I heard it on Radio 3 and decided I should like to try and play it. Much more difficult than I expected. You need very nimble fingers. It is very good for me as I am 83 years old. I have almost completed it. On the last two
Wow! That’s so inspiring! You’re working through such a lovely piece. Our age might limit us physically but not our capacity for pursuing our passions!
I heard about this song in the classic Dickens novel, "Great Expectations". It's nice to hear what Herbert Pocket was talking about when he began calling Pip by the name Handel! Beautiful song.
Nicely put. I fully agree. Kempff conveys very much human warmth exactly because he plays it the way it is written and not as though he were participating in a prize contest.
Also I remember reading Chopin's instructions to a friend to find him an apartment in Paris after a sojourn in the country that the area must not have barking dogs and definitely no blacksmith. My father always used to laugh and say "with the possible exception of a harmonious one"!
My family was educated and wonderful, but they didn't listen to Chopin's letter read aloud or make allusions to harmonious blacksmiths, What a gift! They are the reason I'm here listening to this, though.
I'm here b/c my favorite composer, Mario Giulani wrote a piece for guitar based off of Hanel's original. I wanted to hear the original work. Wonderful.
My favourite recording of it on UA-cam so far. He has great sensitivity to the Baroque style, and I think the tempo is perfect - others, I find, make it sound too rushed; the piece is called the "Harmonious" Blacksmith, not the "rushed, frantic" blacksmith!
Kempff was one of my favourite piano masters anyway. Such a powerful yet unpretentious style. No mannerisms, no muddy sentimentalities, but crystalline clarity instead. Absolutely gorgeous - be it Beethoven or Handel whom he interprets.
One thing I really like about this version is that the first movement is a simple statement of the theme - largely unornamented and played in a straightforward way. The ornamentation and expressiveness should build as the movements progress. Also, the tempo is nice. It allows you to hear all the voices clearly. Just because you _can_ play the whole thing in 30 seconds, doesn't mean you should.
Personally, I prefer a slower pace and find that the latter variations, particularly Variation lll and V can sound a little rushed but we must all appreciate each other's interpretation and remember if we listen carefully, we can all learn from each other (most of the time). As the French would say, 'Vive la difference'!
Vous avez raison. :-) And, to stress our common point, I must admit I like Kempff's version exactly because it doesn't sound rushed. Many performers interpret the later variations in a manner as though they were to catch a train. This doesn't agree too well with the music IMHO. (Just because you are a virtuoso and are able to speed it up a bit doesn't by any means mean you HAVE to. :-) )
Agreed! Your comment reminds me of the opposite sentiment, most humorously embodied by Wanda Landowska's comment in a famous anecdote involving her attending a performance by a young pianist (or harpsichordist?) (I will invent for him the name Becker) that prominently included Bach on the program. When asked at the end of the concert her opinion of the performance, she said, with what I imagine was regal dignity and indifference, "Well, Mr. Becker can interpret Bach his way, and I shall interpret Bach Bach's way."
I am looking for the French Lyrics to this music. I sang it in a quartet in 1969 and am pretty sure it came from the ABC Sing Sing Sing series of songbooks. Thanks
+Alex Howie So pleased to read your comment. I don't know why, I am unable to put my finger on it, but I cannot listen to one without thinking of the other. I've recently mentioned this to a young friend who is working his way through piano grades and he said he would mention this to his teacher. I've not as yet had a response but if and when I do, I'll post it...
Have you heard the version of ' les barricades mystérieuses' played by Georges Cziffra , a (dead) french pianist ? the most sensitive unterpretation👍(but a bit far from the harmonious blacksmith)
a superb of the same barricades and other pieces by Jean Rondeau and Thomas Dunford. Really original !! ua-cam.com/video/astgqWYf9u8/v-deo.html That'all folks... ☺
Beautifully played - not sure I would describe it as "simplistic". Or childlike. Granted, it is alleged to be based on a blacksmith's song. you'd need quite a technique to play this as well as Herr Kempff
I was whistling this and came here to see if I was in the right key (I was) . I still haven't worked out whether I have perfect pitch or not ...maybe. #humblebrag
Wilhelm Kempff does play this at a slower speed than that of any other rendition I've heard, but; all those other versions sound, to me, to be rushed towards the end. Perhaps Herr Kempff took this into consideration at the outset? ...BTW, I've yet to hear LvB's 'Emperor' piano concerto played better than by this artist.
I can’t remember the name of this painting specifically, but it was painted by Nicolas Poussin, the French Baroque artist. Sorry about the 7 year delay!
Lovely piece! Kempff is one of my favorite pianists... But I am playing this piece for an exam? It sounds a bit non-chalant... I know its supposed to be a Blacksmith's humming tune. But is it ok to present a Baroque piece like this? Some ADVICE please! thanks
I don't know Handel's keyboard works, and I must say that this piece, pretty as it is, seems simplistic, almost childlike, compared to those of his contemporaries, like Couperin and Bach.
Le tempo à mon avis est parfait : trop lent selon vous ? Ecoutez donc quelque fada qui aime faire de la vitesse et non de la musique. Il n'y a pas disette de pianistes funambules. M Kempff était un musicien raffiné !
@@dlefil1364 aucune idée: on peut trouver dans youtube du Scarlatti e du Galuppi. Comme bien des pianistes il aime à faire de la vitesse avec les compositeurs baroques, même quand ce n'est pas le cas.
@@brunodonderi9869 pour l anecdote, je me suis déja fait copieusement insulter parce que je critiquais Michelangeli jouantnScarlatti.. on s en remet. Heureusement, il n'ya pas de version stakhanoviste de la mort d'orphée dans l'opera de Gluck...
I heard it on Radio 3 and decided I should like to try and play it. Much more difficult than I expected. You need very nimble fingers. It is very good for me as I am 83 years old. I have almost completed it. On the last two
Wow! That’s so inspiring! You’re working through such a lovely piece. Our age might limit us physically but not our capacity for pursuing our passions!
I have great respect for You!
I heard about this song in the classic Dickens novel, "Great Expectations". It's nice to hear what Herbert Pocket was talking about when he began calling Pip by the name Handel! Beautiful song.
akirak Me too! It was a great book, but I have to say that I wasn't pleased with the ending...
Haha, I'm literally at that part right now, which is why I'm here!
J Dawg 25o lol me too!
me too :D
"Would you mind Handel for a familiar name? There's a charming piece of music by Handel, called the Harmonious Blacksmith."
my boyfriend snuck sheet music for this song in my backpack today along with chocolate hearts. im in tears
Heheh... you found the right man
This rendition fulfils all expectations - it is great.
Who is listening to this cuz they are reading “great expectations” and Herbert talked about this music?
There is also an indirect reference to it in "Bleak House."
I have that book in my hands at the moment, curiosity!
Me!
I was touched to hear this beautiful music. My father played this many times in my youth.
A very tender and human way of playing! 👍
Nicely put. I fully agree. Kempff conveys very much human warmth exactly because he plays it the way it is written and not as though he were participating in a prize contest.
Also I remember reading Chopin's instructions to a friend to find him an apartment in Paris after a sojourn in the country that the area must not have barking dogs and definitely no blacksmith. My father always used to laugh and say "with the possible exception of a harmonious one"!
My family was educated and wonderful, but they didn't listen to Chopin's letter read aloud or make allusions to harmonious blacksmiths, What a gift! They are the reason I'm here listening to this, though.
This is such a beautiful piece of music! Lovely arrangement!
Thank you Harbert Pocket
I just listened it for the same reason
Absolutely perfect and delightful. Thanks.Greetings from Republic of Taiwan.
I'm here b/c my favorite composer, Mario Giulani wrote a piece for guitar based off of Hanel's original. I wanted to hear the original work. Wonderful.
My favourite recording of it on UA-cam so far. He has great sensitivity to the Baroque style, and I think the tempo is perfect - others, I find, make it sound too rushed; the piece is called the "Harmonious" Blacksmith, not the "rushed, frantic" blacksmith!
Well played; but listen to Rachmaninoff. I think his performance is the best of all.
Kempff was one of my favourite piano masters anyway. Such a powerful yet unpretentious style. No mannerisms, no muddy sentimentalities, but crystalline clarity instead. Absolutely gorgeous - be it Beethoven or Handel whom he interprets.
As a blacksmith, I can honestly say we are quite often rushed and frantic 😂😂
@@MikeSulman are you joking?
Eyy I am also here because I read it in the Great Expectations 😂 Cheers!
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this I couldn't figure out the tune and I am playing it in a recital... Thank you so much, a big help!
One thing I really like about this version is that the first movement is a simple statement of the theme - largely unornamented and played in a straightforward way. The ornamentation and expressiveness should build as the movements progress. Also, the tempo is nice. It allows you to hear all the voices clearly. Just because you _can_ play the whole thing in 30 seconds, doesn't mean you should.
Very nice performance.
"Would you mind Handel for a familiar name? There's a charming piece of music by Handel, called the Harmonious Blacksmith."
I like to listen to this when it is raining XD
чудная и прекрасная простота!
Personally, I prefer a slower pace and find that the latter variations, particularly Variation lll and V can sound a little rushed but we must all appreciate each other's interpretation and remember if we listen carefully, we can all learn from each other (most of the time). As the French would say, 'Vive la difference'!
Vous avez raison. :-) And, to stress our common point, I must admit I like Kempff's version exactly because it doesn't sound rushed. Many performers interpret the later variations in a manner as though they were to catch a train. This doesn't agree too well with the music IMHO. (Just because you are a virtuoso and are able to speed it up a bit doesn't by any means mean you HAVE to. :-) )
Agreed! Your comment reminds me of the opposite sentiment, most humorously embodied by Wanda Landowska's comment in a famous anecdote involving her attending a performance by a young pianist (or harpsichordist?) (I will invent for him the name Becker) that prominently included Bach on the program. When asked at the end of the concert her opinion of the performance, she said, with what I imagine was regal dignity and indifference, "Well, Mr. Becker can interpret Bach his way, and I shall interpret Bach Bach's way."
Belíssimo Handel!
Who else is here because Dorothy Sayers mentions this piece in her talk on classical education, “The Lost Tools of Learning”?
Not I, but I'll probably now go to Sayers because of your post.
love it!
Perfetto! Gioia pura.
Magnifico !
Wonderful playing.TY gullivior for posting
There is a Bell in this Haendel with Kempff always lyrical-meticulous
Recording 1955 in original mono here
I am looking for the French Lyrics to this music. I sang it in a quartet in 1969 and am pretty sure it came from the ABC Sing Sing Sing series of songbooks. Thanks
Nice💚💚💚
From Wunderkind by Carson McCullers.
I find this reminiscent of Couperins 'Les Barricades Mystérieuses' anyone else?
+Alex Howie Always thought that! Surely one of them heard the other's work and (intentionally or unintentionally) wrote their own similar piece.
+Alex Howie So pleased to read your comment. I don't know why, I am unable to put my finger on it, but I cannot listen to one without thinking of the other. I've recently mentioned this to a young friend who is working his way through piano grades and he said he would mention this to his teacher. I've not as yet had a response but if and when I do, I'll post it...
Have you heard the version of ' les barricades mystérieuses' played by Georges Cziffra , a (dead) french pianist ? the most sensitive unterpretation👍(but a bit far from the harmonious blacksmith)
Cziffra's rendition of "Les barricades mystérieuses". The best one... ua-cam.com/video/1lvBZhXEJXY/v-deo.html
a superb of the same barricades and other pieces by Jean Rondeau and Thomas Dunford. Really original !!
ua-cam.com/video/astgqWYf9u8/v-deo.html
That'all folks... ☺
Beautifully played - not sure I would describe it as "simplistic". Or childlike. Granted, it is alleged to be based on a blacksmith's song. you'd need quite a technique to play this as well as Herr Kempff
Gyönyörű!
What's the painting, who's the painting on the cover by? Thanks, anyone
I was whistling this and came here to see if I was in the right key (I was) . I still haven't worked out whether I have perfect pitch or not ...maybe.
#humblebrag
Wilhelm Kempff does play this at a slower speed than that of any other rendition I've heard, but; all those other versions sound, to me, to be rushed towards the end. Perhaps Herr Kempff took this into consideration at the outset? ...BTW, I've yet to hear LvB's 'Emperor' piano concerto played better than by this artist.
Beethoven can simply NOT be interpreted any better than by maestro Kempff. :-) That is a principle of nature.
@@stxa2594 I love Kempff's playing. His "Wanderer Fantasy" is my goto version
Would love to know what painting this is.
I can’t remember the name of this painting specifically, but it was painted by Nicolas Poussin, the French Baroque artist. Sorry about the 7 year delay!
Beethoven probably based his ‘Fugue in D Major for Organ woO. 31’ on this piece
Lovely piece! Kempff is one of my favorite pianists... But I am playing this piece for an exam? It sounds a bit non-chalant... I know its supposed to be a Blacksmith's humming tune. But is it ok to present a Baroque piece like this? Some ADVICE please! thanks
It's better played on a harpsichord
You can hear the blacksmith's hammer at two minutes
+Peter Hill So why not play it on a Celeste?
auf klavier - Himmel sei dank.
I don't know Handel's keyboard works, and I must say that this piece, pretty as it is, seems simplistic, almost childlike, compared to those of his contemporaries, like Couperin and Bach.
+Jim Fitton Simplistic and childlike?
You say that like those are bad things.
+Ian Board Good post. Actually, simplicity is Truth's most becoming garb.
a literate spirit that can spin a phrase like "becoming garb" must know the difference between "simple" and "simplistic"
+Jim Fitton Looks like you may have missed the point of the comment.
+barneysghost satis nugarum!
Slows down too much at the end of the theme.Nice shape and sound, though. It should be slightly faster , but that's my opinion.
Michelle Nazareth You yourself may play it at any tempo you wish.
Nie ten rodzaj muzyki mnie interesuje.😧
trop lent
Le tempo à mon avis est parfait : trop lent selon vous ? Ecoutez donc quelque fada qui aime faire de la vitesse et non de la musique. Il n'y a pas disette de pianistes funambules. M Kempff était un musicien raffiné !
Bon tempo. Les derniers mouvements deviennent confus, si le rythme du 1er mvt est trop rapide. En plus, pensons aussi au pauvre forgeron...☺
@@brunodonderi9869 d accord avec vous... je ne sais pas si michelangeli a joué ce morceau. Si c est le cas 😠
@@dlefil1364 aucune idée: on peut trouver dans youtube du Scarlatti e du Galuppi. Comme bien des pianistes il aime à faire de la vitesse avec les compositeurs baroques, même quand ce n'est pas le cas.
@@brunodonderi9869 pour l anecdote, je me suis déja fait copieusement insulter parce que je critiquais Michelangeli jouantnScarlatti.. on s en remet. Heureusement, il n'ya pas de version stakhanoviste de la mort d'orphée dans l'opera de Gluck...
lhhhjhh
Lo suono meglio io con la chitarra
Può non piacerti ma dire che suoni meglio è tutt'altra cosa, alla faccia dell'umiltà. Lui è Wilhelm Kempff e tu?
not brilliant work
Disagree, sorry. This is perhaps the very best rendition that exists. He plays it just right - nobody else plays it as well.
Id you play it too quickly, the last movements are inaudible and completely out of context (poor exhausted blacksmith...)