The climax of Ondine gives me chills literally every time I hear it (even here when you both were talking over it). Even though by now my brain knows what harmonies are coming next, Ravel somehow manages to take me by surprise with each chord change. Perhaps the most stunning moment in all piano literature. Great selection from probably my favorite era of music. And Denis is right, that leap at the end of the Gershwin prelude is no joke! Congrats to you both on 20k followers, you both deserve it!
Gaspard de la nuit and ravel's sonatine are the most magical things ever, I swear. Debussy was the king of French romance, but ravel just transports you to different worlds.
I'm currently obsessed with the Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (my favourite piece of music tends to change and it is always the piece I'm working on) - talk about Ravel transporting you to different worlds! The final piece is simply ravishing/haunting/chilling/surprising.... It takes me to a very distant place.
Debussy was a marvellous innovator and composer but Ravel was just one of those elite, master craftsmen of music, like Brahms. Everything is perfect, immaculate, not a thing out of place. I feel like theirs is some of the only "perfect music".
Thank you for covering Ondine. It evokes a powerful imagery of rippling water and tentative footsteps for me. The emotionality is so powerful. Now, I am a huge fan of Rachmaninov's Etudes and would love to see some review of some of the passages in these, whichever are your favorites.
Great video, really loved the two perspectives from a pianist and a composer. I sometimes feel like Scriabin's "transition period" is somehow even more interesting than the others, precisely because it showed how his later atonal works were not purely conceptual, but also a very organic development of musical ideas and obsessions that were present in his youth.
Wow, incredible analysis from both perspectives! Very approachable for someone like me with limited knowledge of theory but did not compromise on depth. Just subscribed to Denis, keep up the great work and would love to see more collabs from you guys!
It’s absolutely apparent that I need to listen to more Ravel, and have done my self a great disservice having not done so yet! There are just so many amazing late romantic Russian composers to discover, it’s hard to ever leave.
in the polichinelo, the melody is actually a brazilian children's tune (ciranda cirandinha). Villa liked to do that a lot. Plus I think that he could have drawn inspiration from prokofiev's visions fugitive n14 (feroce), regarding the alternatinc white triads and black clusters. I like this piece, but it doesn't scratch the surface of what villa lobos is capable of btw, polichinelo also means jumping jacks in portuguese, which is suiting giving the "exercise" nature of the piece
Could you make a video on florent Schmitt's ombres? He is a lesser known figure in early twentieth century french music which deserves much more attention!
I would liken early 20th century piano music to the symbolist art movement of the late 19th century. Symbolism can be considered a subcategory to such movements as Jugendstil, Belle Epoque and Fin di Siecle. The symbolist movement was the last gasp in art where representative art was still revered before art started to devolve into exaggerated personalities over actual talent. Early 20th century piano music feels like the last gasp of romanticism before composers strained the ears of listeners with Atonalism and Serialism. The last gasps of beauty...
I disagree with Denis's example of how those tenuto notes could be interpreted (2:22). It seems like he's making decisions about which notes should be longer in a way that would make some of the notes not tenuto. If the notes weren't marked tenuto, his examples of how they might be interpreted would be great. However they are marked tenuto, and I don't feel like either of his examples are tenuto on all 3 notes.
I thought the Scriabin and the Villa-Lobos awe-inspiring and memorable and the Gershwin and the Ravel only flashy and virtuosic (in different ways), sorry.
"Classical music and jazz are two different islands and rarely intertwine" Aside from the fact that jazz incorporates many harmonic concepts from romanticism and impressionism and were influenced by composers like Chopin, Debussy, Stravinsky and Bartok?
where on earth are you getting that from? which of the important early jazz musicians were influenced by any of those composers? they probably had never even listened to their music, let alone be influenced by them. composers like ravel, debussy and stravinsky appropriated harmonic elements from jazz in some of their music, not the other way around
@@luciancrosby6331 Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Donald Lambert, George Gershwin and Mary Lou Williams were extremely vocal about their classical influences. My question is where are you getting that Debussy appropiated jazz before the genre even existed or was distributed publicly? And Rag time isn't jazz either.
When I saw the sheet music in the thumbnail I knew it was the cascading section in Ondine right away. That part never fails to blow my mind.
Scriabin and ravel will always be my two favorite composers
Same :)
The climax of Ondine gives me chills literally every time I hear it (even here when you both were talking over it). Even though by now my brain knows what harmonies are coming next, Ravel somehow manages to take me by surprise with each chord change. Perhaps the most stunning moment in all piano literature.
Great selection from probably my favorite era of music. And Denis is right, that leap at the end of the Gershwin prelude is no joke!
Congrats to you both on 20k followers, you both deserve it!
Gaspard de la nuit and ravel's sonatine are the most magical things ever, I swear. Debussy was the king of French romance, but ravel just transports you to different worlds.
I'm currently obsessed with the Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (my favourite piece of music tends to change and it is always the piece I'm working on) - talk about Ravel transporting you to different worlds! The final piece is simply ravishing/haunting/chilling/surprising.... It takes me to a very distant place.
Debussy was a marvellous innovator and composer but Ravel was just one of those elite, master craftsmen of music, like Brahms. Everything is perfect, immaculate, not a thing out of place. I feel like theirs is some of the only "perfect music".
Thank you for covering Ondine. It evokes a powerful imagery of rippling water and tentative footsteps for me. The emotionality is so powerful. Now, I am a huge fan of Rachmaninov's Etudes and would love to see some review of some of the passages in these, whichever are your favorites.
5:40 Stravinsky also wrote a ballet called Pulcinella!
Great video, really loved the two perspectives from a pianist and a composer. I sometimes feel like Scriabin's "transition period" is somehow even more interesting than the others, precisely because it showed how his later atonal works were not purely conceptual, but also a very organic development of musical ideas and obsessions that were present in his youth.
Congratulations on the 20k! 🥳🥳🥳
Congratulations on the milestone, to both Denis and Frederick!
One of my favourite eras as well for popular music. The lyrics of the Great American song book are as wonderful, playful and intelligent as the tunes.
Wow, incredible analysis from both perspectives! Very approachable for someone like me with limited knowledge of theory but did not compromise on depth. Just subscribed to Denis, keep up the great work and would love to see more collabs from you guys!
Congratulations to both of you!
Thoroughly deserved.
Thank you!
Fantastic vídeo, both analysis too. Thanks for that, I’ll subscrite 👏👏👏
It’s absolutely apparent that I need to listen to more Ravel, and have done my self a great disservice having not done so yet! There are just so many amazing late romantic Russian composers to discover, it’s hard to ever leave.
5:32 gotta come back here all the time
🤣
great vid , i love that piece by villa lobos i always loved rubinsteins version of it he met villa lobos in brazil in the 1920s for a concert
in the polichinelo, the melody is actually a brazilian children's tune (ciranda cirandinha). Villa liked to do that a lot. Plus I think that he could have drawn inspiration from prokofiev's visions fugitive n14 (feroce), regarding the alternatinc white triads and black clusters. I like this piece, but it doesn't scratch the surface of what villa lobos is capable of
btw, polichinelo also means jumping jacks in portuguese, which is suiting giving the "exercise" nature of the piece
Could you make a video on florent Schmitt's ombres? He is a lesser known figure in early twentieth century french music which deserves much more attention!
I don't know Schmitt! Thanks for the recommendation :)
The beginning of Desir is giving me Tristan vibes
Good spot!
12:06 Ravel's favorite chord
Well spotted!
Comparing Gaspard de la nuit to Lord of the rings is a great comparison
I would liken early 20th century piano music to the symbolist art movement of the late 19th century. Symbolism can be considered a subcategory to such movements as Jugendstil, Belle Epoque and Fin di Siecle. The symbolist movement was the last gasp in art where representative art was still revered before art started to devolve into exaggerated personalities over actual talent. Early 20th century piano music feels like the last gasp of romanticism before composers strained the ears of listeners with Atonalism and Serialism. The last gasps of beauty...
What piece was played in the intro?
Berg’s Piano Sonata?
LOVE that piece
What is the song at the beginning that sounds in 0:30?
Oh okay, I recognized it, it is Stravinsky's piano version of The firebird
stravinsky / agosti: firebird mvmt 1
I disagree with Denis's example of how those tenuto notes could be interpreted (2:22). It seems like he's making decisions about which notes should be longer in a way that would make some of the notes not tenuto. If the notes weren't marked tenuto, his examples of how they might be interpreted would be great. However they are marked tenuto, and I don't feel like either of his examples are tenuto on all 3 notes.
Gershwin is merely popular
no love for Berg's piano sonata op. 1 or Schoenberg's Drei Klavierstucke op. 11?
Maybe in the next one...I adore Berg's Op 1
based Giant steps
I thought the Scriabin and the Villa-Lobos awe-inspiring and memorable and the Gershwin and the Ravel only flashy and virtuosic (in different ways), sorry.
First?
forsen
"Classical music and jazz are two different islands and rarely intertwine"
Aside from the fact that jazz incorporates many harmonic concepts from romanticism and impressionism and were influenced by composers like Chopin, Debussy, Stravinsky and Bartok?
where on earth are you getting that from? which of the important early jazz musicians were influenced by any of those composers? they probably had never even listened to their music, let alone be influenced by them. composers like ravel, debussy and stravinsky appropriated harmonic elements from jazz in some of their music, not the other way around
@@luciancrosby6331 Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Donald Lambert, George Gershwin and Mary Lou Williams were extremely vocal about their classical influences. My question is where are you getting that Debussy appropiated jazz before the genre even existed or was distributed publicly? And Rag time isn't jazz either.
'Promosm'
Terrible video. You never once mentioned Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
That's great. No need to mention a horrible composer
There were many great composers he did not mention, otherwise the video would have been hours long