finest (and prettiest) actress. From then on she was the favorite woman for the audiences and her next (and last) three roles were written specifically for her.
She is the only actor from the company that Gilbert wrote a fan letter to. There was no ulterior motive in it. He knew what he had.
The overture is very spare in its themes and it’s the most complex in that Sullivan does something far more opera/classical in it then for the others by taking a little counterpoint figure under “Were I Thy Bride” and then developing it for its own sake in astonishing ways-particularly when it returns near the end which is beyond exquisite.
In fact “Were I Thy Bride” is the throughline of the entire overture. Other than the martial music that begins and ends it all the entire overture is connected to Phoebe. Take that as you will. There are two measures that are my favorite in all of the overtures. They aren’t splashy and no, not gonna tell you which.
Gilbert’s death in 1911 is a stunner. He built a pond/lake behind his country manse, Grims Dyke (I’ve stayed there) and it was open in season for kids in the neighborhood to play and swim in when they liked. One summer day a 17 year old girl (Ruby Preece, for those in the know) got into trouble in the lake and started to panic. Gilbert, at 74 years old, jumped in to save her. And did. But suffered a heart attack right there at the lake and died. His last words were to Ruby when he reached her: “Put your arms on my shoulders and don’t struggle.”
มุมมอง: 20
วีดีโอ
"The Emerald Isle" & "Cox and Box" THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT
มุมมอง 96หลายเดือนก่อน
The Shows “The Emerald Isle” Sullivan was very much dying as he began work on “The Emerald Isle” in 1900 from book and lyrics by Basil Hood and almost all the music finished by Edward German. I think it’s not impossible that this is the one post in the series that nobody here has heard the music from. He didn’t write the overture so that’s not what you’re hearing here. In his notes he mentions ...
“The Mikado” (1885) by Arthur Sullivan and Hamilton Clarke
มุมมอง 544 หลายเดือนก่อน
THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT This started as my Plague Project and as I suspected has taken longer. Get it right, says I. Or close to right. There are two posts left in the project. One is an ‘bonus track(s)’ and the other is the final overture which if you’ve been keeping score you can figure out. I knew “Iolanthe” would go first because it’s my favorite one (and show of th...
The Sorcerer” (1877) THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT
มุมมอง 53ปีที่แล้ว
The Sorcerer” (1877) THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT
“The Grand Duke” (1896) by Arthur SullivanTHE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT
มุมมอง 1472 ปีที่แล้ว
(As always this is best heard on an iPad or a computer or through ear buds/headphones as although the dynamics are here, a phone speaker flattens them out to one flavor: loud.) This is the 9th in the series, there will be 4 more.The full set can found here. BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTE “The Grand Duke” was the final act of their collaboration. It followed “Utopia, Ltd.” after a break of three years an...
“The Gondoliers” (1889) by Arthur Sullivan THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT
มุมมอง 4383 ปีที่แล้ว
“The Gondoliers” (1889) by Arthur Sullivan THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT
Stephen Sondheim the first three 'published' songs (1949)
มุมมอง 2223 ปีที่แล้ว
* 'published' is in quotes because although they were printed they were only copyrighted and not released for sale. As many of you know, and Sondheim retold the story hundreds of times (it’s been retold much this week) - Oscar Hammerstein was a very close friend and in his mid-teens Sondheim asked him to hear some songs he’d written. Hammerstein told him they were terrible songs and continued s...
"Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin (1924)
มุมมอง 3943 ปีที่แล้ว
As always, it’s best to listen on earbuds/pods or tablet/computer. A phone speaker as always even’s out everything too loud. The recording quality is aces and the piano was recently tuned for it and the low notes are really pretty now. I want the music to speak for itself. Regarding interpretation-lots to say-every note thought out. I know exactly the story I’m telling. There are a couple of pl...
"Ruddygore” (1887) THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT
มุมมอง 1453 ปีที่แล้ว
"Ruddygore” (1887) by Arthur Sullivan and Hamilton Clarke by Arthur Sullivan and Hamilton Clarke (eight minutes-best listened to on something other than a phone) This is the first of three rarities that will be part of this project. The original "Ruddygore" was not the success that G&S had been used to. At 288 performances it paled next to the runs of all their shows after "Pinafore" and partic...
"Pirates of Penzance" (1879) THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT
มุมมอง 5503 ปีที่แล้ว
by Arthur Sullivan and Alfred Cellier *best heard on a computer or in the ears As most of you know from previous posts, the overtures-much like most Broadway overtures-were often written by Sullivan's current musical director or some such using notes from Sullivan as to how he wanted it and then edited and changed by Sullivan to the finished product. Only four of them were written entirely by h...
"Ruddigore" (1921) by Arthur Sullivan and Geoffrey Toye
มุมมอง 2314 ปีที่แล้ว
"Ruddigore" (1921) Arthur Sullivan and Geoffrey Toye THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT This is the most difficult overture to play on the piano due to the most diabolical two minutes in the entire pack of overtures. (*see below) Now very very few notes and there is no interior info onscreen once the music starts. Focus here is on the showing off-because it's a show-off piece. The...
"H.M.S. Pinafore" THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT
มุมมอง 3124 ปีที่แล้ว
"H.M.S. Pinafore " Overture (1878) by Arthur Sullivan and Alfred Cellier (including bonus track: the instrumental opening of Act One)
"Patience" THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OVERTURES PIANO PROJECT
มุมมอง 6084 ปีที่แล้ว
"Patience" THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OVERTURES PIANO PROJECT
"Iolanthe" THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT
มุมมอง 5644 ปีที่แล้ว
"Iolanthe" THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT
"The Shape of Water - short and suite" by Alexandre Desplat (2017)
มุมมอง 1.4K6 ปีที่แล้ว
"The Shape of Water - short and suite" by Alexandre Desplat (2017)
"The Man I Love" by George Gershwin (1924)
มุมมอง 1527 ปีที่แล้ว
"The Man I Love" by George Gershwin (1924)
"My One And Only" by George Gershwin" (1928)
มุมมอง 6758 ปีที่แล้ว
"My One And Only" by George Gershwin" (1928)
" 'S Wonderful/Funny Face" by George Gershwin (1928)
มุมมอง 6458 ปีที่แล้ว
" 'S Wonderful/Funny Face" by George Gershwin (1928)
"Follow The Flag" by Randy Newman (1988)
มุมมอง 3618 ปีที่แล้ว
"Follow The Flag" by Randy Newman (1988)
"HAMILTON" by Lin-Manuel Miranda (2015)
มุมมอง 23K8 ปีที่แล้ว
"HAMILTON" by Lin-Manuel Miranda (2015)
"HAMILTON" by Lin-Manuel Miranda (2015)
มุมมอง 2008 ปีที่แล้ว
"HAMILTON" by Lin-Manuel Miranda (2015)
"AND THE SAME TO YOU" (1960) by Dudley Moore
มุมมอง 8799 ปีที่แล้ว
"AND THE SAME TO YOU" (1960) by Dudley Moore
Cheers to you and your good friend Sullivan!👏👏👍
Sure and it's The Quiet Man all over again!
@@beniciobaltazar Talk like that and we’re going to have to dye your party hair red and call it Maureen.
this sounds so good
Bravo Maestro Marcus! Your playing is always on point, even on Jack Point!
Bravo!
stride piano!!!
I have no choice on the stride. My teeny little hands are lucky to make it from my arms to the keyboard.
Do you do weddings, Bat Mitzvahs and birthdays? How do you remember all those notes? Wonderful, my talented pal, wonderful!
What makes you think those are the actual notes?
The only instrumental to ever make me laugh out loud. Brief flash toward the end of Dudley's "How do I get out of this?" expression; ending was perfect. Bravissimo!
I’m looking to play this, and I was wondering where you got the sheet music? Wonderful job!
Well played, sir!
Thank You!
Fabulous
BRAVO!
❤❤❤❤❤
For your interest and enyoyment! th-cam.com/video/2E7eOqNvt84/w-d-xo.html
Bravo-o-o-o!Thanks!
There's a lot of good tunes in The Grand Duke, lovely to hear your piano rendition with added percussion!
THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PIANO OVERTURES PROJECT!!!!Thanks!
My personal favourite. Beautifully played.
An absolutely beautiful interpretation and so faithful to Sullivan's incredible score.
I was blessed to get to sing this song in a production of Strike Up The Band and it's now one of my very favourite songs. I've watched your video several times over recent months and I genuinely can't find any version I enjoy as much. Thank you.
Outstanding. One of my favourite G&S works and that's a fabulous transcription of the overture, superbly played.
Well done, I admire your scholarly dedication!
Thank you! But to be honest, it’s easy to have scholarly dedication on lockdown.
what a delightful find, thank you!
Thank you. I don’t know how you found me but I’m so pleased.
so lovely!
Bravo! Bravo!!
Just the thing I need.... how really nice!! ;)
That was silly and fun!
So fun to watch you and hear you play!
I listened all the way through. It's quite an achievement to memorize all those. Wow... a limited edition Song Book signed by Gershwin. What a treasure to have! I thought there were actually 18 songs in it according to what I've seen and read about it. Did someone else other than Gershwin do 2 songs? The edition published much later by Chappell only have 16 and does not include "Nobody But You" and "Swanee".
You’re right. I put down the wrong number. Thanks.
I just fixed the number of songs-thanks to you!
Wow. That's my favorite Gershwin solo. Well done I like the tempo. You have more courage than I, who bought those transcriptions by Wodehouse but dare not try to play them! You must be a Gershwin fan, have you ever heard Jack Gibbons? He is a virtuoso concert pianist and he's done his own transcriptions of just about everything Gershwin played and wrote.
I don’t know Jack Gibbons. Tell me more. Yes to Gershwin fan, all the way to a tattoo of the famous Hirschfeld drawing to my son’s middle name.
@@wsbab Jack Gibbons channelth-cam.com/users/JackGibbonsHQ Do, Do, Do. th-cam.com/video/94QnaoPp5F4/w-d-xo.html
p1anosteve This is great. I’m going to head over there right now.
@@wsbab you won't be disappointed. I've seen him in concert!
That was a hoot, Danny! Great to see you! Steven sent it!
If you want to see what one of these Victor Arden QRS piano roll arrangements looks like written down, Hiroki Niwa in Japan ("yukimatsuri" on TH-cam) has done a transcription of his roll of the William Daly popular song "Every Day", which you can view on his channel, and also download and print out for free as a PDF or JPEGs on his website (link in the video description box). I think this is another brilliant arrangement. He doesn't use the 3/8 so much in this one, EXCEPT at the very end, where he uses it for the brilliant coda: th-cam.com/video/KLOWBNEAgKA/w-d-xo.html
Another pianist who extensively used this kind of 3/8 rhythm over 4/4, and syncopation based upon it, was Victor Arden, who was a HUGE influence on Gershwin and his piano style, who is one of the half dozen or so pianists that Mr. Gershwin credits as influential in the introduction to his "Songbook" (1932) of his own piano transcriptions of his songs. (The others are, as I recall, Mike Bernard, Melville Ellis, Felix Arndt, Luckey Roberts, Phil Ohman, and Zez Confrey, all of whom, fortunately, left us with audio recordings and piano rolls of their piano playing we can hear and study). Here's a classic Victor Arden piano roll arrangement of "Toot, Toot, Tootsie" from 1922, on QRS word rolls. This is played back from MIDI to a computer soundfont (I think, or maybe on a Disklavier or equivalent) and I think the tempo is just about right for dancing, although might be a bit quick for singing: th-cam.com/video/sGi2uJT5LKQ/w-d-xo.html Here's the same Victor Arden roll arrangement, but this time heard live on a real 1920s player piano, at a slightly slower tempo, more suitable for singing: th-cam.com/video/9qHxnEb2sAo/w-d-xo.html I might have the MIDI file kicking around somewhere if you want to transcribe this roll into sheet music.
the kid can play! zowie, this does my heart good.
I learned this Wodehouse transcription but gave up on trying to play it as fast as Gershwin. But you succeeded and did a knock out job! Good for you and thanks for sharing. And yes, that part just before and after 0:30 is rhythmically tricky.
Egad...! Very hard. The original recording doesn't show the technique involved. The crazy syncopation going on at 0:30 is so Gershwin and must have been a heck of a ride to solve. It's no doubt a big dare for anyone to practice and play this entire piece. Very well done and thanks for posting. Bravo!
MisterNewOutlook WOW! You are so kind and you are the first person to pick up on what happens at 0:30!!! You’re absolutely right. It is one of his most slippery syncopations in anything he ever did. It makes sense doesn’t it that it’s not from a written arrangement like his 1932 Songbook transcriptions, but appears in one of his spontaneous recordings-which show how he actually free-styled his playing-especially at parties. Once my mind wrapped itself around what he did in those five seconds I went around for days in a kind of blissful revery of slamming my right and left hands on anything in sight to just FEEL the trick in my body. If you play the piano you know what I mean-those passages where the playing is actually a physical pleasure. I’m gobsmacked and thrilled you caught it. Thank you.
I accept the challenge! By the way, that syncopation did not originate with Gershwin. It goes back to the ragtime era. It is basically a 3/8 rhythm superimposed over the 4/4 (or 8/8) rhythm here. Many other 1920s pianists were using this kind of rhythm at the time, such as Zez Confrey (who possibly used the 3-over-8 rhythm, and syncopation based on it, more than anyone else, in his compositions, piano roll arrangements, etc. to the point where another GREAT 1920s pianist, Ampico king Adam Carroll, once said of Confrey "he wrote everything in threes"!!!). As far as back to the ragtime era, there are a great many James Scott compositions, for example, that feature this kind of 3/8 pattern over 8/8 (or, in 2/4 notated as 3/16 over 8/16), a good example is "Hilarity Rag" from 1910 which starts with that kind of rhythm right off the bat! Here's the great Guido Nielsen playing this masterpiece on the fantastic 2-CD Basta records set "James Scott: The Complete Works" which I highly recommend: th-cam.com/video/VpyqSvlFtxE/w-d-xo.html
You can hear yet another earlier example of this 3/8 over 4/4 rhythm in the Victor Arden and Phil Ohman duo-piano record of the pop song "Oh Joy!" from 1921. That rhythmic figure can be heard at 2:18 in this dub of the record. As with all known Arden & Ohman recordings (at least, known to me), Phil Ohman is taking the treble end of the piano and Victor Arden has the bass. Of course, this is done as four-hands, one-piano. Many of their later orchestra recordings appear to have two entire separate pianos, so each man can stretch out and make use of the full keyboard on their respective piano: th-cam.com/video/rwQufE9rS_U/w-d-xo.html
STILL! So goooooood! lol
Fantastic !!!! Thanks for sharing your work !!!!
Sir, could you take a moment to check out the following piece and see if there any similarities whatsoever? th-cam.com/video/AWqc1eppKQs/w-d-xo.html
Loverly! Makes me pine to see this beautiful movie again! Bravo, my friend.
Thank you SO much, Daniel!!! What a hoot!
The piano is out of tune, and the tempo is too slow, but otherwise, nice playing :)
Thank you for sharing this.Thank you for spreading the word about Artis Wodehouse transcriptions of Gershwin improvisations in the description. Had no idea they existed. Just got it on Amazon.
AMAZING!
really nice, I liked it
Everything! Best thing on the internet today!
Post more I never laugh but this was just the funniest thing in the world
You have absolutely no taste whatsoever. Where would I be without you? See my response to your comment below. xoxo
ps. re: 'floor fuck me'. Someone suggested I submit this to ELLEN which I gather presents people's videos online. They responded by saying they wouldn't use it because I had violated the language standards. I couldn't change it. If I make it more tasteful it would go against everything I believe in.
forGOTTEN sent me into tears. i'm dying laughing.
another wonderful performance! while perhaps lacking the whimsy of The Socks Performance, this is the real mccoy. ps: my socks are knocked off.