Andres Segovia Plays Bach Chaconne (Part 2)

[TheShredworthy]

Brilliant, absolutely..... I have no words



[cppnak10]

Truly the grand maestro. Him and Bach would have gotten along quite will in my opinion.

[Hermeterec]

from Jose' Sepulveda, the Hermeterec.......thank you SqueezeMyLemonBabe....(maybe later)...anyway thank you for the comment! I get so tired of these insufferable and highly dogmatic assertions from "musicians"....to vibrato or not to vibrato. Is that really the question? Why not just listen and enjoy? Holy shit! Who cares....it remains beautiful and a transcendant performance!

[aimson]

@Hermeterec That's a good way to put it: "insufferable and highly dogmatic assertions." Many of the comments I get all over the place are full of these kinds of statements (see my Faure Elegie video). It reflects a poor understanding of music and basic immaturity. Another term is reductionistic. The simple-minded will always approach music in a simple way.

[jimth2009]

you can just add a little ''space'' in the video before the song starts and upload again the first part of chaconne ;-)

[ScouseFolky]

were the fucks part 1 gone?

[SqueezeMyLemonBabe]

ugh, every time I read comments on a page full of musicians.

are you all so pompous in your own ideas of music?

"hes right! this is right! thats right! no you're wrong!'

beautiful music is beautiful music, you don't have to be a maestro to hear a beautiful tune anymore than anybody else, and you don't have to play a piece a certain way only for it to be beautiful.

[robbo246493]

Hi guys. Robbo here, New kid on the block. Julian, Pablo, and J.W. All excellent players. Craig

Ogden...WHO?? Notice Classic FM never play Segova; only who they promote!!

Anyway for those interested, please purchase this piece and many others on line from Amazon.

Simply search Segoivia 1950'S American Recordings. It's on Vol 1..

Also recommend Opus Arte "Segovia in Portrait" a Christopher Nupen Film, on CD, Brilliant..

Listen with a glass of red late in the evening. You will love it..

[jsnauwaert]

Two geniuses at work: Segovia and Bach (the greatest of which is Bach of course, greatest musical genius ever).

[unclemeat1977]

Segovia was able to channel Bach somehow. He had a beautiful understanding of his music and was not afraid to make it his own at the same time. The ultimate lesson for the American Idol wannabes who just parrot cover songs mindlessly.

[DsilverF]

thank you for posting this

[Sylvain894]

Well he was a very disregarding master ! I don't know why he was so obsessed with students; like very miserable man ! Regrets that he died in these conditions !

[jimbobanalbeats]

Remarkably beautiful. Gives me chills. I wish I could play this piece.

[davidfaubion]

Does Bach's Chaconne grow on you, or what!?!? The greatest comps, like fine wine and forests, and oceans, get better with experience of them. Segovia is a maestro vintner, woodsman, and oceanographer rolled into a neat packaged deal.

[skakisla]

Hey aimson did I say Thank you ... no? Well million thank you's for this ashtonising piece of music you shared.

[jsnauwaert]

Much better sound than Yepes. Yepes' sound in the Chaconne is harh. Here, you 'hear' the Love that is in the music.

[voodooorc]

only segovia understand this piece

[Mcstravi]

forse una delle versioni migliori di questo pezzo....

[mangiatette]

The Yepes's version is better

[blurty16]

woah. there are really no words to describe the emotional and physical beauty of this piece, especially when played by the master, segovia

[dada1492]

Segovia is the best and beyond. His purity of sound has no competition. Parkening should kiss his feet.

[brycewilson1]

the break in the video destroys the most beautiful part of the piece.

[zonalGman92]

Thanx for posting. Why do some people pick the music to pieces(as in Part 1 Suzukiguy) and not just enjoy the music. Anal retention or what

[ozielich]

johnp234 how moving your account of segovia's last concert. wish i had been there. and i love his interpretation of this even more than williams'. just love it. he sings the whole thing out. glorious.

[nichrome9]

Bach is a genius! An amazing piece!

[johnp234]

I saw Segovia's last concert at Orchestra Hall in Chicago. They'd oversold it, and I was seated ON THE STAGE with my wife. The tiny 90 year old Catalonian channeled the Bach Cello Suite, and transcended the limitations of his or any instrument. I was studying classical guitar at Chicago Musical College, but I was unprepared. This was not a guitar concert. It was pure , perfect music. I am not worthy. No one was, is or will be.

[CKChardrocka]

You are truly lucky... Do you or does anyone know of where I could get video of that concert? Or simply recordings, anything really.

[talanca64]

@johnp234: Segovia wasn't Catalonian but Andalusian.

[anuteamsterium]

@johnp234

My father took me to see Segovia at the old Philharmonic Hall in LA, years before I ever picked up the guitar. Can't for the life of me remember why. Have had several wonderful teachers though it's a shame they had such limited material with which to work. Am blessed to play music in church every Sunday. Perhaps we, as a world didn't deserve Segovia or Bach. There's a great deal we don't deserve yet we receive.

[pissedinperu]

@anuteamsterium

OK. Amen to that. And that's coming from an atheist. I'd like to believe that things of real beauty transcend all of the human parameters (geography, creed, colour etc). A German philosopher called Liebniz hit the nail on the head, "Music is the pleasure that the brain derives from counting, when it doesn't know that it is."

[anuteamsterium]

@pissedinperu

Counting never breaks my heart- great music always does.  We're left to wonder- where does this stuff come from and why does it possess the power to move us so?

[pissedinperu]

@anuteamsterium

"How can cosmic religious feeling be communicated from one person to another, if it can give rise to no definite notion of a God and no theology? In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it."

Albert Einstein 1930

[owenhsmith]

@johnp234 Putting great artists on a pedestal only limits your ability to achieve greatness yourself.

[alteregoash]

@owenhsmith That's kind of what I was thinking. There's no need to act as if he is some mystical god-like force. He was simply a very earnest and dedicated man with a sensitive ear.

[oaoJ69Joao]

@johnp234 So lucky! :)

[Yuriclassicalguitar]

Thats why Segovia is SEGOVIA!

[ashwid01]

he is my grea great great grandpa

[SEGOVIALOPEZRAMOS]

SEGOVIA ES MI DIOS.

[watch156]

In favour of Segovia: if you really listen critically, you can hear he pays every note its due, using all his skills of dynamics and phrasing. He has neither rival nor peer at this (exception: some young guitarists: see Silviu Ciulei on Youtube).

Metaphorically, I'd liken Bream and Williams to a ride down the interstate: fast, smooth, boring. Segovia is more a ride in a horse drawn carriage—you're already an intimate part of the landscape!

[Arsalias]

Parkenings interpretation is arguably better

[Thulaandme]

Oh yes! He has an innate ability to be both intimate and masterful at his play.

A born talent is greater than hands and and intrument; it needs the whole person, and may I share your carriage a while? Thanks!

[bransonguitar]

Maestro was the most romatic and musical guitarist of all time. That is why we love his Bach performances so much.

Jim Greeninger

[Frahiam]

This song is amazing, but what truly amazes me, is the incredible amount of emotion that Bach put in the song,,as he wrote this song after his first wife's death, and I can hear all the frustration that he felt.

One of the most beautiful songs.

[farstrider2]

2:20...brought tears in my eyes...this man,he is not human

[Arsalias]

3:40 does the exact opposite to me.

[cromulentinnoc3nce]

Thanks for splitting the video right at the key change.

[rushwarp]

Like I said before Bach himself played his music differently depending on his age, mood, instrument, circumstance, etc. Meaning there is no right way to play it, there is just good or a bad way to play, and believe you me Segovia did it the best way yet.

[pengeaumont270508]

I just got a comment you sent like 3 weeks ago saying that 'believe you me Segovia did it the best way yet'. Don't talk to me like im bloody stupid, you cannot categorically say Segovia's way is the best, its music, its subjective. No modern day guitarists play it like this, not because they cant but because they dont think its how the music should be played. Stop being one of those people that read the name Segovia and think ,'oh this must be perfection'.

[zonalGman92]

pls can u direct me to the recording of this which is equally fine, perhaps better, I guess it's subjective, but you seem to have some recording in mind. Narciso Yepes with 10 strings is really the only other guitar version I'm familiar with & would be pleased to hear of some more 2 compare.

[politicopol]

@zonalGman92 ...try Alirio Diaz...

[pengeaumont270508]

I really dont like what he does with this piece. Too much findling with the tempo, to many added notes which ruin the piece in my opinion, technically quite clumsey (which is unusual for segovia, maybe induced by all the added notes). I play this on the guitar and just read it from the urtext violin score with an occasional added bass note. It sounds so much better.

[xp145]

Even though you disagree with Segovia's interpretation, it's definitely not clumsy. That probably has more to so with the recording quality than anything else.(I think this recording was made in the 30's, but I might be wrong.) Anyway, if he does play with the tempo, it's not because he couldn't keep speed. The 32nd notes in this piece are just as fast as I've heard any violinist take them. As far as the added notes go, I love them. The voice leading in these parts resembles Bach's style to a T.

[rushwarp]

Youre a clueless moron pengeaumont

[pengeaumont270508]

What a pointless comment rushwarp. Im entitled to my opinion. Id like to see you play this piece, or understand anything about the way its written. You're the moron!

[guitar1050]

This version is brillian audiences who aren't profesional musicians or purists love it

Those are the people we play for not each other

It's human full of emotion

[pengeaumont270508]

I agree that this is played with emotion, i just dont think you should convey emotion in this kind of music in the way he does. i just think it lacks the control that bachs music needs. (Oh and a purist would hate this)!

[rushwarp]

Purist my butt its a Busoni. FYI you cannot write down everything you intend for a piece of music to be. And where do you get the idea that Bach played his music straight up? Historically the farther back you go the looser interpretations are of any music, until some gestapo aholes decided that you can't deviate from whats written. Meanwhile back in 18th century there was no recorded music and no set guidelines and they improvised on the fly during concerts whenever they felt like it.

[guitar1050]

Good comment I agree completely

It's the purists who hate this kind of playing audiences like it.

every player nowadays sound just the same.

Wich is really boring to listen to

[rushwarp]

Case in point YoYo Ma playing Bach Suite 1 when he is young and later in life. Two completely different outcomes. Do you think Bach or any other composer or musician is any different? They are not. So that makes all notions of so called "purism" a total nonsense. Even worse it stifles imagination and artistic progress, you might as well listen to computerized keyboard tunes and watch beer commercials all day long. Get it?

[pengeaumont270508]

Yeh i know its exactly like the busoni. Busoni said himself that he arranged the chaconne the way he did popularise it. That makes this version not at all authentic and very different from the original. Thats mainly why i dont like it. The interpretation is entirely subjective. I just far prefer listening to people who keep some sense of pulse during the piece and create emotion through changes of colour. Oh and whats the point in trying to guess how people interpreted this music, no one knows!

[Aceh72]

Yeah I meant purist hate this kind of playing.

thanks for correcting the mistake

but I'm curious why does bach's music need to be played in a rigid and controlled way?

I doubt ( I know there aren't any recordings) he himself in that time played in a mechanical way

[pengeaumont270508]

Its impossible to know how bach played this, he almost never indicated dynamics etc. Thats why everyone seems to disagree on how it should be played. The reason i think this should be played with a sense of pulse is because a ciaconna (chaconne) is a form of spanish dance (very rhythmical), which is something a lot of people dont realise. So given this rigorous structure and the nature of the piece, it makes sense to play it rhythmically. At least thats how i think it sounds best.

[someonewithaguitar]

If you ask me, it could do with a little less contol. But then, I listen to Apocalyptica's rendition of Hall of the Mountain King.

[Thymonico]

I agree it is somewhat technically clumsy.. If we compare it to John Williams. Altough, I do not think that JW could play this better.

I love it how he makes pauses without stopping the ressonance (written how?)! ;)

And I truly wish we could hear a better recording of Yepes' version.. :(

[walez89]

As a violinist, I find it interesting how he takes so much liberty with the tempo, as no violinist I have ever heard does so with this piece.  I can't say I'm used to it, but I certainly find it a refreshing change.

[violaozim]

I'm just a weekend player, but sometimes I "disrespect" tempo in order to explore, feel the music. Specially when you already played a lot the same piece.

[framaulo]

As a pianist, too

[foolishmuze21]

Genuine and timeless. Music should never be limited to one persons interpretation unless it's the composer's. it's more like an ongoing experience, we relive it, when the vibrations creep into our ears...the idea will never die, if the music is never lost.

[PercivalDumbledore]

exqctly the point dude, well said

[cephalicus]

not even the composer! once you have made your piece of art and given it to the world it is no longer yours. You lose all control. And that is a good thing. As an artist you are nothing more than a medium for art to find its way to the world. A medium with all its imperfections. The work of art has to be interpreted over and over again in search of the beauty/meaning within the work itself. The intentions of he composer/artist are of secundairy importance.

...in my opinion.

[zonalGman92]

I'm glam u said IMO at the end there. Could have been a lot of people saying you are being somewhat subjective. Every diff teacher/composer/artist/ has diff opinion potentially. Love the Music. Love that Chaconne!

[PercivalDumbledore]

my favorite part of "chaconne" is clearly the piece altogether.

great guitar player great pice of music and great composer.

thanks

[MerlinTheDraconic]

I think the idea to go major there was a good one, personally. It starts off, and ends minor, and a minor key usually builds drama, emotion, and tension. The major middle part is like a sigh of relief, like an epiphany after catharsis. It's like the ray on sunshine that falls on the bloody battlefield, that reminds us of the possibility of victory and peace.

[Silfaryia]

Merlin, that was the most educated and insightful thing I have ever read on Youtube. Congratulations.

[MerlinTheDraconic]

I was in an odd mood. *facepalm*

I was really just annoyed with all the morons who were trying to rewrite a masterpiece of Bach's. If Bach went major, it must have been for a good reason.

[zoikin]

tortexius

you're a moron

[tsjebbie]

youre clearly the moron here, people have a right to have an opinion that doesnt agree with yours

[zoikin]

Opinion, that one of the most important pieces of music ever, written by the GOD of composers is bad because it's in a "major mode" is MORONIC. Immature, moronic, with NO understanding of classical music. that person should keep his arrogant, stupid opinion to himself instead of spewing it out in public.

anyone who commits their life to classical music will have the same reaction as me.

[tortexius]

i dont like the first few minutes of this part,.major mode,.,.arghh,.,.all better again at 4:10!!

[luis1261]

Segovia fue un gran maestro y un gran intérprete, pero no debemos olvidar a AGustín Barrios MANGORE. El también es de los grandes del siglo XX. Un maestro, compositor e interprete similar a Segovia

[nyc3299]

Thank you very much for posting this!

[1a2b3c5d7]

Wunderherrlich

[traydb]

Good place to splice. Good job, aimson.

[cageynerd]

BACH IS GOD... Beauty within structure and counterpoint.

[jonnykam]

Simply the greatest composition ever played by the BEST (and I underline the BEST!!!) guitarist ever.

[arslano2001]

This here is the peak, of the art of guitar, in human history

[hermx0]

A pitty, that Bach himself probably never heard it played THIS well! (Because in his days instruments (and strings) weren't that good as today. I am sure he listens in heaven and nodds with a content smile! There are a lot of comments around here about later guitarists being technically better, but to me, the timbre Segovia creates here is peerless.

[leandrobeikes]

wonderful!!

[AHN5D]

Bach himself would be pretty happy if he listened Segovia's playing. A sure thing.

[fiddlinmatt]

not only is it great on the violin but in the hands of a master guitarist there it is again: Bach Chaccone... wow

[jsd4544]

This is wonderful. Thanks.

[enchilada93]

He is called the father of modern classical guitar for a reason!!! I met a student of his about 18 or 20 years ago! This man was in his 80's and he was amazing! He had a signed picture of Segovia on the wall in his hall ! This elderly gentleman was blown away when I asked him if it was Segovia...he had never met a 20 something American who knew who Segovia was!!! What a talent this man was!!!

[plwarren]

you know, its amazing how many negitive comments i have heard in my life about segovia........he is an amazing artist. personally, when i listen to music, i listen with my heart. as one of the comments above puts it, "segovia was a kick ass guitarist...........". i agree

[ybernier]

Yeah aimson, I entirely agree, that was the perfect time to cut the piece in two, when the major part comes in. Nice job! I'm actually learning this piece right now and will be performing it at my master's recital exam. Thanks for posting this, I was actually searching to hear the Segovia version and never thought I would have found it on YouTube! Thanks again and Segovia was a kick-ass guitarist like him or not ;)

[merezi]

You just don't understand Bach's music you non-musically waste of space!

[Ordbrukaren]

lol says who?

[horacioluna]

Sublime

[AbsoluteZ3R0]

Incredible

[aimson]

Thanks, you are the first person to comment on that! I definitely cut the piece there on purpose so as to not totally disrupt the flow of the music.

[neponsetriver]

Yes, thank you for the appropriate break, at the end of the first D minor variations. Some other posts do so, some do not. Unfortunately YT now only allows 10 minute videos, and the Chaconne runs 13+.

[nylonheart]

Only In his Segovia Feeling!

[janpe57]

´Nuestro gran Maestro!!!

[odpozadi]

lovely

[baroque2]

beautiful

[felixmendelssohn]

thanks for posting!