I had the chance to listen to this song in a concert. The musician played Rameau, Bach, Purcell, and then this. The faces of the people who were in the public were fantastic.
@rancodanca you are correct: Ligeti calls for a performance of "4 minutes or less". This equates to a speed of at least 13.6 notes/second. My average speed is around 13.8 notes/second. The reason my performance lasts more than 4 minutes is partly because of the extra time before and after I play. Also, I repeat certain patterns more than specified to allow changes of registration (e.g. 2'16"). The harpsichord Ligeti wrote for had registration pedals, so this would not have been a problem.
Carpal tunnel syndrome fur wohltempierte klavier But seriously, I love this piece, and just about everything by Ligeti. What a genius. I want to try this piece on a modular synthesizer (using a sequencer, of course). In fact, designing a circuit to reproduce this piece as two series of control voltages could be a lot of fun.
Great comment ! At 1:51 it sounds like the sequencer stuff from the WHO ,..."Tommy" or was it one of the others? I would love to find an 'electronic ' version of this ! I was hoping to find it on Your channel, but You only have several upload's of John Cages "silence"
I think when you set out to learn a piece like this, you have to hit the gym first. I could totally see him doing a bunch of forearm exercises to get in shape for this.
i was just remarking on how diverse the human race is, on the one hand we have psychopaths, on the other we have people who can play this. i'm somewhere in the middle, make an acceptable cup of tea, most of the time.
I think there used to be a piano version on RU-vid, but I can't find it now. But here's an interesting one for two marimbas. There's also one for barrel organ. They don't quite do it for me in the way the harpsichord does, but I don't find them dull. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-G6eFD9WVPoQ.html
Love the registration transition at 3:40! As terrific as computer-generated/assisted music can certainly be, the tactile quality of this music is priceless. Love the vacant second harpsichord on stage, too! Really terrific performance. I'd enjoy hearing Mr. McKean play Ann Southam, if that's in his repertoire: similar complete independence of hands required for her "Glass Houses" and "River Set" pieces. Christina Petrowska-Quilico is the only performer I've ever heard who can pull it off convincingly.
I've performed this piece before and absolutely love it. Your rendition was for me, firey, energetic and spot-on. Audiences often have trouble grasping the generic concept of Continuum but I find that if one mentally prepares themselves for something new and different (often like trying a new cuisine), the piece can be better appreciated if not understood.
When I first heard this years ago, parts of it reminded me in sound of a spoke wheel spinning very fast and through a strobing effect, appears to slow and reverse while still spinning forward. The overall effect of the piece is quite impressive. Well played!
Its an amazing little piece. After a while the spinning notes sound akin to spinning spokes on a wheel, with a strobe effect, The wheel appears to rotate slowly backwards while simultaneously spinning rapidly forward. This is symbolized in sound.
this reminds me a little of John Cage...daring to take liberties with preconceived notions about what "music" really is. I had the honor of seeing Cage in concert playing one of his works for "prepared" piano. It was incredible. This also reminds me of Philip Glass.
Incredible. Was that one single note repeated at the end? And in the first couple minutes, what floored me were the quintuplets in one hand against triplets in the other hand, or some crazy combination like that. Wow. Exceptional instrument played by an exceptional musician.
Es increíble es efecto sonoro que produce el clavicordio. Si escuchas detenidamente te das cuenta de que una vibración continua aparece, como una onda distinta al sonido del instrumento, que se escucha como un instrumento de viento en el fondo del instrumento. En realidad un asombroso experimento donde la melodía en realidad es esa vibración escondida. En el primer minuto se puede apreciar lo que digo.
como ejemplo tenemor a steve reich(mucha de su música), riley(la mayoria de su música), satie (con vexation), andre jolivet (incantations para flauta sola)
An interesting piece, I enjoyed your performance very much. I'm not partial to modern music on the harpsichord-- it's an instrument of a different era, with a very different musical syntax-- but this piece exploits the tonal colors possible and accepts certain limitations the instrument imposes on the performer and composer and brings it into this time. Thank you for playing-- and posting.
I learned about this piece in the 70s, then played by Antoinette Vischer on a modernistic Neupert harpsichord or the like. I was always under the impression that the work cannot be played on a historic harpsichord. This video taught me otherwise. Marvellous job!
OMG,,,,,Ligeti is so exciting to listen to,,,,,, so unbelievably FRESH,,,,,, ONE OF THE GREATS OF ANY CENTURY!!!!!!!!!! Thank You for posting this Treasure!!!!!!!
You're absolutely amazing and humble, that's a rare treat today. Keep up the amazing work, you're performance is incredible, I could almost sweat in the paranoia of this piece. thumbs up for you!
An amazing performance. I can understand why certain people might think this piece strange, but I think people can be so close minded to even listen. I'm no expert on Ligeti's music, but I think an open mind is a valuable thing to have.
I was lucky enough to first hear this piece on record, away from the distraction of an ornately decorated harpsichord and it's rather hypnotic. It's not about the harpsichord but about the sonic textures. The eventual effect is like watching a spinning spoke wheel that, through a strobing effect suddenly appears to be rotating slowly backwards while rapidly spinning forward. It's not a Ligeti piece I'd listen too often but is quite effective.
That was one of the most sublime musical moments I've ever witnessed. The way he makes the wood of the instrument sing along, thump along, the percussive pangs of the manuals... And also the contagious exuberance of the performer! Thank you, Mr McKean, and may you continue your visionary artistry! This hereby joins Chojnacka's "Naama" in my pantheon.
@@TomSistermans actually, that isn't the case. Certainly Ligeti had been composing for years before Reich had been, but not in a minimalist style, and Ligeti used elements of minimalism in some of his work, although he was never a minimalist composer as we understand the term in the mold of Young, Riley, Reich, and Glass. Incidentally, the second movement of Ligeti's '3 Pieces' for 2 pianos from 1976 is called, 'Self-Portrait with Reich and Riley (and Chopin in the Background)'. He was very familiar with Reich and the work of the minimalists, and acknowledged inspiration from them.
HEY RU-vid: pro tip. Continuum was written long before Justin Taylor or Alpha "licensed" it to you. John McKean recorded this well before Taylor's cd was made. And for the record, I prefer Mr. McKean's superlative performance.
Wow! Hey John, its Ron E. :) Nice to see you here on RU-vid! I just stumbled across this and went, "Hey, I know that guy!" ;) Nice job....hope to see many more videos of your great playing!
And now, because thousands of musicians had played their music and put it into our musical culture all around the world, people like and recognise them (u even have ringtones with it).
I find Ligeti's work sonically intriguing and I understand it fine but I'd be lying if I said I liked listening to it very often. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with being repelled by Continuum nor is there anything wrong with being in love with it. To each his own. The only things wrong are A) making no effort to understand the piece and claiming that enjoyment of it is impossible or B) Believing that NOT enjoying this music is entirely due to some bourgeois construct The comments here are littered with A and B and those engaging in A and B are overzealous assholes that should get a proper conceit of themselves... To the performer: thank you for sharing this... yours was an excellent execution of a demanding piece.
Brilliant. Forget the sheer speed and stamina, the feat of zen necessary to keep this together with polyrhythms too fast to consciously fully account for is what impresses me the most. I learned Musica Ricercata 7 last year, probably took ~20 total hours in the woodshed to get that septuplet ostinato sharp and automatic enough to manage the piece.
UuN NUEVO MUNDO DE SONIDOS, AUNQUE LA NATURALEZA LOS BRINDA A MENUDO, PERO LOS MUSICOS SON LOS QUE COMPONEN SONICAMENTE EL MUNDO NATURAL.GRAN INTERPRETACION DE UN GRAN COMPOSITOR LLENO DE ESPACIO Y PUNTOS DEL TIEMPO.
John! Great job! wow. that is pretty intense harpsichord playing. Andrew C. sent me this link. It has been a long time since those gamba sonatas. You were great!
'Advanced taste' Implying what? That this isn't just musical mumbo jumbo? It's like saying a Pollock painting is somehow high art. Sure this is fun and pretty interesting, but it's still nothing but nonsense.
I understan what you're saying. The thing is that, in more classical music, the rythm, texture, and harmony used to be in alower "stratum", supporting the melody. This is not like that anymore, at least in contemporary music. Right now, in some cases, there isn't a higher step.In other cases, like this one, it's the texture the one that gets the protagonism, while the rest of the factors are there to support IT.The thing is, we're used to paying attention to the melody only,that's why it's hard.
