Ravel Ondine: Cordelia Williams plays beautifully shimmering 1st movement from Gaspard de la Nuit
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ต.ค. 2024
- Ondine - the 1st movement of Ravel's "Gaspard de la Nuit" - was composed by Ravel in 1908 and is one of the most stunningly beautiful piano works in the repertoire.
Ondine is amazing to play because it is both exhilarating and deeply relaxing and hypnotic.
I perform Ondine here at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, UK, on 19 March 2013.
Check out me performing the 2nd and 3rd movements of Gaspard de la Nuit here:
Le Gibet • Ravel Le Gibet: Cordel...
Scarbo • Ravel Scarbo: Cordelia...
Other bits to watch:
° How to practise RAVEL ONDINE like a pro: 35 tips, tricks & secrets • How to practise RAVEL ...
° How to practise RAVEL ONDINE part 2: build-up, climax and end • How to practise RAVEL ...
° Practising staccato to improve technique • How To Practise in 20 ...
° Efficient 20 minute practice on no sleep! • Efficient 20 min piano...
° Concert Pianist's Warm-Up Routine • Stretch | Strengthen |...
° Kids and serious performing career: can you do both?? • KIDS AND SERIOUS PERFO...
www.cordeliawilliams.net
Spotify open.spotify.c...
www.cordeliawilliams.net
I have a new vlog for you: a glimpse into life on a short piano recital tour in France th-cam.com/video/nxHy5ukhPcc/w-d-xo.html Back-to-back concerts is a very intense experience; like being in a different world where only the music is real... Check it out, let me know how it comes across to you!
Thank you
This - one of the most beautiful and charming pieces, ever to be written for piano. . .
So beautifully played..Beautiful climax! (4:21)So many pianists rush this! So many gorgeous notes!Your timing is perfect!!
Ravel... what a genius. This piece is so intensely layered and otherworldly.. it always moves me to tears. And your interpretation of it is so beautiful!
I agree with you. Ravel is absolutly a genius
It's fabulous in]snlt it? I've loved it form the first tie I ever heard it. It;s a masterpiece of delicacy and magic.
@@TERRYBIGGENDEN That being said, the master of that piece is, as always, Ivo Pogorelich..
5:15 one of the most euphoric passages in music
Wow. I'm very impressed how the melody sings throughout. THAT is not easy to do in this piece. Truly impressive.
One of the hardest of pieces to play in the entire piano repertoire and, for the most part, Ms. Williams does a very fine job with it. I do wish, however, that she had heeded Ravel's own admonition about not slowing down at the end.
Very true
Well yes, but he said that about everything he wrote and it ALWAYS sounds better when you DO play with the tempo in Ravel!
You have set the gold standard for this piece, so beautiful ! (And I've listened to every online version of Ondine.)
An extraordinarily fluid and brilliant interpretation, with a palette of tone qualities and dynamics that must have made Maurice R. smile happily. What a brilliant, super gifted pianist - but especially quite a MUSICIAN!
Poor Maurice Ravel. The last years of his life were a torment of physical and neurological issues. RIP.
If you're interested in the mechanics of playing Ondine, or how to get that shimmering, floating quality, you can find all my tips and practice methods here:
Part 1 'How to practise Ravel Ondine like a pro: 35 tips, tricks and secrets' th-cam.com/video/QiNyKEd9njg/w-d-xo.html
Part 2 'How to practise Ravel Ondine: 44 more tips for the build-up, climax and end' th-cam.com/video/5lUmsiud9zI/w-d-xo.html
Build up and climax was definitely the hardest. I love how Argerich plays it. Here was my attempt: th-cam.com/video/_ylFmlLiArs/w-d-xo.html
Vraiment jolie version, élégante et sans exagérations ...
Très belle vidéo et très belle performance quand on connait la difficulté et la subtilité de l’œuvre !!!
This interpretation is, in my opinion, better than any other recordings. The best part is the climax, where she waited for a second between the transition from the going up- (Retenez), to the expressive forte lent.
What gorgeous sound recording! That beautiful piano sounds like a harp. And her playing is so delicate and flowing.
i was transported by this, thank you
One the best and insightful performances of this piece , brava Cordelia and warmest greetings from an ex Joan Havill student :-)
Magical interpretation with superb sensitivity, luscious sensuality and gorgeous tonal color and shading. Bravissimo!!!!!
Magic ! An amazing interpretation where you can feel the splash of the water nymph. Played with intelligence and sensitivity 🎶😘
In my entire life of listening to music from all four corners of the earth, never has a song brought tears to my eyes. You were magnificent beyond belief.
A wonderful piece of Ravel, beautifully played. Thank you, Cordelia!
A Gorgeous interpretation - so delicate and flowing....Thank you !
4:08 that's a perfect crescendo ~
I love this slightly slower version ( about 20% slower than Argerich the Great) It allows the listener to really hear the clarity of each note.
One of my very favourite pieces for the piano. Well done. Magic music, magically interpreted, . :-)
Congratulations on this beautiful interpretation! The tempo is quite convenient and allows lovely colouring and phrasing.
Thank you Cordelia for your beautiful interpretation of Ravels ‘Ondine’. As a pianist, you inspire me to be a better musician every day. 😊
Beautiful. Perfect pacing and such great sound and textures, it's almost sculptural.
Beautiful interpretation and performance!
Phwoar. Cordelia!!!! Emotionally intelligent, full of dynamic poise. I had no idea 😂.
Lovely stuff. Can’t wait to read the book!
Oh thank you! Yes, the book... I'm working with the illustrator now, feels exciting. Hopefully out this summer!
@@CordeliaWilliams What book?? You wrote a book??? Listening to your rendition as I write. Beguiling ... it truly is ... Poor Ravel. So underrated. Debussy gets all the applause. But Debussy couldn't compose like Ravel ... Ravel is the best. So many great works. I am a fellow Professional Pianist and teacher. I played the Sonatine whilst studying music at University in Liverpool. One of the great memories of my life. What did you write your book about??? Michael x
Exquisite I love 'Ondine; so much and you were her. :-)
This was beautiful!
What a beautiful Ondine! It was great to listen to you in Mexico. Besides your talent, you are such an affable lady.
Have to agree, this is really outstanding marvellous playing of one of my favorite piano pieces. I'm an instant fan of Ms Williams!!
Brilliantly clear playing.
Ravel created new sounds for the piano which have never been equalled, apart from his compatriot Debussy.
I love Debussy and Ravel with all my might
IMO ravel is vastly superior as this piece shows.
Nate Dertel Nobody is ‘vastly superior’
Lmao get your elitism outta here
Idk about "vastly" but it is alarming how many people don't know that Ravel > Debussy (and also Prokofiev > Shostakovich)
@@skoto8219 true
First time I have heard this. I'm In shock right now!
Such glorious playing. Loved every minute of it. Thanks for uploading
Ωραίο το βίντεο
Excellent interpretation
Wow, I confess I initially got here because I just found out about the segment that sounds uncannily like John Coltane's 'Giant Steps', @ 4:21-31, but also just realised the opening figures (and some others) are also quite reminiscent, in tone, mood and rhythmic figuration, if not exactly in the notes, of the intro to Genesis' 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' (Tony Banks never made any secret of being a big Maurice Ravel fan). I'd heard 'Gaspard did la Nuit' before, but never realised how much it influenced myriad composers in different genres. 'Ondinal songs/urge the sailors on/ 'Til lured by the sirens' cries...' PS: Beautiful interpretation of this gem, written by one of the greatest composers of all time.
This is one lovely Ondine!
Fantastic Performance
Superbe interprétation de cette oeuvre trop rarement jouée en public ... trop difficile sans doute. Masterful !
WOW on so many levels.
Never cared much for Ravel til I listened to this. Superb.
Thank you for taking that Lent marking at the beginning seriously. Personally, I think the shimmer passages are harder to pull off at a slower tempo, because you have to do a bit more work to shape things.
Thank you. I feel like the melody needs to have space to breathe. Like there is all the time in the world, no rush.
Bravo, exceptionnel ! Je trouve l’interprétation de Cordelia Williams exceptionnelle quoi qu'en disent certaines critiques déposées précédemment. Tempo exactement comme il faut à cette œuvre subtile, fluidité admirable, sobriété remarquable qu'aurait apprécié Ravel qui voulait que sa musique soit "simplement jouée". Cordelia, je vais vous écouter en boucle.
Tout à fait d'accord ! Bravo Cordelia !
Remarquable, merveilleux !
I like her play.This a very beautiful songs
BEAUTIFUL!
At 4:20 when Ravel and her unlock the secrets of the universe
This climax is sickeningly beautiful.
I know, how does he make it so gut-wrenching?
Beautiful 😘
My only critic is that the video doesn't show your hands enough.
I'm perfectly fine looking at this mf bombshell.... she can pluck my keys any day ;)
Incredibly fluid and aqueous. You never lose the line and shape it beautifully. I fely you were sensitive to the words and narrative trajectory . Will we get scarbo & le gibet?
Hi J Martin, I've just seen I never replied to this - sorry! Yes, Le Gibet and Scarbo are up; hope you enjoy. I'm relearning the whole of Gaspard again after several years break, and absolutely loving it. Lots of new discoveries :) I think Ondine is probably the most sensuously enjoyable piano piece to play.
Those tricky thirds! :d
Thanks AndyRubio! Very kind of you to say so.
Interpretazione raffinatissima e di grande poesia...
We all can talk, talk, talk but unless you can play you shouldn't even get a say. My question is: on page 2, how does one do that technique as to get fluidity? What fingerings work best at that part where the right hand is going up and down the keyboard?
I do have my opinions of the performance but I am choosing to withhold mine until I can play the piece myself- and I am not primarily a pianist but I love studying it, at least to learn how to write well for it.
+Ryan Udairam - which measure?
I wanna say mm. 15-16(ignore the anacrusis). It has the melody in the left hand in rolled octaves and this pattern in the right hand.
+Ryan Udairam - Hi ryan. There are two or three ways to play that figure. A lot of people, myself included, rearrange the hands and play the lowest "wiggle" in the upper staff with the left hand, and that particular broken C# octave with the right, and then revert to the figure as printed for the following few notes. Some people like this pianist play the whole passage distributed as written.
+Ryan Udairam says "We all can talk, talk, talk but unless you can play you shouldn't even get a say."
So, using a counter-example, let's say I can't make a quality steak to save my life, but I do love food and especially steak. Does my inability to cook a steak for myself necessarily mean I can't recognize when I'm eating bad steak, or lose the right to even say to someone "I prefer my steak such-and-such a way."?
Likewise, does my inability to physically perform Ondine necessarily mean I can't have an informed opinion on the aesthetic merits of a certain performance, especially if I am a fan of Ravel's work and consider myself well-versed in all things Ravel?
Does an NBA coach who never played NBA-level basketball lose the right to say one of his players is not performing well, or not following the right defensive scheme? There have been many basketball coaches and football coaches whose knowledge of the game has been mostly intellectual and not based on their own physical prowess at the sport.
I think your argument fatally flawed. You have every right to that opinion, but I don't think it logical and I think you would find yourself wanting to make so many exceptions to it that it would necessarily become a ridiculous position to hold.
Ryan! I'm working on a video on techniques and tricks in Ondine, will try to answer your questions, even though it's 5 years later... :) Any other passages you'd like covered?
Best interpretation I have heard so far
Is she adding notes?
@Marquis De Sade That is super observant! I did not notice that extra d# in the passage you mention.
Very astute.
As if there weren't enough already 😅
my only question is why are all the seats empty?
Big Boy she used the hall to record this piece
The seats are empty because this is not a public performance; that had the added benefit of protecting us from audience noises.
you can tell is a difficult piece
Bryan Mellado I would argue one of the hardest written for piano.
@Enescu Scarbo is not as beautiful. And not that much more demanding...
The beggining sounds like popcorn, popping.. or bubbles
4:21 apprgeios
5:00 glissando
She played ondine So cute. Hahaha~ maybe more thinking on itself.
this is hard to ply
Bravissima! Peccato la Pessima Regia
A Solid performance but some more sensitivity and dynamic control may be required to make this into a really stellar performance. I felt like there was some inconsistencies littered amongst some crucial sections of the song but this is a remarkably difficult piece so this is still quite the achievement.
Please don't slow down at the end, that ruins everything! Apart from that, very nice playing, good tempo.
I liked this ending more than other endings, more subtle and not of a level of violence where i have to run to the volume knob to turn it down.
Its' so hard to say that, but you are right. But everyone has their own reaction playing o the day.
Wonderful and magical!!! 👏👏👏👏👏 i don't understand why 17 dislike? Bullshit!
To those bullshit, I don’t give a fuck.
@@jyhshyonglin9793 That was almost English, nice try though!
I almost agree.😂😂😂
im a jazz pianist, pls marry me
😂
@@CordeliaWilliams its ok, I can handle rejection
The end~"ralcutir"~means don't slow down~it ruins the whole piece~
Sijie Liu “retenez peu à peu” hold back little by little, then “au mouvt (mouvement) du début” same speed as when started, then “sans ralentir” without slowing down :)
This is a very good performance, but I don't approve of the video. Too much of her pretty face, too much of the hammers and dampers inside the piano, and not enough of the hands.
Much of this piece is PP, or less. This reading ignores this dynamic indication. Too loud.
Disagree. Dynamic comes from change in velocity/volume which she mastered
Maybe it's me but i feel you are very self confident and pretentious as you put your name before and bigger than Ravel's in the beginning and in the the title of your video. Anyway, great performance
+ConcreteJungle95 it was just the way she formatted the title... lmao
+ConcreteJungle95 I wouldn't read into the title format that closely.
+ConcreteJungle95
Her name is in exactly the same type face and size as Ravel's
why lie when anyone can see it is a lie
+ConcreteJungle95 I think that's quite fair enough. As a young artist, her name is more needing of promotion than Ravel's, who has already been a world renowned composer for a century.
+ConcreteJungle95 get over yourself