Jack Gibbons plays Alkan Allegro Barbaro

[OrangeSodaKing]

One person has no soul.

[savagemnml]

Wipe it off the keyboard, your face, it's melted.

[grouchocatman]

I can't improve on Shi7Disc0's comment. After watching this video I bought a couple of your Alkan CDs and your complete Gershwin CD set. Great stuff.

[Shi7Disc0]

You made this song your bitch.

[KalutiDemontecatini]

OMG!

[slackbguser]

awesome

[hailkayy]

Recorded in 95 ?!

[dasteufelhund]

Go Jack!

[fmd3d]

thats insane! this man really rocks.

[yotomias]

After all that, he became one with the force...

[XAnalogmanX]

What could you expect having the teachers alkan had xP

Paganini for violin and Chopin and Liszt for piano.

[addeex1]

@XAnalogmanX Haha explain that please....

[mmeyer1]

Can anyone play it better?

[felipesarro]

@mmeyer1 I like Jack Gibbons, but Stephanie McCallum is also very good on Allegro Barbaro.

[pianopera]

Couldn't help noticing the picture at 00:35... After this tour de force, you deserved to have a glas or two!

[picoides1]

Step aside, Bartok

[JackGibbonsHQ]

There's a lot of interesting but also misinformed debate on this page about piano makes. What a lot of people don't realise is the piano technician and hammer manufacturer can make a tremendous difference to the sound of a piano, so there is no such thing as a 'bright' piano make (the pianist can also make a difference!). Steinways, Yamahas, Faziolis, etc (and hammers by Abel, Renner, etc.) all have their own special qualities. And why has no one stood up for the wonderful Bösendorfers?

[Botchlae]

@JackGibbonsHQ Bösendorfers are quite rare.

[OverFjell]

@JackGibbonsHQ I loove Bosendorfers :D

[PhoenixS4444]

@JackGibbonsHQ I dream to have a Bösendorfer one day .... this should be magical.. no, this GONNA BE magical...

[grouchocatman]

@JackGibbonsHQ Maestro, do you have any opinion on Stuart & Sons pianos? With their exotic woods, 97 or 102 keys, and $300,000 price tag (about $299,500 more than I can afford), they certainly stand out. I admit that I have not been overwhelmed by the recordings I've heard of them, but then I've never heard one played by a pianist of your caliber.

[MoonMankkkkkk]

Jack, would you say this piece is more technically demanding than Chopin's Étude Op. 25, No. 10?

[masamasababa]

Great!!!!!!

[NOSEhow2LIV]

@JackGibbonsHQ Yamaha make technically excellent instruments,which are unfortunately very limited in wider musical expression.They are much easier to play than most others,explaining some of the appeal,and are impressive in jazz,modern&contemporary,but very neutral& colorless in Romantic.Richter did not choose Yamaha for musical reasons(!); in later years it ruined his sound&touch.

Unfortunately must agree about declining Steinway quality.

[NOSEhow2LIV]

One of the best possible performances, with all the élan & fury, still finding space for contrast & detail. I heard Ronald Smith play this in public, very brilliantly, and this certainly matches it.

[Decalogus]

Bárbaro maestro! Complimenti!

[uTubeTerror]

how many cameras did you set up for this>?

[abokadoSM]

i bought his CD today

he is tall and handsome

[chingstasnipe]

@JackGibbonsHQ IMO Fazioli makes the best pianos...I have tried both Steinway and Fazioli piano's and I think that Fazioli has one of the best quality piano's in the world

[thegreatapologist]

I like how jack flies back from the keys at the end.

[thegreatapologist]

@JackGibbonsHQ Which is why I am glad my steinway was made in eighties.

Perhaps a change in generation is the cause of the decrease in quality, Either way, it is unfortunate.

[jl343]

This has to have set a record for most octaves played on a piano in three minutes...

[elgar34]

@JackGibbonsHQ Many thanks for your reply. I have long admired your Alkan and Gershwin recordings and hope someday we may have some others!

[WhatEverJL]

0:34 lololol

[DemonDZ]

I love how this piece never stalls into expectedness, everytime it should go into the classical repeat it just stops up and do something else..

[elgar34]

Yamaha make terrible pianos. Jack Gibbons deserves better.

[ShittiestChannelOnYT]

@elgar34 Matter of opinion I guess, Yamaha pianos do have a horribly bright sound to them though. They're better for pop music than classical.

[xxons]

UTTER DISBELIEF! Just curious since I am not piano player myself: how is that sound achieved between 1:16 and 1:40? It sounds like computer music!

[GettinDowntoBismuth]

@xxons octaves between a-c, then from a to higher a

[thegreatapologist]

@xxons Its just octives played twice, moving through an interval.  Its not that hard, especially compared to the octave mashing in the motif sections of the piece.

[blueyoyi]

Stupendous !!!!! BRAVOOOOO !!!!!!!!!

[FranzLisztian]

I love this etude

[killingangel707]

"Allegro Barbarically" Torturous Octaves

[m0rtem]

I, uh... wow.

[pearsewl]

I wish I could watch a video of him playing this at half speed from a first-person-perspective. That would help me immensely in learning this. :)

[elgar34]

Simply awesome. You should hear his recording of the Alkan concerto...

[Laudan08]

OMFG! SIMPLY EPIC!

[LightFromTheSun]

Holy shit! I almost felt giddy... his hands!

[pearsewl]

Holy. Shit.  D:

[litlakai1]

@pearsewl holy shit indeed lol

[BeauLeeman]

In a word, splendid!

[OldRabit]

Simply brilliant!

[cutelaughingbunny]

very barbaric

[SteinwayArtist]

Seriously amazing playing!

[alonsomatematico]

El pianista del infierno!! bravo!!

[josegiraldi]

Bravissimo Jack!!!

[kiitoob]

gibbons is usually very calm and smiling when he plays

the piano...but in this video playing the alkanster he is very

serious and focused...

amazing etude which can only be played by the gibbons master!!!

[dpabiel]

not so bad, but Bartoks Allegro barbaro is musically more interesting. without doubs.

[OrangeSodaKing]

@dpabiel

I agree, but this is just one piece from a set of 12 etudes. Have you listened all the way through the Op. 35 etudes? You can hear the complete set recorded by Stephanie McCallum WITH score here on Youtube! :)

[SteinwayArtist]

@dpabiel Huh?

[OrangeSodaKing]

@dpabiel Yes, but Alkan's Allegro Barbaro is actually just one etude in a set of 11 others, the Etudes (in all the major keys) Op. 35. If you want musicality and technical study in the same piece, listen to some of the others (No. 3 is my favorite).

[dasklavierleben]

@OrangeSodaKing no. 3 is everyone's favorite :)

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

@dasklavierleben yeah, mine too! :)

[masterofmetallica09]

@dasklavierleben Not No.7? That's one of the most awesome pieces of Piano music ever!

[decimaquinta69]

Fantastico

[argerich68]

Ottave incredibili ed esecuzione da rimanere senza fiato! Incredibile Jack, davvero grandioso!

[jl343]

Blows Bartok out of the water!

[minasgekos]

@jl343 what does Bartok has to do with this video?

[4candles]

Is this Jack or Reynart's upload? Whatever the case, this is a searingly virtuosic interpretation of this barnstormer!

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

@4candles Yes, but that channel was suspended