Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin (Milstein, Lortie)
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- Is there any composer whose music expends more craft, on a bar-by-bar basis, than Ravel?
Well, ok, so that isn’t really a sensible or meaningful question, but it’s hard to escape the feeling when you’re actually listening to Ravel that his music is put together with a level of care and precision that no other composer quite matches. Dedicated to 6 friends who died in WWI, Le Tombeau de Couperin is the last set of solo piano works Ravel wrote, as well as the last works he wrote in any “antique” form. Le Tombeau represents a fusion of classical discipline & economy with colouristic imagination of the highest order - each of these pieces could be the subject of a longish essay, and despite my best efforts any description will bust YT’s limit, so I’ve put it in the comments.
![Ravel - Le Tombeau de Couperin, M. 68 [Seong-Jin Cho]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nmWOMfTOXUI/mqdefault.jpg)
![Ravel - Le Tombeau de Couperin, M. 68 [Seong-Jin Cho]](/img/tr.png)
Prelude - ABA form [0:00/1:28/2:07]. A vibrant perpetuum mobile whose circling semiquavers only pause once, 5 bars before the close. The 6-note RH Em pentatonic motif that opens the piece is the basis of much of the music - after we first hear it it’s immediately transposed a 5th down into the LH, while the RH plays a turn-like figure (typical of Ravel that this isn’t *quite* a turn, but something a more like a mordent, with a bit more bite) also derived from its first 2 notes. Lovely use of modal colour throughout - the dominant feel is Aeolian (/Dorian at points), but you also dip suddenly into B Mixolydian b6 in m.10 and C Lydian at 1:10 (and similar; note also the hemiola). There’s also washes of chromatic (the ultra-satisfying voice leading in the LH at 0:59) and quintal harmony (1:28), alongside some good old perfect cadences when Ravel wants to provide a bit more resolution (1:21; 2:11 & similar).
Fugue - Ridiculously good. Consider how minimalist the subject is - it contains only 4 notes, the Em triad plus an A, and all of them (if you don’t count the gaps) are quavers. And yet the tender fugue that extends out of this meek, almost wrong-footed material perfectly exploits the two features of the subject that _are_ interesting - its slur-to-staccato articulation, and the rhythmic displacement of the theme (it begins off the beat and without any lead-in, with its second half sort of phase-shifted forward by an quaver; notice how this lets the subject slip into the texture almost invisibly). On top of this, you get your first real rhythmic variation with the triplet in the countersubject (which also throws in the Dorian C#), and Ravel clusters the voices closely together to create some gorgeous contrapuntal interplay (two examples of this: the wonderful near-miss dissonance between the G/F# at 3:17; and polyrhythmic interplay of the countersubject stretto at 5:55). The fugue is also packed with familiar fugal techniques: inversions (4:10) stretti (4:50, inversion stretto at 5:02; inversion and original at 5:18, and a particularly close closing stretto at 6:03), false entries (4:34 and similar), and pedal points (4:37 and similar).
Forlane - The most harmonically sophisticated work of in the set, in rondo form [ABACADA; episodes are at 8:01; 9:51; 12:06]. The piece opens with a progression of three(!) different augmented chords* in the LH coloured by wry dissonances above, before landing on an E# half-diminished (over A). Then a minor third (B#/A) descends chromatically in the LH, while the bass leaps up in fourths from F# to E. In the meantime the RH picks up the E# introduced in LH in m.3, and slowly nudges it chromatically downward to B in m.5. The construction of the theme’s melody is unusually sly - when the open 5th appears in the bass (m.2) we hear the B#/D# as an enclosure of C#, but that note is delayed and forced to take a rather ragged leap to appear an octave lower than expected. There’s a lot more worth pointing out, but for space’s sake here are just two other highlights: the dissonances in the first episode; and Ravel’s frequent use of octave-span chords which have their lowest note hitched up a semitone (7:02 & similar; 12:33; RH at 12:55, LH at 13:24). [*Kind of fun to note how differently each of these augmented chords work -- the first is a rootless minor major 7th, the second is an E chord with an augmented 5th, and the last feels to me like a weird mix of an A and C# chord.]
Rigaudon - One of two pieces in the suite that isn’t in Em. ABA form [13:51/15:14/16:28]. Compared to the Forlane, this can almost sound harmonically conservative, though it features numerous extended chords (the second one you hear is a D13), planing, and sudden modulations to distant keys (e.g. F# in m.24). What’s probably most striking about this Rigaudon is its really weird phrase lengths - in the first 8 bars, there is a 2-bar intro, followed by a 5-bar phrase, and then a standalone closing bar (m.8) which repeats the opening gesture (but without the closing descent). After the repeat sign, oddly, the same standalone bar appears again in m.9 and 16 (in Mixolydian and Bb respectively), giving you a section phrased in 1+5+1+5. And after that, starting from m.23, you get material phrased in 2+4+6+2 (the last two bars are the opening gesture, now repeated in full). One other thing - the piece’s only pedal marking is found at the beginning in the B section and has no release sign, while the B section itself features multiple staccato phrases that would be impossible with a held pedal, so make of that what you will!
Menuet - ABA form [17:24/19:21 - Musette/20:30]. A lullaby-like piece filled with gentle dissonances - the opening 2 bars alone are a little masterclass in how to place them. The musette in the middle features some spectacular planing over a G drone (an unusual drone given the section is in Dm and doesn’t really have a Dorian feel). The musette melody starts out in Dm in one hand, becomes shared by two, and then suddenly shifts gear by borrowing various major and minor chords from various unrelated keys (the Ab chord at 19:56 is especially nice) to spell out the melody. A particularly poignant moment is at the return of the menuet (20:30), when the musette unexpectedly continues in the LH.
Toccata - sonata form (truncated recapitulation). [Exposition: 22:18, with B theme at 23:11; Development: 23:40; Recap: 25:49, just B theme]. Another gem - starts out tiptoeing around in E Dorian, and basically grows more menacing/grand as the material is developed. Three examples of this: (1) that dancelike figure in m.5, when it’s developed (23:40), becomes darkened not only by a move to Bm, but also tritone leaps in the bass, the use of the minor-ised Neapolitan, and chromatic movement; (2) the wistful B theme at the climax/recap moves into Mixo b6 and takes on a triumphant character; (3) the development theme at 23:48 (itself a development of the transitional material at 23:05) takes on eerie colours with a whole-tone harmonisation at 25:01. There’s also many nice harmonic tricks going on here - e.g., at 25:06 (m.173), the melody is in E Phrygian, but each melodic note is also harmonised with its own dominant 7th chord (E/G/E/F/D/C/A/C); and at 26:13, how an alternating series of Gm/Bb/Am/C chords leads beautifully into the final E chord.
Ashish Xiangyi Kumar
I love reading these, thank you for taking the time of writing them.
I wish you could further elaborate on Forlane, as it has such a spicy flair and also is my favourite of the set. However thanks for all the Ravel, I appreciate that besides your wonderful texts/small essays.
I also want to thank you, though i don't understand like half of this, i Love reading it, so thank you
Bravo to the composer, the pianist and the commentary. Thank you for such an insightful view into this magnificent work. I've dabbled with it in the past but have yet to return to it; I'm so much more aware of such things now, and your amazing points will add to my (limited) knowledge of these pieces. This might be just what I needed with Ravel. Thank you so very much.
Milstein:
00:00 - Prelude
03:05 - Fugue
06:25 - Forlane
13:51 - Rigaudon
17:24 - Menuet
22:18 - Toccata
Lortie:
26:32 - Prelude
29:34 - Fugue
32:35 - Forlane
38:44 - Rigaudon
41:50 - Menuet
46:48 - Toccata
Milstein has playing of great suppleness and warmth - in quiet passages, especially those in the higher registers, she conjures up some gorgeous colours. There are some nice touches of rubato too, as in the faux-pompous slowing down of the opening gesture of the Rigaudon. And that articulation in the fugue! Compared to Milstein, Lortie is more “notey” - while Milstein sometimes trades in washes of harmony or colour, with him you can hear everything going on. In the prelude, for instance, Lortie actually takes the legato passages with a slight detached touch and articulates the accompaniment fairly prominently, producing a more finely hewn texture. And while Milstein plays the dotted rhythms in the Forlane as written, Lortie exaggerates them a little, making his Forlane spiky where Milstein is hazily sardonic. Similarly with the Rigaudon - Lortie’s is a thumping dance, while Milstein’s is childlike. And in the toccata, Lortie’s performance reminds me a bit of Scarbo - there’s a vein of aggression in it - while Milstein’s playing more readily calls into mind some kind of perfectly formed mechanical contraption, whirring away.
Is Lortie your go-to pianist for Ravel?
@@athanasiusleong3815 Ha. Well, most days of the week if you ask me who the greatest living pianists are I'd say Louis Lortie and Beatrice Rana, so maybe you've got a point.
Seriously, those two can't produce a bad recording.
@@AshishXiangyiKumar hey Ashish, what do you think of Alexandra Dovgan? If you haven't heard her, I urge you to check her out. Championed by Sokolov, she is the most promising prodigy I've ever seen.
@@AshishXiangyiKumar I hope one day I see a Rana recording here then! I've seen her twice in New York recently -- once in a concerto and once in recital, and while I will happily blame my mere satisfaction (as opposed to your great pleasure) on my bad seat, I would be eager to see what exactly places her so high in your estimation.
My personal favorite recording of this is by Pascal Rogé.
The Prelude tickles my ears perfectly. The way it morphs into this, moves over to that, and comes back to its original state so fluently is astonishing to listen to
It’s so loose yet so constricted and refined..
Ravel’s just one of those composers that makes me proud to be human.
@HugeManlyBalls bro ur literally trolling this entire comment section. I reported u
@HugeManlyBalls oof sorry don’t know how
@HugeManlyBalls I know how it is to be surrounded by normies
@HugeManlyBalls i hate when people are like “lol okay” like it’s so infuriating
What a refreshingly lovely thing to 'hear' another human say these days!
Ravel does a masterful job of flirting with the edge of discordance, and then retuning to familiar, comforting resolution. All the while, melodically.
This piece got me interested in Ravel decades ago, and each time I listen to it, I understand why.
I’ve always been so incredibly intrigued by Ravel, I mean, there’s no one quite like him. This makes for some pleasant listening. The Prelude and Toccata are probably my favourites, but the Forlane is just so rich in texture!
I love Ravel. Very difficult to play I must say, BUT once you get the hang of how he wrote-- wasn't too bad.... very unique composer. He wrote "water" in music form. A total badass. I would have loved to hear him play in person....
Agreed! But you know There are some piano rolls where you can hear him play e.g. ua-cam.com/video/tn6_yT9SKpM/v-deo.html
You can hear him. Here's him playing the toccata from this very suite: ua-cam.com/video/UqJCSb3HKQk/v-deo.html
From what I read, Ravel was a very good pianist in his youth (he earned some medals IIRC), but later in his life he was just "competent" or "okay". In this recording IMO it sounds like he struggles a bit sometimes (I would, too!), but this and the whole CD is a fascinating find nonetheless.
@@adlfm!1!
Ummm... Ravel was a third class pianist at best. He admits it and one of his pupils vlado perlemuter says the same. Note that he taught how to interpret his music, not how to play them technically
@@Samuri_Jack_Enjoyer third class is better than a lot of people.
A TOMBEAU DE COUPERIN SCORE VIDEO WITH GOOD AUDIO. I swear this channel is a God send
Edit: and the usual amazing analysis. Thank you so much
The fugue was a real ear-opener for me. Prior to Ravel's fugue, I had only played Bach fugues and a smattering by other classical composers. None affected me the way Bach's did. But Ravel's did. It showed me there was a way to do fugues with a 20th century sound. I went on a hunt for 20th century fugues and was rewarded with some great works. I love fugues and Ravel's holds a special place in my heart for opening this new aural landscape for me.
Longhaul Blue
may you recommend some modern fugue pieces? I’m just really interested
@@adamchenadamov Dmitri Shostakovich's 24 preludes and fugues, a homage to Bach's WTC. The original recording is by Tatiana Nikolayeva. But I prefer Keith Jarrett's and Jenny Lin's recordings, both available on their "topic" channels. Paul Hindemith's Ludus Tonalis. Richter's recording is probably the best known. And, for something really modern, Rodion Shchedrin's 24 preludes and fugues, v1 and v2. Volume 2 is hard to find but the Wellesz theater channel has volume 1 with the composer playing. And finally, for something really different, Nikolai Kapustin's 24 preludes and fugues. Kapustin's music has a very strong jazz influence. Lots of notes and it is often hard to hear the fugal motives. Enjoy!
@@longhaulblue1145 the Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues are an absolute masterpiece. To my mind, they're as good as Bach's 48, although I feel I should be watching the sky for divine retribution when I say that.
What about alkan's fugue in the second movement of his sonata.
try barber’s fugue from the fourth movement of the e minor sonata. it’s quite an experience
Truly one of the greatest works of music in history. I just keep coming back to it.
It’s like that everytime with Ravel
It's contagious, 😉.
@goober5343 lil nas❤x sooo gay loaf loaff
@goober5343 nah I love him because he
The section at 8:02 changed my life.
It's one of the most tranquilizing short moments in Ravel's compositions. It's truly amazing
Me too
I really like how Lortie plays the chromatically adjacent notes from the same section so softly at 34:08
Its wonderful
It might one of my favorite sections of music of all time
That Minuet is in Ravel's restrained-but-melancholy mode and I find it deeply touching. Beautiful performance of this wonderful set. gorgeous pieces.
Thank you for giving one of my favourite pieces of all time some attention.
Also, I'm convinced you're a musical analytical genius. I'll never get tired of reading your descriptions; they just make you hear... different.
Thanks for all this effort, it really makes a difference.
There's something very sincere and wholesome about Milstein's Menuet that I just can't place.
Oh that Prelude. Ear candy. It doesn't matter if i listen to it orchestrated or piano. Ravel was magic.
This is marvelously played. I always prefer the piano version of this to the orchestrated version. This seems so much more suited to the piece. The tenderness of some of the smaller moments and the elasticity of the tempi. I'm going to get this piece back under my fingers.
Ravels music feels so asian at times!
I much prefer Ravel as a piano composer than as a composer for orchestra
oh, this is marvelous. Thanks, as always, Ashish. There's a jewel-like elegance to Ravel that no other composer, except perhaps Mozart, matches. One of my piano teachers had a perfect comparison between Debussy and Ravel: "Debussy is Monet. Ravel is Seurat."
ravel was the son of a swiss clock maker and he himself said once about his music that it was "all mozart" - i hear the mozart but ravel has his unique 20th century sound and bach- like sophistication
Ravel have something special hes the only composer i cant match with any other composer sometimes
Took a number of years of intro piano as a child, then a mere one semester refresher at a junior college, so I'm less than an amateur player. BUT, I see the sheet music and hear the opening notes of my favorite Ravel composition, and know how difficult but beautiful this piece is. A crowning achievement of humanity, in my humble opinion.
Fun Fact: In French "tombeau" sounds like both "tomb" and "beautiful sound" -- _tone beau_ -- so _Le Tombeau de Couperin_ can either mean "the tomb of Couperin" or "the beautiful sound of Couperin".
even as a french I didn't even notice, I gotta be deaf
But why did he name this piece 'The tomb of Couperin' though? Why tomb, and why Couperin?
@@hoangdang6142 ravel was trying to pay homage to Couperin and the music style of Couperin’s era
You read Lacan, didn't you?
No offense - hadn't realized that. But in French it's "ton", not "tone". Since you put "tone" in italics I assume you're saying the French word is "tone" but it's "ton". And by the way, if it were "tone" it wouldn't be pronounced the way you're suggesting it would be to make this interesting double entendre. My computer won't allow italics. I'm not sure how you got them to appear, actually. Could you tell me how you did that?
The forlane is like a legend in my life. Too beautiful, too cheerful.
Amen to that.
I totally agree. When you think it cannot get more colored and aromatic, Ravel show us a totally different thing! Marvelous. I mean, that chord in 13:30 . Wow
A fugue written by Ravel? I already know I’m in for a VERY pleasant surprise :)
@5A29 WONG YIN HEI A teacher of mine I studied with many years ago hated this fugue, but I suspect that his lines of musical thinking ran along very narrow lines. Bartok and Stravinsky were gods to him, but in no way would I accept either of those in such a capacity.
As for Ravel, comparing him to Debussy, a conductor friend of mine made an interesting observation, which I would certainly not disagree with - that Ravel was less original than Debussy, but he was a much better composer. That actually is easy to see when one compares pieces of similar genre.
@@alger3041 Less original? I don't think orchestrations like from this suite or Daphnes et Chloe are unoriginal pieces. Calling unoriginal to Ravel is a blasphemy.
@@alger3041 --- I see Ravel as a Magician, and Debussy as a Wizard, yet I love and play both. Lortie studied with one of my teachers, who taught me to fully relax.
@@alejandrom.4680 First of all, we were referring to the actual music. Ravel was less of a ground breaker but what he accomplished was far more solidly based. The orchestration is never the first thing I look at.
@@alejandrom.4680 I'd say it's a very fair statement. Ravel is nowhere near the most innovative composer and Debussy is certainly a contender. That isn't a dismissal of Ravel, however. Ravel did other things.
Milstein:
00:00 - Prelude
03:05 - Fugue
06:25 - Forlane
13:51 - Rigaudon
17:24 - Menuet
22:18 - Toccata
Lortie:
26:32 - Prelude
29:34 - Fugue
32:35 - Forlane
38:44 - Rigaudon
41:50 - Menuet
46:48 - Toccata
Nice, thank you.
Thanks, Nekorabji.:3
Your descriptions are just AMAZING. Thank you for describing these pieces with so many details !!
Dear Ashish, this year is the 250th anniversary of Beethoven birth, so, because your videos are amazing, and are different from others because you put gorgeous unknowns recordings, I would be glad if you uploaded Beethoven’s piano concertos
I'll give it a shot! There's a bunch of recordings I already have in mind. :)
He does have a recording of the 4th, by Pletnev.
Tim ward I know but it would be wonderful listening other performances of the third or the fifth by underrated pianist
@@AshishXiangyiKumar you could also upload some of sonatas played by Levit, he released the complete album last year ;)
It happened!
This has long been one of my favourite pieces. The playing here is both flawless and exquisitely expressive. I am currently working on solo guitar ‘arrangements’ of some of the movements from this suite, just for an interest and hobby. If I could play the piano to even a fair level (I don’t mean world-class, like this player), I don’t think I’d bother.
The piano is by a mile, my favourite musical instrument. I’ve tried really hard for decades, but never felt much affinity with playing one…
Yes!!! This is one of my absolute all-time favorite works for piano, by one of my favorite composers. My knowledge of music theory is severely limited, but I know that I absolutely how adore the refinement and composure of this suite steadily gives way to greater and greater emotion as it progresses. I see a lot of criticism of Ravel's work that it's all quite superficial, not delving deep enough into the human condition to place among the "great" composers. Ravel himself actually said nearly as much about this suite: "The dead are sad enough, in their eternal silence." But, in my very amateur perspective, if you really examine this work it becomes very difficult to argue that Ravel has no substance. The way that the emotion in this suite slowly progresses, from the discordance of the Forlane, to the harsh reintroduction of the A theme in the Rigaduon, to the composed tragedy of the Menuet, and finally climaxing in the absolute anguish of the Toccata- it's just breathtaking for me. I honestly have to mentally prepare myself sometimes before listening to the final movement, just because it can be so overwhelming.
Would love to see Scriabin 4 and 5! I heard them in concert a few days ago and I haven't been able to get them out of my head since! As always, thanks again for the upload, Ashish!
Since when are Scriabin's Sonatas played in concert? In California, it never happens.
@@birddoesnottalk1032 I live in California and saw Daniil Trifonov play Scriabin's 5th sonata in November last year. Also saw Yuja Wang play his 4th and 5th sonatas in 2020, so I don't know what you're going on about.
Les œuvre de Ravel sont d'une grandeur et d'une richesse écrasante. Je suis toujours surpris de redécouvrir tout ces détails à chaque écoute depuis des années; en admiration devant un tel soucis du détail dans son écriture.
Inégalable
amazing how someone can play this fast, yet so fluid.
Great that you're back. It would be great if you could upload a Haydn sonata and/or Schumann Op.12
I know what I’m gonna be listening to for the next month
I remember coming across a small pamphlet in my school's library.. published by Salabert, in which Messiaen writes about these pieces one by one.. fascinating stuff
im intrigued... do you remember the Pamphlets name?
00:01 - prelude
03:05 - Fuque
06:25 - Forlane
13:51 - Rigaudon
17:24 - Menuett
22:18 - Toccata
맑눈광을 이런 곳에서..!
Thank you so much for your contribution to spreading Ravel's music! Thanks to you I discovered this pearl and got interested again in instrumental music prior to XXI. It's beautiful to get my eyes opened to how different and complex human creations can be.
Sorry... I get so enchanted with the music I forget to click the "thumbs up"! Such a heart warming performance! I LOVE it! Merci mille fois!
The orchestral arrangement of this is every oboist's worst nightmare, but it's also so beautiful to play
FABULEUX ! En plus vous nous offrez une analyse passionnante de chaque œuvre. Ravel, Debussy et tant d'autres, un rêve . . .
Thank you! Ravel is by far my favorite composer for piano. He and Mozart have an almost eerily perfection when it comes to form.
Yes, except Ravel's music is actually interesting :P
@@lucasw5703 *gasp* :o Mozart has incredibly interesting music! but i dont blame you, most of his music was written as aristocratic background music so a great deal of it is boring.
@@lucasw5703 I agree with you haha
@@SeanDahlman1Mozart is the dumbest pianist I have ever heard, I don't know why is he refered as a genius
"Ravel's just one of those composers that make me proud to be human"
My cat: "Oh yes, i envy you humans, we don't have a Ravel".
Greetings from Rome Italy :-)
your cat has great musical tastes !
When you know that each movement is dedicated to a friend that died in the war, then the music becomes even more poignant. It explains the touch of sadness that permeates much of the music.
Aphex Twin is the Ravel of the electronic era. Their pieces are intricate, intense, and minutely detailed
Yeah I can definitely see the similarity, especially in albums like SAW 85-92 and Drukqs. Avril 14th sounds surprisingly Ravel-like
I want to learn this so bad now! An impressionistic masterpiece!
Welcome back dude! 😁
I'd love it if you covered Chopin's Polonaises, especially the early/less known ones. They are what got me into classical music. Huge fan of your channel!
Love that opening. Sounds like water flowing in a creek. I've been trying to figure out how to do that in my music. So I will borrow that technique using my very own melody. Thanks for the score! CHEERS to our room host, Ashish!
@HugeManlyBalls what
Your descriptions are always marvelous.
"it’s hard to escape the feeling when you’re actually listening to Ravel that his music is put together with a level of care and precision that no other composer quite matches"
And analysing it only reinforces this feeling. It's really incredible how everything fits together over longer lines too. New ideas flow naturally and refreshingly from previous ones, and then somehow end up exactly where they need to be in order for the next idea, or return of a previous one, to do the same.
This performance awakened my love affair with Tombeux. The pianist, whose identity I do not know , brought the Tom beau alive ,
Magnificent, illustrious, gorgeous
Now I know what Ravel must've heard while composing
Who can i thank, pianist playing with such God given genius ,technique, artistry,TO MAKE THIS PIECE COME ALIVE VIA CELL PHONE. THIS IS DEFINITIVE PERFORMANCE TO BE SELECTED FOR DESERT ISLES
if you're talking about the first performer it's nathalie milstein
I totally agree, Mr Hinnenkamp. The first performance quite literally changed my life. It’s so freaking beautiful.
His music really sticks out among composers. He has very own unique style. It's so catchy.
Una magistral obra de Ravel. Muy difícil de lograr dada su velocidad y carácter.
I feel like I've heard this style of piano playing is a throwback to what I heard growing up as a kid on Mr. Rogers neighborhood😊.
The dedication and structure of the piece may invoke Couperin, but the explorations in chromaticism are pure Bach Well Tempered Clavier.
Comme la première lumière de l'aube, cette musique ouvre les yeux à de nouvelles promesses et à toutes les merveilles de la nature. Evocatrices de pouvoirs au-delà de l'observation, ces pièces tirent les ficelles du cœur, attirent les nostalgies et réveillent les amours, les vies écorchés et la torpeur des veilleurs endormis¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@Sakusen ☀🖑 🤠
The toccata is truly breathtaking.
Both of these interpretations are excellent. I don't think I've ever heard anyone play the end of the toccata as well as Lortie.
I understand how much work and research goes into making these videos. You’ve turned this genre of video watching into a craft and I commend you greatly! I remember a year ago, I was looking for a good video of Le Tombeau de Couperin to follow along, and to my disappointment, there was only one of very low quality. That you so much for posting this! Im not sure if you take requests as I understand how much work goes into these videos, however, could you possibly one day do a video of the Goldberg Variations by the great master J.S. Bach? Love the videos!
Lortie's toccata sounds much energetic and toccata-like.
Fascinating. Thanks always for your work.
Fun fact: the melody at 10:25 in the Forlane is the main theme of Ravel’s Piano trio in a minor (first movement).
It’s not.
love the Forlane, minuet, and Toccata especially. All of it is lovely though. Rigaudon is a close contender for me
Thank you for uploading this! My favorite ravel piece:)
my all time favorite UA-cam channel!!!
My favourite performance of this treasurable work is that by Hüseyin Sermet - technique in spades and miraculous pedalling. Every detail just feels right.
Yay! You're back
Happy to see you're back
My God, that Menuet…amazeballs!
I do not see why someone would dislike this. Were they just having a bad day or something?
It's probably because Ashish left out an artist who they thought did a better job. I've disliked multiple "Best of Chopin" videos when they don't include his 4th Ballade or other obvious includes.
Ridiculous behavior done dislike the video sir, I can't understand too...
This was absolutely amazing. It really goes to show that you can pair any aesthetic style with the structure of the "antique" classical form and really make something clear and articulate. I don't mean to insult other music from this time period by insinuating that it isn't clear or articulate, but I will admit I'm not a huge fan of it (just my opinion; I have total respect for it). However, this piece has shown me that my issue with this era in music isn't in the aesthetic sensibilities of it but the structure of it. This really scratches the same exact itch that Beethoven's music does for me, and I'm so happy to have found this. Is any of Ravel's other work like this?
It makes me wonder what other artists could do with the "antique" forms, like rondo, fugue, sonata, etc. Not even just classical - what could Jimi Hendrix or MIles Davis have done with it? I really resent that prescribed form and structure are dismissed as "antique" these days; I really think they can elevate art to something extremely comprehensible and digestible, regardless of overlying style.
You should check out Ottorino Respighi's works
thank you for this upload! one of my favorite works always
Love your channel. Keep up the great work!
The trills give it such a baroque character...
Excellent intro, Ashish! Much food for thought (and listening). Thank you.
Milstein brought the score to the 21st c stylistically.
I am curious what your feelings are towards Satie? And if you plan on posting any videos of his in the future? The Pièces Froides I think are exquisite, especially performed by Reinbert De Leeuw, would love to see a video of that, or any Satie really. Thanks for what you do!!
menuet prelude and forlane are so gooodddddddddddddd
The "menuet" is a masterpiece!!
that Forlane is just too beautiful
Bless your soul for this upload. Lortie's performances on this, along with Gaspard de la nuit, are some of the most impactful piano performances I've ever heard. Where do you come across these recordings, and where can I find more?
Damn, 8:01 Is Very Good!!
you can visit the location where this was composed...Lyon La Foret...very cute. pay respect to this genius!
This splendor of words can not attach it
There is something extraordinary
This magnificent performance can only be said to be wonderful
From Tokyo of the Land of the Rising Sun 🇯🇵
today's my birthday... I'm a pianist... Thank you
Lortie is an amazing technician, but I find the Milstein versions to be more musical. Her "Forlane" captures the beautiful mysterious and sorrowful quality of the melody...while Lortie kind of races through it.
I love Prelude, Rigaudon and Toccata. Forlane is a close second.
Fugue and Menuet not really now.
My absolute favorite of Ravel's.
Yes, it looks he works every details to sound like fresh air, as it were no big deal behind
Love the channel!
I think both are wonderful. The minuet by Milstein is my pick and the Tocatta by Lortie is better. Thank you for the contrast!
I don't know this pianist but he plays the Fugue better than anyone. Simple and nothing tacky and fancy, just inexorable as it should be. Plain beauty.
Are you talking about Lortie? Milstein is a young woman lol
it's exceptionally difficult to achieve that intonation on the piano
26:15 Ravel went full Liszt there
Hi
I thought the same thing, bye-😭😭
This is a marvelous performance of Le Tombeau. Thank you for posting.
If you haven't heard it already, I'd suggest to anyone who loves this work as much as I do to listen to Hüseyin Sermet plays Ravel "Le Tombeau de Couperin".
ua-cam.com/video/42Pa0BN9yG4/v-deo.html
His lack of hesitation, crisp and punctual trills, and incredible pedaling opened up another level of hearing the music for me. He manages to bring out the inner voices in a way I have not heard anyone else who is playing this piece. The tempo seems correct to me, faster than most, but crisp and clean and deliberate. Just an amazing performance.
As a piano tuner I also notice that the upper trebles on the piano are stretched a bit more than most of the recordings I've heard-this gives those notes an extra 'sparkle' and brilliance. A beautiful sound indeed.
Love this; I think the Prelude was a bit fast--just a personal interpretation but I enjoy it at a slower tempo
It's addictive...
Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Could I also pop in a comment about the composer François Couperin (who wrote "Les Barricades Mystèrieuses") to whom this is dedicated I believe.
thank you for the lovely insight!
For me, all of the pieces in the suite are connected
Thanks so much for posting.
Que belleza, Dios