[Baroque ornamentation and improvisation] G. F. Händel - Passacaille in G Minor - HWV 432

[@TheGuilhermepiano]

Which one did you like the most? Do you like ornamentation and improvisation?

[@andrewpenny4984]

Ottavio Dantone!!!!!

[@accipiterignitus5123]

Thanks for the video! Richard Egarr was impressive throughout the whole piece and his ending cadenza was satisfying

[@sibionic]

love that you did this

[@youtube_user]

Honestly, can't decide! And I believe, those artists would not play it in the same way twice. I believe, according to the circumstances they would play it differently.

[@marcomauricio]

Richard Edgar

[@peteacher52]

Addressing this subject of ornamentation, Francois Couperin wrote "We do not play as we write" in his famous treatise of 1716, L'Art De Toucher Le Clavecin (The Art of Playing the Harpsichord). With this in mind, it explains how twenty musicians playing the same piece can give twenty subtly different but equally valid interpretations.

[@matthieuvaucamps8289]

In this quote Couperin was not really talking about ornamentation , he was more precisly referring to the « notes inégales » that us , French poeple used to play, and still use for the french music especially.

[@manuelgonzales6483]

Bravo 👌❤

[@MrMarcvus]

Is this not the beauty of baroque music - the performer enters into a dialogue the composer becoming a co-creator of the piece of music!

[@MatthieuStepec]

​@@matthieuvaucamps8289correct. I also remember this quote being specifically about "nottes inégales" being compared to French spelling.

[@trysubscribe25]

I make it to 200 likes

[@raphinyo]

What I can appreciate is that each performer does what he wants, the written note is only a reference to give free rein to his imagination, good taste is also important when improvising.

[@chwb99]

Ludger Remy offers by far the best interpretation: starting free, handling the tempo very well by building up tempo towards a climax, very skillful high tempo handling.

[@stonefurthefurry4570]

I think there is one thing we all learned... Handel sounds good no matter who plays it.

[@marialuisaabrantes7633]

Indeed! So lovely!

[@june5877]

Gonna tell my teachers this

[@Carvin0]

That is SUCH a lovely sounding harpsichord - the first one!! All of them, but particularly the first. What is it?? This video has made my day. I cannot otherwise decide relative merits. What a magnificent, joyful, musical feast!

[@TheGuilhermepiano]

Thank you very much indeed for your comment! It was played by Ludger Rémy on a harpsichord after Michael Mietke, Berlin circa 1700, built by Bruce Kennedy in Amsterdam in 2000. Recording by radiobremen, 2002. More information can be found on www.discogs.com/release/17331694-Georg-Friedrich-Händel-Ludger-Rémy-Suites-de-Pieces-le-Clavecin-1720

[@amitmarkel]

Very nice both of the comments and video and all info, thanks :) The art of baroque playing is unfortunately not very known but so is classical music in general really, most perceive it as being just "better" with time and today's music genres such as pop, rock types, bossa novae etc, being the most developed, but all of that is really wrong. Each genre and period is of its own, and classical encapsulates all of those too. The classical period isn't more "developed" than baroque etc IMHO, each period has things it considers more important and perfection where everything is Utopia can't be, as example is the matter of tuning, triads were important and since eg Debussy's time were the fifths per the equal 'temperament' approximation and so on.

[@bgcellozone]

Agree!

[@itsdarksucks]

The first one might appeal more due to the key. The first one isn't actually being played in g minor, but rather F Minor, which to my ear suits the piece more Edit: Forgot about Baroque tuning, that means the first one was technically being played in F# Minor and the other ones were being played at concert pitch :)

[@baroquewinds]

@@itsdarksucksit’s still in G minor, just A392 which is the modern standard for French baroque music. But it can also add a nice colour to other things.

[@SimpleMan688]

Well done. I'm a nerd for Baroque performance technique. This is really well explained. Loved it.

[@kgjhskgskgskgskdgfsk]

That’s amazing! Can you recommend me a piece of literature or treatise? I’m looking to improve myself

[@martinh1277]

@@kgjhskgskgskgskdgfsk Try Dr. Thierry Mathis, Le Clavecin en France, Latour.

[@martinh1277]

@@kgjhskgskgskgskdgfsk If you can wait til next winter: Thierry Mathis, Das Wohltemperierte Clavier, Latour. There you can read more about tempo, fingerings, gracements and you can understand why it should be played this way. Bach wrote his WTC for teaching, so it will be ideal for your purpose.

[@ultradmann2367]

Not only did I discover a new favorite harpsicord piece, but hearing these different interpretations of just improvisation and ornamentation is extremely cool. Dope upload!

[@talastra]

Phew, that's the longest 4-bar jam in G-minor I've ever listened to.

[@edaxsachorwzky8898]

Handel is the greatest composer to have ever lived, to him I bow the knee and I kneel at his grave. Ludwig Van Beethoven

[@andreasalbarosa7247]

Well and Bach?

[@manuel2atack]

That's because he didn't live long enough to have met Mahler

[@Baritone_RyanHenry]

I loved Remy's the most particularly because of how he begins the passacaglia by reducing the harmonic progression. Your video is awesome, I listen to this for when I study!

[@rasohatskiy_andriy.]

My favourite interpretation is by Ludger Remy 👍👍👍👍👍👍🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@andrewkelley9405]

improvised passacaglia? *i love all iterations of this piece* it literally saved my life. Edit1: i'm not halfway in yet and this magnifico!

[@youngminkwon616]

Who would not love those sounds of Harpsichords? I believe my ears were created for it.

[@scarlatti222]

All of them played it magically in thier own way , it's like hearing the same story from different people and each one of them expresses how they felt it . Thank you for this unique uplaod and could'nt have a better start for a happy new year . 😁👍🏼💙🌸🌸🌸

[@metgirl5429]

Lovely to listen to Sunday morning with my morning coffee Back to the piano ….. inspiring 🖤

[@daviydviljoen9318]

The sheet music is like the Pirate code from Pirates of the Caribbean. More of a guideline than an actual code... 1 and 2 are my favorite, 4 had a nice little riff at the end. And to think the composer was almost a lawyer.

[@Widiar0]

I love the sound and bass section (and playing) of the second performance. The bass sounds bit like a modern synth, very cool and punchy.

[@mrpenguin920]

Ah the glorious Baroque! Indeed, that's how they used to play it back then, according to several historical manuscripts. Thanks for this!

[@jean-yvesPrax]

Variations measures 45 to 52 are gorgeous - Thank You Guiherme for this video which is very useful for people not used to our baroque way of playing music, closer to the jazz spirit than to the "classical" notation. Often, for a kind of warm-up in rehearsals with other musicians, we choose a simple chaconne or passacaille pattern (ostinato bass) and we improvise. I love this exercise : first, it obliges to play while listening to the others... second, someone can go in a weird attempt, and we all appreciate inventing new harmonies (or it's complete failure - lol). If someone is interested, pls ask me : I can post a link on a recording with 2 harps, 1 baroque guitar and my archlute on the motif of "Lamento della Ninfa" of Monteverdi

[@EruannaArte]

I feel like trying to follow this type of music, exercises your brain!!

[@YunisNovruz]

I have listened to this music a lot on the organ. That's why Ottavio Dantone is lucky.

[@youtube_user]

Thank you, Guilherme! I wanted to watch it for educational purposes, but I got totally bedazzled and mesmerised by the beauty of these interpretations. Each of them! Wonderful!

[@danielhughes441]

I LOVE the notes inégal from the fourth keyboardist!

[@oqeox]

is jazz just baroque music my god weve come full circle

[@matttondr9282]

Not quite, the baroque era is when we slowly started moving away from improvisation towards fully written out compositions. Obviously it wasn’t all black and white, as displayed here, and improvisation was still often encouraged, though as music became more complex and composers less anonymous, some of them began to complain about performers not playing their pieces “the right way”. Renaissance time music scene was much more like jazz in my opinion, plenty of compositions were really just arrangements of known tunes, familiar chord progressions or simple bass lines (like the passacaglia above) that a musician was expected to know and improvise upon, very much like when jazz musicians jam on jazz classics.

[@papillonlune1]

I agree, but there's still an obvious common point between jazz and baroque, though, which lies in the fact that it is not played as written. And in the french style, you get to swing the quavers ("croches inégales"). Which means the time signature will be like 3/4 for instance but requires to be played as 9/12. Just as in a Big Band score.

[@longschlongsilver7628]

Most of jazz music is rediscovering what he had forgotten

[@henrykwieniawski7233]

@@matttondr9282I think you’re mixing that up with the late classical/romantic period. Improv was an *absolute must* if you wanted to be a good composer in the Baroque era. Practically everyone was studying and training in basso continuo/partimento

[@Ren-zn7en]

my brain rot fresh

[@DMichigan]

I can't decide which one I like best, but I like this video a lot. I hope you will make more videos!

[@TheCaffeinatedOrganist]

I appreciate the agogic accents. Well done.

[@tanyakulik9594]

Браво!Полный восторг!Все украшения вписаны без единого шва,импровизация блестящая.Слушала и не дышала!Спасибо!

[@ChronicMetamorphosis]

One of my favorite Handel songs. Thanks for uploading.

[@Mrs.Karen_Walker]

it is NOT a song. it is a passacaglia.

[@ChronicMetamorphosis]

@@Mrs.Karen_Walker HOW DARE YOU!

[@Mrs.Karen_Walker]

@@ChronicMetamorphosis Blah blah blah blah. Just dont ever use the word "song" for any work of classical music unless it is an actual song. It is wrong and shows ignorance and by doing so you took away my childhood! Using wrong words for music is racist.

[@ChronicMetamorphosis]

@@Mrs.Karen_Walker From Encyclopedia Brittanica: passacaglia, (Italian, from Spanish passacalle, or pasacalle: “street song”), Would you like a towel to wipe the egg off your face?

[@Mrs.Karen_Walker]

I suggest you whipe your hurt butt off with that outdated encyclopedia of yours. The term passacaglia (Spanish: pasacalle; French: passacaille; Italian: passacaglia, passacaglio, passagallo, passacagli, passacaglie) derives from the Spanish pasar (to walk) and calle (street). It originated in early 17th-century Spain as a strummed interlude between instrumentally accompanied dances or SONG (an actual sung song that is). Despite the form's Spanish roots (confirmed by references in Spanish literature of the period), the first written examples of passacaglias are found in an Italian source dated 1606.[3] These pieces, as well as others from Italian sources from the beginning of the century, are simple, brief sequences of chords outlining a cadential formula and in no way shape or form a song. The term "song" being used for any piece of classical music is only used by people (mostly poorly educated Muricans) who just barely dipping their toe into the world of classical music for the first time after they had their brain being fogged up and smoothed out for decades by modern poor quality commercial chart music. Those types of people have listened to vivaldi his 4 seasons violin concertos once or twice and to Bach his famous toccata and think they know classical music. yet proceed using terms used in modern pop music. Using "song" for any classical piece that is not an actual song just shows ignorance and amateurism. What is even more ignorant and pathetic is when those types of people (you that is) are trying to defend their wrong terminology because they don't want to loose face at all costs!. Quite laughable. You can put that in your pipe and smoke it!

[@SusanneStechow-r6n]

I know this very nice piece. I have heard it already once.

[@crescentsi]

Enjoying the attack on the 2nd version. Feeds right into my rhythmic, staccato-like, Postmodern biases!!

[@HKg-u7n]

Best interpretation after listening to the first ten bars🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤ this is the least boring way to play Handel ❤❤❤❤

[@HKg-u7n]

Oh. You did it four times! I only focused on the first and fourth one. Absolutely amazing! The interpretations have that much differences. Love them. I will listen more as I go. Have you ever want to make a Glenn gould impressionation? 😮😮😅😅 I don’t know if harpsichordists do humm while they were playing back in baroque era😅😅😅

[@indradhanush5444]

This is Handel .the great ... The performer is also a great player .hats off .. ❤

[@ahmadshiddiqi-rv3bg]

Amazing Have dolce e amabile moments I love Harpsichord Welcome to Indonesia

[@pietrosacconi4408]

Very interesting and enjoyable! Thanks!

[@seba_2211]

Amo el sonido del clavicordio y estos arreglos ❤

[@adamcapoferri6903]

While I will always have preferences, I am so glad you did this! It really highlights the elegance and beauty that embodies classical music, especially from the Baroque period.

[@NovaMenno]

I like it for the same reason I like improvisations in Jazz. It makes each performance unique

[@egcbcclark6042]

love dantone's interpretation so beautiful

[@AxistubeToulouse]

very instructive

[@davcaslop]

2:21 and the 1st perdormance in general is my favourite. I remember the first time I heard the repetition on 2:21, my jaw just dropped and I connected wirh the piece so intimately. Idk, it struck me like a lightning

[@marcomauricio]

I Just loved seeing these variations and their different interpretations! 😍👏👏👏

[@marcomauricio]

Richard Egarr.

[@gyptis]

Very interesting video, I'm studying this piece on the piano and it gives clues. The imagination these musicians show is really impressive, I especially enjoy Ottavio Dantone.

[@robinpetersson3081]

So beautiful! I play it on the piano sometimes, but at quarter speed and many mistakes, haha 😂

[@sntj4557]

So satisfying

[@oroxooo]

I'm undecided Master Dantone and Master Remy ♥

[@gruyerolivier1842]

Magnifique

[@zacharybond23]

I enjoyed all of the interpretations but my top three are Egarr, Rémy, and Dantone's interpretations.

[@oldbird4601]

8:47 question, I’m pretty ignorant about how strict rules were during baroque but wouldn’t those parallel octaves be taboo? Or was this rule routinely broken?

[@TheGuilhermepiano]

For sure parallel octaves are not commonly used in Baroque pieces of music. I think, in this case, they were used just to emphasize the lower notes

[@adrianmatsch2316]

These arent called paralells, they are just used to give a tone more volume/sound. Also used in Mozarts Alla turca

[@chrysanthos7265]

Parallel octaves and doubling of notes is a commonly used orchestral technique that gives volume to a note. Parallel octaves are only avoided in contrapuntal writing, since they give the impression that the two voices are one. They are not a taboo, just a tool that has specific uses.

[@indradhanush5444]

You are excellent ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ Super man

[@arthurfilemon6038]

Richard Egarr... and Mr. Dantone. Amazing ;)! The first harpsichord sounds lovely, indeed, but I'm afraid that's actually not ONLY due to the instrument but also due to the circumstances in which it was recorded, place, acoustics, later mixing, etc.

[@bird100yearsago2]

3:25 i started believing that electric guitar was invented way back then

[@bobdamuffingamer7783]

Funny thing is that using this piece I have tried to play a bit with ornaments and improvisation more than any other piece.

[@samuelschnaider6954]

do one of the gallant style!

[@tilltilly1421]

Ottavio Dantone is 👍👍👍

[@nine_bad_jokers]

19:28 was a brain flipper for sure

[@joedevenroe]

Richard Egarr's-naturally! His improvisation is exactly what the term implies. I was surprised by Scott Ross's impoverished rendition; he must have been at the end of his life when he played this, for it is nothing like his scintillating, superb, unmatched Scarlatti sonatas. (You ought to have added Byron Schenkman's version.)

[@jose-cortes]

AMAZING! THANX

[@khaledshokry5070]

Thank you!

[@pauldavies8535]

Laurence Cummings ❤️

[@PASD2008]

Lindo demais 😍

[@bilonggrisimmeri]

Bravo! Now where to buy the sheet music and try playing this for myself.

[@STUMPYELF1]

Virginia Black is the ultimate player of this piece!

[@TheGuilhermepiano]

I've never heard her playing before. Great performance!

[@OneStepToday]

Who are all those Ludger, Ottavio etc? When did they wrote this improvisation and is Handel the first Passacaglia composer? To me all of them sounded basically the same. I love it. I also heard about Scarletti and Handel's performance, was it improvisation, and do we have their notations? I think this piece and the variations are the best way to sight-read and practise technique.

[@senseitiger2704]

DAMN this shi sound badass asf, these frl cookin😮‍💨😮‍💨

[@hawkbirdtree3660]

2:12 Interesting time signature combo. Academia: "Classical musicians don't improvise. Study the masters long enough, and you too will write like them..." Pre 20th century composers: 😱

[@Tommybean7]

Thumbs up! 👍

[@CrowleyMcLoud]

4 and 5 - the best)

[@amadeus2321]

I love Egarr version best.

[@zamplify]

Th notation is not the piece. It points to the piece.

[@codyfranchetti40]

My favorite is probably Scott Ross, especially at the end where he provides an "imbroglio adeguato"-or adequate confusion-that is as exciting as it is becoming. Still, you ought to check Byron Shenkman: his G-minor suite is supreme.

[@Cayres18]

Pelo seu nome vc é br né? Achei esse vídeo incrível, vc podia fazer mais do tipo

[@TheGuilhermepiano]

Obrigado! Sim, eu dei uma pausa por causa do trabalho e também porque o KZbin diminuiu muito o alcance do meu canal após negar a monetização. Mas, fico feliz por gostar do meu trabalho!

[@EugeneOneguine]

It's crazy that none of them is playing in the way I hear it : staccato on the eights.

[@Milstein2008]

❤️❤️❤️

[@harryk4840]

❤

[@Jamric-gr8gr]

I love Rudger Remy's

[@slendrmusic]

Favourite is Remy and Egarr

[@user00404]

Everytime a piece is played it should sound slightly different. Or it's just being rehearsed

[@dorasun5417]

Переложіть цю мелодію на електро гітару і ви отримаєте світовий хіт 😎

[@ArturoEscorza]

Ottavio Dantone was the best to me, but I liked Scott Ross' tuning better

[@josephvaughan6990]

Why does the Scott Ross one sound so out of tune?

[@Robert-er5wq]

Compression algorithm.

[@gibranvaldez599]

insane

[@danielmarechal4729]

🎉 🌟💥❤️

[@Shreksbigfattoeyo]

19:48

[@bird100yearsago2]

Are these played by a real harpsichord or by a computer?

[@TheGuilhermepiano]

Real harpsichord

[@thpeti]

Silly question. No computer or synth can play these. You'll notice it immediately if a computer, or even some pneumatical system would play it from a roll of paper, like a Welte-piano or a "drehorgel". Well, I've never seen a harpsichord operated by these systems, only pianos, tubular bells, pipe organs and some kinds of music boxes, like the ones exhibited in museums. I've seen many kinds of these when I was in Berlin.

[@bird100yearsago2]

@@thpeti i mean did he play it on a piano and made the sound with editing or played A real harpischord there is no need to say it is a silly question

[@thpeti]

@@bird100yearsago2 OK :)

[@dereg6474]

Sad that some people don't distinguish the ornamentation and changing the original rhythmic pattern written by composer.

[@alainreverchon6046]

Ottavio Dantone for me

[@classified9668]

All the things you are

[@bsku0765]

Dodo!

[@pensare24]

Sulle "Diverse interpretazioni " e "Ognuno si esprime come sente" : 😢😢😮😮 Meditare !!!/

[@mimibergerac7792]

2 🦻👍

[@c-3por2d2]

Барочная музыка без мелизмов как шашлык без перца

[@PointyTailofSatan]

I don't see what people see in this. Handel used an extremely simple subject, and the variations sound complex, but in truth, are harmonically very simple as well. This could easily be something written as a composing assignment by a 3rd year conservatory student. If you want a non-Bach example of almost supernatural skill in a passacaglia, then listen to this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nGHRnX2OpNR8jMUsi=Cqbn8F-uElMLK_7_

[@Mrs.Karen_Walker]

Richard Egarr is the winner in my opinion. Dantone comes in second. Remy and Cummings were boring and Ross is outdated

[@eugenioartioli9767]

Remy too, too, too, too, too fast!

[@jean-philippedara7465]

lovely sound but unfortunately there is no synchro between the sound and the score on the screen

[@paulanderson6834]

Each variation is repeated. The video is pretty well synchronised with the audio.

[@MariaWilliams-h7e]

Smith Amy Anderson Steven Jones Sharon

[@ajames283]

None of these are the way I play it : )

[@coltranefb]

I didn't like the scott ross style. made it more like a Prussian military anthem. I'm sure Hendel's spirit was smiling at him as he listened to Laurence Cummings. full hendel , full baroque magnificent interpretation

[@karolkarol4489]

3rd harpsichord is out of tune