Hamelin - Etude No. 6 "Omaggio a D. Scarlatti"

[thaiguy20fromla]

"Don't fall off the bench!"

[greatclassical1]

What a gifted player. Stunning

[gsarci2011]

waht scarlatti pieces are in this piece?

[twooffour]

@gsarci2011

From what he says in the booklet, it's a general homage to the reoccurring elements/tropes in the Scarlatti sonatas.

[kingvictory2003]

ok how does he keep a straight face while playing this, and how do people in the audience not bust their sides laughing?? As for myself, LOLOL!

[twooffour]

@kingvictory2003

I was at his Munich recital few months ago, and there were giggles and chuckles during his 12 etudes all the time :D

[y1g1tcn]

which piece of D. Scarlatti was he inspired by?

[Laudan08]

Jesus epic chord at 3:00

[outterspaces]

Hyperion is lucky to have him as a recording artist - and it should stay this way. Hamelin never liked the big fake fame that labels like DG can produce for him in no time. Plus, DG or Philips would definitely not agree with his repertoire choices. Hyperion do! Let's face it - nobody can rival his skills but a handful of pianists who - no surprise - also record mostly for Hyperion... Hough, Coombs, Osborne...

[abmsghost]

@outterspaces totally agree..exept osborne off course.

[miker2001]

What amazes me, is that he carries all this music around in his head. All he needs is a piano. 

[Gibson29]

@miker2001 You would be surprised how fast one can memorize complicated works of music. Keep in mind you've practiced / played any particular section over 1000 times, and pianists at a level such as Hamelin either practice, or just play for pleasure all day long. He obviously has remarkable intellectual capacity.

Although he is not one of my most favorite pianists, Evgeny Kissin obviously has an absolutely extraordinary intellectual capacity as well.

[abmsghost]

@Gibson29 you are obviously not a professional hence you completely irrelevant and wrong comment with regards to memorizing.But you are forgiven.

[Bartkei]

hoi



[afertyus1000]

why does'nt yuja wang play this? cos she can't

[demosj]

This doesn't make sense. :/ Just really weird.

[mrkwonsony]

whos da fukin idiot clicked on dislikes ????????????

[lexarsepa]

I just finished posting all but Hamelin Etudes 3 "After Paganini-Liszt", 6 "Omaggio a Domenico Scarlatti", 9 "La Danza", and 12 "Prelude and Fugue" can already be found played by Hamelin on youtube, so I felt no obligation to put them up.

[N0tturno]

Ma il circus galop è di Hamelin?

[twooffour]

Can anyone make out all of the influences on this piece?

I can make out the C major sonata, but none else at the moment...

[kastlesucksTDOTS]

I feel incredibly fortunate, I will be seeing him perform live on sunday!

[jojoereturns]

I really like this piece for some reason.

[MrGrigor99]

This guy is a freaking circus act! But I love it!!!!

[chutdigadut]

he makes me feel like SUCH a noob...

[mdeonx16]

I feel exactly like this as well, terrible to be learning piano and then hear the grandest of the grandmasters play. ^,,^

[Haeronthegreat]

This is just an amazing pastiche!

[pianoman64]

Any idea if this music is available in print anywhere?

[dallaspianophile]

Magnificent! I love it!

[flic71]

io AMO quest'uomo!!!!!!

[jre58591]

Anch'io, hehe.

[sonodavide]

anche io!

[danedaworld]

I can just imagine Cziffra going up to him and giving him a highfive and saying "Hellz yea, datz mah bitch right there"

[patricioapaez]

haha that would be awesome

[CSPlayerDamon]

@danedaworld That would be so ROFLOAIMAO

[SwordlessSlayerIzPro]

piano stool potato...

[felix0911176727]

I love this piece!!!

[lovesGenet]

his humor mo lika dat  dude pro cough yev

[pianoman64]

1:58 is SO hilarious!

[Corleone1337]

You're right! It's one of the best musical moments ever! Priceless..

[danedaworld]

is he even trying o.O

[Pianisteny2k]

Wonder if he'd beat Liszt or Godowsky in a technique-competition... Seriously...

[pookiehohn]

He'd be on par with Godowsky, I don't know about Liszt though, he was amazing.

[afertyus1000]

@Pianisteny2k not liszt

[coasterman16]

I love the hand crossing section at 0:34 - 0:45

[klavigen]

Ich bin froh, dass wir beide Pianisten haben. LangLang sollte nicht unterschätzt werden, denn seine musikalische Reifung geht mit Riesenschritte. Wer sein Klavierkonzert Nr, 4 von Beethoven mit c. eschenbach kennt, wird nicht mehr an LangLang zweifeln können.

Zud zum Glück ist bereits Hamelin auch weltberühmt. Derartige superqualität des Geistes setzt sich einfach durch. Das enorme Verdienst von Hamelin ist eben, dass er lauter Werke ins Licht holt, die ansonsten verborgen blieben.

[jasonextreme]

Why is Lang Lang more famous than him?

[klangfarbegitarre]

because lang lang more idiot than him

[Barnaldomort]

best comment I've seen in a long time =D

So true.

[vincecharus]

If a pianist can play like Hamelin, would he still care about being famous?

[jasonextreme]

Umm... yes!

Liszt and Paganini wanted fame for what they did. Why should it be different for Hamelin?

[SevenCircles]

Liszt and Paganini had the looks and the image 100%. Paganini for isntance had long curly hair and sideburns and eyes that looked like he was possesed, it was extremely provocative in those days to have hair like Paganini or Liszt had.

if Hamelin had hair down to the floor and and a ZZ Top beard he would have been the most famous classical pianist in the world I have no doubt about that.

[jasonextreme]

Then he should do it.

Too bad some people are too afraid of such self-image.

I would accept him as truly the greatest if he can burst onto the public scene with such grandeur.

To the greater audience, he is simply a Classical pianist. To prominent classical listeners, he would be the MAN!!!

[KeithWhalen11]

Such an interesting debate! I would love to see Hamelin bust onto the concert platform wearing a cape and run around like a piano superhero. In the classical realm there isn't much room for image, I know there's a long history there but classical would probably touch a larger market if it wasn't so stiff. Take Buckethead for example, he's a great guitar player but his fame comes from the fact that A) we never see his face and B) he wears a KFC bucket on his head. Without it he'd be another guy.

[Aul1kki]

The cape doens't make it different. Most of people however won't listen this kind of music, supermansuit or not. Mixing everything isn't always a good thing. But I kinda agree with you still. So many people would find this interesting, but they never face it. One of my metal friend once listened a vivaldi's seasons with his ipod just because some guitarists had made cover of it.

[KeithWhalen11]

It wouldn't change the music but the experience, which is why a metal concert is the way it is vs. a piano recital. It's funny that you mention metal because as a guitar player I started out playing that sort of thing and then gradually became more interested in piano music. It's not for everyone; the music has to move you and despite the technical wizardry at work here if you're not involved with the music you might as well stick to what works for you. I agree with you.

[JlDsanity]

no he wouldn't. because I'm a piano major in college myself, and if could play like hamelin, then that's all that would matter to me. but I guess it differs per person. some ppl would; others wouldn't care.

[mdeonx16]

certainly not

[EdiEllerymissing]

Because Lang Lang have a better manager and he only care about money. He is like a rockstar, he have some kind of charisma. To bad for the once great Detusche Gramaphone. Today they only care about how many records they can sell...

[calflyboy]

Not only is Hamelin a truly great musician. But he has the heart to make it available to evreryone and for free ! Where is Lortie, here on Youtube? Another truly great pianist but not NEARLY as GENEROUS as Hamelin. A truly likable genius.

[mdeonx16]

Maybe I should be a visual artist instead...

[mikhailasanovic]

sick

[Waldszenen]

No matter what he's playing, he always makes it look so easy. I envy him. :(

[78625amginE]

Lol awesome

Get to hear his sense of humor at 2:35...gotta love it!

[antoinezygfryd]

Il y a vraiment des gens pour écouter ça et trouver ça beau? intéressant? musical?

[dryst420]

peut etre que tas envie d'me faire ecouter du 50 cents dabord

hail true music

[antoinezygfryd]

réponse américaine type! ah ah

[calflyboy]

Il y a des gens qui ont l'esprit assez ouvert pour comprendre et apprecier la musique qui est moderne et qui est de qualite. Et il y a les gens qui ne l'ont pas..............ha ha ha

[antoinezygfryd]

Sans doute,sans doute,mais Scarlatti a composé environ 550 sonates:-je suppose que vous les connaissez toutes et que vous êtes fatigué de les entendre,aussi avez-vous besoin de ce genre de distraction que vous appelez joliment "musique moderne".

Ha ha ha!!!

[hophmi]

Don't understand his lack of star power. I don't think he's even performing in NY this year. He's a very, very modest guy; it could be that. He happens to have the best technique in the world and is one the best musicians in the world as proven by the way he sounds when he is playing the regular repertoire.

[fdaltrey]

I think he had a recital at the MET recently. I've seen him twice, and met him once. He's definitely a nice guy. As for popularity, I think there are certain factors...

1) He isn't particularly associated with any 'star' conductor for concerto performances (like Lang Lang and Eschenbach, Pollini and Muti/Abbado, Lewis and C. Davis, etc.)

2) He doesn't perform enough of the standard repertoire, and he records for a niche label

3) People mistake subtlety for boring, non spontaneous play

[fdaltrey]

4) He lacks the visual appeal of Jonas Kaufman (singer, but still), the young Pollini, Grimaud (beautiful), etc.

5) He never won the major competitions: Tchaikovsky or Chopin.

[Aul1kki]

I think you are right. So sad that something like lang lang other "actors" has so much popularity. Lang lang is great player, but those ridiculous faces and stuff aren't nice to watch. When you are in competition and there are two players that you can not say which one is better, the winner is that one who makes more faces or big movements or something like "put one's soul into" piece. Or winner can be even worse than the other, but he got more stage skills.

[fdaltrey]

The pros and cons of competition format are too numerous to list here, and I'm pretty sure you're well aware of them. But I think it's a mistake when people like Harold Schoenberg claim it's purely a modern formula for success. Bartok competed against Backhaus in his youth; Michelangeli redeemed himself at Geneva after being beaten to a pulp by Gilels. It's been an imortant process to attract and put to test their ability against duress for quite some time, and the judges are not incompetent

[JlDsanity]

Exactly. I love hamelin because he is a brilliant musician; when playing the piano, i belive that little emotion should be physically shown, but only through the body and the hands. the hands and the body produce the music for the piano, not the face, which is why i don't like it when a pianist shows a lot of facial expression (its over the top, really) Hamelin posseses the best technique in the world in my opinion and ive never seen him show facial expression.

[JJKjaer]

It's really a true masterpiece! Does anyone know how to get the scores?

[pigolet2178]

why he is so underrated? gosh he's such a great pianist and talented composer

[Hellspire]

Well he's one of the best IMHO. He is the only classical performer to date who has one a Grammy, which says something about his rating. Then again, look what happened at said Grammy, he played a relatively simple piece (compared to his other works *cough alkan*). Additionally, he tends to play mostly lesser known composers, and lesser known (often, more difficult) works of well known composers. *shrugs* To say again, definitely one of the best.

[Haeronthegreat]

Has he played any Lyapunov? I'd love to hear that.

[YoelfromNL]

Yefim Bronfman has won a Grammy too, right..?

[Hellspire]

Hmmm, my mistake then--Bronfman has indeed. Or maybe that was some special category that the statement I made applied to. I cannot support it at this time.

[tonyshawk]

actually Glenn Gould won 4 grammies, but i like them both very much

[KeithWhalen11]

Are you speaking about his rendition of the first Godowsky-Chopin etude at the Grammy's? Certainly not a cakewalk!

[erloy00]

I played this piece a few years ago!

If someone want the sheet, I send by e-mail! =D

[sanctusignis]

Send to quasifugato26 @ yahoo . com please. Thanks!

[romotchka]

romotchka @ yahoo . com would be also very very interested. Thk you much by advance. Cheers,

R.

[innerswedish]

umm wow that was a really good composition.

[mephyman]

It's not an exaggeration to say that Hamelin's own compositions are the most convincingly individual currently being written for piano.

[animalmother1065]

beautiful, yet discordant... just the way i like it.

[zkool5]

Man, he's lost a LOT of hair since a few years ago. Time to visit the hair-loss expert(s)!

[steinwaykid]

Nice piece!!

[rickwodz]

A hundred pianists with MAH's technique? LOL. You couldn't find a dozen who could make the claim with a straight face. You can like him or not, but (for his technique at least) he is revered by other concert pianists the way Argerich was.

[tdavis2797]

lol...damn str8 i wouldn't even kid about having half his technique...

[Frozentoes1]

If I had half of HAH's technique, I would be rich!

[horowitzian1]

Nice!

[keendog16]

horowitzian, give me the sheet music Please!

[horowitzian1]

I have the sheet music fot this etude,if someone is interested i can send by e-mail.

It´s fun to play!

[seko9191]

ulan müzikçi bu scarlattinin ödevini verdi uğraş dur a.q

[ZELENOOKI21]

wow!amazing

[cziffra1980]

Odd. If he didn't play with such monotonous tone production it would sound more like he intended all the weird notes and less like he's just going wrong. I don't really get what he's trying to do with this. Clearly the arrangement is a piss-take but there's no real humour in the performance.

[ArmchairPundit]

Hamelin cerainly has technique, but I must agree in general with your assessment. Somehow he's boring here--or maybe it's the piece. In any event, he's never really impressed me. There must be a hundred pianists with his technique now, anyway.

[afertyus1000]

@ArmchairPundit you sir are deaf! i doubt if there are 5 in the world today

[jojoereturns]

@ArmchairPundit Your name should be ArmchairPianist =p

[optimusito]

If you dont understand the music and the mening of the playing you should just say that you dont get it

[wayneredhart]

what is there to get though?

[rickwodz]

I don't think it is a question of "getting it".  You could easily imagine the piece plyed with more feeling (although I don't know who you would find to do it).

[sshuck]

Love that omaggio!

[Mishan92]

What is an Omaggio?

anyway - Beautiful piece and preformance!

Thank's!

[paolohudson]

Omaggio is Italian for hommage

[hamelin82]

What a pianist!

The best in the world...

[kkotdehji]

**AMAZED**

[cowheadcow]

Not everyone is perfect. Even Hamelin makes mistakes I'm sure ;-)

Very cool!

[jre58591]

hamelin is a human afterall. he has been known to make mistakes. i caught a lot of mistakes when i saw him play the shostakovich concertos.

[paolohudson]

then again, who hasn't been known to make mistakes in concerts?

[loranga33]

Michelangeli?? ; - )

[brianCIM]

glenn gould. michelangeli is inhuman in that regard. i wonder if ABM even hits wrong notes while practicing. pollini also. funny thing is that pollini studied with ABM. amazing thing is that my teacher at CIM went to the steinway store in NY and pollini was practicing. he played all 24 chopin etudes without a wrong note. he just sat down and played all 24. i think i will give up piano, lol

[rickwodz]

I am a huge Gould fan, but he made lots of mistakes in concerts.

[rvn10rvn17]

who? hamelin? i heard Hamelin is caring very much for perfection..

[f1f1s]

@cowheadcow

Just watch his Stockholm performance and Alkan's Festine D'Esope. He plays impossibly fast, with only three (!) mistakes. Also, in Chopinata Hamelin plays a wrong bass, and in the cut Quasi-Faust (30 ans of Alkan's sonata) he is a bit nervous... Everyone misses, but Hamelin is so brilliant in other pieces that you try to notice them.

When Horowitz played, even if you did not want to notice him making mistakes, you did. =)

[cowheadcow]

@f1f1s I didn't intend that comment as a criticism. I made it to someone else who mentioned him missing notes. Believe me - I wouldn't complain about Hamelin. I want him to be the father of my children - even though I'm a guy.

[f1f1s]

@cowheadcow

I didn't want to criticize you either. You have a splendid sense of humour. So does M.-A. H. =D

[DoctorGradus]

of course he can.... :)

[DoctorGradus]

was that a mistake on 01:47?

if yes,then it is ironic...to make a mistake on the easiest part..

[jre58591]

actually, thats one of the harder parts. this video definitely is not one of his more accurate versions of this piece.

[DoctorGradus]

well i don't think its a mistake,he does it deliberately..and he does it again at the end..

[jre58591]

yeah, i had the score in front of me while i watched it again, and its not a mistake. thats how its written. also, he is the composer of this. he can do practically whatever he wants.

[guillaumepilote]

haha more like crystal meth

[elflass]

That's insanely cool, haha. Like Scarlatti on steroids! :P