Marc-Andre Hamelin plays Bach-Busoni Chaconne Part 1 of 2

[SoloFlyer55]

Not to mislead, I've listened to Mr. Hamelin's compositions and they are absolutely sublime.

[SoloFlyer55]

Finally! A concert pianist who shows emotion, one who exhibits passion, not just mechanical technique, but one who expresses genuine emotion which exudes from the soul to his fingers. How many times have I listened to so-called modern day composers and their compositions which seem to go nowhere, it is as if the composer is lost, mesmerized by his own creation stuck in infinite arpeggios, not knowing when, where, or how to get off!

Not this man, he leads the listener into blissful completeness

[Ungoliant101]

does anyone know if there are audio recordings available of this?

[madlovba3]

@Ungoliant101 Hamelin has never recorded this one on CD unfortunately, but there are several live recordings, some of which are in very good sound quality. I've uploaded one of these, check it out: /watch?v=xPGfbQHGXdo Hamelin is such a master.

[lcxdfgsbldfgbadfnvaa]

mix up bach's barrocan brillance and busoni's virtuosity and you get something divine

[MegaUlzana]

Hamelin riesce adare al pianoforte le risonanze dell' organo.

[tasteism]

It is true what Oliver Sachs writes in his book 'music and the brain': A musicion in full action is a functional miracle.

[777mrpiano777]

He's talking to all of us. Through. This. Piece.

[patricioapaez]

BEST PIANIST EVER!!!! Genius all over!!!

[Malcolm64]

Hamelin has a lot of power but as an interpretation, Alicia reigns supreme. I'll never forget the impact of hearing her play it live in a a recital that also included a stunning performance of the Ravel Gaspard,,,

[12345qazx1]

a great pianist ,performance of the composition would be approved by Busoni too!!!!

[outsider950]

w il canada!

[Snezhinka9]

I always use his performance as the model for reference! It's my favourite, although I quite like Helene Grimaud's interpretation, too. :-)

[mauson1963]

Thanks a lot for showing us this genius!

[pguitar13]

it's just a different timbre, personally i like piano and the chord sounds fine

[Euclid34]

you cannot possibly think that this sounds better than the (original, i might add) version of the chaconne for violin. even the first chord sounds so much worse.

[Haeronthegreat]

Apples and squares.

One is for the piano, one is for the violin. This takes on a totally new temperament and is a product of a totally different aesthetic. Trying to compare them is better.

Especially when you use such subjective 'measures' as what 'sounds better'. Some people play the piano.

[oracle2world]

The "original" can't be played on the modern violin with its bow that can only play two strings at a time. Hence all the chords that are rolled on the violin version.

That being said, about the only thing the piano version has in common with the violin version is the melody and chords. Since it is a virtuoso arrangement, the piano version sounds a lot heavier.

[Ianthe22]

@oracle2world I would say the piano version is a lot more limited than the violin version. Bach clearly never intended the piece to be played on a clavi.

[Schubermann]

de très loin la meilleure version que je connaisse! une petite parenthèse d'intimité, hors du monde, où tout est sincère, j'admire infiniment ce que Monsieur Hamelin transmet ici, ce petit moment magique et en même temps d'un désespoir profond! Mille merci d'avoir posté cette vidéo

[TheVieuxchat]

C'est très beau en effet , mais vous négligez les versions historiques de Busoni et d'Egon Petri ?

[Schubermann]

non, je ne néglige rien, mais je vais là où je suis ému et touché! et aussi "historiques" soient elles, les autres versions me touchent moins, c'est subjectif et très personnel, libre à chacun d'aimer plus une version que d'autres!

[brandix30000]

too much pedal in the first cords but its still great

[tomarsupilami]

superbe ! Pas besoin d'en dire davantage.

[taiwan886]

I think Hamelin is SOOOO amazing! I'm not having any luck---is there a CD/mp3 available of his Chaconne?

[chazman222]

I agree!

[ahilacat26]

Beautifully put together. A thrilling performance. Thanks for posting.

[wolkowy1]

Excellent performance of an excellent music-piece.

[wildejag]

More than mechanical capability is required to sustain my interest. It has a lot to do with what's between the ears. He knows how to put it together and bring out his heart felt expression. That is when it becomes superfluous. I enjoyed this very much.

[flies101]

i don't believe in the who's better nonsense, at least not when you get to that level, they are different and each very accomplished and respected in their own way. i heard hamelin play live at ikif festival during the summer and it was surreal.

[Frozentoes1]

I agree. It's like trying to decide among vintage wines.

The "he/she's better than...." type of argument reminds me of the Gould recording of the Prokofiev Sonata and Scriabin works shortly after Horowitz's legendary recordings of the same works. In part, Gould wanted to "one up" the master; he was Gould's rival (in his mind, I think) at any rate, the critics were split. Bottom line: both are fantastic recordings viewed from two very different perspectives..both high art..both vintage wine.

[JlDsanity]

actually, i agree with you 100% on that cuz i major for the piano in college and i play basketball as well and piano needs some form of conditioning like basketball (although Basketball obviously needs much much more since it's a sport)

[callenishss]

i associate finger agility with physical fitness but hamelin doesnt look fit anymore

[duhhh86]

very moving!!  one of my favorite pieces!!!

[wironalga]

Top notch performance. I love Hamelin's way of treating Busoni transcription, a real seven degree climbing. Amazing

[beckerpwnsyou]

wonderful!!! I also like Grimaud's version...both are excellent.

[ahilacat26]

Yes I really like Grimaud's performance of this work. As a woman I can say that this is a very difficult work to play if you haven't got huge hands so Grimaud does an amazing job.

[pianofolle]

yes, she does a good job. the only problem is that -totally considered- her ciaccona TASTES LIKE PAPER

[orientalnegro]

First time I've heard this being performed on piano. Very interesting

[shela2]

Glorious ..Bach/Busoni/Hamelin ...made in Heaven scenario...

[frice007]

eccezionale! this is bach's chaconne!

[ilovescarlatti]

Caro Golberg lei ha ragione,credo. M Tipo stacca tempo più lento in parecchi punti. Michelangelli ne dà una versione febbrile e angosciata. Questo Hamelin è un vero fuoriclasse !!!! o no? Un saluto

[Vancouverite39]

A much simpler transcription, truer to the actual music by Bach, is the Brahms transcription for piano left hand (one can actually play it using both hands). You don't have to add notes to an already sublime piece to "make it better".

[Haeronthegreat]

Busoni was a virtuoso PIANIST. This is for PIANO.

[davidf996]

le falta una parte

[mauriciostarosta]

This is an excelent performance!! Like everything Hamelin plays. When Busoni wrote this transcription he wasn't thinking about the original piece for the violin! He was probably trying to make the piano sound like a church organ or an orquestra!! This piece is more a Busoni piece then a Bach piece. A person saying that it should sound "like a violin piece" obviously doesn't know this transcrition well!!

[goldberg72]

veramente molto bello impressionate la tecnica...una registrazione di maria tipo della emi gli assomiglia un po

[farsta1]

What a sad performace. This is by far the worst I´ve ever heard a pianist perform Bachs chaconne. He plays as if it was written for piano.He should listen to a violonist perform it and learn something about Bachs violin music!

[veryangrystorks]

That's because this transcription WAS written for piano. Busoni was a master pianist; Hamelin is playing his *transcription* of Bach's chaconne.

Hamelin is a very intelligent man; he is likely very aware that this piece was originally for violin, and has probably heard it a thousand times. Again, though: this is not a transcription in the style of solo violin, so what binds Hamelin to playing it as such?

[veryangrystorks]

(Also to farsta1): Furthermore, how does one play a piano in a violin-like manner? Sure, you might be able to turn some phrasing tricks, or roll chords in a certain way, but a piano is going to sound like a piano, whether you like it or not.

The same can be said of performing harpsichord works on piano. You're going to sound like a pianist, no matter how much you try to convince yourself that you sound like a harpsichordist. The two instruments are different. Get over it.

[Frozentoes1]

Interesting. What if the violinist tried to perform the piano transcription on the violin. What would we learn then, fartsa...oops pardon me...farsta?

[palangsae]

I agree with you. The piano must vibrate like can a violin or human voice, specially in this thema of the beginning, veru intense. at least, give the illusion of that. Well in this performance, the chords are played like a percission as a piano. He's very intelligent but the intelligence without heart is a little boring.

[rihnem]

This transcription is supposed to sound like an organ, not a violin. Well, like a piano that sounds like an organ. Anyway, it's not meant to sound like the original form.

[Zengui]

Truly Outstanding!! Bravo!!!

[Enerkhan]

Great Performance! Passionate Bach performed with a glowing inner fire, without deforming the music. Love it!

[KennYWooD2]

One of the best (and most musical) performances I've heard of this work is by Alicia de Larrocha and can be found on one of her Mostly Mozart recordings.

[arrauottanta]

Ottima interpretazione...mi piace il suono che crea e la tecnica e' impressionante.

[shela2]

Hamelin,s fine playing of this majestic work of Bach is beyond comparison!!.........

[mauriciostarosta]

Michelangeli's version of this piece is amazing, but there are other beautiful ones by Arthur Rubinstein e Evgeny Kissin.

Thank you very much for this video.

[maxscriptguru]

I have listened to Michelangeli's version once. I was not too impressed. I have played this piece, and I think Kissin's is the best. However after hearing Hamelin's version I think technically it is just as good as Kissin's. Though I think Kissin has the driven interpretation to carry it to peoples hearts.

[pianofolle]

YES. let's not even say 'why'. let's just LISTEN to it!! astonishing from many many points of view

[mauriciostarosta]

I like this performance very much. Hamelin is a wonderful pianist. Thank god we have youtube, hehe. This pieces seems incredibly easy for him. Of course, his big hands help a lot with the many large streches this piece demands of the pianists.

There's a video of Michelangeli playing small parts of this piece in the beginning of the video of him playing the Ravel Concerte in G, with Celibidache.

[danielito1979]

his thomb is huge, it remains me to Arrau's

[lovethepiano]

it's 'reminds me' not 'remains me'.

[danielito1979]

sorry english is not my language, jeezz

[pvonberg]

Unfortunately there is no video of the Michelangeli, just the recording on cd. Incidentally there is another great recording, not as good as Michelangeli, but very good nevertheless, by Jorge Bolet.

[brianCIM]

cool. i will look for it

[nelyamaria]

Majestic! Bach if the Mt. Everst of Baroque music. There is clear and delicate individuation of the voices. Hamelin has tried to penetrate the core mystery of Bach's music. Almost but not quite. Bach and metaphysics are siblings. Both go down deep into the freshness of Be-ing!

[Suzuru]

wish my parents weren't dumb and actually pushed me more to play Piano when I was small and stupid.... bleh

[OorvakanSar]

This is by Johann Sebastian Bach, not Jean Sebastien Bach right?

[Nissor]

Pletnev is much better than Hamelin ,sorry

[abnerpeabody]

wtf? Why type such stupid things? A performance is subjective. Provide a link to Pletnev playing this piece. if not stfu.

[Nissor]

go to music store and buy " Pletnev live at Carnegie Hall" than if you have brains you would get it .

[beakly]

Usually I dislike trolls, but as much as I hate to say it, Nissor is right.

Pletnev's performance in the live at Carnegie recording blows this one out of the water.

Someone mentioned Michelangeli, that's fantastic too.

If you look hard enough, there's a piano roll of this recorded by Busoni himself out there. It sounds very strange.

[brianCIM]

the michelangeli recording is the standard by which all others are judged. it was recorded in the 50's and when i heard it my jaw literally dropped. his color palette is astounding. no other recording even comes close. its on a CD that has the Brahms-Pagannini variations also. again the greatest performance ever. i urge you people to buy it. i will give you your money back if it doesnt blow your mind

[alkanlover]

I agree with you BrianCIM. But if you get a chance to hear Jack Gibbons, who plays regularly in the USA (he's British) you should also hear his Bach Chaconne which was unbelievable when I heard him NYC in c.2003. The NYC concert was filmed and I'm still trying to get hold of a tape of it!

[brianCIM]

if you do get a tape notify me. gibbons is a wonderful pianist and i have been playing alkan's music since i was 17. his recording of the concerto for solo piano is amazing. not as dry as hamelin's. i still love those old ronald smith recordings too.

[twooffour]

@brianCIM Really? I find Gibbon's Alkan Concerto to be quite dry and uncertain in comparison to H'. ;)

[brianCIM]

@twooffour have you watched the latest performance on YT. I think it is the greatest overall recording of that piece with Ronald Smith coming in as a close second. They just reposted the video. i will send it.

[twooffour]

@brianCIM

But I was referring to that one :D

[twooffour]

@brianCIM

I'd like to take back the "uncertain" part - Hamelin does look and sound significantly more relaxed than Gibbons, but he does fuck up at some of the difficult leap passages in the 1st stages, and certainly makes smaller mistakes, too.

But his performance (both live and studio) is incomparable more fluent, interesting and exciting than Gibbons'.

[brianCIM]

@brianCIM I think they are very different approaches. I have always felt Gibbons performance highlights the orchestral aspects of this amazing work better than Hamelin. Hamelin's i would say is more "pianistic" to use a generic word. it just doesn't feel as EPIC as Smith's or Gibbons and he rushes the hell out of the last movement glossing over some really amazing moments. You should know these are only SLIGHT criticisms, as MAH is a titanic pianist whom i admire tremendously.

[brianCIM]

@brianCIM To me the highlight of MAH's Alkan discography is his rendition of the Sonata which has no equal, even eclipsing Ronald Smith's wonderful recording. In particular i think his Quasi-Faust will never be bettered. He comes out of himself there and it is truly demonic with a handling of the 8-voice fugue that is simply beyond imagination. He also produces a sound that in its hugeness, for lack of a better word, has rarely been equaled in the history of pianism.

[NeoMalikov]

I agree, too bad there's no video to prove it, only audio from Carnegie Hall.

[ivrykeys]

This performance was awesome. I have not heard Michelangeli's recordings yet, but I have heard Kissin's and his is amazing.

[alkanlover]

There's an amazing early tv film of Michelangeli playing the Bach Busoni Chaconne but it's hard to find. The best performance I ever heard of this piece was by Jack Gibbons in New York a few years ago. I'm told Gibbons video tapes all his performances but won't release the tapes!

[brianCIM]

i would give 10 years of my life to see that. where did you find the michelangeli video?

[alkanlover]

An extract from the video of Michalengeli playing the Bach Busoni Chaconne was shown on British tv (BBC, I think, or possibly Channel 4?) when they screened Michelageli's video performance of Debussy's Preludes Book 1 back in the 1980s. It was a studio recording of the Bach Busoni and my guess is it was made for Italian tv in the 50s or 60s. I keep hoping it will be released or show up on YouTube.

[brianCIM]

god if even a snippet of that chaconne video resurfaces notify me ASAP!

[radurak]

wonderful music.

[Bordcla]

Great video, though the sound isn't all that great; is there any place where we can access it with better sound quality?

[anblanco333]

one of the top 10 great virtuosos of all time!!!

[daeviydt]

i collect versions of this on cd... this one is really f*cking good!

[goobleglob]

truly the best performance of the piece that ive heard. i love hamelin.

[ollyztube]

hey just thought you should know about Michelangeli's recording (think he actually did 2) but i was in the train station in Stuttgart, Germany, and came across a load of REALLY cheap triple disk collections, the label is 'Worten Classico'. Michelangeli's contained the Chaconne. It is one of my favourite recordings that i own -and i have thousands, including 8 of this piece. It's a performance that stays with you. Enjoy! p.s. really enjoyed this recording too.

[goobleglob]

thanks. i'll look for it :) i love this piece so much.

[alkanlover]

See my note below on the film of Michelangeli's performance of this piece.