Gluck "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" from Orfeo ed Euridice, arr Sgambati/Kempff

[@matl.8197]

You're so right that once you hear this piece, it never leaves your head. I first heard it as a teenager in 2006 and to this day, I'm in love with this melody.

[@grahamtwist]

Exquisite playing by you, Cole, of such beautiful music by Christoph Gluck in this truly wonderful transcription for solo piano. Nothing can pull on the heart strings quite like a tragic love story! “Dance of the Blessed Spirits,” which opens Scene II in Act II, sees Orfeo in Elysium, searching for his beloved Euridice. The outer sections lyrically depict a calm pastoral mood and the beautiful landscape of the Elysian Fields, where the souls of the heroic and those chosen by the gods rest in happiness in the afterlife. The central episode, which shifts into the relative minor, captivates with its haunting, passionate melody - yearning and lonely - suggesting Orfeo’s desperate search to find Euridice and restore her to the world of the living. Alas, Orfeo disobeys the instructions he was given and so loses his love for ever, only to be reunited with her after his own death (which was pretty gruesome! I gather that given the performance premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on October 5, 1762 for the name-day celebrations of Emperor Francis I, Gluck was forced to reform the bloodthirsty end!) As you remark, Cole, Gluck revolutionized opera by writing works in which the music faithfully interpreted the drama and enhanced the words of the libretti. He ensured it was the drama, and not the singers, that came first and foremost, and that plots were kept simple and straightforward. Gluck aimed at a noble classical simplicity, avoiding what he described in his preface to 'Alceste' as the abuses of excessive ornamentation and other elements that pandered to the vanity of singers. And so seemingly self-evident ideas necessary for good storytelling made overly ornate Italian operas a thing of the past and laid the foundation for the operas of Mozart, Weber, and Wagner. Did you know that the transcription for piano solo by Giovanni Sgambati, a noted pupil of Franz Liszt, was a great favourite of Sergei Rachmaninoff? (Here's a link to his 1925 recording: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6jVhXtvdq6IipY)

[@TheIndependentPianist]

Yes, that Rachmaninoff recording was one of my favorites when I was growing up! He had such a wonderful singing style.

[@WaltzTime]

I love this piece! Thanks for playing it! ❤️🙏

[@brianhealey5286]

First time visit. Too emotional to think at the moment. When a 10 year old boy I would lie beneath my mother's Grand Steinway listening to her play this lovely piece. Sadly she passed when I was only 16. Now 84 and your wonderful rendition brought back warm memories. Your format helps to follow the score, especially your hands. Somehow your hands add something undefinable to the composition. Thanks and I will be back.

[@nsk5282]

Cole, you are absolutely right: once you hear this beautiful melody it's impossible to forget! Another piece on my list to learn, already got the sheet music. Thanks again for the beautiful performance and the inspiration!

[@sclugstone]

Indeed, this music is stored within you after hearing it a couple times. These transcriptions, and your fine performance, brought it back vividly for me , thanks so much.

[@melaniebrett1013]

Thank you, been searching for this for years! Great!

[@FranziskoGomes]

astouding and beatiful, well done!

[@opticalmixing23]

Very nice piece. First time hearing at 45

[@herlindasaitz2977]

Excelent moving interpretation

[@Phyllisnguyen67]

Beautiful - thank you!

[@martaromarate5372]

So beatiful!!❤🎶🎹👌

[@JoaoGuarnieriPianista]

So amazing! Tks!!!

[@mananajikia3150]

Thank you! It was beautiful😊

[@dmswan3172]

So beautiful!🎹

[@XENIAACADEMICADrSergioZerpa]

Hola Amigo, excelente interpretación, te felicito, me alegro la mañana, toco el piano, mi sueño era ser pianista como vos, saludos desde Argentina.

[@amandarickets5448]

I can’t hear this piece without thinking of the late Nelson Freire. He always played it as an encore❤️

[@JesusGonzalez-oh5ix]

Starts at 3:15

[@theliyue]

do you know where can I buy or download the music sheet of both pieces? thanks!

[@JohnFred1964]

Well, well, well… That's astonishing ! You're make so much of it ! Thanks a lot ! I love love love your interpretation. (Even Kissin go to hell) I thank you for the way you film your hands from above, it will help me a lot for working on this piece. Please keep going posting videos, you're gonna be a YT star ;)

[@TheIndependentPianist]

Thank you so much!

[@NickBacchetto]

I notice the Busoni transcriptions on your music desk behind you-would love to hear your insights on those in the future!

[@TheIndependentPianist]

For sure! I will need to put at least a few of those up.

[@cathieproffitt6432]

Where is it possible to get these arrangements?

[@einberteinbert]

💗

[@zewensenpai]

Nice