Boris Giltburg performs Sibelius' Valse Triste (arr. by the composer), as an encore after a recital at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. (Music starts at 00:20) Sound recording, filming and editing: Phil Rowlands. Recorded on 14.11.2013
Une interprétation sublime : habitée, mystique, intense, visionnaire. Avec un don de la narration, du discours, exceptionnels. On est pris de la première à la dernière note. Et quelle humilité face à l'oeuvre, quelle modestie ! Le tout malgré une technique éblouissante... Inoubliable.
Some listeners possibly could take advantage by reading the original programme notes for this piece... "It is night. The son, who has been watching beside the bedside of his sick mother, has fallen asleep from sheer weariness, Gradually a ruddy light is diffused through the room: there is a sound of distant music: the glow and the music steal nearer until the strains of a valse melody float distantly to our ears. The sleeping mother awakens, rises from her bed and, in her long white garment, which takes the semblance of a ball dress, begins to move silently and slowly to and fro. She waves her hands and beckons in time to the music, as though she were summoning a crowd of invisible guests. And now they appear, these strange visionary couples, turning and gliding to an unearthly valse rhythm. The dying woman mingles with the dancers; she strives to make them look into her eyes, but the shadowy guests one and all avoid her glance. Then she seems to sink exhausted on her bed and the music breaks off. Presently she gathers all her strength and invokes the dance once more, with more energetic gestures than before. Back come the shadowy dancers, gyrating in a wild, mad rhythm. The weird gaiety reaches a climax; there is a knock at the door, which flies wide open; the mother utters a despairing cry; the spectral guests vanish; the music dies away. Death stands on the threshold."
@@fernandoserico77 In this concert. But the waltz is originally an orchestral piece from an incidental music named "Kuolema" (death). The protagonist has to loose everyone until he finally believes in death.
You are such a great artist, This rendition of Sibelius has really caught me. You have such a fine touch, so delicate and when needed so passionate. Congratulations. Thanks for sharing.
My mother would have loved that. The few records I inherited from her, one was a small, but neverhtless 33rpm with the orchestral version of the Valse Triste. I have kept it all the decades since her early passing away.
Incredible performance! Life emerges out from Mr. Giltburg's piano. He reminds me of what we often forget. Music performance is a re-creation of a life, whilst music sheets are a mere record of something already given birth. He carefully chases the process of life formation.
So sad and beautiful. With the story behind the music in mind, you really perform this composition so delicate and passionful. You are a great musician. A great interpretation! There is also a beautiful animation film 'Allegro non Troppo' of Bruno Bozzetto with the Valse Triste of Jean Sibelius, a perfect match of animation film and music. So incredebly sad
Послушайте этот Вальс в исполнении Андрея Коробейникова и с его видеорядом на ютубе. Вся трагедия сегодняшнего дня в своей фантасмагория предстанет перед вами. И в музыке Сибелиуса приобретёт новое звучание.
He might play like an angel (not of death!) but I was thinking exactly the same. Already he has curvature of the spine which you can see when he takes his bow, and he is so young. He needs to take care.
I fully agree on that. His playing posture is very, very bad. And it will affect his playing within a short period of time since other parts of his body will have to compensate for his bad posture. Can't imagine that his teacher does not mention anything about his posture,he should really work on it
Boris....Figlio mio, ma non era meglio proporlo dopo aver fatto pipì? finivi la primera parte del recital, andavi in bagno e poi, alla ripresa lo suonavi con almeno 2 minuti abbondanti in piu....con calma e rendendo la autentica tristezza del brano: se vuoi fare scintille con velocità e virutuosismo scegli Liszt, Kapustin o...Godowsky.
Boris' have an amazing sensitive sound but I love Ivo the best, too. It is slower but stays the deep dreamy tempo of valse. Valse with the "dead", expressing the original scene of the theater piece for my personal feeling.
Too much going on here. The gesticulation, the emotion and of course it had to be played on a Fazioli of all contraptions. This song is a Waltz for goodness sake not an Elegy. In this pianists case they should have removed the Fazioli and forced him upon an upright with a shorter keys and a slower action- which counter intuitively would have actually forced him to speed up the first half of the song and probably would have blunted the theatrics somewhat. Maybe its just that dang Fazioli. Too arriviste. Too expensive. Too much of an image problem (wealthy west egg folks who cannot play but shoehorn the 10 footer into their parlors). Can do too many things perfectly which leaves no room for unscrupulousness or "character".
''This SONG is a Waltz...'' Sorry but this is one of the best renditions of Sibelius' own solo piano arrangement of Valse triste ever recorded. Part of my repertoire for 20 years. (Concert pianist, Musicologist - Canada)
Sorry to burst your bubble but PianoCzarX is correct. It's incidental music for his brother-in-law's play 'Kuolema' and therefore means it's to be heard, not danced to. The theme of the play is 'death' so perhaps it is fitting to play this closer to an elegy.
wow you really hate Fazioli don't you? Valse Triste is almost an elegy, definitely moreso than it being a waltz. I will be honest, Fazioli is a pretty nice piano but not my favorite by any means, I have heard plenty of complaints about it being too big and bright and not having a softer side at all. However this video shows a different aspect to it so maybe it can be tamed after all. My thinking is that if he played on the Fazioli it was probably by choice and not the other way around. If he was given access to the Fazioli he could probably be able to play another concert grand. Just my $0.02
