I think it's really nice that you actually decided to give the music a try and tried to listen to it from a different perspective, because I think you do listen to this kind of music in a different way. I agree that it's more passive. It's great for letting your mind wander. I think some parts of his music can be more attractive to people who don't have as much experience with piano, because people who have listened to A LOT of piano may find plain notes boring, while someone who hasn't can find them really pleasant to listen to, because they haven't gotten bored of them yet. But I also think this he plays his pieces differently every time to prevent this to some extent. He manages to find a lot of variation with very few notes. I think people study it too much as if it was classical. You can't really compare it to classical music, because it's too different and supposed to be. The point of it is that it is supposed to be minimalist and it it is supposed to be soft. Classical music often has very sudden changes, but a lot of people like the fact that Einaudi's music doesn't do that. He does change tonality, but subtly, and he plays each piece differently every time he plays it. He has a different style. I'm not quite sure what it is, but if you look for the things you would look for when a classical pianist plays, you might not notice the unique features in his style of playing. I have listened to many people playing Einaudi's pieces, and I think classical pianists often play his pieces very differently from contemporary minimalist pianists. The classical style of playing doesn't really fit with that kind of music I guess. In pieces like "Rolling Like a Ball" or "Swordfish", I really enjoy paying close attention to the way he plays. There is something special about it, and sometimes about the way he uses the pedals to produce different sounds. His music is fairly repetitive, and I think you made a good point about it being nice to listen to if you don't listen too closely (with some pieces, like Una Mattina). It's meditative music in a way. I find that some pieces are really interesting to listen closely to, while with others are better for just relaxing and letting your mind run. A lot of music is repetitive, and to me that can be a good thing, because I don't just want to hear the best part for a few seconds and then forget about it, I want to hear it throughout the entire piece, but in different ways. That's what makes his music so enchanting. What I really like about his music is that it can make people feel so much with such few notes. That's not an easy thing to do. To me, complexity is not a good thing, but that's subjective of course. I actually really enjoy playing his pieces. I agree that the repetitiveness makes them a bit boring to play in a way, but I also like the fact that their simplicity means that you really have to put effort into the way you play them. If you just play his pieces like a robot, they sound very flat and boring, but if you play around with softness, combined with releasing the pedal at just the right time, and pressing some keys harder than others, you can explore pieces endlessly. Obviously, you do this with any piece, but I feel like his pieces benefit from it even more and it's what makes them feel so magical. After having listened to a lot of his performances, I have noticed that he does play around a lot with these things himself. It's quite interesting how differently he plays them every time. His pieces are easy to learn, but difficult to master. The albums are also very different. If you compare these albums: Le Onde, Elements, Nightbook and Underwater, you really notice how different they are! I quite enjoy that. This was really a great video! Was interesting to hear about the perspective of a classical pianist. Also, your piece was actually a surprisingly good neoclassical piece. It didn't quite catch the Einaudi spirit, but it certainly sounds like a good neoclassical piece. In order to sound more like an Einaudi one, I think it would have to do a bit more with the melody. They are repetitive, but he still adds some more unique features to the different parts of his songs. He also tends to have one or two parts that are clearly the "best" parts, that stand out more from the rest of the piece, while the parts before/after should be a bit dragged out to make you really long for the best part. In a lot of pieces he also likes to mix in some lower notes once in a while, and let them fade away while the main parts are being played, such as in "Rolling Like a Ball". It makes the music sound a bit more dynamic despite the simplicity.
It's, in my opinion, not classical music. It is formulaic, repetitive and with an almost complete lack of harmonic tension. That doesn't mean it has no function. It serves as background music which doesn't intrude upon the ear, contrasting to the way traditionally constructed pieces have clearly defined focal moments. The point you make around 8min in about classical training is surely to the point.
I'd recommend you to watch a few of his live perfomances (and better not the solo-ones but with his mini-tiny orchestra) or visit one of his concerts. It might well change your opinion actually. The music is fuller and deeper and they do lots of changing to what is on his records. Very interesting variations with cello and violin. It is truly breathtaking.
I think Einaudi has nailed the Satie style of "lounge/easy listening" music. His minimalist style just allows the actual timbre of the piano to shine. Despite the minimilism, I do find his variance in rhythm/where he shifts the same melody around the bar over different beats quite interesting (a lot of his music is very similar in ideas to "the heart asks pleasure first").
Thank you for this video and your point of view Sebastien. I can’t agree with most of the comments though… I study music and piano at the conservatory and also listen to classic music since my childhood so I can tell the difference between a complex and a not so complex piece… But that doesn’t mean that you’re listening to mediocre music, just because is more simple… Sometimes we are in moments of listening to more elaborate compositions and sometimes our ears and mind just need something more simple but in the end it’s all MUSIC, it’s all ART… I can’t compare Chopin (my favourite composer) with Einaudi of course but that doesn’t mean that I don’t respect his work or think it’s mediocre because in the end he unites people with his Art, with Music, Classic or not… By the way, your piece is beautiful to hear Sebastien, simple or not you should compose more😉
the genius thing about Einaudi and Allevi is that they claim their music is classical music. A part from the simple structure, I think that people like it because they can say they are listening to classical music (everyone feels a little more "intellectual" this way)
And exactly this disguise as classical music is what annoys me about Einaudi. Apart from that i don’t care about it, but when someone approaches me telling they listen to classical music and then play this, i’m done. It’s repetitive and lacks any creativity. It’s basically repeating the same few chords without a real melody, only never ending arpeggios.
““Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.” Frédéric Chopin And what an amazing quote by an EDUCATED Musician! For the ones who love his music, Einaudi creates pieces that resonate profoundly. Built from deceptively simple musical motifs, he builds drama and intensity, clarity of sound and vibrant meaning. Like everything else in art, it's personal taste and what touches your heart.
One will never know. However Einaudi says. ‘I loved rock music, folk and classical - I honestly couldn’t choose between these types of music as they all gave me something. I couldn’t say “I love Chopin so I will throw away The Beatles”.’ ❤🎹🎼
If his music would be food would be Haribo. It pleases everybody you get the same stuff in numerous variations. It is comercial it’s sticky. It’s not realy nurishing it’s not a meal it is ready to go. Everybody loves it but if you look closer it’s just sugar and artificial colour. Finally every one got his favourite variation and it’s everywhere since a while . A piece of culture. If you senses and nerves are to sensitive it will be painful to consume. Once you grow older you prefere to have some once in a while but not to crazy. It’s easier to find in a stadium then in a restaurant.
Great video Sebastien. Analytical approach which can be applied to many other things. I like your style by the way. Not a typical "youtuber" begging for likes. Nice clean videos with interesting content. If it pleases you then please continue! Merci!
Beautiful! The baby loves it too! Do you visualize dancing when listening to music? That’s something I do always with all music just don’t know what the moves are. This I could definitely see a beautiful ballerina dancing to
Personally I think it's a con. It's easy to stumble upon this way of playing when you are young or starting out and you find it impresses people at parties. More so than Chopin - because in the modern world far fewer people admire modulation, beautiful chords sequences development and virtuosity. Never mind it's harmless in the end and plenty of people find success with simple guitar music - why not the piano?
I actually really like Einaudi's composistions, they get easly stuck in your mind because of the repetition and the simple pattern, as an Italian we (aspiring pianist or amateurs) all get to study a couple pieces of him at a young age (at least, this is my experience). One of my favorite pieces from him is "Divenire", try to give It a listen of you don't know it, thank you for this interesting videos as always !
I don't mind teaching this style of music if the pupil loves it. I cant listen to it though because as you say, it lacks tension from dissonance. Repetetive chord sequences are for me easier to listen to if they contain more complex chords and dissonance 12 bar blues (all rock and roll), Coldplay, Hotel California which is an 8? bar repeating set of chords. I think though that you just 'get into' listening to certain styles, and your brain adjusts. Same with Einaudi.
I listen to Einaudi on occasion. Very pretty music. I find, though, when I’m hours on the road between Texas cities I can’t listen to it very long. I get irritated (and I’m surprised at my own reaction). Einaudi also sounds like soundtrack music when I’m driving…. and I feel I’m a very minor character in my own movie! However, I play a couple Einaudi pieces on the piano. Very nice, especially late at night. Thanks for the video. I was wondering about this.
He’s supposed to be simple and easy to play and listen to, he’s a minimalist composer, same as max richter, Hans zimmer, Yann tiersen etc.. you can’t compare them to the classical greats, but the music they compose is still great in its own right, minimalist composing is the opposite to classical music, and really it’s referred to as contemporary classical not traditional classical.
in an architectural comparison, most modern "classical" composers are like the concrete-pouring Brutalist butchers of Beauty, and einaudi is the exact opposite: a clean, watery wooden house in a japanese garden.
Hey, Sebastien thanks for the videos. I watched them all yesterday evening and find them both entertaining and educational. Would you consider doing one of your routine videos about Schubert? Would love to see a video dedicated to him.
Only unsuccessful pianists, pretending to be pro pianists, criticize Ludovico Einaudi. He literally sells out events in minutes, months before. I just don't understand it. Mainstream people don't give a damn about technicalities, modularity or whatsoever. People want beautiful music that touches their hearts and marks their life moments. Good that you ended the video with some positive notes about Ludovico Einaudi.
I’ve been studying piano for 3 months. Einaudi is like sex: something you do not something you listen to 😅. It may not be sophisticated for a classically trained professional musician but for a beginner it’s playable. I agree your composition is better: more nuanced. What would you suggest for a beginner? Where can I get hold of your compositions?
you have to put the shape its not about playing the notes you have to make the hypnosis effect with velocity of each notes I know its stupid but that makes the beauty otherwise it is very poor yes but managing the velocities is difficult be honest bro
Unfortunately, cultural journalism has also been infiltrated by right-wing journalists. These are people who no longer bother to discuss the music itself, but instead graft their world view onto it by playing off the popular against the highly cultural. They justify this by saying that the popular has the audience success, by which they mean nothing other than what brings in the most money. In doing so, they adopt a neoliberal attitude that has nothing to do with art itself resp. its contents and also prefer to discuss entertainment rather than art. This attitude also stems from resentment towards the sophisticated and scholarly. Yet it would be precisely the task of cultural journalism to simply explain the more difficult to the readership, as is done in science journalism, where it is obvious that journalists must not conceal the more demanding because it is not popular enough.
Einaudi is successful for the same reason like Taylor Swift: mediocrity perfected Both of their music is perfectly predictable without the slightest ambition. No memorable melodies, harmonies or rhythms.
The entire point of his music is that the melodies are memorable. He makes great melodies, that's why people like it. You don't have to like it, but it's quite arrogant to pretend like that kind of thing is not subjective. Music doesn't have to be complex. I don't even like complexity. Get off your high horse.
I think it's really nice that you actually decided to give the music a try and tried to listen to it from a different perspective, because I think you do listen to this kind of music in a different way. I agree that it's more passive. It's great for letting your mind wander. I think some parts of his music can be more attractive to people who don't have as much experience with piano, because people who have listened to A LOT of piano may find plain notes boring, while someone who hasn't can find them really pleasant to listen to, because they haven't gotten bored of them yet. But I also think this he plays his pieces differently every time to prevent this to some extent. He manages to find a lot of variation with very few notes.
I think people study it too much as if it was classical. You can't really compare it to classical music, because it's too different and supposed to be. The point of it is that it is supposed to be minimalist and it it is supposed to be soft. Classical music often has very sudden changes, but a lot of people like the fact that Einaudi's music doesn't do that. He does change tonality, but subtly, and he plays each piece differently every time he plays it. He has a different style. I'm not quite sure what it is, but if you look for the things you would look for when a classical pianist plays, you might not notice the unique features in his style of playing. I have listened to many people playing Einaudi's pieces, and I think classical pianists often play his pieces very differently from contemporary minimalist pianists. The classical style of playing doesn't really fit with that kind of music I guess. In pieces like "Rolling Like a Ball" or "Swordfish", I really enjoy paying close attention to the way he plays. There is something special about it, and sometimes about the way he uses the pedals to produce different sounds.
His music is fairly repetitive, and I think you made a good point about it being nice to listen to if you don't listen too closely (with some pieces, like Una Mattina). It's meditative music in a way. I find that some pieces are really interesting to listen closely to, while with others are better for just relaxing and letting your mind run. A lot of music is repetitive, and to me that can be a good thing, because I don't just want to hear the best part for a few seconds and then forget about it, I want to hear it throughout the entire piece, but in different ways. That's what makes his music so enchanting. What I really like about his music is that it can make people feel so much with such few notes. That's not an easy thing to do. To me, complexity is not a good thing, but that's subjective of course.
I actually really enjoy playing his pieces. I agree that the repetitiveness makes them a bit boring to play in a way, but I also like the fact that their simplicity means that you really have to put effort into the way you play them. If you just play his pieces like a robot, they sound very flat and boring, but if you play around with softness, combined with releasing the pedal at just the right time, and pressing some keys harder than others, you can explore pieces endlessly. Obviously, you do this with any piece, but I feel like his pieces benefit from it even more and it's what makes them feel so magical. After having listened to a lot of his performances, I have noticed that he does play around a lot with these things himself. It's quite interesting how differently he plays them every time. His pieces are easy to learn, but difficult to master.
The albums are also very different. If you compare these albums: Le Onde, Elements, Nightbook and Underwater, you really notice how different they are! I quite enjoy that.
This was really a great video! Was interesting to hear about the perspective of a classical pianist. Also, your piece was actually a surprisingly good neoclassical piece. It didn't quite catch the Einaudi spirit, but it certainly sounds like a good neoclassical piece. In order to sound more like an Einaudi one, I think it would have to do a bit more with the melody. They are repetitive, but he still adds some more unique features to the different parts of his songs. He also tends to have one or two parts that are clearly the "best" parts, that stand out more from the rest of the piece, while the parts before/after should be a bit dragged out to make you really long for the best part. In a lot of pieces he also likes to mix in some lower notes once in a while, and let them fade away while the main parts are being played, such as in "Rolling Like a Ball". It makes the music sound a bit more dynamic despite the simplicity.
It's, in my opinion, not classical music. It is formulaic, repetitive and with an almost complete lack of harmonic tension. That doesn't mean it has no function. It serves as background music which doesn't intrude upon the ear, contrasting to the way traditionally constructed pieces have clearly defined focal moments. The point you make around 8min in about classical training is surely to the point.
Thanks 😊
I'd recommend you to watch a few of his live perfomances (and better not the solo-ones but with his mini-tiny orchestra) or visit one of his concerts. It might well change your opinion actually. The music is fuller and deeper and they do lots of changing to what is on his records. Very interesting variations with cello and violin. It is truly breathtaking.
I think Einaudi has nailed the Satie style of "lounge/easy listening" music. His minimalist style just allows the actual timbre of the piano to shine. Despite the minimilism, I do find his variance in rhythm/where he shifts the same melody around the bar over different beats quite interesting (a lot of his music is very similar in ideas to "the heart asks pleasure first").
Agree
when you play or when I play it it's not the same than him I know it's painful to admit but its true
Thank you for this video and your point of view Sebastien. I can’t agree with most of the comments though… I study music and piano at the conservatory and also listen to classic music since my childhood so I can tell the difference between a complex and a not so complex piece… But that doesn’t mean that you’re listening to mediocre music, just because is more simple… Sometimes we are in moments of listening to more elaborate compositions and sometimes our ears and mind just need something more simple but in the end it’s all MUSIC, it’s all ART… I can’t compare Chopin (my favourite composer) with Einaudi of course but that doesn’t mean that I don’t respect his work or think it’s mediocre because in the end he unites people with his Art, with Music, Classic or not… By the way, your piece is beautiful to hear Sebastien, simple or not you should compose more😉
😊🙏
the genius thing about Einaudi and Allevi is that they claim their music is classical music. A part from the simple structure, I think that people like it because they can say they are listening to classical music (everyone feels a little more "intellectual" this way)
Classical music is for intelligent people 🧠
Good point, didnt think about that 😅
Einaudi's music is like sex without orgasm. It leaves you feeling empty, cheated, unfulfilled and frustrated. I can't waste my time listening to it.
And exactly this disguise as classical music is what annoys me about Einaudi. Apart from that i don’t care about it, but when someone approaches me telling they listen to classical music and then play this, i’m done. It’s repetitive and lacks any creativity. It’s basically repeating the same few chords without a real melody, only never ending arpeggios.
““Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.” Frédéric Chopin
And what an amazing quote by an EDUCATED Musician!
For the ones who love his music, Einaudi creates pieces that resonate profoundly. Built from deceptively simple musical motifs, he builds drama and intensity, clarity of sound and vibrant meaning. Like everything else in art, it's personal taste and what touches your heart.
Im sure chopin would hate einaudi, he didnt like many composers other than him mozart and bach.
One will never know. However Einaudi says. ‘I loved rock music, folk and classical - I honestly couldn’t choose between these types of music as they all gave me something. I couldn’t say “I love Chopin so I will throw away The Beatles”.’ ❤🎹🎼
Perfectly deracinated music for dreamless sleep of the last man.
Agree 😊
I prefer your composition to Einaudi's. You captured the style, but yours sounds more interesting.
Thank you 😊
Hi Sebestian, you are a wonderful father and a wonderful pianist!
😊🙏
It just sounds nice. My favourites are oltremare, the experience, giorni dispari. They just sound beautiful.
If his music would be food would be Haribo. It pleases everybody you get the same stuff in numerous variations. It is comercial it’s sticky. It’s not realy nurishing it’s not a meal it is ready to go. Everybody loves it but if you look closer it’s just sugar and artificial colour. Finally every one got his favourite variation and it’s everywhere since a while . A piece of culture. If you senses and nerves are to sensitive it will be painful to consume. Once you grow older you prefere to have some once in a while but not to crazy. It’s easier to find in a stadium then in a restaurant.
😂
Nice comparison! I would personally compare Einaudi to cheetos: very cheesy.
keep doing videos like this they are very entertaining!
Great video Sebastien. Analytical approach which can be applied to many other things. I like your style by the way. Not a typical "youtuber" begging for likes. Nice clean videos with interesting content. If it pleases you then please continue! Merci!
Thank you
Beautiful! The baby loves it too! Do you visualize dancing when listening to music? That’s something I do always with all music just don’t know what the moves are. This I could definitely see a beautiful ballerina dancing to
Personally I think it's a con. It's easy to stumble upon this way of playing when you are young or starting out and you find it impresses people at parties. More so than Chopin - because in the modern world far fewer people admire modulation, beautiful chords sequences development and virtuosity. Never mind it's harmless in the end and plenty of people find success with simple guitar music - why not the piano?
I actually really like Einaudi's composistions, they get easly stuck in your mind because of the repetition and the simple pattern, as an Italian we (aspiring pianist or amateurs) all get to study a couple pieces of him at a young age (at least, this is my experience). One of my favorite pieces from him is "Divenire", try to give It a listen of you don't know it, thank you for this interesting videos as always !
I will, thanks too 😊
I don't mind teaching this style of music if the pupil loves it. I cant listen to it though because as you say, it lacks tension from dissonance. Repetetive chord sequences are for me easier to listen to if they contain more complex chords and dissonance 12 bar blues (all rock and roll), Coldplay, Hotel California which is an 8? bar repeating set of chords. I think though that you just 'get into' listening to certain styles, and your brain adjusts. Same with Einaudi.
I listen to Einaudi on occasion. Very pretty music. I find, though, when I’m hours on the road between Texas cities I can’t listen to it very long. I get irritated (and I’m surprised at my own reaction). Einaudi also sounds like soundtrack music when I’m driving…. and I feel I’m a very minor character in my own movie!
However, I play a couple Einaudi pieces on the piano. Very nice, especially late at night.
Thanks for the video. I was wondering about this.
Nice to hear 😊
Tu as carrément acheté en ligne une partition 😢
Par contre ta première compo m'est restée dans la tête après une écoute...efficace le post-classique 🙃
Oui en effet 😊
He’s supposed to be simple and easy to play and listen to, he’s a minimalist composer, same as max richter, Hans zimmer, Yann tiersen etc.. you can’t compare them to the classical greats, but the music they compose is still great in its own right, minimalist composing is the opposite to classical music, and really it’s referred to as contemporary classical not traditional classical.
You can always compare whatever you want to and i explained why i did
To get views yes
@@markfowlermusicwhats wrong with wanting views?
@@horoffraI don’t know I’m no pro pianist like you
it's true, but sadly people do that anyway by saying Einaudi is classical music. :/
in an architectural comparison, most modern "classical" composers are like the concrete-pouring Brutalist butchers of Beauty,
and einaudi is the exact opposite: a clean, watery wooden house in a japanese garden.
Hey, Sebastien thanks for the videos. I watched them all yesterday evening and find them both entertaining and educational. Would you consider doing one of your routine videos about Schubert? Would love to see a video dedicated to him.
Yes maybe soon
I love the thumbnail 😂😂
Also in 3:49 there is a Liszt picture, and who is the guy behind the sofa? 🤔🤔🤔
Haha thanks. 😂 well thats Liszt
Only unsuccessful pianists, pretending to be pro pianists, criticize Ludovico Einaudi. He literally sells out events in minutes, months before. I just don't understand it. Mainstream people don't give a damn about technicalities, modularity or whatsoever. People want beautiful music that touches their hearts and marks their life moments.
Good that you ended the video with some positive notes about Ludovico Einaudi.
Happy your happy
I’ve been studying piano for 3 months. Einaudi is like sex: something you do not something you listen to 😅. It may not be sophisticated for a classically trained professional musician but for a beginner it’s playable. I agree your composition is better: more nuanced. What would you suggest for a beginner? Where can I get hold of your compositions?
I didnt publish it 😊
you have to put the shape its not about playing the notes you have to make the hypnosis effect with velocity of each notes I know its stupid but that makes the beauty otherwise it is very poor yes but managing the velocities is difficult be honest bro
Will you make a video about Joep Beving?
Good idea
3:46 I approve the portrait 🎉
😉
Thanks!
Thank you a lot! 😊🙏
What about the EDM?
I am curious to know what you think about Joeo Beving ?
Probably the same
Unfortunately, cultural journalism has also been infiltrated by right-wing journalists. These are people who no longer bother to discuss the music itself, but instead graft their world view onto it by playing off the popular against the highly cultural. They justify this by saying that the popular has the audience success, by which they mean nothing other than what brings in the most money. In doing so, they adopt a neoliberal attitude that has nothing to do with art itself resp. its contents and also prefer to discuss entertainment rather than art. This attitude also stems from resentment towards the sophisticated and scholarly. Yet it would be precisely the task of cultural journalism to simply explain the more difficult to the readership, as is done in science journalism, where it is obvious that journalists must not conceal the more demanding because it is not popular enough.
Who sat in the back seat of your BMW while your dog sat in the front...
Einaudi is successful for the same reason like Taylor Swift: mediocrity perfected
Both of their music is perfectly predictable without the slightest ambition. No memorable melodies, harmonies or rhythms.
The entire point of his music is that the melodies are memorable. He makes great melodies, that's why people like it. You don't have to like it, but it's quite arrogant to pretend like that kind of thing is not subjective. Music doesn't have to be complex. I don't even like complexity. Get off your high horse.
david bruce ripoff