Marc-André Hamelin- Claude Debussy L'isle Joyeuse 

We're really spoilt by the internet. Just sat here procrastinating and stumbled upon this exquisite performance.

I may not know anything about classical music, but I know goose bumps when I get them.

You don't need to thank us for watching such amazing videos of such amazing performers. Thank YOU for recording them.

It's not too fast, he is able to achieve all the right colours and moods while bringing out the different voices, so for him, it is the right tempo. I was there live, and it was stunning.

4:58 OMG. This part to the end is so perfect. ❤🔥

It passes the goosebump test at the end. Tremendous.

Wow. What a great performance. You can tell he really understands the complex phrasing and voicing in this piece, regardless of his slightly controversial tempo (I think the piece speaks well in this performance tempo in this particular performance). Bravo.

in his immaculate precision, he gracefully (and effortlessly) dances with all the hemiolas!!! Hamelin at best is here in my opinion!👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Hamlein is just too classy for this world.

Tears welling up that somewhere in life this sequence exists as this deep assembly of ideas that itself is an astounding level of human expression, and yet even further that Marc can play it so well and interpret it with such craft and finally... is even capable.

Hamelin's take on the dynamics at the end is awe-inspiring.

An absolutely wonderful performance!

"L'isle joyeuse" is a reference to Cythera, the island on which Venus/Aphrodite first stepped when she emerged from the foam. The island is since a metonym for love. I once read that ol' Claude composed this to capture the feelings - HIS feelings of being really in love for the first time. As a matter of interest, "Cytherean" is the commonly accepted adjective for describing anything to do with Venus (goddess or planet) as the true adjective, venereal, is, well...need I say more?

That buildup until.... 4:40 ... chair de poule... goosebumps. Solo beautiful !!!!

he totally gets it. He understands the arc of this piece like no one else I've ever heard. and that includes Horowitz, Gieseking, etc. And I enjoy Horowitz's performances, especially when he was younger, but to me, the phrasing and the slight ritard before the climactic theme just is totally the way it leaps from the paper.

There's so much madness in this piece! I love it ❤️ Listen at 3:32 how Debussy just kind of inhales the whole piece, chews it up and spits it right out again in extremely dense and compact form before moving on to the big Climax 🙏 So brilliant and mad 🤪🥰

Just incredible in every way. :-)

To me, Hamelin is the best pianist alive. His genius turns every piece into a work of art, taking you in a journey through time and space into another dimension, and back to earth.

Yes, his tempo is fast ! But, he can do it and it gives me chills. I think Debussy would have approved of Hamelin's interpretation.

There are many great pianists, all possessing their own strengths. But I believe Hamelin is the most complete pianist I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing.

Beauty. My favorite piece of Debussy

I'll skip the word salad and simply say this was inspiring and enjoyable!

I really don't get these posters. Some say it is too fast, others say too slow, should be more "nervous". Where, pray tell does Debussy write that? Another says his tone is due to the Steinway. This is a great performance, guys! Get over it! Stop whining! Some pianists play it as fast but very few as convincing as he does. He conveys the poetry though the tempo while others obliterate it. I know this piece intimately because I have played it, also in concert. It is tremendously difficult

Very very good. My previous favorites of this piece are performances by Walter Gieseking and Jean Philipe Collard... This is up there with anyone's. Bravo!

I heard this 20 years ago and I found it!

Very clear, very 'French', very post-Schumannesque, surpasses my favorite-until-now!

This is a brilliant and insanely fast piece of music, he makes it look easy.

Sublime. Simplemente espectacular. Bravo!!! 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Wow, incredible! The tempo is a bit faster than I'm used to, but it works very well & certainly in keeping with the piece. Puts the 'Joyeuse' in there to no small extent.

Just-- Wow. Cannot think of anything I'd rather listen to

His impeccable performance will transcend the times and human races .

THIS IS SO INCREDIBLE

extremely well played. hard to top!

Debussy achieved the exact triumph of joy, of overjoy, of superjoy - without pompous apotheosis.

L’isle joyeuse is my favorite piece of music of all time. I have so many favorite versions of this piece which don’t include this one but this video is the one I introduce to people when they ask me what’s my favorite song of all time.

Great artist performs music of great composer on great instrument in great hall, what could be possibly better?

Hamelin is so refreshing to come across after having been so absorbed in Gryaznov’s performances for years. I posted Gryaznov’s rendition of this on my channel synced with sheet music. Hearing the differences from his and Hamelin’s is a treat. Gryaznov’s timing, touch, and voicing remain, I think, most compelling. But Hamelin’s shaping of phrases was equally effective and a nice contrast.

MARK, JUST GREAT TABLEAU OF FRENCH LAND AND SEA SCAPES. THE TEMPI REFLECT THE PERFECT IMAGES YOU DREAM UP. YOU GOTTA LOVE THIS GUY.

he put so much force on that last note his bench moved! haha very strong ending!

This is amazing I cn clearly picture the ship and d waves at sea at 4:11

... and I thought only Horowitz could do it justice! This is astounding!

Something about this just invokes such… horror and I love it

This is a difficult piece to hold together, but here it does- and the ending- wow...

such a pleasure to listen to this

That ending sends a shive down my spine... that fantastic tremolo!

His exquisite performance is an order of magnitude more awesome

Phenomenal playing!!!

Splendid interpretation, very evocative, very poetical, among the finest with such as Bavouzet's.

His sound is that of a Steinway piano, nothing more, nothing less.

Awesome! :D

qu'il touche la piano au fin... ca demontre l'esprit mysticale de m Hamelin, peut-etre. Debussy a pu nomme ca "L'Horizon Perdu du Shangri-La", quant a moi! Good ol' CBC!

Wonderful!!!

I think this is one of the best recordings of one of the best compositions ever written. I have never heard anyone play it with that much clarity. I dont think he should have played it slower nessicarily but with more dynamics, like sped up and slowed down along with volume changes at different moments.

This totally fucking rocks! I wish it had been on the new recording tho

Thanks for watching!

There is no question but that Hamelin plays superbly, his sound is always beautiful.

Great!!

"Una versión DEFINITIVA". Monumental. Juan Miguel.

The hands of this pianist ....

so good

when you listen to Debussy you understand how jazz was influenced by him

For me it is just from the heaven

Fantastisch!

That was pretty legendary

wonderful perf in every way....reminds me of geiseking's 50s recording

So this is the Piece Lucky is gonna play ?!?!

Glorious!

Wow! 🎉

i'm a big walter gieseking fan but this has something i can't ignore

Perfect!!

just imagine how lang lang would play this masterpiece

Thollier and Hamelin so far as i HEARD , when it comes to interpreting Debussy

Amazing

Ned Rorem mentioned this in his earliest memoir.

This piece is amazing.... I'm kinda curious to know if this is Debussy's Middle Period ? Like close to 1894 when he wrote Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun ?

Amazing ... I wonder how many hours he practised this for

Wow ! He barrelled through that pretty fast. About 5:12. I don't think I've heard anyone play it as fast. Maybe he had to go to the bathroom.

qué mago el hamelin

Che freddezza questo pianista. Gelido ! Suggerisco l'ascoto di Samson Francois, ad esempio.

Great.

I would love to hear you play the piece on an AMERICAN Steinway.

Quite good - especially the middle sections where the color palette has to thin to nearly nothing. Unfortunately he just doesn't produce a good big sound near the end, mostly due to his hammer-like arm motions. It comes across as rather harsh and not full.

bravo

I have a question. the intro to this piece with the 32nd notes I always play with only one hand, but here he plays it with two. I see how that would make it faster and easier, but I have gotten so accustomed to just using one, should I use two?

hamelin

❤

He played the Joyful Island ... but i felt so distressed

He plays it like Copland’s El Salon Mexico meets a Czerny etude

I like this interpretation of the piece very much, but . . . I wish he'd taken it a bit more slowly. When it's played this fast, something of the joy of it is lost because it's very hard to make all the notes sound in a way that we can actually hear them. I think Horowitz plays this the way I prefer it. (That said, I'm sure many listeners will agree with Hamelin that his approach is the best.)

i'm playing this on my next competition, but i don't know if i can play it well.....

Wow

Vengo por el manga pppppp

He barrels through the build up to the big reveal in the climax and totally misses it. Shocking to me. Furthermore there are several important l.h motives throughout the piece that are a blob of sound. It’s difficult to make them project and he doesn’t even try, again barrels through with pedal. I don’t hear any spectacular precision. Having said that, this is probably Debussy’s greatest piano masterpiece, so the genius of the writing still manages to come through, but not because of Hamelin. A lot of you are easily pleased; must not be pianists, probably non-musicians.

I experience a peculiar phenomenon when I hear Marc Andre Hamelin play - am I alone in this? - He has 10 fingers that can play any bunch of notes one cares to mention; AND YET...why do I always find his playing so dull, colourless and devoid of excitement. I've heard him play so much of the virtuosic pianists' repertoire and in his hands it leaves me cold. Anyone else find this?

驚異的な演奏

BU PARÇAYI HALA ÇIKARAMIYORUM !

Hamelin approaches this piece through his technical superiority. While I am stunned by his rendition of 'Reflets Dans L'eau', this one is maybe a little bit too relaxed and thus not nervous enough. It has to sound nervous, febrile, irritating. Still amazing, though.

I heard he uses 3 different scales in the intro.. just wanna check how it goes.... 🎅

Dang, sounds like a hard song.

Hes got such a good sense of structure (and technique) he just about pulls it off..but I think it's ultimately too fast and a bit crude