Bravo à Sylviane DEFERNE, pour la somptueuse interprétation de ces "Barricades Mystérieuses" de François COUPERIN. Le jeu est tout en nuances. Il est assurément le résultat d'une mûre intériorisation de l'Oeuvre. D'un réel et sincère "ressenti", il va tout droit à l'âme recueillie. MERCI !
I actually would not say that slower is definitely better. I also love some faster renderings (e.g Éva Szalai). Yet this rendering by Silviane Deferne is really special!
Thank you for this, Sylviane. I must say, you’ve saved my life with this performance. It’s so pure, so unique, so exquisite. The melody, the middle notes, how you sing with the architecture of the whole piece and the sections, it’s almost magical and unreal. All I hear is barricades of love, of life, of passion and barricades of what making music is. Thank you, thank you so much!
Sometimes an exceptionally gifted, perceptive person can see something in a composer’s music that perhaps they could not see at the time themselves. The spirit of the original is the same & in no way demeaned, but by your interpretation you have given us a different perception of this wonderful piece. I think you’ve recognised that its beauty is best evoked by this tempo, thus letting the melody unfold slowly & gently. Congratulations, and thank you for posting this highly enjoyable video!
Haunting and beautiful piece. The flow is endless from note to note and phrase to phrase. She does such justice in transfering a harpsichord piece into the piano.
Absolutely beautiful, played with passion and soul! I heard this piece today for the very first time on public radio in Minnesota and had to go to youtube to hear again. I play cello professionally and in my head can hear a cello obligato part to this wonderful piece.....
Une des meilleures versions de cette pièce sur yt. La musique c'est pas seulement le respect du texte, c'est aussi l'expression du coeur. Si Couperin a écrit "vivement'", c'est à mon sens , pour dire "avec de la vie". Sinon il aurait pu se contenter d'écrire allegro ou rapidement... En plus ce piano est somptueux...
My favorite version of this great piece on RU-vid. The tempo is just about perfect--moving and elegant. Can't stand the high speed versions. Well done Sylviane!
Great observation. You made me listen for & appreciate that. She makes it almost a distinct voice, by giving a subtle bell-like sonority to that thread of notes.
Wonderful!! Best pace I have listened to so far and with a lot of sensitivity! It may not be the pure Couperin-way, but if Couperin had lived later and with a grand piano... Thanks!! :-)
Wonderful interpretation. I can't understand pianists who elect to rush 'Barricades' - the slower tempo brings out the beauty and delicacy of the composition.
Still one of the best renditions of Les Baricades, certainly the best I've heard on a piano, IMO. Listen to it frequently. Thanks for having this available to..... what, drop into a dream state for a few minutes in this crazy political world? Maybe. Merci, Sylviane, merci beaucoup.
Every evening before I go home I play this. And Max and Rudi, my two wolves sit by my desk. And if it ends too soon for them they let me know, and I play it again! And then I can go home.
Hey Peter Hontaru, Lovely, good luck. How wonderful, please put your interpretation on you tube too. It will be lovely to hear it. Hope you like it. Angela Hewitt is a baroque muse. Whenever She plays Bach or Couperin, I always hear the composer, never the interpreter, this by itself is a magic musical moment to experience. Talk soon
Comparing this performance with others with harpsichord and/or lute-theorbe or guitar, this is one of the best. With your light touch, good piano, good recording and nice ambient: I love it and keeps me floating onward carried by the notes. 👌 THANKS
after having started to learn this piece, I more and more believe that this is the version that matches my taste the most of all available versions here on youtube. Sylviane brings a lot of subtle details to the surface that are often neglected superficially or killed by speed. Of course this is interpretation of the artist and maybe was not intended by the composer. At least Couperin was not able to make himself heard in the same way - simply because the technology of instruments was not developed yet at that time. This would by the way be my answer to criticism like "this is not Brahms": music is always transporting emotions from the artist to the audience. If Couperin had had a modern piano, I am sure he would have been glad to have so many more possibilities to express feelings than on a harpsichord. Thank you, Sylviane!
If Francis Couperin had a modern piano, he would be perplexed by the heavy, sluggish action (as heavy as an organ with the manuals coupled) compared to harpsichord, the lack of clarity in the lower tenor and bass, and the necessity to play a piece with the tempo indication of vivement (deeply) more slowly by comparison. He might recommend as he did in his written directions to play his works on other instruments an octave higher. He would inquire where was the level to engage a four foot register, where was the the second manual, and why was the instrument built with only one basic timbre for both 8'choirs, without the presence of two somewhat contrasting colors (nasal and flute like) similar to the instruments known to him as well as the absence of the buff stop. He would comment that the distance of the octave is wider than normal, similar to the Hamburg builder Fleischer is of late reputed to use. The presence of extra keys in the treble and and bass would be as equally perplexing as the natural keys being white, instead of a black color (ebony) and the accidentals keys being black instead of having white tops of either bone or ivory. The left pedal withdraws one of the two indistinguishable registers, but doesn't produce any noticeable change to speak, the right pedal sustains the tones by lifting the dampers, special effect of little utility other than a novelty. His final query would be why instrument was mis-tuned tuned so strangely instead of being in Mean Tone temperament, which his compositions exploited the colors and associations of emotions with the keys as he originally conceived. He would also relate how he believed the harpsichord to be an expressive instrument, that this "piano" is anything but quiet, might be of utility to practice on to play the organ, but lacks the directness of speech of either the harpsichord or a clavichord (a practice instrument of some French organists) which the half vibrato of the latter instrument likewise is missing. I have read a variety of similar comments about how so and so (J S Bach, D. Scarlatti, et al) would just love and prefer the "modern piano" by 20th and now 21st century individuals taken out of context of individuals who lived and died centuries ago. Bach (who initially criticized the fortepiano, only to find approval for an instrument that has little in common with the modern piano other than a partially shared name, but never wrote music specifically with the fortepiano of Silbermann mentioned by name), Scarlatti (who wrote some music for the earliest of fortepianos and still composed music outside of their keyboard compass, for harpsichord and the collection from Venice list the work as Sonatas for Harpsichord in the 1742, and the second 1749, subsequent books of Sonatas have a different format and no designation). I do believe if through a worm hole time vortex a modern piano did appear to both Couperin, Scarlatti, and J S Bach, they might be intrigued and curious, and after having the instrument tuned (a hazardous predicament) to their preferences, they might write music specifically for the instrument, but unlike the music they wrote for the harpsichord or organ.
Really we have no way of absolutely knowing how Couperin or his contemporaries would have reacted to hearing their keyboard mucic on a modern piano. We can easily argue that they would love (or hate it), but maybe that's more a justification of personal preference than anything else. We can obviously get some information from historical sources and so on, which is valuable. I would however pose the question, why do we need to put so much effort into validating or dismantling a certain interpretation? I feel we as musicians or music enthusiasts often place unnecessary emphasis on something being "right" or "wrong", as it's an art form we're talking about, which by definition I would say makes most of that very subjective. For me, this interpretation and the piece are both something I enjoyed very much.
Such an exquisite, thoughtful demonstration of Couperin's timelessness, played by a maestra who uses the piano in such a way, I suspect Couperin himself would nod and perhaps sit down at the modern piano himself!
The stern critics must remember that the music did belong to the composer, true enough. Remember though, it belongs to us. To enjoy, to practice, to perform---- to interpret what it brings to our hearts. I've played this piece for forty years. It sounded different each time.
I have always adored this piece and only learned today who wrote it and the name of it. It is magic, lifts the spirit, makes you want to move in some strange way. I don't want it to end ever and the comment someone made who has wolves that insist on listening to it more than once struck me as quite credible. Always loved wolves. Interested to know if my dog has similar feelings.
I'm currently learning this, I do prefer it on piano though - it gives it a beautiful warmth to the sound. A bit like your ears are being given a hug. A lovely version :)
Magnifique version plus lente que beaucoup d’autres, mais tellement plus émouvante ! dommage que la qualité de la captation sonore ne soit pas irréprochable.
Oh my.... this is so beautifully done! I like this at least as much as the version done by Angela Hewitt. I love the tempo at the outset, I don't agree totally with the slowing tempo the last time through the repeats, but it is BEAUTIFUL. Brava!!
