William Byrd - The Bells

[Charliecomet82]

The Last Detail brought me here!



[chantalmauro]

Amazing.

[clarisaxgml]

does anyone know where I can get a detailed analysis of this piece?

[DrNworb]

Enjoyed this very much! I am only familiar with Byrd's choral works and this was a pleasant surprise.Great playing!

[spamkkkiller]

Beautiful!!! This piece is NOT easy to perform convincingly - but one can almost hear the bells of London ringing out on a Sunday morning while listening to your accomplished and very moving rendition of this delightfully cheerful composition. Thank you.

[maxwellsteer]

As a matter of interest, it's thought that they were probably the bells of Lincoln!

[irkibby]

@spamkkkiller

Lincoln, not London

[CronosPrime1]

amazing piece...what a discovery for me

[patricia1001ableable]

This is truly a beautiful piece which you have recited so perfectly. Thank you, a sheer joy to listen to

[LazlosPlane]

Change-ringing?

[1BODGER95]

Not in the 16th Century. Change ringing became popular around the mid 17th Century. Bells at this point were just "Swing-chimed". : )

[Mareceq0107]

You are look on :  William Byrd, "The Bells", Kaung-Ae Lee (Cembalo)

[greeneyedsteamengine]

Nice playing on a difficult piece Max, great job!

[skunk96]

Yeah I agree, this is a vary complicating

piece I ever played and I'm a trumpet player.

[violoner]

What temperament and tuning frequency are you using?

[maxwellsteer]

Modified meantone at A=415

[LeithMusic]

@violoner And also what tuning where the bells in during the 1500s ?

[irkibby]

@LeithMusic Diatonic, mostly in a major key.

[LeithMusic]

@irkibby yes and how were the intervals within the diatonic scale organized with regard to pure intervals 5ths, 3rds, minor 3rds and all of the other fine details which can equate to colours and emotions ?

[poulezh]

Doesn´t sound nice. It´s not the best of William Byrd.

[imlivinitupniggaz]

Fake - he's not even playing! Hahah good one.

[brianwilson49]

@imlivinitupniggaz lol

now go tidy your room.

[Clavichordist]

Thank you for the performance.

This is not an easy piece to play and the looks of the score can be deceiving.

[roukasrocker]

this really good but it looks like your having a hard time to play it

[IanM1984]

I don't normally like harpsichord music that much, but this is beautiful.

[LandSurveyor1]

help me remember does this have basso continuo? On a keyboard? Is that the correct description for that voice even though it's on

[rotopope]

This has become one of my favourite videos on youtube. Your skills are really impressive. The lack of hand footage makes it possible to imagine that you're not even playing, but just sort of casually bopping along. Do you have mp3's posted anywhere?

[jkman10]

Whats he playing on? I'm pretty sure its a piano but a synthesizer of some sort. I just think here it sounds too rough and should be played on a regular piano.

[Monrealese]

It's a harpsichord or virginal, piano's did not exist in the early 17th century when the piece was written. You can play it on piano but it would't sound right.

[jkman10]

Ah I understand. Our high school band is playing this for our upcoming concert and it just sounds much smoother.

[Monrealese]

True, a harpsichord can sound very sharp or rough. Best of luck on your concert:)

[DaveGmn]

Very nice - wish I could see more of the instrument.

[serylam]

excellent! u have a natural old style dignity that fits perfectly well to this piece.

[LDixon007]

Excellent! One of my favorite instrumental pieces by Byrd.

Does anyone know about the great version of this done by a recorder consort (+ bells!) that was recorded on vinyl some 35 or 40 years ago? I've been hoping that it would get remastered on CD, but no luck so far.

[gpie]

very good! im studying this music in school at the moment- and i was wondering,- were you using divisions at the very end?...if i'm right, thats amazing!

[TouchSensitive]

This is all as Byrd wrote it. But the fact that it cuts off before the end is uTube's contribution to art!

[benboyang]

I don't think so; isn't the limit 10 minutes, with longer available if you ask permission first?

[irkibby]

I am a change ringer and this music sounds fantasically like changes, though not completely like them... little echoes of ringing

[maxwellsteer]

This piece is regarded as the earliest evidence of the evolution of English change ringing being an established procedure by the late 16thC

[LDixon007]

One of my favorite pieces. Too bad about the cut-off ending. Can you re-load it?

[AndyWarhol]

I cannot stop listening to this engulfing piece. It is wonderfully played, i really loves your performance maxwell (particularly your facial expressions, which to me cansomeitmes be better than wathcing the hands!). I really do look forward to more recordings.

ciao Aaron.

[maxwellsteer]

Many thanks. I will upload some more. Ive been wrestling with some video editing of my pupils performances which I'll upload shortly.

[KarrotKun1]

Wow! You are very talented. I wish I had a harpsichord. I've never even had the opportunity to play one but I know I'd love one. And thanks for introducing me to this new composer and therefore this whole other sect of music. I was expecting Bach when i searched "harpsichord", but this was just as pleasurable.

[maxwellsteer]

Temperament is extremely significant for this music - it doesn't achieve its full affect unless you use what I call optimised tuning. It's my belief that the reason why composers didnt much bother to modulate far afield was because the sound of the white-note majors was so satisfying there was no reason to. The harmonies are in fact bog standard. Nothing complicated.

[Ribozyme]

Excellent! My only complaint is that you don't show the hands. Anyway, I felt a jolt of envy when you mentioned you just bought a harpsichord.

[maxwellsteer]

The video came about as an experiment & so it wasn't set up. I didnt want to use the music rest because it wasnt really large enough for the dover ed fitzwilliam virginal book & because it completely blocked the sound for me. So I put it on a music stand but leaving a gap for audience & camera to see my hands resulted in an inconvenient angle for my head.

[emtube]

Mesmerizing work and performance, thank you so much for posting! It is wonderful to hear the English tradition of this period, which was a golden age of music but is not so often heard, being overshadowed by the high baroque and the continental composers. The tone of this harpsichord is beautiful and rich, even reedy, can you describe it? Also, it sounds like a non-well-tempered tuning, or is it just the "strange" period harmonies?

I really look forward to hearing more of your performances!

[maxwellsteer]

Thanks. Ive always had a particular affinity with pre-Commonwealth keyboard music since discovering it when I was barely into my teens. (Perhaps having been a cathedral chorister helped, tho we didn't do much Byrd.) If you care to view my blog http://tlotc.blogspot.com/ I've written there about how getting this instrument has been like coming full circle for me.

[castello18]

wow I love harpsichord. I'm playing it too. I've played a little bit Sweelinck

[maxwellsteer]

Thanks for this. You encourage me go ahead & post some more. Im getting a hcd of my own shortly & definitely intend to do more recording once Ive got it.

[castello18]

If you need music of for example Couperin or Händel ask me. Do you have ICQ? 

[maxwellsteer]

No, Ive plenty of music, thanks. What is ICQ?

Today I bought my own harpsichord.

[castello18]

ICQ is a chat-program. Like MSN-Messenger or Yahoo-Messenger