The right beat often was missed in his work, but this is to blame to his nasty orchestra. This incredible performance, recorded in "Kiesinger´s Lampenladen" in the early years of the Bumbumbumdesrepublik shows him subjugating the acustic desaster of postwar architecture. He, and no other, is the real winner of Air Battle over Karajan!
I dislike his performance. He thinks he can just obliterate the tempo. He speeds up and slows down at his whim it would seem. Kinda disrespectful to the composer.
Music like this, while colorful, can still have a beat. Where is your beat Andre?
jesus H christ...what a technique :P :P id have liked a little more lighness of touch,and staccato at times,though his sense of drama is fantastic. this piece was described by an immenent(forget who) author as "coccaine and rainbows"..dont think he was far off!
why do people like this music? I am not denouncing it whatsoever, I am just trying to understand and further the spectrum of my musical appreciation. Do people only listen to it in certain contexts? certain moods or times? Thanks.
Well, what is there to dislike about it? If you want to enjoy it, just close your eyes and clear your mind. This is not difficult music. There is plenty of difficult music that I have shared, but this is not one of those pieces.
This is in the top ten of my favourite pieces of the entire classical repertoire. Normally as a musician (i play the violin and bumblingly the piano) you love the pieces most you have played yourself, but this is different. I would probably hate it if i ever tried practising this because it's practically unplayable (totally hypothetical thought as i'd never dare even to try!) Hamelin comes very close to perfection, wonderfully quirky as well. Too bad the audio hisses sometimes. Thx for posting!
@jre58591 This is not difficult?! Wow... you're obviously not a musician! The legendary pianist Sviatoslav Richter described it as the most difficult piece in the entire piano repertory (along with Mephisto Waltz)
First of all, please don't mark his comment down. It's a legitimate question!
I listen to it when I'm in the mood for interesting harmonies. There's only so much Chopin I can take. Scriabin started out in a very Romantic style, similar to Rachmaninoff, but his later works are completely atonal. The 5th sonata is one of those "in between" pieces, in the middle of his lifelong transition...kind of like musical geology.
Whether you like his harmonies or not (I acknowledge some don't), he was really an ingenious composer. In my opinion, the mark of the great composers is their ability to take a simple idea and develop in the most creative of ways.
In other words, form is everything, and Scriabin was just as good at structuring a piece of music as Beethoven. Whether you like the harmonies or not is purely subjective.
Personally, I love weird harmonies, but I understand that others don't.
Well, this sonata is headed by a poem about the creative spirit, named the Poem of ecstasy, it's all about sensuality, male and female forces.... In this sonata you can hear, from 0:00 to 1:21, the main motifs that inspire the entire work.
Despite of this, scriabin uses new armonical methods such as fourths(augmented) and fifhts (dim) chords in his latter works.
@nevermind0143 It helps, and I mean REALLY helps, if you try to step into Scriabin's shoes. Try to SEE the colors in the music - feel the ecstasy, the languishing harmonies, and don't think in a traditional harmonic sense.
@nevermind0143 it's learned. if you want to enjoy this and understand what it is first you should understand and enjoy romantic music, so you should listen to romantic pieces for a while, maybe beethoven, chopin, liszt, brahms, schumann, etc. and then notice why this musical piece changed history. i'm in love with this piece i've listened to it over 100 times. this is not a very good performance of it though, i liked everything else by hamelin on utube but not this one.
@nevermind0143 People enjoy this music because it's the pinnacle of musical expression and evolution. The subtleties and nuances combined with the juxtaposition of typically non-related harmonic schemes of Scriabin's later music is completely unique and unlike anything ever before created in music.
@nevermind0143 I completely understand what you're saying. I think the thing is you have to follow a certain kind of path to it. It does hit you at some point - and at other times it's unlistenable. I would say maybe if you want to pursue it, try Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. That's got the same kind of tense but tender tone.
Excellent--Hamelin truly has remarkable technique. However, I feel a genuine fear when I hear Richter play it. It feels darker to me and more intense when Richter is punching the keys.
For people who like this performance, I would like to recommend Feinberg's recording which is on YT. I find there performances to be similar, although I like Feinberg's better.
Wow this is incredible, I think I heard wrong notes? Maybe Richter was right about this being the hardest piece ever written :O Hamelin doing a great job as usual though.
Very disturbing beginning that suddenly appears quite light like drops of dew dropping from the rooftops. I dont understand Dobrevicher either I think perhaps he is quite a sour puss. What is supposed to happen between the notes, abstract obscurities?
i have to agree with dobrichever : an idiosyncratic languague needs an idiosyncratic way to interpret the music. scriabin's music possesses a way of interpretation that is particular, hamelin is ok just because he is hitting on all the right notes but he doesn't do anything special to what's happening between the notes. check out igor zhukov's take of that sonata to see what i mean.
Dont listen to dobrivecher, hamelin is arguably the greatest virtuoso alive today. Aside from that being that Scriabin was a "divine" mystic I would almost certainly think that he would want his music to be interpreted and played differently by each performer(thats what makes us artists). Of course there is a vague area of interpretation, or some room to work with, but I think hamelin pretty much hits it spot on here!
Vielzuviel Pedal! Hamelin macht das, was viele Skriabin-Interpreten aufgrund des hohen Schwierigkeitsgrades der Stücke tun: er versucht die Schwierigkeiten mit Pedal zu umgehen. Leider verwässert so aber das Stück auf fast gräßliche Weise. Aber es scheint heutzutage für der Zuhörerschaft nur noch der Effekt, die Akrobatik bei der Darbietung auschlaggebend zu sein.
Hamelin's glib playing is made even worse by his total misunderstanding of Scriabin's rhythm and purpose. The absence of *schwung*, his overpedaling, and worst of all, his ignorance of the sexual dimensions of this sonata, which, codified in tone and rhythm, make of it a cumulative orgasm. Best that he sticks to Alkan or music shallow enough to suit his sensibility.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
You mean, glib, inarticulate, and wholly ignorant of the contrapuntal undercurrents (it's more than one voice, not a single whoosh as Hamelin so dumbly believes) and dialogue that drive the opening? Thank God for that --let's hope not! For great performances, listen to Sofronitsky, Merzhanov, and even Szidon (who at least understands *schwung*!)
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What an excellent pianist Helmut Kohl was!
The right beat often was missed in his work, but this is to blame to his nasty orchestra. This incredible performance, recorded in "Kiesinger´s Lampenladen" in the early years of the Bumbumbumdesrepublik shows him subjugating the acustic desaster of postwar architecture. He, and no other, is the real winner of Air Battle over Karajan!
The1976spirit 1 year ago
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The1976spirit 1 year ago
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The1976spirit 1 year ago
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The1976spirit 1 year ago
You see, all the comments below this one involve some heavy feelings and thought. That's the power of classical music.
kczapper 1 year ago
I dislike his performance. He thinks he can just obliterate the tempo. He speeds up and slows down at his whim it would seem. Kinda disrespectful to the composer.
Music like this, while colorful, can still have a beat. Where is your beat Andre?
scotcking 1 year ago
凄まじい演奏ですね。
risktakerdaito 1 year ago
jesus H christ...what a technique :P :P id have liked a little more lighness of touch,and staccato at times,though his sense of drama is fantastic. this piece was described by an immenent(forget who) author as "coccaine and rainbows"..dont think he was far off!
lagathy 1 year ago
@lagathy wasnt that about the poem of ecstacy ?
gymgymgymgym 1 year ago 2
why do people like this music? I am not denouncing it whatsoever, I am just trying to understand and further the spectrum of my musical appreciation. Do people only listen to it in certain contexts? certain moods or times? Thanks.
nevermind0143 2 years ago
Well, what is there to dislike about it? If you want to enjoy it, just close your eyes and clear your mind. This is not difficult music. There is plenty of difficult music that I have shared, but this is not one of those pieces.
jre58591 2 years ago 5
This is in the top ten of my favourite pieces of the entire classical repertoire. Normally as a musician (i play the violin and bumblingly the piano) you love the pieces most you have played yourself, but this is different. I would probably hate it if i ever tried practising this because it's practically unplayable (totally hypothetical thought as i'd never dare even to try!) Hamelin comes very close to perfection, wonderfully quirky as well. Too bad the audio hisses sometimes. Thx for posting!
Mathi80 1 year ago
@jre58591 This is not difficult?! Wow... you're obviously not a musician! The legendary pianist Sviatoslav Richter described it as the most difficult piece in the entire piano repertory (along with Mephisto Waltz)
trntlobne 1 year ago
@trntlobne I think he meant "difficult" as in "difficult to comprehend" :)
Ylvaon 1 year ago
@jre58591 not difficult?? I dont think so.... my favorite scriabin sonata (also the 9th)
visionfugitiva 1 year ago
I don't know WHY I like this music. But I know that I love it. For me, this is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.
FunkBach 2 years ago 2
First of all, please don't mark his comment down. It's a legitimate question!
I listen to it when I'm in the mood for interesting harmonies. There's only so much Chopin I can take. Scriabin started out in a very Romantic style, similar to Rachmaninoff, but his later works are completely atonal. The 5th sonata is one of those "in between" pieces, in the middle of his lifelong transition...kind of like musical geology.
Continued in next comment...
Rheostatik 2 years ago
Whether you like his harmonies or not (I acknowledge some don't), he was really an ingenious composer. In my opinion, the mark of the great composers is their ability to take a simple idea and develop in the most creative of ways.
In other words, form is everything, and Scriabin was just as good at structuring a piece of music as Beethoven. Whether you like the harmonies or not is purely subjective.
Personally, I love weird harmonies, but I understand that others don't.
Rheostatik 2 years ago 3
Well, this sonata is headed by a poem about the creative spirit, named the Poem of ecstasy, it's all about sensuality, male and female forces.... In this sonata you can hear, from 0:00 to 1:21, the main motifs that inspire the entire work.
Despite of this, scriabin uses new armonical methods such as fourths(augmented) and fifhts (dim) chords in his latter works.
You can hear this and:
a)enjoy it
b)Understand it = enjoy it
c)Not to understand it=Dislike it
anferlo 2 years ago
@nevermind0143 It helps, and I mean REALLY helps, if you try to step into Scriabin's shoes. Try to SEE the colors in the music - feel the ecstasy, the languishing harmonies, and don't think in a traditional harmonic sense.
aznxk3vi17 1 year ago
@nevermind0143 it's learned. if you want to enjoy this and understand what it is first you should understand and enjoy romantic music, so you should listen to romantic pieces for a while, maybe beethoven, chopin, liszt, brahms, schumann, etc. and then notice why this musical piece changed history. i'm in love with this piece i've listened to it over 100 times. this is not a very good performance of it though, i liked everything else by hamelin on utube but not this one.
ibclappin 1 year ago
@nevermind0143 People enjoy this music because it's the pinnacle of musical expression and evolution. The subtleties and nuances combined with the juxtaposition of typically non-related harmonic schemes of Scriabin's later music is completely unique and unlike anything ever before created in music.
trntlobne 1 year ago
@nevermind0143
I got obsessed over Scriabin because of this piece and, guess what, I didn't like it the first time I heard it.
I had to listen to it several times. I recommend late at night at dim light and perhaps another recording as this one is a little unclear.
010Adi 1 year ago
@nevermind0143
Why is the moon?
fedaykin6 1 year ago
@nevermind0143 why do some people like tuna sandwichs and others prefer an italian sub? It just comes down to personal preference I think.
yingnay000 1 year ago
@nevermind0143 I completely understand what you're saying. I think the thing is you have to follow a certain kind of path to it. It does hit you at some point - and at other times it's unlistenable. I would say maybe if you want to pursue it, try Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. That's got the same kind of tense but tender tone.
hoiszhdfoifh22 9 months ago
Excellent--Hamelin truly has remarkable technique. However, I feel a genuine fear when I hear Richter play it. It feels darker to me and more intense when Richter is punching the keys.
luke1841 2 years ago
For people who like this performance, I would like to recommend Feinberg's recording which is on YT. I find there performances to be similar, although I like Feinberg's better.
morvensky 2 years ago
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morvensky 2 years ago
Explain.
jre58591 2 years ago
Hamelin plays this beautyful piece with a amazing technic. he seems plaing a very easy piece not the fifth sonata of scriabin!!!!
leoyomi79 2 years ago
Wow this is incredible, I think I heard wrong notes? Maybe Richter was right about this being the hardest piece ever written :O Hamelin doing a great job as usual though.
trigalg693 2 years ago
look at Charles Valentine Alkan pieces, for example Concerto for Solo Piano ; )
maxiczekos 2 years ago
How can a man write such a thing?
I find this way more fantastic, than any of Schnittke works....
BubbaFrench 2 years ago 8
This sonata is a sublime work of genius.
cerzule 2 years ago 3
Such strong fingers! You'd swear his hands are bionic!
arc27 2 years ago 5
Very disturbing beginning that suddenly appears quite light like drops of dew dropping from the rooftops. I dont understand Dobrevicher either I think perhaps he is quite a sour puss. What is supposed to happen between the notes, abstract obscurities?
sparebone 3 years ago 3
Fascinating piece. I would love to perform it someday.
peterbaker261 3 years ago 2
i have to agree with dobrichever : an idiosyncratic languague needs an idiosyncratic way to interpret the music. scriabin's music possesses a way of interpretation that is particular, hamelin is ok just because he is hitting on all the right notes but he doesn't do anything special to what's happening between the notes. check out igor zhukov's take of that sonata to see what i mean.
pkarkivist 3 years ago
Dont listen to dobrivecher, hamelin is arguably the greatest virtuoso alive today. Aside from that being that Scriabin was a "divine" mystic I would almost certainly think that he would want his music to be interpreted and played differently by each performer(thats what makes us artists). Of course there is a vague area of interpretation, or some room to work with, but I think hamelin pretty much hits it spot on here!
vcupiano 3 years ago
Vielzuviel Pedal! Hamelin macht das, was viele Skriabin-Interpreten aufgrund des hohen Schwierigkeitsgrades der Stücke tun: er versucht die Schwierigkeiten mit Pedal zu umgehen. Leider verwässert so aber das Stück auf fast gräßliche Weise. Aber es scheint heutzutage für der Zuhörerschaft nur noch der Effekt, die Akrobatik bei der Darbietung auschlaggebend zu sein.
Anuodnekh 3 years ago
how does he do it?!?!?!!!?!?!?!
mdeonx12 3 years ago 2
Hamelin's glib playing is made even worse by his total misunderstanding of Scriabin's rhythm and purpose. The absence of *schwung*, his overpedaling, and worst of all, his ignorance of the sexual dimensions of this sonata, which, codified in tone and rhythm, make of it a cumulative orgasm. Best that he sticks to Alkan or music shallow enough to suit his sensibility.
dobrivecher 3 years ago
please present us with someone who does do this. this performance outdoes just about all the rest, if not, on youtube.
IAMLISZT 3 years ago
I really like Hamelin, in fact, he is one of my favorite pianists. But I think that Richter may do a better job on this piece.
Darklord12356 3 years ago
Yeah, Richter was a sensational Scriabin interpreter. A very close second perhaps?
KeithWhalen11 2 years ago
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Darklord12356 2 years ago
I'd have to agree with you there, Richter has some very large shoes to fill. His repertoire was simply gargantuan.
KeithWhalen11 2 years ago
You must have known Mr. Scriabin personally to say things like this. What was he like?
I imagine a little crazy...
rdnzl23 3 years ago 2
Have you maybe considered that it was hamelins appearance that precluded the perception of the sexual dimensions?
thebloads 3 years ago 3
The presto is fast, but then he has to slow down...oh dear! bit of jumble. Not consistent. I have a recording of Richter which is far better.
cynic150 3 years ago
Please do not compare live recitals to recordings. Therein lies the inconsistency.
Frozentoes1 3 years ago
I was refering to a recording of a live recital.
cynic150 3 years ago 3
Oh.
Frozentoes1 3 years ago
excellent.
jamesrobert2 3 years ago
jesus...he manages those repeated octave jumping triads effortlessly..even richter has trouble pulling them off lol.
lagathy 4 years ago
che carisma....
fisherroastedpeanut 4 years ago
one word. effortless.
no one else will EVER be able to play the opening run like he does.
robbiethemann 4 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
You mean, glib, inarticulate, and wholly ignorant of the contrapuntal undercurrents (it's more than one voice, not a single whoosh as Hamelin so dumbly believes) and dialogue that drive the opening? Thank God for that --let's hope not! For great performances, listen to Sofronitsky, Merzhanov, and even Szidon (who at least understands *schwung*!)
dobrivecher 3 years ago
"this" is the fifth sonata by Scriabin...
frncgrc 4 years ago
The best I ever seen!
stehling28 4 years ago
where was this recorded?
robbiethemann 4 years ago
casals hall in tokyo, 1997
jre58591 4 years ago