Ian Bostridge - Erlkönig

[SenorCyprian]

What he's doing to that piano lid is stressing me out.

[aDomaszowec]

@SenorCyprian He's blind... he needs to make sure he doesn't fall off the podium thing he's on.

[aDomaszowec]

@aDomaszowec sorry... no podium thing, but the stage.

[SenorCyprian]

@aDomaszowec Nope. He's not blind. There are videos of him reading sheet music—with his eyes. Also, if you go to his Wikipedia page, nowhere does it talk about him being blind.

[Iloveopera100]

Per Ian above - Now girl! Have you ever had acting lessons? No? Take a couple decades of them. Yes? Fire your teacher immediately and go to the beginning class at the YMCA. I think they would be much better for you. Why do you slump over and wander around the stage aimlessly.

I would love to report this video as the most INAPPROPRIATE "barking" I've heard since I visited the dog pound, but robbing the world of the joy of listening would simply be too much to bare."

[Fit2Bust]

Look out for Dudley Moore's version on YouTube.

[twizzthenizz]

hi peoples



[crazybay46913]

He looks so much like Dr. Who (11th doctor).

[Knuckles2211]

my wrist hurts just watching this guy play it... kudos to him

[Fit2Bust]

@Knuckles2211 It's not my wrist, but forearm which is killing me doing this for a music festival right now - it's impossible for me to play all the notes, there are far too many!

[Iloveopera100]

@Knuckles2211 My whole arms, back and neck hurt from the tension in his body. Heavens. I bet he spends a fortune at the chiropractor.

[tbockm]

Isle joyeuse

[CarlitosDessay]

Worst pianist playing Schubert ever.

[jd7x7jd]

@CarlitosDessay Personally I admire anyone who can play Erlkoenig at all!

[EnkiduAwakened]

I love Ian Bostridge!

[Jragir]

3:16 is legitimately frightening... Bostridge captures these characters and sacrifices tone quality at time to create an ambiance that makes the performance truly unique. He takes risks that I have heard no other singer take in this song, and I love... LOVE... the result

[hyebaragi1004]

최소한 이 곡 만큼은 이안이 최고입니다.

[ammarios]

Oh, and I'm not sure if youtube will let me post the URL for it, but I'll try doing it in this format:

youtube(DOT)com/watch?v=0J-943­DsbwE

It's the same singer, same song , but the actual original studio version. The dynamics, different voices, colour, piano accomp. , timbre, texture... EVERYTHING is just perfect.

After hearing it, I'd LOVE to know what other musicians or music-lovers think!

[ammarios]

For all those who like THIS performance, you should hear Ian Bostridge's (same singer) ORIGINAL studio version...it's hear on youtube...

Type: "Erlkonig Ian Bostridge" in the search bar , and then you will see in the results a videonamed "Schubert - Erlkonig (by Ian Bostridge) / with original drawings for this piece". That is the BEST version EVER. I think he did a good job in THIS video, but his original was more PERFECT. If you haven't heard it, you're really missing out.

[alhayse]

Great characters throughout. Especially the Erl King.

[Detectivefiction]

This is just my view: I've heard so many baritone renditions of this piece that I find it refreshing to hear Bostridge. I think the song is "dark" enough that it doesn't necessarily need a "dark" voice singing it. It's sort the reason I like hearing a very pure voice sing Strauss' Elektra: it makes a contrast with the "ugly" words.

[alex1211yt]

Impressive acting/

[MUSICALANGIE]

Though a fan of Ian, I have to say this song perhaps suits a baritone better and my personal favorite is Olle Persson's. I heard it on a Naxos disc.

[hyebaragi1004]

정말 이안의 외모와 너무도 잘어울립니다.

싱크로가 좋아요. 최고입니다.

[fossilfuelftw]

not bad, especially for a non-german, bostridges german ist not bad, but with a little accent...

i think the best recording of this piece is from christoph prégardien - unfortunately not at youtube... but give him a try, if you like the erlkönig ;-)

[ggodbers]

I am German, and I must say thats the beautifullst Poem i ever heard.

[TheJohannser]

The piano guy should play the triplets from his wrist, not with his forearm. Like this he makes it a lot harder for him plus it sounds and looks false

[calebjr1]

@TheJohannser pretty sure he's the professional concert pianist, so i'm pretty sure he gets to do it however the hell he wants. plus the forearm lends intensity to the keystrokes

[Kinsinlotan]

@TheJohannser Playing from the wrist is dangerous pedagogically with such a pervasive and repetitive motion, in this case it is better to use the bigger muscles of the forearm because they move less, and the wrist uses more tendons and ligaments as well, which can cause tendonitis. Admittedly his forearm is much stiffer than need be.

[BluesGee]

TRIPLETTRIPLETTRIPLETTRIPLETTR­IPLETTRIPLETTRIPLETTRIPLETTRIP­LETTRIPLETTRIPLETTRIPLETTRIPLE­TTRIPLETTRIPLET

[nazazatrillirivos]

can't stop listetning to him, now I'm going to have nightmares. So awesome an interpretation is that! And his German is just perfect.

[keetner]

Instant hand paralysis for the pianist~~



[TheVerdiBaritone]

Elisabeth Soderstrom has recorded an tremendous performance of this song.

[saintsaens21]

@clarinetist92 quit being a pedant

[juan486]

@clarinetist92 Actually, it isn`t.

[voluptuousvegetarian]

Could the pianist play with any less feeling or dynamic??? He's a robot. And the vocalist is murdering the German.

[FavisEmery]

@voluptuousvegetarian Bostridge's diction is phenominal, and I think that the pianist played the piece very appropriately for the style

[Seleuce]

@voluptuousvegetarian AND @clarinetist92 What are you both talking about? He is murdering the German? Do you even speak German? I do, it's my mother-tongue and his pronunciation is phenomenial for a second-language speaker. I am not a crazy Bostridge fan. But he is one of the finest German song singers around, his pronunciation is admirable, he sounds almost native German. I wish I could sing a foreign language as accentless as this singer can.

I agree about the pianist though. Quite cold!

[TheAzviolin]

@Seleuce Ja, his German is lovely. I love the sinister "Gewalt!".

[Fero631]

@TheAzviolin I agree! I was flabbergasted by his pronounciation of the umlauts and the 'ch' and 'sch'. Usually, these are the most difficult things about german pronounciation. Britians do not know 'ü' and 'ö'. Also, most of them have problems with the 'ch' - they just pronounce it like 'sch', i.e. 'sh' in english. And once they understand the difference, the next problem is to teach them that 'ch' has two pronounciations ('Bach' (hard sound) and 'Becher' (soft sound)).

*applauding vigorously*

[Iloveopera100]

@TheAzviolin You have got to be kidding me! I almost pissed all over myself watching it over and over. What happened to great singing???? It's a lost art. Still, each to his own tastes. (I think the German is dreadful) Das ist nicht hochdeutsch) But Cheers!

[juan486]

@voluptuousvegetarian Actually, he has an amazing german!

[CKChardrocka]

This is going to be an epic contest piece for me! So glad I stumbled on it!

[3NUNS]

... good all round and the accompanist is sensitive to therequirements of the lied ...

[toopenmyheart]

He is over-doing it in a way... i cannot see much difference between characters in his performance.... i must say i prefer fischer-dieskau.

[Gyertyamarto]

Das ist ein Goethes Werk,aber wer war diese Musik des Komponisten?

-Entschuldigung:Mein Deutsch ist kein Perfekt.

[1waybacktothecrowd]

@Gyertyamarto Franz Schubert ist der Komponist dieser Vertonung.

[Gyertyamarto]

@1waybacktothecrowd Danke sehr die schnelle Antwort!

[funderbm]

Bravo to Mr. Vignoles! Amazing control of a fiendishly difficult piano part.

[Prueloving]

i love this song!!! It's really hard to sing! But it'samazing how Ian Bostridge sings!!! He's my favourite singer!

[alecs1976]

if one has no balls in one's sound like mr. bostridge then one should refrain from singing "erlkönig"....this is aweful

[LordHettrick]

@alecs1976 He's a light lyric tenor (or so it seems to me). His legato is great, and he portrays the characters well to me. It is different of the common Norman and Fischer-Dieskau interpretations (which I love, by the way). I found it great. What are you criticizing exatcly?

[alecs1976]

@LordHettrick

actually I don't like anything in his singing. he hast no bottom which shows very clearly in "mein sohn, es ist ein nebelstreif"...and the subsequent lines are terribly sung: "mein Liiiiiiiebes kind...komm Geeeeehh mit mir, gar SCHööööööne spiele..." always with an accent on the first syllable of the words, that's so mannered. but I favor a different style of singing anyways. and fischer-dieskau is certainly not in that category, I hate him...

[saintsaens21]

@alecs1976 Hmm, this song is mainly a duet between an elf and a boy, I don't see why 'balls' are required here. You sound most insecure.

[alecs1976]

@saintsaens21

I am very secure about my opinion, believe you me!... there is also the narrator and the father, not just the boy and the erlkönig...this song needs darkness in the sound, a voice with a good bottom colour...something mr. bostridge with his whiny sound is unable to provide

[jelybellybutbelly]

the piano part seems so hard with the constant octaves playing form the right hand

[ernent]

Ian Bostridge sings Erlkönig and nobody plays the piano ?

[loscadu]

I really, really wish he wouldn't lean on the piano that much...

[leonardo1x]

La forma de crear y de interpretar este piano es fenomenal, estremecedora. El text de Goethe es grandioso pero la forma de cantar y de adherir el alma es maravillosa.

[Ivangui59]

Maravilhoso!!! que voz límpida.

[realias]

Beautiful. What a tenor voice!

[darkdrageon]

Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt

[bluesbro5]

i love this version bostridge does an amazing job

[sweetnessglyc]

Sorry, i know this is lame, but i didn't understand the story.... =D

[BringinSexyBach]

late one night a father is riding home with his child. The father asks why the child is scared and the child says he sees the elf-king. The father assures his son it is just a wisp of fog. The elf-king tells the boy to come with him so they can play games, and the boy grows more frightened each time this happens. finally the elf-king says "if you won't come willingly I'll TAKE you". the child screams that he has been attacked and by the time the father gets to the farm the child is dead.

[parleamimano]

@BringinSexyBach best nickname EVER!

[mizsparrow]

@BringinSexyBach Although this is a tragic story, a straight explanation makes it seem very morbid! Anyone new to this poem/story should know: There is a superstition that the Erlkonig is a messenger of death; only someone who is close to death would see him. The question becomes, was the child simply delirious and seeing things, or did was he truly being "called away" to death by the Erlkonig, and the dad was hoping that by his denial he could make it not true/cheat death? Poignant, not morbid.

[ezwincool]

@sweetnessglyc a father's child is sick, and as they're riding along in the woods an elf king entices the boy to come with him. When the boy refuses, the elf king kills the boy. that's the story in a nutshell

[GregorioCanto]

i PREFER Anne Sofie von Otter''s interpretatin.

But his tone is good.

[fattyboyblue]

lets not forget that most popular music is a result of poorly trained voices. especially the SCREAMING that goes on in metal.

[whitewater03]

two things wrong there: metal (and related genres and subgenres) are by no means "most popular music." not to mention, you DO have to be trained to scream/growl well, especially for those who often switch back and forth between that and regular singing.

[lagunagreg]

@whitewater03

well, I would differ with you. I coach singers professionally, and I have never met anyone "trained" in the pop style that didn't scream, pinch, push, etc., even when they were not yelling/belting. The certainly had no idea how to breathe or place. The level of training is very poor- even their teachers don't know how to do it without straining.

It is very hard to find a good singing teacher, as a rule.

[whitewater03]

@lagunagreg You need to try that again. I don't even know what you're trying to argue.

[CountertenorJ]

@lagunagreg I've met several who know some technique, but that doesn't mean they apply it or ask others to. Most untrained listeners cannot tell the difference and don't typically even like healthy technique -- it sounds too easy. And as I tell all of my students, you go to a coach for style and diction. You go to a teacher for technique. There are very few coaches that I've met at all who weren't just pianists who wished they were singers.

[lagunagreg]

@CountertenorJ - Hi J. Well, i disasgree with you again. EVERYBODY can tell the difference between a trained and an untrained voice. What's the difference between Ella Fitzgerald and Sting? Purity of tone, and obvious vocal damage. As far as the the coaches you know who wish they were singers, come to my studio. I have no interest in singing personally. But I do like the art-song, and singing can be beautiful.

...and like I said, it's very hard to find a good singing teacher.

[CountertenorJ]

@lagunagreg I highly disagree. Most people can't really tell the difference. Watch American Idol and see. Nor can many professional singers hear the damage in the voices of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Maria Callas and Lotte Lehmann. There isn't anything wrong with coaches. They are just not teachers of technique.

[lagunagreg]

@CountertenorJ - Hi J - well, I aggree and disagree. American Idol, huh? You mean those fools who try to scream on pitch. Are those your students? My sympathies if they are. However, anyone who listens to Callas' early recordings and then her late recording immediately notices the difference. I only know a few recordings of Lehmann and Schwarzkopf, so I don't want to venture an opinion there. But I agree w/your opinnion of coaches and technique.

[CountertenorJ]

@lagunagreg I was talking less about the singers and more about the people voting for them. People vote for them and buy their music en masse. Those people typically cannot tell the difference in a moderately-trained and very well-trained voice. Their ears are just not that developed to notice the subtleties. Lehmann had vocal nodes and Schwarzkopf supposedly had one cord shorter than the other and that resulted in nodes. It is audible in most recordings of the singers.

[savagerabbit]

@sirjellehad

I'm not going to insult you but I am going to advise that you reconsider your view of the world. You only live once. Try to get it right.

[complicatedt1]

I agree with rlane91 this recording is perfect!

[baipuyin]

His emotion is perfect.

[VeilanArt]

Bostridge is great! One of my favourite Erlkönig-performers.:)

[Polloles]

The coice is pretty good!!

[ch36e]

It's so sad but so beautiful...

[gOtHiCxAnGeLxox]

Not enough emotion injected into the piano playing, but his voice was alright, I guess...

[natebaglyos]

Who's the poor uncredited pianist?

[clysack]

@natebaglyos Looks like Roger Vignoles.

[aslater85]

Uh stingerfyle.. it IS being sung in German. Read the german as it comes up in the subtitles.

[Stingerfyle]

Cool version! Never heard it in french!!

[tenor9216]

wtf ? but it does exist in French, if you type Georges Thill... he's an amazing tenor, but he did most of what he sang in French, because it was the tradition at his time to adapt music (especially operas) to the country's language.

[saintsaens21]

A pity he's barely audible on the lower notes, otherwise sublime color

[lacigarrados]

Araiza is much better.

[DiVeronica]

that accompanist was dead on! bravo to the piano player!

[sionnachy]

That has to be one of the best lieder ever written. And he sings it beautifully - i love his attention to detail, and his phrasing is sublime. But I think Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau possibly makes even more of the three distinct voices of the three characters in the song.

[Sieglinde84]

A beautiful voice. I'm more a fan of the lower voices, but this type of tenor absolutely amazes me. And it was Britten who made me love tenors. :) So now I search for this specific type, and Ian does Lieder also well.

He's so fragile. I feel the desire to protect him from the dark and evil world.

[uggyboots]

would someone be able to tell me what key this performance is in?

because i know that the original was usally transposed to F or E minor.

But this isn't the exact original, the lovely ian bostridge has added is own emphisis in certain sections.

its very important i find out the key signature...:s

(UNI student )

Thanks!

[g4thz]

G minor, I think...

What do you mean, it's not the original?

[uggyboots]

well i have the original copy with me, and hes just done some vocal variations in the elfkings/deaths stanza and its not in F or E minor.

i recon it sounds better, i love this version,. and where i was not liking it before because of the depressiveness of it, i am starting to listen to this more and more ...maybe cause of the small variations or the visual aid.

Thanks a bunch.

Uggy

[complicatedt1]

the original key is g minor

[haveldad]

i am pretty sure the original is d minor..

[complicatedt1]

The original key is G minor. Usually it's sung in this key here (G minor) or baritones/basses sing it in F minor.

[henkieh]

@haveldad

its G minor

[Bajazet]

Modesta è un eufemismo per non dire assolutamente inadatta. Non ha profondità, non è una voce... Bostridge è, forse, un fine dicitore, che però, con i mezzi vocali che ha, alla fine ridicolizza ciò che canta.

[prodesica]

Bostridge fa delle cose molto belle musicalmente, ma la voce è modesta... Meglio Hermann Prey :P

[bibianairis]

they're so good

[Aarondefyinggravity]

Respect the pianist for playing that soooooooo difficult to keep the triplet patterns going

[hairwire]

I saw him last year at the Liverpool Philharmonic, and whilst I rate his voice, as it is truly amazing (this song is AWESOME), he swayed around so much on the balls of his feet, I thought he was going to fall off the stage!

[g4thz]

I had a similar experience in Portland last year. He kept putting his hand inside the piano, and looking down at the floor while he was singing. Oh my word, I hated it during the first half. But when we came back from intermission, everything started making sense. His idiosyncrasies made his singing more enjoyable, more emotional, in my opinion.

[Lanark8]

Now this is a true singer... wonderful tenor. BRAVO!!!

[cantanteporsiempre]

God help the pianist! lol.

[Tsotne16]

Right... I more like it when he sings accompanied by Julius Drake. He's just genius.

As for Ian himself, in my opinion, he's perfect tenor, I don't listen other tenors any more... But only him!

[Hasselhoffhater]

I have to agree with you on that because the usual tenor always are "too big" I should say but Ian doesn't go tha way which is why I like him so much.

[saltburner2]

@cantanteporsiempre

The pianist here is Roger Vignoles, who should not go uncredited.

[BernardProfitendieu]

@saltburner2 thanks for your comment, Roger!

[outofthicksmoke]

@cantanteporsiempre i dont get it? haha

[cantanteporsiempre]

@outofthicksmoke  PIanists are used to hate singers for this piece! lol

[jomobro]

@cantanteporsiempre the scary thing is, this was played slower than Schubert intended

[toopenmyheart]

@jomobro actually not much slower, in scores for tempo stands schnell 152, n this performance is around 140.

[MrChrismayberry]

I'm not meaning to nit-pic, but he's singing it closer to 150 than 140.

[TheMoritati]

@cantanteporsiempre Mmm, he's going pretty slowly, and he looks like he's doing it in a way that could cause him some harm regardless.

[8x8MaVerick8x8]

@cantanteporsiempre God help him to play piano... (Though I admit the great difficulty of the accompaniment)

[Liwah]

@cantanteporsiempre Why?

[tlin741332]

wimpy? I disagree. It is an inspiring, musical performance, full of drama - the way Schubert would have liked it.

[ukeplayer91]

I agree with you! Its a fantastic dramatic portrayal of all of the characters! I wish I could sing like that though!

[Chiliarches]

Ha, all four voices sound wimpy instead of just the son!

I will always emulate that "geWALT!" though.

[Chiliarches]

"MEIN FATER, MEIN FATER!"  You mean like that?

[enricokim]

er ist besser geworden.