Debussy, Reflets dans l'eau (James Boyk, solo piano)

[AcousticDude17]

debussy still remains to be my favorite piano composer. such beautiful and emotional music

[hczxp91]

J'aime réfléchirs lorseque je rêve des rivières qui me diriges vers la joie et le paix. Voilà un chançon qui m'a fait rêver même si que je suis toujours éveiller. Merci.

[audreyhsux5727]

why dont u do any liszt?

[smalin]

@audreyhsux5727 There's one piece by Liszt here on YouTube, and one on my DVD. That I haven't done more is due to several factors. I don't play any Liszt myself, so I can't use my own performances (like I do for, say, Chopin). I don't like his music as much as that by other composers. And I feel like I already have a lot of piano music on my channel, so if I'm going to license a recording, I'd rather do something that isn't solo piano music.

[audreyhsux5727]

@smalin thank you ^^ i quite like ur playing, so keep up the good work ;)

[smalin]

@audreyhsux5727 You do know that this isn't my playing, right?

[audreyhsux5727]

@smalin Yes, I do. I mean "your playing" as in your Chopin nocturnes and Debussy Arabesques, and i also think that your MAM reflects the music beautifully. I do hope you continue this as long as you are able

[GovernerOfBurningHam]

so beautiful - both visually and emotionally

[forscyvus]

Guh I always notice the mistake in the visualization at 4:10. GUH GUH GUH.

I have always loved this piece though.

[deserteacher]

this one's kind of trippy

[PabloDelRococo]

When Debussy met Rachmaninov

[animalover7777]

You have a lot of spare time lol :) Great vids tho :D

[ratzlp0li]

shit's like acid yo

[meanmrmustard89]

I fucking love your channel man! mwa!

[PersicusMagus]

Ah, you keep the secret for you...;) What a pity. This video of Reflets dans l' eau its beautiful because with the intensity or slight expansion of the lights you can also underline the emotional impact of some passages or chords not only the geometric interweave of the musical lines. The different shapes and colours complete the synesthetic experience. Good job. When you are selling the software tell us.

[MisterHowe]

I realize that your software is always changing and developing. PLEASE, at some point in the future, make a version fuller than MAM available for sale. This performance and visualization are stunning.

[smalin]

@MisterHowe I hope to make the MAM available as a commercial product at some point in the future.

[PersicusMagus]

It is not possible to find or buy this software? Anyway if you wrote the program congratulations, it is excellent. You know I was thinking to do the same job with Michelangeli's Reflets. Howerver James Boyk made some beautiful passages, very dreaming and magic.

[smalin]

@PersicusMagus There is a version of the software that I give away for free, but the effects used in this video are not in it, and it requires a MIDI file as an input.

[PersicusMagus]

Wow, what a beauty. A question please: how can I build a similar video starting from an audio file? Is there a software that works also with non midi files?

[smalin]

@PersicusMagus You'd have to write software to do it.

[Oneworld87]

@smalin How does the software function? Does it infer its own class of instrument by comparing differences of sounds via some kind of algorithmic loop?

[smalin]

@Oneworld87 No, it uses a score (in the form of a MIDI file).

[foodiste]

My favorite work of debussy! as a Debussy fanatic, I prefer other interpretations... but that aside,I love your video! Thank you so much for doing this. Its fantastic.

[AlanKey86]

This is one of the best you've ever created!

Keep on innovating. It's how Google, Facebook and YouTube stay ahead (despite the inevitable moans of "I preferred it the old way")

[Martyr9991]

I prefer the older videos... Videos like this... just have WAY too much going on to be appealing in my opinion. I think it sort of takes away from the music some.

[smalin]

@Martyr9991 I'm doing a really simple bar-graph one next ...

[gothicel]

@Martyr9991

I call it creativity, to put the music into a visual sense.

[orboksanci]

@Martyr9991 I don't think there can be anything taken away from Debussy:)) Thank you Stephen for this one too!

[hipser]

My girlfriend seduced me with this piece.

[forscyvus]

Really nice animation on this one. I still really like your cones for the decaying notes of the piano.

[chikkc]

im speechless <3 this

[practicepalace]

the screeching chair at 3:46 and 3:49 :-)

i love all the little background sounds in this recording. when they happen it puts me in a room where someone is sitting at a piano and then i remember that this music comes from a single person playing the piano. i forget that a lot when i listen to recordings. that's why i love your visualizations, they add a lot to the sound for me, it draws out every detail

[wxmachinegun]

trippy duuuuude

[clasicoobservador]

this video is a piece of art for itself

[flippert0]

forced synesthesia ;-)

[makerofjam]

I think this may be one of the most effective videos you've done. The sound and the image seem ideally suited to each other.

[MrDirtyratmiller]

holy shit, does this not describe the Bowen reaction series? Answer me!

[franielee38]

Remarkable!!!

[terrybeaton]

Is it just me, or does this sound alot like some 'Jazz' music?

[nannymac47]

@terrybeaton Wasn't it DeBussy who met and was also influenced by Gershwin? I hear Gershwin chords and progressions in this too.

[foodiste]

@nannymac47 I definitely hear this in Gershwin too. How cool that you can trace the line of influence.

[b43xoit]

All right. Looks like real note envelopes. Thanks.

[Benoit38110162]

moi ça m'aide a découvrir et apprécier des musiques que je connais pas, ou mal : merci !

[644547024430]

I can't say I'm a fan of this visual representation. It just feels too Fantasia for me, you know?

[mscorney]

wow just wow.

[nannymac47]

Is this on a DVD that I can purchase. I don't ever want to lose this one.

[smalin]

@nannymac47 Sorry, no.

[Monstexitus]

@nannymac47 Try to download it from youtube. Use Google to find a software and then put this video on a DVD. Not sure if it's totally legal tho..

[LedKenji666]

@nannymac47 Simple solution : Favorite

[nannymac47]

@LedKenji666 I favortied this right away but I have lost things before when people took them off their channel.

[smalin]

@nannymac47 I have a policy (which I stick to almost 100% of the time) not to remove any of my videos. Even if I make a new/better version of a video, I leave the old one up so that people won't experience "link rot"; in those cases, I provide a link to the new video in the FAQ and/or with an annotation in the video.

[nannymac47]

You have captured the mood and story or this music to perfection. I can, and do, sit and listen to/watch this in the dark over and over again. Reminiscent of a city's lights reflected on the water, only infinitely more peaceful. Sometimes like little lightening bugs hovering over a still body of water. I do believe this is your best so far. Am so looking forward to your future endeavors.

[Postlehurst5]

Marvellous. You've got a lot better at this since I first watched one of your videos quite a while ago.

[LegendaryOPS]

Very beautiful, thank you for these fantastic visual representations

[joseramon1402]

Fascinante. 

[directfader]

interesting format..

[pkerlover]

are you encouraging people to consume acid before watching these? Because I can't imagine how awesome that would be

[smalin]

@pkerlover  I haven't been able to watch any of my videos under the influence of LSD, so I can't comment one way or the other.

[buzzwaffle]

Magical!  YAY!

[pdataque]

lsd 

[nannymac47]

You know that many of these representations are dear to me and I plan on transferring them to one of my arts. Isn't that learning?

[MegaCirse]

Ooooooooooo, rien de tel pour guérir les blessures de l'âme et calmer la tourmente de nos esprits !

[AmadeusWinters]

Amazing realization.



[nannymac47]

I don't consider myself pretentious. Is that, in itself, pretentious. I don't know. I haven't been able to find any profound beauty in his music.

[nannymac47]

@nannymac47 I took music theory and composition at KSU School of Music and later at The Crane School of Music so I am not totally uneducated where music, tonality and all are involved. I never saw the rush to throw out the baby with the bath water, to discard tonality for atonality just to be new, fresh and different. We'll have to agree to disagree here.

[nannymac47]

@nannymac47 Not being stubborn about it, I tried when I took courses that required me to be immersed in this but it never panned out for me no matter how many times I heard or studied it.

[smalin]

@nannymac47 But what do you say to those who say they have found profound beauty in it? That they are lying, or mistaken, or idiots? For me, this is like seeing somebody enjoying eating durian; it turns my stomach, but I don't deny that it is possible to enjoy it, or say that it is without esthetic value as a food.

[nannymac47]

@smalin Well, I have been thinking and here is my 'last' thought on the subject of Schoenberg. I am not saying that there exist, those who like or love this composer but like your durian, it is an acquired taste and one I shall no longer try to acquire. Seriously, are you that open about every kind of music out there? After all, hip hop, rap, krump and all that nonsense do have a legitimacy for existing but,

[nannymac47]

@nannymac47 music, to me, should ennoble man, should exhibit what is good about us as civilized human beings. Some genres of the arts, all inclusive, do not reflect what is BEST about us. You yourself are the perfect embodiment of that ideal. Please don't think that I reject or negate all that is new to me. I can not tell you how much 'new to me' music I have come to know just by listening to public radio and steaming radio on the internet.

[nannymac47]

@nannymac47 I don't have the room here to tell you all that I have learned and continue to learn. My ears are open but they go directly to my heart and for me to continue to learn, I have to concentrate on the music and arts that stir my soul, not those with which I must struggle. It is important to me that you understand this. I don't know why but it is. Maybe it is because I love and respect YOUR art so much.

[nannymac47]

@nannymac47 And finally, I discovered you on YouTube. I am still learning.

[smalin]

@nannymac47 That depends on what you mean by "open." There are lots of genres of music that I spend little or no time listening to, but it's not because I think they have no value --- it's because I'm going for depth rather than breadth. I started studying Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier over forty years ago, and I'm still working on it. My musical understanding extends solidly to Beethoven, fairly well into Brahms, and a tiny bit into Debussy. I'm a slow learner, but not impatient.

[nannymac47]

@smalin I've been thinking all day. Do you know how your ear feels when you listen to a flute that is sharp? Schoenberg does that to me physically. Some people are fanatics about cheese. Very strong cheese makes me urpy, just the smell. When I listen to or play any music, in any genre, I want a beginning, a middle and end that arent' too difficult to reach. If that makes me 'small' minded, so be it. At least I am bright enough to see your talent.

[nannymac47]

@nannymac47 Even though, like all the great composers who came before you, you are using a new medium to enhance our enjoyment of music.

[nannymac47]

@smalin You study Bach's wtc from the viewpoint of a 20th/21st century man. You absolutely can do nothing else. You will never understand it from Bach's living breathing viewpoint. That's probably why there are so many varied 'interpretations' of Bach's music out there. Just listen to The Prelude from Bach's cello suites on YouTube. So many performances and they are, all of them, vastly different. I doubt that Bach would find affinity with any of them.

[nannymac47]

@nannymac47 Yet, I would imagine him enjoying some of them and possibly being blown away by YOUR visualization of his music.

[nannymac47]

I'm 65 years old. There is too much music that I enjoy and will easily learn to enjoy for me to 'work' at it now. I want my last years to be quality. Schoenberg puts my teeth on edge. I have tried, admittedly, not hard enough but I don't want to go about hitting myself on the head so that I can learn to enjoy the pain. Can't we choose to educate ourselves as we wish?

[smalin]

@nannymac47 I'm not saying you (or I) should try to appreciate Schoenberg, or that people who don't like Beethoven's Grosse Fuge should force themselves to. Not at all. I'm just saying that "my 'ear' tells me what is good" really means "my 'ear' doesn't know how to listen to Schoenberg yet." Until you can understand Schoenberg's music, it's a mistake to criticize it (and when you do understand it, you'll criticize it on its own terms, rather than saying "it's not tonal").

[hellbanemaster]

next time i get stoned im watching this again, cant wait..love the vid

[HiddenBladErik]

Again, a very beautiful video, smalin! The animations are better than ever.

Is it just me, or could the melody at 3:10 be inspired by Rachmaninov's 2nd concerto?

[joyceleigh1]

awesome, love it, thank you!

[TFreckle]

I feel - especially with Debussey and his many "unprepared" modulations, the use of color to show tonality, is really really useful. Whenever the music goes to a new tonal place which sounds "weird", the color changes. Awesome.

[Kuckooracha]

Beautiful piece, but the visual has too many effects for me, it looks like a night club! : )

[viktorkruna]

Bravò!

[LandesHector]

great ;)



[BlackSunSerenade]

My god that man must have 3 hands or something

[Amarelaoo1]

Have you ever tried to integrate three-dimensional animations to your visual repertoire?

[smalin]

@Amarelaoo1 No, not explicitly. I'm not a big fan of 3D.

[nannymac47]

Absolutely beautiful in every way. I have never heard this before and so you have given me something new to love and listen to. I am enchanted with the way the diamond notes reach out to caress and envelope the next note in the series. What a lovely program. Thank you once again. I know we all say that a lot but... in your case, it certainly bears repeating.

[Jasonnapier100]

Beautiful....!!!!!!

[Cannabia04]

i like the new desingn

[nmus1]

fantastic!!

[Iemanonymous1]

Beautiful as always. 

[Zeobit]

I have to admit that I don't like (or understand? :-) Debussy as much as he deserves it, but I also have to admit that that's one of your best visualisations ever and watching it was a real pleasure!

[ikschrijflangenamen]

Okay, I'm no piano expert, an I think because of that I have troubles understanding the audial difference between the three shapes you're using: ellipses, trapezoids and diamonds.

[smalin]

@ikschrijflangenamen Each one corresponds to a way that the notes move or are grouped. For example, the outlines that get filled (that get narrower in longer notes) correspond to chords that move in parallel. The long, sustained notes (the first note of the piece, and the way the piece ends) are ellipses.

[Novarosky]

first of all, sorry for my terrible english. The first work of yours I've ever seen was the "Grosse Fuge" just after I saw the film "copying Beethoven". I found it very touching because I really felt like I could see the music: it's been an unique experience for me. And so I watched all your work, curious for your method but also all for your interest and attention in all this. But that magic I felt (and feel again) there, I think is really an "unicum".

[orendi2]

Feux d'artifices chinois sur l'eau, superbe !

Chinese fireworks on water, very beautifull.

[cueve57]

In some ways I think this is your best...I like the use of those gelatinous-looking elipses for long sustained notes, especially in the bass; and although I have heard this piece so many times I have never really begun to understand it until watching this.

[sukitrebek]

Thank you. I have heard this before, but seeing it helps me to hear it in a different way.

[progressivelife]

beautiful graphics!!! my favorite yet

[TheAPAnderson]

Wow, your new visualizations just keep getting better!

[ThePenguinmassacre]

I really enjoy your piano pieces. Do you plan on doing any duets by Motzart or anything of that nature?

[smalin]

@ThePenguinmassacre Not at the moment, no.

[ShogaNinja]

Do you plot each of these notes in time using the sheet music based on the original performance?

[smalin]

@ShogaNinja No, I prepare a score in a music notation program, and then synchronize the data from that with the audio.

[Sakanakao]

Good stuff as always. I love your channel. Speaking of Schoenberg: are you planning to do any?

[smalin]

@Sakanakao I don't have any plans to do Schoenberg ... mostly because I don't understand it well enough to feel I could do an adequate job explicating it visually. I feel I'm on firmer ground working with music I know and understand fairly well. But that could change; I worked a little on one of his easier piano pieces recently, and felt like parts of it were comprehensible to me.

[nannymac47]

@smalin I feel that most of those who say they 'like' Schoenberg think they should like him. He built his reputation with that sort of support. He is, to me, like those people who can not stop talking, about themselves or what they think. I know... I am a prejudiced music lover but my 'ear' tells me what is good and what to listen to.

[smalin]

@nannymac47 Read through all the comments on the video I did for Beethoven's Grosse Fuge; you'll see some along the lines of "this is not good music; nobody can really, honestly, enjoy this; people who say they do are just saying it because they know it's Beethoven and think they should." They are mistaken, as are you. It's not that you are prejudiced, but that your ear is under-educated. You could learn to appreciate Schoenberg (as could I, if I spent the time).

[Jaydoggy531]

@nannymac47

If you read his book The Theory of Harmony you'll understand a little more about Schoenberg's thought-process. It's not really music you'd put on as you drive your car for instance. I find some of his works become more interesting if you look at the score itself. There are plenty of works I agree I simply can't stand, and I've met more than a few pretentious people. But what I admire about Schoenberg was that he had nothing against tonal music, which some pretentious modernists do.

[Jaydoggy531]

(cont. from last post). What separated Schoenberg from other modernists was that he didn't look down on or judge other pieces of music for being tonal vs. atonal. He found merit in just about every piece of music that had ever been written, and found the art of writing music admirable on all fronts. He simply explored a different front for himself. Some, of course, butcher his meaning and others' - I've yet to find a John Cage fan who actually listened to a word he said, as another example.

[Jaydoggy531]

Ah this has always been a favorite piece of mine. A great performance, and thanks for giving Boyk's commentary.

[smalin]

@Jaydoggy531 James Boyk will be reading the comments, so if you have any questions for him, feel free --- he might answer!

[subtle0savage]

I've followed your work for some time; thank-you for the efforts you put in to doing these. Much appreciated. This animation is absolutely the best I've seen you do to date. You've managed to capture the texture and flavour with your new approach. Thanks again!

[sw2de3fr4gt]

Your music software is getting better and better. Nice music as always.

[RowanGolightly]

This is lovely and so peaceful; brilliant as always!

[EternallyConfuzled]

That was just so, so beautiful

[trp8155]

I love Debussy. I have never heard this before now. Please do some more Debussy!!!!!

[smalin]

@trp8155 There's lots of Debussy's music on YouTube ... you don't have to wait for me to do it.

[trp8155]

@smalin No. I mean the visualization. I've seen your Clair de Lune and Duex Arabesque's. Like you should make a visualization like this one for Reverie. the reason I said this was because you have no idea how much I enjoy watching these videos.

[smalin]

@trp8155 Reverie's a bit ... how can I put it gently? ... simplistic for me. I'm planning to do the second arabesque at some point, and I like his chamber music. Beyond that, I don't feel I'm ready for things like La mer. Even with this, I'm getting ahead of myself --- using existing software to do things it's not very good at, rather than designing and writing something new that's better suited. I mean, this piece is about light and water ... it shouldn't have any sharp edges!

[trp8155]

@smalin ehh do whatever you wish!!!! :)

[aaronlaw97]

@smalin Yours are the best!!!!!!!!

[zannadootothetenth]

really nice light show

[a132331]

Magical...

[KMO325]

Every season is Debussy season!

[codonauta]

Fantastic. Your ancient works were already excellent, but you are overcoming yourself. One of the best work with images plus music I ever watched. ( if not the best )

[sebastianrc]

Una de las mejores sin duda

[then00best]

that's trippy

[ShareYourUnderwear]

Pretty

[JordanClunn]

I really like how Michealangeli plays it. but James Boyk does it really well also.

[angelofdeath7663]

Very well done. The colors really go well with each other in this one.

[Palm3950]

Beautiful

[jeebus022]

very very nice

[roberto4396]

Color scheme matches really well here. Great