Douglas - Great Gate of Kiev

[harmony14447]

At the beginning of this video you can see young Alexei Sultanov which did not missed to the 3nd round of this competition.

[pitchfish3]

this performance is O.K.

[Gunbei2]

This is one of the great moments from my favorite documentary of all time.

I first saw this when it aired on Nova just after the 1986 competition in Moscow and watched it often. I recorded it on Super Betamax.

Until I saw this performance I never knew that Ravel's orchestrated piece wasn't the original. The original piano score as interpreted by Barry Douglas has a raw power, and emotional tenderness a symphony with all its depth can't match.

[OrangeSodaKing]

I first heard this piece in Ravel's orchestrated form, and for the longest time listened to it only in that version, unable to believe the piano version could match up. I even tried listening to the piano version, but couldn't. It wasn't until I attended a couple live performances of it until I realized how although the orchestration is fantastic, colorful, and fills the hall, the original piano version is a masterpiece!!

[hwould]

Long live Jerry the King Lawler

[kingdave84]

You're all gay. Stephanie and David

[jTg829]

All the emotion is overwhelming me! So beautiful!!!!

[Bergunthera]

Not as good as the ELP original

[photonutz09]

@Bergunthera

Ummm Elp did a cover of it. This is the original version. It was written in 1874

[Bergunthera]

@photonutz09 Nah, don't think so...

[vickiehill1]

Wonderful video. Barry Douglas is just thrilling!! He plays Rachmaninoff on a couple of my CD's. Love the scenes of Russia too. A very beautiful & mysterious country.

[richardjohnraymond]

Watching Glenn Gould play Sweelinck's Fantasia brought me back to this. I've attended about two dozen of Barry Douglas' performances. This is exceptional.

[FloristheKing]

Mussorgsky Wrote The Pictures at an Exhibition for A friend of Him Who was Painter And one of his Paintings was the great gate of Kiev And It had nothing to do with Sovjets They didnt Exist Yet, But Kiev was a city in the Empire of Russia(1721 - 1917)

And Nowadays its a city in Oekrain. Second Mussorgsky was a Componist not Politician, And I may say that i very much like the pieces, and well Mr. Douglas.

[hepzebahsu]

This was my wedding processional played on organ with chimes. Got the idea from Keith Chapman's record of entire Pictures played on the Wanamaker Organ.

[majik2hanz]

Never heard this on piano only before ...thank you this is a great performance!

[madlutist]

@majik2hanz Haha; it was actually originally written for piano!

Though the Ravel version is really famous... and so's the Emerson Lake and Palmer, but that's different.

If you're looking for good orchestrations, I'd recommend the Ashkenazy, though...

But my favorite pianist is Horowitz.

Horowitz wore bow ties.

To skip right to the end of my tangential line of thought, I might as well just say that blueberries, when used for political purposes, never taste quite as sweet.

[majik2hanz]

@madlutist

Thank you I did not know that... I'll have to check the other versions. Yes Horowitz is excellent.

You lost me on the tangential thought...perhaps I'm missing a metaphor or idiom I've never heard. Blueberries should be blue / indigo to be sweet when crimson will be tart. : P

[madlutist]

@majik2hanz My problem is that when I go off on a tangent, I lean in instead of backing out...

[ffhk1]

This is an amazing piece and well played here!

[Kuntipac]

i dont understand how people can play this piece, at times you need thirteen fingers, can somebody tell me how this is possible

[gert0174]

Barry Douglas is great here. I've watched all the videos of thus piece on YouTube. Douglas has a great technique and all!

[ruskybalboa]

gotta tell ya...not the best performance i've heard of this piece, but the sub-theme from 3:11 to 3:54 was the greatest piece of music i've ever heard!

[fagelsinnet]

I love this piece so much! It makes me cry sometimes. One of the most beautiful pieces ever written in my opinion. This was a great performance! I love the way he played it! I play this piece a little bit slower but that's a matter of taste of course.

[Tomg114]

perhaps the greatest piece of music ever written. very powerful and moving with a sense of greatness. has the piano recovered?!!! the pianist is one of the best i have ever heard, and i have heard the best pianists in the world!

[mobusdorphin]

I am speechless

[orrinoconnor]

@mobusdorphin I to sir am speechless, It's hard to believe Barry and his sister Pamela and myself had a piano teacher in common, His sister is also a very accomplished pianist while I can hardly strike two harmonious notes within a bar,,,,,,,,Unbelievable but true!

[majorgeeek]

The Great Gates of Kyiv - musicians are not good at grammer

[slipknotmaggot13666]

ha! i actually know him all you people are all aw hes class but i actually no him! an his daughter! an two sons lmao

[MazeppaPZ]

What a moving and from-the-heart performance! The footage of babushkas seem a bizarre juxtaposition, but serve as a reminder of the era. Today, you are more likely to see Mercedes and BMWs driving down Tverskaya street than ZILs and Volgas!

[RustyIronloins]

terrible use of rubato during the Hut . . .

[victorTBONE777]

grreat!!!! love dis,,soo majestic and emotiional :)

[majorgeeek]

Kyiv is Ukrainian and no bunch of Commies, Nazis, Turks or even alcoholic Russian musicians will ever change that fact - if you believe KYIV is spelled kiev then you are either ignorant, or commie, or both

[GaussRifleGrunt]

UKRAINE STRONG

[yahohoandbottleofrum]

@majorgeeek

stupid remark

[majorgeeek]

@yahohoandbottleofrum

you sir are an idiot

[2199]

Who wrote this piece. I like but I would like to know who wrote it?

[StringUsername]

Mussorgsky. "Pictures at an Exhibition"

[2199]

Thank you. I first herd this and please dont laugh back in the old days of WWF during the King of the Ring. Again thank you. Were can I download this?

[ruskybalboa]

modeste mussorgsky-pictures at an exhibition

[2199]

@ruskybalboa thnx dude.

[keybord95]

semplicemente fantastico

[mozart1986mozart]

Im from Kiev :DDDDD

yeah great perfomance

[josegiraldi]

Fantastic Barry!!!

[LucaDellOsta]

Bravo, bravissimo!

[lecochonbleu]

I usually wasn't sure what the fuss about Mr. Douglas was, when there was such a lot. And that's probably because of the fuss, it sent me to sleep, not being ironic, I just didn't hea anything. I just didn't get around to checking out the pianist. Then a few years ago I heard him play Pictures at an Exhibition at Clonard Monastery (Belfast) and I was quite mesmerised. Like this - he's really amazing. I think there are few pianists have had such an impression on me.

[lecochonbleu]

I'm from Belfast also; my old piano tutor at the city music school told me how a very young Barry Douglas had a meeting with her (Head of Piano) & a general Senior Tutor & how both tutors advised the young man against taking music performing as a profession. They didn't think it was a good idea. So few pianists make it to music college, and hardly any of those make solo careers. So he went away quietly. And later was the 1st westerner in many years to win the Tchikovsky competition.

[valeo626]

lol @ Babushkas ~2:50

[CorganofTheSevenWind]

I'm taking a music appreciation course at my college and I love Baba Yaga and the Great Gate of Kief. Of course, it sounds grander with an orchestra.

[Rontgen92]

I think, you didn't hear this piece with Evgeny Kissin

[91olenao91]

nobady can reach this level of playing the great gate of kiew with the piano

[91olenao91]

haha he looks SO strange..XDD

despite he's playing very nice ;)

[pagemayo]

Who cares what this is about. He played this piece wonderfully!

[Rexman7X]

This also use in WWF.

Harley Race theme

[FlurryFuzz]

His playing is really brilliant. Hes got so much tense and feeling. Still his technique ist perfect!^^

[stiefdb]

Lol this is art, and the pianoplay is very good.

[kyivcossacks]

jordonbrown don't be foolish! Mussorgsky stands for RUSSIA at a time when RUSSIA was occupying UKRAINE and Kyiv is the capital of UKRAINE - got it!!!! good

[manwalrus]

Good. Has nothing to do with what the song is about.

[kyivcossacks]

You need three qualities to really play Musso well - be drunk, be a fuckwit and glorify Russia's imperial conquests and achievements

[jordonbrown123]

Well actually you're all idiots, Moussorgsky didn't write this peice as any particular political statement. Quite simply, it was written as a tone poem to a picture drawn by his friend Victor Hartman, the sound reflects the drawing done by his friend. Even in the original picture Hartman drew, he drew it with a bell tower, and the music actually reflects this. Also, the actual updated gate was never built.

[GiacomoHoldini]

"I think the Evgeni Kissin version is much better, he plays with so much more emotion."

I disagree. I have the complete recording of this performance on a Melodiya CD, as well as Kissin's recording. While Kissin's is more technically polished and much better recorded, Douglas's complete performance is one for the ages. It is also far better than his RCA studio recording of the same work, made a short time after this performance. If anything, his nerves here made for a better performance.

[Voranax]

wow this is really good berely second time hearing it! wut kind of song is it..... medieval classic wut ? sound so mysterious...or church i dont kno ...wer does it originate from?wer was this at? whos the composer? i ask a lot huh? O.o

[Erunno89]

This piece, is called "The Great Gate of Kiev" -- composed by Modest Mussorgsky.

It comes from a larger collection known as "Pictures at an Exhibition". Modest walked through an art gallery and was inspired!

This is the Finale of the suite.

"Church" hmm...The piece does reflect the bells of Kiev - so church bells aren't far off! But what I love about classical music is that everyone has their own interpretations.

It's always good to have questions! We learn everyday!

Matt

[Voranax]

Thank you Matt, for all the information.

And that is pretty true you do learn every day. More and more every day.

Awesome,

Ishee (nickname)

[sh5105]

I think the Evgeni Kissin version is much better, he plays with so much more emotion.

[igorek1982]

Kissin's verison is better indeed but note taht this is a life record from a nerve-wracking competition... I appreciate it so much regarding this fact. And you should as well

[sh5105]

Agreed, this also quite well played, but I think that's common consensus.

[Trepper1940]

Completely agree with medpiano; Moussorgsky was a great composer and it is completely irrelevant if he was an alcoholic. Please, do not mix Politics with Art. You shoul admire the superb performance of Barry Douglas and forget everything else.

[kyivcossacks]

Oh Sure just because he is a musician makes him different from the rest of us - what a bunch of self centred hypocrites we have here

[goodcommentguy]

hut on Chicken's legs

[marra531]

.....

[medpiano]

I thought you learned the first time, but apparently not--there were no "deportations" as the Soviet Union hadn't been formed yet. And the "Great Gates" were just a F*CKING PICTURE (remember? "..at an exhibition?") not something Mussorgsky splattered blood on in an imperialist frenzy. Next you'll be protesting the persecution of chickens used for propping up old ladies' huts.

[kyivcossacks]

Did I say Soviet? music is representative - eg try playing your favourite nazi piece at a jewish wedding and see what might happen - I would shove the disc so far up where the sun don't shine - the Russians persecuted and were almost as bad as the soviets - Mussogsky sucks big time - stupi old coot

[hetmans1]

I agree with Kyivcossacks,, Mussorgsky was an immoral alcoholic whose music represents Russian repression,, down with all russian communists

[GreggaryPeccary]

I think it's inappropriate for people to give you so many thumbs down. I think this should be discussed, as it was the case with Wagner's anti-Semitism. But remember, music and biography are two different things

[victorTBONE777]

you are a bitch!!! shut the fuck up and quit your shit!!! mussorgsky was an awesome composer...its a shame that some people like you dont appreciate what he did n his time...and so what if mussorgsky was a drunkard, he was three times the man you will ever be...

[hetmans1]

okay bonehead what did Musso do besides side with the Russian repression of Ukrainians overlook their anguish ie Musso could not see the forest for the trees and being an alcoholic didn't help - his music may sound nice but it does not represent Kyiv or the socalled gates of kyiv pictures - its all empty headed nonsense

[Shhlitre]

isnt that like a black man calling mozart shit coz he is white?

[hetmans1]

No Shitlitre you are wrong - its like a Ukrainian calling musso shit coz his music is indicative of repression of Ukraines by Russians

[Shhlitre]

ha shitlitre,,,,u'd swear u were funny.

hate to have no gas

Well personally Vadym i think the playing in general is quite savage ri

[lamborghinigallarodo]

fast fingers

[TheGreatPerahia]

Gave a mesmerising concert at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester in April with a magnificent performance of Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit and Liszt's Dante Sonata among others, a very engaging pianist to watch and listen to in concert and his performance of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an exhibition is one of the finest around.

[kyivcossacks]

Yes its great music but for heavens sake get the name right- Kiev was in Soviet Union and Kyiv is in modern Independant Democratic Ukraine. So is this video over 20 years old?????

[crazyfastkeys]

yes, this video is 22 years old

[crazyfastkeys]

Chyea buddy i got thumbs up!

[crazyfastkeys]

barry is my homeboy

[medpiano]

The name is correct. Whatever transliteration for the city that is used now is irrelevant, as this was written and titled over 100 years ago (Киеве = "Kieve"), not what it's called today.

[kyivcossacks]

Thank you

[hetmans1]

Thankyou - that's exacxtly my point - Kyiv was called by Russian spelling Kiev because Kyiv was occupied and repressed by the Russians and Mussorgsky represents Russian repression of Ukrainians - ergo his music sucks

[kyivcossacks]

Thankyou but Киеве = Kyiv is correct transliteration - not Kiev, Kiev is redundant Russian soviet spelling used only by Russians and communists and Musso when he wrote his crappy music glorifying Russian occupation of Ukraine

[Turkamel]

@kyivcossacks ukranians are jealous of the Great Mother Russia, SLAVA ROSSIJA!!!

[kyivcossacks]

@Turkamel according to the Chronicles it should read Mother Ukraine and her hegemonious Sister Russia

[Bennie347]

Fantastic!! Wonderful and honest musician. Thank you for this lovely video. Well-deserved gold medal.

[DrLectr]

well done, but a little too much damper pedal at the end for my taste. Great song though.

[dabarnes]

I honestly believe that, next to Beethoven, Mussorgsky was the greatest musician the world has ever seen; this piece alone puts him on a pedastal above most.

[roygbiv330]

amazing.

[manu974aimwill]

it's very crazy!!!!!!!!! i love! c'est trop beau! j'ador je veu l'aprendre

[Turkamel]

Non plus ultra

[Trepper1940]

This pianist can compete with the orchestral version and defeteat it. Extremelybrilliant. ¡bravo!

[otisgray]

Thank you for posting this! i used to watch this as a 15 yr old, over and over again. He was one of my favorites, and i actually got to meet Barry Douglas at the age of 20.

[hanaramy]

Yes, I remember this. One of the very few non-Russians to win at Tchaikovsky, in the height of the Cold War even. Even on TV, it was clear that he charmed the Russians alright.

[ZeppelinRochey]

Wow....I feel so unbelievably lucky!....I met him!! He played right infront of me in my college! jazus... I never kew he was this good! an acclaimed ya no! wat an honour tho!

[cdpiano27]

Can you post this whole documentary? I was age 5 when I saw this, and I do not have the videotape. I have the videotape from 1990 Tchaikovsky Competition documentary. I would really like to see the whole thing again. I remember part of the documentary was quite funny if I remember, with some comments even complaining how Ilya Kaler was "unmusical."

[DrLuu1972]

Could you please post that competition tape so others can appreciate it? I watched the competition on TV when I was young. So I kinda forgot most of it! Thanks!

[maxi937]

I saw him live at the Liverpool Phil, and he played the Brahms Bb concerto, but his playing lacked something. It just didn't move me in any way.

[GraySwallow]

In Ohio last night.Great in Resurrection piano concerto revision premier//A touch of Gray//

[jesusnrmeof1]

that sounds like the firebird not great gate of kiev

[doggitt]

As far as I know he is still going. I have some footage from him playing in 2000 in my videos. He was forming an orchestra from both Northern and Southern Ireland at the time.

[Trepper1940]

great performance, no doubt. Full of passion and musicality. Bravo. I wonder if this talented pianist is still playing or he has retired?

[fldapem]

it's weird because he seems to be very well known by all of you, but I'm french and I never heard about him before. he is really really good!!!

[Picolaaaaaa]

I went to go and see him play Rach's 2nd pianoconcerto in Eindhoven (holland) 2 days ago. He still plays fabulous piano. Exceptional pianist!. Thanks for posting

[chuckbilio]

Legend, good to know extraordinarily talented Irishmen aren't all self destructive.

[VonRichter]

Hmm. It's OK. Not the dynamite I've sometimes heard from this, but not bad.

[dustylee]

jesus christ first 50 seconds was crazy

[sirsquickalot]

Actually, I did Tchaikovsky concerto with him the other week, twice. One was boring the other was incredible.

[davidweiner23]

somehow I doubt someone with the user name "sirsquickalot" just did the Tchaikovsky

concerto with Barry fucking-Douglas

[sirsquickalot]

Gosh! It's only a username...! The concert referred to above from jculver2 is the one I was playing in, repeated a few weeks later in Daytona Beach with the same orchestra. Why would I lie?

[davidweiner23]

I believe you. So you did actually play w/ Barry Douglas? If so, what was he like?

[sirsquickalot]

Well, it goes without saying he's a phenomenal player. The first concert was in the Barbican in London and it was excellent playing but not anywhere close to how he played in Daytona. Others thought the opposite, but in Daytona it was electrifying. The London one was more tame in my opinion.

[LVB1770]

What ever happened to Barry Douglas? He seems to have vanished off the face of the earth.

[jculver2]

I saw him in London with the LSO this summer.  He was amazing.

[LVB1770]

jculver2, Sweet, good to know he is still around!

[cindyONyt]

he's supposed to come over and play in Hong Kong this April