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I can’t believe I never stumbled across this channel until just now. I came here from your Stenhammer Fantasy video and holy cow are these educational and informative. I’ll definitely be using these videos to help me increase my musical understanding and analysis skills. Great work my friend!
Dude...you are freaking awesome. Love how your passion for the subject comes out in these videos. Makes me glad I am pursuing music as a career and get to encounter people just as in love with it as me!!
This piece sounds more like the Romantics such as Chopin and Liszt than the typical modal ambience of Debussy that I hear in for example Reverie which sounds to me like it is in a mode of Bb major.
I just recently discovered this channel and I am amazed (more shocked actually) at how little viewership you have so far! And I mean that 100% as a compliment (and perhaps disdain at other "classical" channels that get more viewership). It's channels like these that preserve the value of RU-vid. What a treasure trove- and i'm quite excited to dive in your videos. Keep up the good work please, if only for your hundreds of viewers! (which I hope only continues to grow)
Thanks so much Miguel for the compliments! The channel is growing a lot at the moment, and in a way it's been good to have had a year for me to get more comfortable making videos before going to the next level (if that happens).
The French poem is very romantic. Who was that lucky girl from the poem ??! Certainly love was in the air. And Debussy with her charm, delicacy and romanticism made this Prelude for lovers of good music. Great video.
oh no, not at all !.... this poem (and Debussy's poetic score) is NOT about innocence - it's about experience! About sensuality written large, written deep, yet painted softly and lightly with the colours of Spring. It's a homage to the flower of woman.
I was really looking forward to the ravel/ debussy episodes, since i dont know much about their music, and these pieces are so beautiful, thank you for uploading this! Would love to see more of it 😊
At 9:20 that A flat major chord is a dorian sound for e flat minor. And at 10:17 it's not a pentatonic scale, the A flat is missing from those chords, there's only the Gb Bb Rb Eb notes before the IV V and ii V respectively, so I think it's a Gb major chord with an added 6th. Very nice video and interpretation by the way.
Hello, Henrick. Thank you for your interpretation and analysis of this lovely work I played many years ago and enjoy teaching now. I was interested in your idea that the upbeats at the end of bar 4 belong more to the following phrase at bar 5. I tried that after listening to your explanation but I feel they belong to the previous phrase for two reasons; the new phrase in bar 5 imitates the opening melody in rhythm and so the upbeats are unnecessary, and secondly the Eb and Gb work with the previous tonic chord in bars 3 - to 4 with the pedal sustained and not nicely with the Db chord. So I see them as a little 'Debussy' extension to the first line so that we have a strong Db chord at bar 5. Also, would you recommend any una corda pedal for a student with this work? Thank you, Jody
Hello Jody, thanks for your question! First, the harmony changes after the "upbeat" in any case so that shouldn't affect how one feels it regarding the phrasing. But my remark is more about how I find it hard to hold a melodic line over such a long sustained note that the Gb major chord is. If it was a melodic instrument that could keep the long note alive - no problem! But on a piano it dies out and we can do nothing about it. But of course I know I'm in disagreement with Debussy because he clearly writes it as belonging to the first phrase. In the end it shouldn't matter so much, I think the resulting music would not be that much different. For the Una corda, I think it's a great idea to use it at the pianissimo sections.
Very nice. But can you explain the very end? No one plays those final two notes, but they’re written in the score. Are you supposed to keep them held from the previous measure and lift the rest of the fingers and the pedal? Let them ring a bit? I don’t understand the notation.
Excellent breakdown of the chordal structure, while at the same time not making it seem so mathematical. Debussy kept the romance of the piece on par with the intelligence of the composition. He was ahead of his time in chordal voicing. I love the richness of his works. And, speaking as a woman....what a man-and I bet what a lover. Those French!
Thank you Henrik. I've been slowly learning this piece. It is my second piece I'm learning. The first piece was Satie's Gymnopedie 1. It is a truly inspiring piece. I love the mixture of traditional harmony with Debussy's extended chords. It gives a lush and beautiful feeling, serene. Thanks for your videos.
Wow, so thankful for all these videos. My student is playing this piece, and I am referring to this video as I learn how to play the piece myself. Thank you!
A good friend sent me your video and its excellent .What a great analysis. It's a bit difficult as im playing it as accompanied solo on cello so without reading all the accompaniment its hard to feel my place but this really helped me outline the foundational notes and a lot of the key moods and changes throughout the piece. I've taken a lot of notes for myself :)
I work with this piece now. It´s beautiful. Thanks for great help. Alldeles särskilt stort tack för dikten och bakgrundsinformationen. Och beskrivningen av andan och själen i detta stycke. Precis vad jag behöver höra när jag sitter med noterna framför mig och försöker lära mig detta ljuvliga stycke som jag förälskat mig i.
This is a very nice video and analysis! I am learning this piece at the moment by myself, and it's nice for me to get an analysis of the pieces I try and play! Hopefully, I can soon play this piece, I probably have around 2-3 measures left!😃
Hi Henrik, i really wanted to thank you for your amazing content! I watch your videos nearly every day and have learned so much from your views on all these pieces. Thanks again and greetings from The Netherlands!
Amazing pedagogy job, you are a huge teacher, I am using this for my harmony's students now. I am a violinist but theory is really important for my students to understand the whole in this. Regard from Ecuador my apologies for my English
Thank you Argentina! I will look into subtitles some time soon, and probably add it to my most popular videos at least, but it will be auto-translated then...
Wow, I just painted a picture with the last stanza of wordsworths poem in mind. But I interpreted more death with the poem. The song reflects the helpless falling, while “ mounting up the hill”. It gets dizzy trying to keep track of what’s literal. Love and death. I can see now why of all artists, poets seem to see the world transparently. Thanks for the catch on “ The Solitary Reaper”.
I've played this piece for 10 years now. That climactic moment can still make me cry even to this day. It's why I had to learn it back then for my juries even though I was not at that level yet. I put in so many hours to be able to play this, and my then-teacher, Dr. Gregory Partain, helped me tremendously to play this piece. I love hearing your analysis -- it's like understanding the magic behind the notes.
The climax indeed. The run up to this part at 8:25 and the crescendo is intensly satisfying and spine tingling.... I'm not familiar with the wording, but this small part is mesmerising. Makes the entire piece worthwhile...
I really envy your mastery of the keyboard. I am an old man who ought to have acquired those skills many generations ago. Life in its various iterations intruded. Now, with an air of desperation, a patient and talented teacher and a decent instrument I am trying to make up lost ground. Your simplified arrangements are much appreciated. By your skill in rendering beautiful pieces of piano works into a format where the less skilled operate, it is possible to capture some of the essence of the composers original intents. Thank you.
One very small correction: the name Hebrides (the archipelago off the north west of Scotland) is pronounced heh-bri-dees, not heh-brides. The correct pronunciation fits the rhyme and meter of the poem better. Yours is a wonderful channel. It inspires me and brings me joy. It might be my favorite in all of RU-vid. Thank you and please keep giving us more.
