Added: 4 years ago
From: tompilk
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  • This reminds me a bit of the piano version of Rite of Spring. Lots going on in the music. Like a painting that is very busy and has many elements fighting for your attention.

  • around 0:20 is actually pretty and tonal.

  • Sounds... Difficult. Painful.

  • I agree is not pornographt but It's not better because it's harder.

    I would choose a million times satie than this.

  • @NataliMu Villa-Lobos is not as far from Satie as Bach from Wagner.

  • A beautiful song: you listen once and like. A remarkable song: You could listen to it forever. A masterpiece: You'll hate it first; but when you understand it, there's no way back into what you were used to listen (That happened to me a lot, with this piece and Miles Davis' Bitches Brew lol)

  • Awesome! When I first heard this a year ago, when the beginning melody was over and he starts banging out those dissonant chords, I thought "Was this written and performed by a 2 year old?!" But as my tastes developed and Villa-Lobos became more proficient in my life as a guitarist, he grew on me. lol Plus notating this piece must have been beast! XD

  • Hamelin plays everything like if it were easy, he is not human!!!

  • If this piece were a painting, it would definitely be abstract

  • This piece is for a virtuoso, not a musician. Those people who practice 10 hours a day do not love music but rather their ability to play, their ability to demonstrate their skill... in other words themselves. This piece is a monstrosity with no aesthetic content -it is as close as one gets to musical pornography. It mirrors the vacuity of our times where means have replaced ends and we have destroyed the conditions for beauty and sense.

  • @re1dbaron112 This piece is absolute, is above any approval or disapproval. I study the piano just a year and play the first three minutes of that work, it touches only a matter of dedication. I suppose you're a fan of Mozart. You write his scores in pencil?

  • Comment removed

  • @re1dbaron112 Oh Lord, the ignorance! Villa-Lobos is a brazilian composer, and this piece's name means "rough poem" in portuguese. It is deliberately "grotesque", and show elaborations with brazilian rythms and new sonorities. It's not musical pornography, it's a masterpiece! I hope you listen to more music again and again before making sterile criticism to Villa-Lobos. "Vacuity of our times", pffff.

  • @re1dbaron112 First off, in order to play at the level Hamelin plays, you have to practice a lot. Second, Hamelin in interviews has said more than once that he practices very little, almost to the point of embarrassment. We should be celebrating the fact that music is not being lost. At some point, classical "fans" should be able to listen to something besides Chopin. Of course, when you can play like this (or even play complex piano), you are more than welcome to judge his abilities.

  • @re1dbaron112 It's true, it's a virtuoso piece (Villa-Lobos wrote it for Rubinstein). But it's far from a monstrosity, and if you want some aesthetic content, go back to Satie's Gimnopedies. You talk of 'beauty and sense' and the 'vacuity of our times'; maybe our times are not as beautiful and sensitive as we think; maybe we need, sometimes, to be awaken and aim at our true enemies. This is not 'musical pornography'! Musical pornography is what record companies do with today's music!

  • Judging from the comments, we can conclude so many people still have their ears in the 18 centuries. So like backward and behind.

  • what a mess

  • Villa-Lobos is awesome, one of my fav composers

  • Sure, this is not really a piece you can just sit down and enjoy. There is some complex insanity in Rudepoema! It defies the norm in both the sound and musical content. I assume this is Villa-Lobos' attempt to see what he could make the piano do and man, he gets it to do some crazy things! Just because it does not have some nice, decent, recurring "tune" (which would make the content much simpler) does not mean it is a bad piece.

  • Le mot "trivialité" a été inventé pour désigner ce genre de...manifestation.

    Ce serait joli depuis une autre galaxie,assurément.

  • @antoinezygfryd le mot ignorance à été inventé pour désigner ce genre de comentaire.

  • @sylla999  c'est de bonne guerre.

    Sans rancune, aussi bien!

  • Arthur Rubinstein Would have played That ?! LoL §

  • Yes. Arthur Rubinstein played this piece in concerts many times, believe it or not. But he never recorded it.

  • I don't believe Rubinstein played this piece. villa-lobos dedicated the piece to Rubinstein, sent him the score, and no response was given. If you can site a source I would be very interested.

  • In the Rubinstein biography by Harvey Sachs, the piece is described on page 196, and then it says "Rubinstein learned the work and performed it for many years thereafter, although infrequently". It also quotes Rubinstein's daughter who listened to him practicing it and said that he found the piece very difficult and that he fretted over it a lot.

  • Hi Jon, I first heard the work while in college 25 years ago. The music was out of print....and it took me 3 years do get a copy of it...remember it was the 80's. I appreciate your citing the source, but there is conflicting information regarding Rubinstein's involvement with the piece. perhaps he didnt perform it until after the composers death?  I can vouch for fretting over the work--it is massively difficult, and I think it takes a pianist with a real affinity for this piece to play it

  • I've no idea about the conflicting information. I also came across the piece for the first time in the 1980s - not the music itself (which I still haven't heard in its entirety) but I read Rubinstein's autobiography and that's where I first saw the name. I have vague recollections of him mentioning performances of it, but it was a long time ago so I'm not 100% sure. Maybe somebody has a copy and could have a look.

  • One more thing: in later life Rubinstein played Chopin/Schumann/Brahms etc, but when he was young he was committed to modern music, Debussy (who died when R was 31), Ravel, Stravinsky, Villa Lobos, Albeniz, Szymanowski, Falla etc. A Debussy piece once got a very cool reception from the audience so he insisted on playing it again.

  • I find that, to my surprise, even a general audience loves Rudepoema, if nothing else for the rhythmic technical display. It is just plain fun watching a pianist sweat through that piece. Exciting to perform but well worth it!

  • According to Marc Andre Hämelin, (an interview after a concert I heard with him) Rubinstein played it, but only twice.

  • There is a newspaper clipping that Arthur Rubinstein saved ( New York Journal-American, October 20, 1940), claiming a "suberb reading" of "Rudepoema and seven other pieces". Of course, not a proof that it actually got played! Maybe the reviewer got confused, maybe it was in the program and Rubinstein backed out at concert time. Other than that, there seems to be no support for Harvey Sachs claim

  • Id say 3:13 is pretty cool...

  • The best atonal piece EVER!

  • This piece is not atonal at all.

  • then What key is it in?

  • Villa-Lobos uses politonalities here. The tonality is very instable, but it exists. The piece is very dissonant, but not atonal. Atonal is Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Ligeti, Berio, etc

    We can realize a lot of "melodies" in the piece. Atonal music doesn't have melodies.

  • Who cares, it's a great piece anyway! :D

  • Why wouldn't atonal music have melodies ?!

  • Exactly, even though you cannot say 'this is D major' etc, there can still be tonal centres, for instance sometimes the bass seems to fall to rest on a certain note even though this note cannot be considered a tonic.

  • For instance, you could say the tonal centre is the note f sharp in the beginning of the piece. Try listening with this in mind.

  • it mostly seems to fall upon c-sharp

  • After 50 seconds or so, it changes to focus to c sharp, I agree.

  • Not only super virtuoso, super technique, but also super memory. And no visible stage fright at all, the coolest of pianists I ever saw, when facing the greatest pianistic challenges!

  • I really like the strange beauty of this piece. I think it is really original and agressive. In this respect, the idea of "primitive" of this piece remind me that famous piece of Stravinski about the spring. Sorry for my bad english, I am from Brazil, and I hope you understand the meaning of the title of this compostion of Villa Lobos.

  • Hamelin proves once again that he can play anything extremely well. He's phenomenal.

  • the piece has its beatiful moments, but transforms into disharmonic, dramatic music that could fit into a horrormovie in my opinion! for me the piece is as ugly as it is difficult, BUT hold on this is not meant as crtisicm, no not at all, i DO find it facinating that some pianists take a trip into a more unknown landscape of classical music, after all, most people know of chopin, but rudopoema, i dont think so, until they ofcourse find this monster on utube, like i did hehe...

  • It is not awful, it is a fantastic composition.

    People excessively accustomed to diatonic music obviously

    don't get this kind of approach.

  • I can [hardly] believe he played it from memory, such an awesome performance. Bricks have been thoroughly shat.

  • I don't think the memorization is a problem. Pianist plays entires piano concertos by memory.

    In my opinion playing the Rudepoema reading the score would be more surprising.

  • this is a good piece and i love Hamelin, but i think that this song has a little too much dissonance for my liking.

  • No doubt he is a exceptional pianist. But the pedal is overused in some parts. ( In my opinion, obviously )

  • I have had the opportunity to speak with and interview some extremely fine musicians in my time, and one thing I really loved about the top ones.... they were never arrogant about their art. Just a reminder... Some people think they are demigods, apparently. Or even better.

    I think anyone that can read a score even without the strength to play such a superlative work can comment on it, thanks. Some of us have other jobs, too...

  • You can never go wrong with Hamelin, NEVER

  • codonauta, It is meant to be dirty ......

  • I will play Rudepoema tomorrow in Hamburg, Laeiszhalle. Also in Bremen on the 17th, in Berlin the 20th and in London the 21st. It's fun!!

  • if u dont know this is villa-lobos then u dont know anything, whats more its not awful becos nothing he wrote was awful istead try to see the interesting complex character of the composer and the way he conceived music, in one sense i agree it could be labelled awful, but awful art has a place in life just like awful people

  • A brilliant pianist performing

    A brilliant composition by a

    A brilliant composer.

    However the piece is hardly among the "Top 10 most difficult piano works of all time". Even within the same time frame far more powerful and complex works have been written and performed.

  • I beg to disagree....have you played it?

  • I have not played the piece but I am quite familiar with. Probably the most difficult aspect of the piece is playing such a difficult work that has no brake/pauses in one take. There are many more difficult pieces, but the number drops off when one discards the pieces that are hardly worth playing.

  • The physical endurance required to play, let alone perform this piece in front of an audience, are astounding. If you haven't played/performed this, I'm sorry but you are not qualified to comment on it's inherent difficulty. Trust me, it's a fucking bitch to play, but worth the sweat....it takes a pair to perform it.

  • Very interesting comment about endurance... the piece is very fast and furious with lots o opportunities to cause 'tension' in the wrist, forearm, hand. How does he (or you who perform it) manage to avoid such tension, so can endure? Could you describe some of the thought processes or motions of the hand arm and writs and fingers used to remain relatively relax while able to play such fast, loud and high motion music?

  • You mean like Liszt's crazy Don Juan fantasy?

  • I agree with figensco. I am a professional pianist who has this piece in his repertoire and I have performed it and recorded it. It is in the top 10 most difficult pieces in the repertoire. It the most amazing piece I've ever performed. Mr. Hamelin does a great job. I believe some of his tempos are on the slow side, however. I guess that means I'll have to post mine :) Open your ears people and educate yourselves.

  • Mark Andre Hamelin, in this video and to my ears, gives a very satisfying performance of a work seldom heard. He has the technical and musical prowess to distinguish the savagery from the thematic cells. It is not sumptuous or ravishing, but fabulously dissected and executed. Bravo Mr. Hamelin!

  • WOW!! Only Hamelin can pull this off! Hamelin leaves no rock unturned!! He finds all phrases! Not my personal taste of music but listening to Hamelin play this is simply amazing!

  • Hey you guys to apreciate and understand this piece, first you need to be piano lovers or pro, 2. have a deep raised musical culture. I try to understand why you people cant apreciate it. figure it like a picasso work! not every body can understand it, why? because they have no a cultural background that allow them apreciate it.

  • It always amazes me that composers actually take a deep breath and say..."O.K. I'm going to write that down..."

    This piece almost sounds like Villa-Lobos had a bad day and just came home and went to town on his piano...

  • To like the piece, to"enjoy music",...it's simply a very strong flavor,like curry..if it's not your taste then it's ugly. But i find this magnificently expressive in its dramatically craggy & tangy way. Yet i dislike modern pop&rock etc, there's no real logic to taste. I heard Szidon first, then Freire(+several live performances);MAH is different in that he puts some order into the(usual)chaos,but as chaos is built into this work it comes out even more savagely!Bravo.

  • How can you listen to this and say that hes just banging on the keys playing random notes? I love the part at 3:13. I have never heard of Villa-Lobos before but it looks like its something to look into, thanks for uploading.

  • Heitor Villalobos composed most of his music for the guitar

  • Vocês não sabem porra nenhuma sobre "modernismo" !

  • eu sabo bem mas este compocao e feo,nao tenho interesse porque disso

  • well some harsh sonorities of modern music are hardly pleasing to my ears but there you go!

  • Why do you think someone should compose thinking about pleasing YOUR own personal view of music?

    Villa lobos is one of the gratest composers of all americas and always composed in a very personal way. Arthur Rubinstein was the one who played it on its debut in 1930's, so its not only for the likes of Hammelin, and also is for the likes of Nelson Freire (wich has the best record of it).

  • Why do so many people think that having poor ears is a virtue? Did it ever occur to you that there is something wrong with your ears rather than the piece?

  • that makes no sense... if there was something wrong with my ears, i wouldnt be able to hear the piece.

  • just sounds like hes pounding on the piano too me... all mixed up/jumbled sounds... but hey, that's just me.

  • this is amazing i am learning piano for 15 years and i am one of the best piano players in israel and i can bearlly play the rudepoema this is one of the hardest pieces ive ever heard but anyway amazing preformance bravo marc!!!!!!!!

  • Yeah, well I've been learning the piano for one hundred fifty years and I'm the best in the world and I wrote this piece and sometimes play it for breakfast instead of eating because it's just that fulfilling to be so perfect.

  • And I guess you play Alkan for Lunch, the Opus Clavicembalisticum for dinner, and top off with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 for Desert? Amazing...

  • Prove us ! Upload a video of you play .

    We shall be wait impatiencly to hear/see you play .

    By the way , you are very modest .

  • This is some crazy piece of music. But interesting.

  • wow, I have known forever that hamelin is amazing, but iv never seen anything like this.

  • I can't compare yet because I only have heared the version of Hamelin, thanks for the hint, I'll check the Szidon and Freire version.

  • good version, but i think Roberto Szidons or Nelson Freires are better.

  • Waaaaaw, very nice performance. I'm glad to know this piece now. Really interesting!

  • good version, but i think Roberto Szidons or Nelson Freires are better.

  • most most appreciative for this opportunity to hear Hamelin performing this work. thanks again.

  • OH HAPPY DAY!!! THANK YOU GOD!!!

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