wow, thanks for that great video! It was a real pleasure listening to the maestro when he broke down all these pieces. Although I will never play any of these I feel like I learned so much about playing the piano. I‘m really thinking about signing up for your online masterclasss. Hamelin really is a great pianist. I could listen to him for much longer

It's worth mentioning that while practising slowly you need to relax your hands completely after you play a chord (preparing the next one at that very moment; it should take no time to get your fingers completely relaxed resting on the keys of the next chord, only then you can grab it). If there's no micro relaxation between chords (even when in tempo!) you'll end up in hospital

Depeche Mode agrees.

I'm just beginning to follow Art Tatum and I'm not at all intimidated . Because I know if any human is prone to error , I am . Every moment of the day I forgive myself . Just like GROUNDHOG DAY ...

#WhiteCulture

If Bach had had a modern piano he would without a doubt, have employed all of its advantages to the maximum. There's no reason, as far as I can see, to assume that his music should always be played as he would have played it because he only wrote it that way due to the limitations of his time.

The key words: “I think.” Neither Evan, nor Glenn Gould, nor Andras Schiff, nor myself have the last word on what Bach would have done. I’ve played Bach most days of my life, including music for many very different instruments: violin, cello, flute, gamba, lute, chorus, and of course, keyboard. I’ve transcribed it for many other instruments. When you do that, you start learning what he wrote idiomatically for a given instrument, or musically - the progressions and ornaments he heard regardless of instruments. Over the years it all starts fitting together, and you see that he was not rigid. He wasn’t “authentic” in performing his own music. For example, just try to pin down an authentic version of the French Suites. You see that he wrote it down (or dictated it to this students) differently over his lifetime. Or take the Partitas and Sonatas for Solo Violin and see how they were written for expression that modern violinists have brought out in powerful interpretations. (The Chaconne in d, for example) They couldn’t even play that way in Bach’s day, but you begin to see certain idioms and to realize that Bach heard a lot more than he was able to put down on the page. He wrote for posterity, not for authenticity. He wanted people to take his music and make it their own while being true to his intended counterpoint of tension and release. This much he understood very well about music, and had no qualms borrowing from another composer and making that HIS own. “Authenticity” had not reared its ugly head then, and he wrote music that was very flexible, usable for many purposes. Most of all: keep playing Bach’s music for the rest of your life. It will never stop teaching you about itself, about yourself, and about Bach, not to mention the art of music in general. Avoid other people’s rules like the plague. Just learn his ornaments (very important) and let the music tell you the rest. Never be afraid to try something, including [cue horror music] the PEDAL! Bach would have grabbed it up and used it, had it appeared in his time. He also would have said “DON’T” in quite a number of common situations, like a fugue, for example. Again; your ear, your experience, your age, and your talent will always make your performance different from others, but always exercise moderation and restraint. And for one last time: NOBODY has the last word on Bach. Absolutely nobody.

We do that because we are damn nervous and glad that we have played the piece beautifully 🤣

Ah, now, Mr. Bernstein, please go and listen to the first 53 seconds of the 1955 Goldberg, and tell me that isn't beautiful..........

I saw him play a concert recently. He really is stunning pianist. This is a great video.

John Mulaney?

I remember when Mr bond met Mr stromberg in Spy who loved me

Honestly, this presenter is a little ridiculous. Use pedal or don’t, it’s entirely a personal choice. I think this to be a perfect piece for pedal.

I took my shoe off to hit the like button.

That was beautiful and so helpful. Thank you.

The C major prelude has even been added to by Charles Gounod

Ives is pure noise.

You aren’t playing the piano if you don’t use the pedal. Doesn’t matter if you play Bach, if he was playing a piano he would undoubtedly use pedal with his own music.

I was tough to keep my finger on the key and scratch the keys in a backward motion to create a staccato. Closer to a wrist staccato not hitting down but scratching backwards

Based on his hairdue, do you think he sleeps on his bach?

Idk, I kinda liked how the first one sounded best

Нежнейшее звучание 🌸Волшебно. Спасибо большое ❤

If there's one thing I know about Bach, it's that he was an inveterate re-user and transcriber and transposer of music, and not always his own music. He had no qualms about taking a piece written for violin and giving it to human voice or vice versa. So feel free to play Bach on the piano. He won't judge you.

“everything you need to know” sounded funny before watching it, but now it’s even funnier.

Evan had a bad hair day?

2:19 me explaining to my virgin buddy who is about to get lucky something in the party

I remember seeing this video when it was originally released (yes, it's an old vid 🙄) and beeing deeply unimpressed and unconvinced by his explanations. Maybe in 1723 this prelude was used for tuning but how is that relevant to a interpreting the music on a modern grand piano? I absolutely don't buy the theory that because the piece was used for tuning that should inform your tempo. The music should speak for itself.

Listen to Landowska. It is enough.

How do you approach interpreting Bach on the modern piano?

What would Bach do? First off, he would certainly not butcher his name and twist it into "Back" like so many Americans do while thinking it is terribly funny. You actually did a pretty good job with the pronunciation, which is the first step towards respecting Bach.

"Baroque, classical and romantic are axes as much as periods"

It's the fourth time I've seen this masterclass from start to end. Seymour Bernstein is an authentic piano master. Is a real priviledge to have this video available.

moustache

I understood this easier once I started learning Thoroughbass. And I am transposing it into every tone, or key? My piano teacher is happy that I'm doing that.

I was SURE you'd make the "go Bach" joke, I knew it! 😂 But anyway, that was a great video!

Gould's interpretation doesn't count in this case, he's always interpreting pieces differently.

Re the rit: sounds good is good. Not sure why classical musicians are often obsessed with being period accurate. We are interpreting music in a world that has had decades and even centuries of innovation. Guess what...Bach also wouldnt play his works on a synthesizer. Who cares if we ritard a bit more than was "normal" (if we even actually know what that is). Same goes for pedaling, dynamics and all the rest. When Bobby Darin covered Mack the Knife he didnt say "gee Kurt Weill didnt have access to big band arrangements." Ravel was able to orchestrate Pictures at an Exhibition, employing instruments Mussorgsky wouldnt have had access to i.e. saxophone.

You say a lot but also says really nothing 😢 thought it would be more enlightening

Omg can they ever talk about something other than the c major whatever its so tired and played out

A lot of interesting ideas here. I like the clarification that Bach gives about writing pieces on every tone, rather than every key, although I'm not sure I'm in full alignment with the host because moments later he refers to Bach writing in "every key". To put it simply, he later writes in the key of C#, but within this book, he doesn't have a piece based in the key of Db (although he may sometimes visit that key). The idea of the piece being used to check a tuning is great too. However, that's not how I would play when checking a tuning. One specific example is how short the host plays the top notes. If I were checking the tuning of my instrument, I would want more space to listen to how those notes harmonize with the others. I wonder if this is a case of the pianist imagining what it's like to tune an instrument, but perhaps not having much experience doing so. I play guitar as a secondary instrument, and often tune by ear. I'm not particularly good at it, but I suspect that this pianist knows a lot of talented musicians who can tune their instruments very quickly. That would have a strong influence on our perceptions of how one would play to check the tuning of an instrument. I wonder if any historical scholars know of accounts of how long musicians would take to tune. edit: fixing a few small typos and grammatical errors to make this post easier to read.

Mum has a virginal, wth 4 octaves and i cn c th argument but i do prefer playing bach on the piano, learning a chopin nocturne no.20 in C sharp minor at the moment though,

The "not playing Bach on the piano" faction is so stupid.. Bach himself transcribed pieces to and from all kinds of instruments. In most keyboard compositions he doesn't even mention the specific instrument (Goldberg Variations is an exception). So it's really clear he didn't care

The first tuning benchmark.

I have always thought Gould was for people without a real appreciation for feeling music in your soul. He was too concerned with image. I dont feel it in the depths of my soul when he plays anything. Its all surface. No emotion.

Seymour is right!

The ending was funny . ''Show me that you can play a beautiful phrase '' Gould sings to elephants who don't want to hear any of it.

It's only Rach 'n Roll (But I like It)....🫶

Seymour is a purist, an O.G. of sorts...I respect that!

Bravo!!!

To create a timeless masterpiece out of a simple playful theme requires an exceptional feat of imagination.