Brad Mehldau plays Radiohead like Beethoven (Little By Little)

[@theodorusrexicon5760]

Nobody is doing what Brad is doing these days. A true phenom.

[@JustinCahoon]

Nothing better than someone taking the long hard path of discovering their own sound

[@jastern949]

@jastern949 0 seconds ago Thank you. OMG thank you. And not just with piano but with one's entire life. You just got me to sit back down in front of the keys. And likewise to consider and reflect on my life's sound: what shall I make with my remaining time? Because what is behind your insight, behind the "nothing better", is the absolutely unique and beautiful "sound" lying in potential in all of us -- and the courage, persistence, resolve, and patience required to open the door to it.

[@usualatoms4868]

Brad Mehldau plays Radiohead like Brad Mehldau

[@kuleebaba9014]

I used to watch Brad at those Sunday free concerts at the Wadsworth Theater in LA when he was just in his early 20s. He's always played like Beethoven.

[@jessereeks8520]

Love your work. I wish I wasn’t this way but there’s a G# in beat 3 of m. 9

[@michaellucke2654]

Ah damn, you're right! Can't win 'em all!

[@wonderfalls2]

Too funny 😂

[@michaelwu7678]

I think it's great that you are this way. Polite, constructive criticism is a great thing.

[@Solcius123123]

Truly awesome. It’s crazy to also see this kind of trance he gets it while playing

[@TheDiamanda61]

The "MUST HAVE" for a pianist ! Thank you for existing !

[@MichaelFallone]

I've been tryng to find a live version of this for a couple years. Saw him play this in an old church in Saratoga Springs, NY a few years ago. The left hand!!

[@SamySnider]

10:08 reminds me of Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit (Ondine)

[@mindbenderrx]

Mesmerizing interpretation

[@heavypiano]

Incredible work. Thanks for sharing.

[@jonathanhall1823]

The left hand part in his music are always extremely mesmerizing , I pay most of my attention to it .

[@dreamdeeplyrelaxingexpansi9103]

This music expressed in pure beauty and ingenuity …thanx

[@Bidulagos]

For me Brad Mehldau is the greatest pianist of our generation!

[@isabelleshaw1508]

Brilliant!! Thanks for sharing this!

[@valerieheinderyckx4506]

Genius....!❤

[@vanhavirta]

I personally get Tigran Hamasyan vibes from this, especially from 4mins onward. Very, very inspiring.

[@vanhavirta]

... not much Beethoven vibes, I'm afraid, but that's okay 😅

[@chuckyLarmed]

Around 7:30 I can hear some harmonic similarities with Tigran’s “Revolving - Prayer”

[@nezkeys79]

9:15 onwards how that entire section develops rhythmically and harmonically

[@kaan_bey]

This man makes everything that I thought wouldn't work work like a charm!

[@hirgons]

I was there :D Thanks for sharing !

[@michaellucke2654]

Oh that's awesome! Lucky you!

[@suremate]

Me too.

[@LucBoeren]

Just stumbled upon your channel, I'm in love already! Pls keep doing these if you have the time, I'd be enormously grateful.

[@gaiabernardo]

mehldau is originality manifest. what a privilege.

[@benjaminsawyer1292]

Brilliant! This is the way forward for classical music - using the melodies and atmosphere of our day and age but infusing it with the "classical" style - which has become somewhat all-encompassing.

[@EricFontaineJazz]

Amazing.

[@futurfry]

how did I not know about this???

[@Pijanoo]

Yes. He said in the recent interview that the left hand configuration in the beginning is a typical Beethoven thing. Let’s not get carried away here.

[@milton3204]

It's just a modernized alberti bass, no? So not "Beethovian", it's a typical technique used in pre-romantic era music.

[@peterjrmoore3941]

yes classical not beethoven, alberti bass unmodified pretty much

[@Pijanoo]

@@milton3204sure. It’s an Alberti bass and a little melody. The classical Alberti bass was generally more simple than this.

[@jenesuispassanslavoir7698]

@@milton3204Alberti bass tends to be a closed voicing of a triad spanning a fifth to a sixth. This is definitely more of a Beethovian spin on the Alberti bass, favouring a more open voicings often spanning an octave. Mozart, Clementi and Haydn tend to use the closed voicing kind.

[@Bill-Hicks-ashtray]

That's beautiful ❤

[@PesteNegro]

I can't be very technical about my comment because I know shit about music theory but this, specially the beginning, sounded a lot like baião/forró ramped towards a classical anesthetic, which are the actual music genres that radiohead borough from while composing and producing this song. I hear no Beethoven in this, but maybe I'm just too ill informed to actually see it 😅

[@adrianchewygum]

both you are genius

[@bulletfastspeed]

Nice transcription! The whole thing should be shifted forward an eighth note (source: I'm a giant ass radiohead fan lol), but this is awesome.

[@andreslka]

This is genius at the highest level, but let's hold the horses on Beethoven comparisons-

[@YoannZik]

Like Bach. I think it's the After Bach Concert, I was there :-).

[@spacevspitch4028]

Honestly the middle improvisation sounded like Shostakovich to me. Quite beautifully at that.

[@matteoalfieri2668]

I say jarrett

[@Alix777.]

The heck you are talking about lol

[@matteoalfieri2668]

Sometimes, the sound remember me the jarret's style... my opinion

[@pistoFF]

Master ❤

[@ray1923]

A beleza e agonia dessa música

[@tsunamimae1965]

using key signature for d minor would've safed you a bunch of flats ;)

[@normalizedaudio2481]

Fun left hand.

[@Ribsi62]

la la la uh uh uh uh la la la uh uh uh ha ha ha hu hu hu la li la lo la le

[@jastern949]

I must say I "hear" Moonlight Sonata in the first part. But is this owed more to Brad or to Radiohead, who knows. And tons tons more of course besides.

[@michaellucke2654]

Yes, the title is specifically referring to the first part and the Alberti bass. Brad mentioned Beethoven as a bit of inspiration for that style in an interview with Rick Beato. It's meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek though!

[@robinenglert8091]

Its actually a piece of Chopin!

[@JensSchellhammer]

To be honest, I can't see what is he is doing save for a few chord/key changes.

[@epilosov]

Brad is an excellent pianist. Although, Keith Jarrett 's influence here is very noticeable.

[@alcorton]

True.......

[@ModuSpaSm]

So, what do you mean exactly? That Brad is a lesser pianist than Keith? You have any idea how musical ideas and execution of these ideas are formed, how they evolve?

[@MarkTarmannPianoCheck_it_out]

Nothing in the comment is negative. Derivative is not a negative. "Completely" or overly derivative yes, a neg. critique . All music is derivative. Except maybe Zappa playing a bicycle wheel with a violin bow. And even that will have some precedent if you look closely . Some elements of Jarrett's approach will be present in almost living pianist's playing , since every pianist in the last 40 years is influenced, if only by the very concept, and the very existence of this approach. And, also , Jarrett's success, artistically, and monetarily, with extended solo concerts as "pure improvisations" , with some standards thrown in for good measure.. Mehldau has stated he listened to a lot a Jarrett when he was young, (i think around 14, 15 years old?). You could at least say Jarret's influence on Brad's solo playing is much stronger than, say, Cecil Taylor's , in'nit my son? If you are trained in the classical repertoire, and play solo piano in a "Romantic" way, with your jazz sensibilities also present, Jarrett's influence is going to be there. The repertoire( and technical training, exercises ) in both genres is the same, esp., the classical, so the influences, the melodies, harmonies and rhythms will bleed into your playing, whether it's standards, "pure improv" or covering a modern pop tune. The inspiration for the "formation " of the ideas, and the difficulty of execution is not an argument against another pianist's influence. Those are simply 2 elements involved in any solo improv of this kind. That all said, yes , it gets a bit tiresome to hear someone stating the obvious, to show us all that has the insight to notice it., as has been done 9,999, 999 times on youtube, that there is something of Jarrett in Mehldau's solo work. But, sorry lad, I'll say too, for the ten millionth tine, there is... :) obviously. It's also tiresome to me to hear people like you argue against the obvious influence. Not "lesser-ness" . Or superiority. Just the obvious lineage involved. Is Coltrane's playing deemed lesser" because it was influenced by Dexter Gordon? Or mine, because I listened to a lot of Les McCann? They're both amazing, I can hear always the differences, which are stark, and I hear the similarities. It is difficult to not compare the two, since they both have a lot of music "out there" . I would guess they are the 2 most listened to and promoted jazz /solo pianists. l As you said just the level of "difficulty" is high, and that alone makes them somewhat similar. How did they get to that level? Probably in somewhat similar ways.. listening practicing, performing. I'll say that Mehldau's left hand ideas are often more interesting, and "better" and Jarrett's right hand lyrical ideas and execution are more to my taste. and maybe sometimes"better". I will also say I have never heard a Mehldau solo improv ( or any other pianist's) that can match Jarrett's solo take on "Solar". (the one from the Beato interview) execution ideas lyricism sustained energy and groove development .. it's staggeringly good. "Better"? ....well, yes, It is. That one for sure. If you think Brad has any to match that performance , please tell me so i can hear it. Those 2 observations aside, they are both beyond my ability to judge, or rate, one against the other, because their execution of their musical ideas is so many light years and levels beyond mine. "ye kannae judge what ye yereself cannot kannae play, so dinnae even try, laddie boyo" Words of wisdom from Angus "stinky kilts" Mcfarty @@ModuSpaSm

[@neburarieiv]

@@MarkTarmannPianoCheck_it_outthis was wonderful to read .

[@wretchro100]

cute

[@PijanitsaVode]

How about playing (Beethoven? Beatles?...) like Liszt?

[@richardgeorgeallen6323]

It's probably safe to say that Meldhau has taken on where Jarrett, sadly, left off. With every respect to Jarrett, Meldhau is better able than Jarrett to articulate in words what his music is all about, which gives it more accessibility. The Rick Beato Interview demonstrated that. That said, Jarrett maintained - perhaps correctly - that music cannot be articulated other than in other forms of music. That's valid too.

[@Chilli_Tea]

he isn't playing it syncopated

[@DarioPaini]

mammamia...

[@AlexanderMacTavish]

Damn, clearly I don't listen to enough Beethoven

[@christophersurnname9967]

Little more similar to Rachmaninov tbh

[@bazingacurta2567]

How does this guy not have chronic tendonitis?

[@MarkTarmannPianoCheck_it_out]

Good diet. Good technique . Probably had some teachers as a youngster that warned him off the potentially damaging "finger strengthening " exercisesand advised him about practicing carefully, sensibly with awareness of potential dangers. Strong German farmer family genetics.

[@steke6291]

I didnt get the beethoven feel

[@alfonsobertazzi5867]

Not sure how Beethoven would be involved here, but whatever.

[@Ulyssesrodetotown]

More like Glenn Gould, he sits so low..

[@pinkfloydhomer]

It's not very Beethoven

[@jolondixon2311]

So much of what makes Radiohead is the production and the timbres they chose. This ends up sounding like eurojazz once you remove that and add Beethoven-like textures.

[@Dom2Wan]

I wonder if jazz and classical music fans know what an accomplishment this is. Mehldau is our generation's Beethoven.

[@tomsplitt4853]

Seriously? Beethoven the Titan? The towering figure who bridged the Classical and Romantic eras? How many timeless piano and violin sonatas, quartets, concertos, symphonies, etc. has Meldau written? The odds of people listening to Meldau in 300 years are slim to none.

[@Pijanoo]

@@tomsplitt4853you both are idiots in your own way.

[@Dom2Wan]

*laughs in your face* By your measure Szymanowski and Mompou are just as worthy of your disregard. Don't bother to speak to me again.@@tomsplitt4853

[@Alix777.]

What are you talking about lol

[@MarkTarmannPianoCheck_it_out]

who? Which comment?? tomsplitt or DOm2Wan? Please use complete sentences, with clarity, maybe even some punctuation, so we can know WTF YOU are talking about, child. Because your improv./ solo technique with language is kinda lacking. :( lol wtf nobody cares u so fleek no caps etc. @@Alix777.