Ravel, La valse 

12:20 That is a BRILLIANT graphical representation of what happens in the music! Incredible

Ravel: That master of orchestration, wrote a work of stunning special effects, sweeping passion, and yearning melancholy all at once.

Wow. This is probably your best use of layering so far. Masterfully done. Kinda speechless here.

Stephen is an absolute Genius!

This animation is AWESOME. You've truly outdone yourself!

Magnificent! Magnificent! What a beautiful job! Congratulations and thanks! Magnífico! Magnífico! Que belíssimo trabalho! Parabéns e obrigado!

loved that you kept the surprises!

Your animation complements the music perfectly. I feel like I'm watching an army of colorful monsters parade past my window at midnight.

Wow, amazing! Why didn't I see this for one year?

Am I wrong in saying that there is an underlying darkness to this? It's as though the valse tune itself is trying to be 'upbeat' but the underlying orchestration is often discordant and in a minor key. Does it symbolise decadence? Or something else? I'm not sure. It's a piece I've never heard before and a great animation. Thank you!

i like what you did at 12:24

The greatest performance of this work that I ever heard was by the Israel Philharmonic in its 70th anniversary concert. Oh, did the orchestra get the full irony of this remarkable work -- the opulent splendor with the unsettling undertones. For Ravel, who lived just short of missing the Anschluss between Austria and the demonic Third Reich, let alone World War II, the horror was World War II. I need say little about what the Israelis saw as the real horror, except that Austria was a reasonably-good place in which to be a Jew before the Anschluss.

ill listen to this during an apocalypse

omg Smalin, the complexity! Superb job, Sir. To chime in on another thread, apparently a small percentage of the population 'see' music, some the musical score, others the emotional nuances. Personally I've always visualized music since I was a child as a type of 3-dimensional bar graph with all the notes/emotions constrained with a large pool'ish shape. Dr. V. S. Ramachandran, neuroscientist, has some fascinating lectures here on RU-vid regarding the connection between various parts of the brain, especially the fusiform gyrus, and seeing music as shapes/textures. Have you put your own compositions to visualizations Smalin? As an addendum, I'm also a musician and found the spiral visualization, with 12 notes to each rotation spiraling downards with each octave at the '12 o'-clock' position to be incredibly accurate and 'ah-ha!' worthy for musicians and non-musicians alike.

Wow

utterly maddening, man

What's is this?? It feels happy and joyful, but in a wrong way. As if something was off.

Holy fuck

Also, jesus fuck. I've only heard the piano version of this. This is so intense.

It's oddly befitting for harps to use heptagons... feels more "right" than the open circles you used in prélude à l'après-midi. Not sure if I totally understand why the timpani changed; it's not unreasonable by any means but the color doesn't totally make sense to me.

Cher M. Malinowski, J'apprécie beaucoup votre travail. Mais dans le cas de la Valse de Ravel, je trouve que cela ne fonctionne pas. Peut-être cette œuvre extraordinaire n'existe pas dans un univers graphique? Elle se joue "ailleurs"...

10:21

This has got to be a Waltz for 1914. A very strange work.

巴赫死后近120年后才被挖掘，拉威尔的时代显然还没有到来。当它到来时，人们为之震撼，追随，效仿他的严重程度会超过当代人对契诃夫和李白的狂热度总和。

Too much information here lol. Can't understand it rapidly.

honestly quite possibly the best one so far. It really captures the unexpectedness of the melodies and maintains the element of surprise, which is so hard to do with a score. You've come so far from that original Toccata and Fugue in d by Bach lol (though they're completely different beasts, I understand.) :) It's been a blast following your progress over the years.

Wow

Haha love the way you animated the interruption at 12:24

Love that prank at 12:24. Also, I love this style of visualizing the music. The notes coming out of the darkness gives off a misty feel of the instruments. The brass notes coming suddenly appearing is also a good one, as how majestic the brass is. And also, I like how the instruments now have their own colors instead of being the colored notes; that would at least make it more specific.

I am mesmerized and can't believe how well this visual representation flowered along with the melodies. Contrasting the differences, the blooming visuals represented from the heavy wide overtones sequencing into each note. The cascading flourishing colors embellishing this music rightly so with very subtle but distinctive patterns that nuances the reflective nature of the instance and progress the music ultimately pursues and even the end misleading us with our excitement and fear of an endless barrage of notes was so effective it makes me laugh to think I fell for it. All I could think of is Rimsky Kosakov and Alexander Scriabin when watching this. At the 10 minute mark the glimmering lights atop shimmering the brilliance left me dreaming old dreams. Thanks smalin for this. I've studied and succumb to the applications of synesthesia with music just as scriabin was trying to pursue for creative influences. If I ever compose any more music I'd like to get your input on it. I'm sure you might find it easier to play the music yourself and much more easier if you like the music. In any event Thanks so much for this video. I'm glad I some how found this within 3 hours of its post.

I just love everything about this.

It's like floating around digital world full of La Valse. Just amazing

This is my favorite of your works, smalin.

I’ve been watching your VM’s for years. I’m a huge fan. The chamber piece work has been so eloquent, but now your expansion of color sense makes me way to see you break out into a new instrument - out of the right to left scroll! I know it’s probably a ways off, but this is Fantasia level sensitivity to the music. And the Youth Orchestra performance is spectacular. One of the best! Bravo!

Immense!! Ravel's orchestration skills are just fenomenal! Thank you

This really is just totally off the scale great. Truly outstanding animation, starting from superb music.

So i notice your skills (and technology?) have been advanced wildly beyond where this channel originally started. And honestly i'm just astounded at the level of technical ability, artistry, and work something like la valse must have taken. So in light of that, will some of the pieces on the original "to don't list" that were originally deemed unsuitable or difficult be possible now? This piece seems crazy hard to do, with all it's varying tempi, rhythmic complexities, etc etc, and i wouldn't think something like Scheherazade or Debussy's images is any less difficult than La valse.

Damn stephen. You sly dog. That was fun to watch

What we bundle into the term "impressionism" is so wonderful. I, and I think many others, consider impressionism to have a holy trinity: Debussy, Ravel, and Lili Boulanger, and each one is so distinct from the other. With Beethoven and Mozart, there are lots of distinct similarities to be drawn, particularly in Beethoven's early works. The same is true of the impressionists but the similarities appear to be more in approach than really in style. You look at this bombastic work and and the works of Debussy and they couldn't possibly be confused. You hear Vielle Priere Bouddhique and you might ask "is that Debussy?" only if you didn't know of Lili Boulanger. Otherwise it is comparable only in the general approach to chords (although she was also fairly unique in this respect) and in that certain ambiance. Another great thing about the impressionists is that their music has inspired other great creatives in other art forms to create great things like this video. This might be one of your best, refining what you started with your Night On Bald Mountain video which until now was my favourite on the channel. And as always it's tailored beautifully to the music.

I think this may be your best work. Stupendous.

when the waltz runs out of ideas so the music gradually becomes chaotic

That was ridiculously beautiful!

smalin, you're an absolute beast for charting this. with this piece, you're proving yet again you're the chart king, with immaculate capture of ritardandos and techniques, and giving us an impressive in quality, unknown recording. truly a 10/10 video. what's worse is i'm in my national youth orchestra that featrures about the same age, and the fact that they're playing la valse just makes me wanna cry.

This is superb. Stephen, you are a wonder.

12:24 Yes... hide the spoilers

So many pieces I never would've expected on this channel in the past few months. I love it.

This music is perfect for what you do. Very colorful, music and visuals.

the ending so cool

Didn't forget the triangles

This is amazing

spoiler warning something neat 12:23

Danse sinistre? Danse macabre? Dance for a Time of Anxiety? Dance of Death? Once the partners have left the floor - what then? What mood will this have left them in?

I could see this in Jean Luc Picard holodeck for a new iteration of Star Trek. Just saying. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for your time and hard work. It added a special something that I didn’t know was “missing” but there you are. Lol

Whenever i listen to this i imagine a ballroom with posh people dancing and then the room catches fire but their burning bodies continue flail-dancing

My new ALL TIME favorite! Thank you for sharing!

Haven't heard this either. Wonderful.

Rip to any musicians who sat in front of the brass section

Holy. Shit,. That was amazing.

Masterful!

Thank you so much. This is Great!

brain exploding

Subscription well earned

Marvelous !

Starting to fall to the hypnotic spell of this!

Wow

Thanks for this video

brilliant !! wow !! Who needs Vegas ??? hahhahaah

Nice vid

Your vids have gotten so playful, lol.

Yes, but kindly explain how this graph is done.

12:04

Les couleurs orchestrales et les sons valsaient dans l'air du soir.

absolutely brilliant !!!!!!!

Why this record is so low in volume? Some parts are hard to hear in cellphone speaker. Anyway i like very much the graphics. You make it better after every video.

I would be very pleased if one day you make a video about drum solo! Very nice job, by the way!

everyone must see this!!

Omg my favorite piece

Thank you. :')

5:55 So beautiful

I AM BUZZING. STUN. (i)

this video is amazing

Awesome.

4:03 Sounds like the Rebel Fanfare

It should be named ''Death Waltz''

I like your other pieces more. Perhaps La Valse is too complicated, or too something (ironic?, narrative?) for your technique to be effective. [But it isn't "complicated" or "narrative" that's the issue: I like what you did with Sacre, and that's plenty complicated and narrative.]