It took me 50 yrs to finally understand the genius of Bach.

@csalvatorec

Ай бұрын

56 for me

@francescaemc2

Ай бұрын

here is to the next hundred of enjoying Bach!!!

@jiannisDimi

6 күн бұрын

Bach ? 50 years ? but i was in love with him at the age of 15....this is the first kind of music that anyone hearsin order to learn what music is..

I can feel Bach's presence in the room watching Schiff and saying: "finally someone got it right!"

@JuanMarcello

4 жыл бұрын

Listen Wanda Landowska 😉

It is a pleasure to watch Mr. Schiff's economy of motion and quiet passion. He brings us Bach in all his majesty...

@abz124816

9 жыл бұрын

+Ronald Pavellas Well said. Much better than all the pretend musicologists elsewhere in this thread.

Please, for those of you complaining that his rhythm's not good and his use of 'rubato' please remember this is a FANTASY - something associated with freedom and having no exact form. This whole cliché about Baroque music always being in a dead strict tempo where the metronome is always ticking annoys me a lot. Metronome's don't make music!

@WeeGrahamsaccount

8 жыл бұрын

I agree. A Fantasia is like a recitative time is looser.

@danal81

7 жыл бұрын

no rubato in fugue allowed !

@coolmuso6108

7 жыл бұрын

+Daniel Korts Yes I am aware of that sir - that no rubato is allowed in a fugue. But that doesn't mean it has to be played mechanically and metronomically. It must have the correct PULSE, but not be played like a machine. All music (particularly Bach) should be played it feeling. It's not about over-romanticising the music but playing with deep expression, understanding of the music and coherence - which András Schiff does really well. And I don't really think he plays the fugue with much rubato to be honest.

@danal81

7 жыл бұрын

well imo he just changed tempo here and that is not supposed to happen in the middle of a fugue I have his other performance of this piece and it is better than this one

@coolmuso6108

7 жыл бұрын

+Daniel Korts Yes there is a better performance of him playing this piece - is it the one at the Teatro Olimpico after the D minor Mozart Concerto performance? That's the best he's ever played it... There are some other recordings as well. No I do agree with you - although this is a very good performance, it's not his best.

His dynamics are so good, I love Andras Schiff

0:00 Fantasy 5:57 Fugue

The voicing in the fugue! What a miracle! A true master, as always.

Bach - the greatest miracle in all music!

@agamaz5650

6 жыл бұрын

Chopin as well

@JumpDiffusion

6 жыл бұрын

not even close

@anonymusum

6 жыл бұрын

I would mention Mozart as well.

@agamaz5650

6 жыл бұрын

mozart ew

@michaeltheophilus5260

4 жыл бұрын

@@JumpDiffusion with all do respect: who would you consider?

The most amazing piece of music ever . Nobody ever came close to Bach .

@woowworldonlyofwonders5405

Ай бұрын

In artistic terms in western art only Rembrandt.

The most realistic Fantasy a I've ever heard. Clear as hell. Great exercise of playing without pedal Maestro Schiff!

@leonkowalenko1747

2 жыл бұрын

EXCELLENT observation ! I thought of the (excessive) use of pedal in Alfred Brendel´s rendering of the Fantasie a while ago ...

@nathanfichter8629

Жыл бұрын

I didn't even notice the playing without pedal until i read your comment. The playing is so good!

@iguarni

6 ай бұрын

One of the best performances too is by Sergio Fiorentino

How is is possible that BACH manages in his music to sum up virtually all that went before him, and.... in a piece like this... look all the way to our time? As a composer contemplating such imagination and fertility of invention, it just sort of makes you feel like.... why even try? Astonishing. AS IS THIS PERFORMANCE. Fabulous. Can you believe there are 45 "thumbs down" on this? And complaining about lack of pulse in a Fantasia is absurd.

@xadmi

4 жыл бұрын

@Kelly Fischer Serious or joking?

@benjaminkrause6907

4 жыл бұрын

envy is a beast

@olivleonardo

4 жыл бұрын

@Kelly Fischer LOL!!!

@Bodamann

4 жыл бұрын

@Kelly Fischer Get well soon!

@topsecret1837

3 жыл бұрын

@Kelly Fis6her Welcome to being a man-child, without the emotional and musical sentiment of your parents. Anyways, hopefully in the case you ignored what i said above, I hope you can refer me to another composer after 1800 who could take multiple melodies and weave them together into a fugue larger than 3 voices. If not, I’d refer you to A Musical Offering Ricercar a 6, the Great Fugue in G minor, the second half of the Cello Suite no 5 Prelude (you tell me or another cellist that the cello suites are crap and you’re DEFINITELY going to get stabbed by one of our dislodged endpins...), The orchestral suite in B Minor w/ the Badinerie, violin partita no. 6, Violin Sonata in G minor (featuring among the few occasions in music history where a normally monophonic instrument was used as a polyphonic instrument). If you have not heard a single one of those compositions or consider them crap, I’m afraid your knowledge of the later composers is severely lacking if not deficient enough for you to be thrown out of a musical position in a school immediately. Because every single composer that you would support would, quite ironically, agree more with me. No one before or since Bach had succeeded in integrating Polyphony so well into so many compositions on such a massive scale. He wasn’t ahead of his time, nor behind the styles of his day: he was in a time of his own. The only person I currently know who got close was Beethoven. His Grosse Fugue, as whimsical as it was, was remarkably complex for its day and remains quite renowned. But it still did not lay a finger on the massive structures of Bach’s writing. What I can tell you that will hopefully help you understand why Bach gets the love he deserves is because, unlike some of the composers in your playlist, Bach did not specifically write for a musician to improvise based on the notes themselves. Expression was often built from the chords of the piece rather than the rhythm. That’s evident in the basso continuo and harmonic counterpoints built over the melody. Bach often takes advantage of having independent voices by having melodic lines that contradict themselves in direction. No, the expression was implied between the notes, vertically and horizontally and not just in one dimension. Through that, Bach was able to construct a 2 dimensional grid from which a massive fugue could be built from a simple melody. And that’s just the beginning of it. Here for example, you hear the same melody over and over again in different voices. You also hear repeating harmony and bass parts as well in the fugue, holding independently in that two dimensional grid. Fantasias were not as well defined in the 18th century but this amount of chromaticism in that time period was quite absurd yet workable! Another thing you should know: Bach did not intend on developing one solid musical point. It, yet again, doesn’t come in the notes themselves but between them. How? Conversation. One voice makes a minor musical point. The others answer one by one. Then it goes into an arpeggiatic section with passing chordal structures before returning to the motif. Such concepts were strongly used for Large symphonic works of the 19th century. Seems ironic that for someone who distastes Bach’s music so much you can’t properly thank him for being the inspiration behind the music you like so much. If you really wanted to have a distaste of Bach, distaste every composer you have in that list. They all at some point admired Bach and worked his pieces to death. Mozart most of all, through CPE Bach.

What always amazed me about Schiff's playing is how his hands seems to glide across the keyboard so effortlessly. For me personally, my hands always feel so clumsy. I don't know how he's reached such a superb level of mastery and comfort in playing, but I hope one day to get even mildly close to that level of skill

@Ryanvllnva4200

11 ай бұрын

Minimized finger movements

@ecyranot

Ай бұрын

I think a lot of it is muscle memory from intense practice over long periods of time. I was a court stenographer and I got to the point that I wasn't even thinking; my hands just flowed over the keys as people spoke words I didn't know were coming. I'm not sure it's comparable to high-level piano playing, but there's something in it.

This song has a romantic era feel to it. And it was written two eras before the romantic era.

I've always regarded Mr. Schiff as one of the premier exponents of Bach's music. I think that this performance is testimony to same.

Bach touched on things that wouldn't be common and explored untill like a hundred years after he died. If someone told me this was a piece from 1845 I would believe it.

The fugue is excessively difficult for any pianist of ability. What a wonderful execution overall by Schiff and that he allows us to even study it, as it is a fascinating composition.

Bravo! I just love how intimately Mr Schiff knows this complex and moving piece. Wow. Breathtaking!

I really reaally fell in love with his performance style, how clear.... I'm glad to find this video playlist

Wunderbar, wie entspannt er sich im mittleren bis unterem dynamischen Bereich er sich bewegt. Nicht aufdringlich zum Zuhören zwingend, sondern einladend.

Probably the best piano interpretation of this piece I have heard over the years, Maestro Schiff never disappoints. ... even though, also over the years, I have come to view this piece as one of the very few pieces by Bach that actually sound better on a harpsichord than on a piano. As much as I appreciate Schiff's work here, he did not change my mind :)

@Astro-X

10 ай бұрын

Same!

Andras plays with such ease and economy of motion. It's great pleasure to watch

Bach is timeless! The reason we play his music is because it’s just so good and it will always be!

@iguarni

2 жыл бұрын

For sure!

Love the way that Schiff manages to shake his jowls in time with his trill at 7:56!

@gawdzila

5 жыл бұрын

LMAO

@robirwin1958

4 жыл бұрын

One could only hope to shake one's jowls to something as meaningful.

@oriraykai3610

3 жыл бұрын

Is he a basset hound, or what?

@deirdrekiely6187

Жыл бұрын

@@oriraykai3610 LOL !!!

Il pollice verso su questa esecuzione sa tanto della volpe con l'uva di La Fontaine.... Straordinario Andras Schiff!

I like the way Mr. Schiff interpreted the arpeggios in the fantasia part. Well played !

@yigitvural1150

8 жыл бұрын

+Johann Sebastian Bach Vay be. Re Minor Bach seven bir türk daha buldum. Üstelik roy roy kazım da dinliyor. Tam benim kafa dengim olabilirsin :D

@Ici-st4hg

8 жыл бұрын

Herr Bach, kann Sie in Deutsch sprechen? ( ´∀｀)

@johannsebastianbach3411

8 жыл бұрын

Leider nicht, aber ich lerne. P.S. I hope google translate translated that correctly :D

@yigitvural1150

8 жыл бұрын

Ulan ne güldürdün be :D

@salahhamze

6 жыл бұрын

And I like the way you wrote it. Thanks.

This man turned me on to Bach nearly forty years ago and his playing has given me great pleasure many times since. However he wants to perform it is good enough for me.

@MARTIN201199

5 жыл бұрын

Philip Cresswell in my case was 24 years ago

Sir Schiff is a man I would even admire for mistakes

un Bach d'excellence et d'évidence,haute admiration

What a masterpiece! Bach was such an incredible composer and only in recent years have i truly began to appreciate his extraordinary works

@MARTIN201199

5 жыл бұрын

Tim O'donnell that usually happens to most music lovers. It’s easy to love Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven. But to love Bach requires a prepared heart and mind. I’m glad that you now love the music that deserved to be loved the most.

@MrPhil480

4 жыл бұрын

@@MARTIN201199 c est mon cas. Bach est mon idole même. je suis intimement persuadé que c' est la musique la plus belle, la plus profonde, et qu' il est de loin le plus inspiré, créatif ( un nombre incalculable de melodies et d enchainement melodiques hors norme) . et dommage que certains ne soient pas d' accord avec moi.

@MrPhil480

4 жыл бұрын

vraiment ? j' en suis heureux. qu' aimez vous de Bach ? moi dans le piano j' aime particulièrement les toccatas bwv 910/916 (par glenn Gould) qui sont de vrai chefs d oeuvre d inspiration et de beauté. et bien sûr tout le reste que tout le monde connait. clavier bien tempéré, suite anglaise, concertos etc etc...

I usually prefer Bach performances with a more ''youthful/energetic'' feel to them, but hearing the huge musical awareness and control of Schiff is a really nice contrast to that

A sublime musical journey that takes us to a realm indescribable by words. The voices in the fugue are so exquisitely delineated, and it all ends in the very decisive "D". Just perfect.

Schiff is one of the great masters and interpreters of J.S.Bach's music.

The fantasia reminds me very much of dream music - the music I hear in the background of my dreams, that I can never quite capture, and which is forgotten soon after waking.

He has a very gentle touch on this work.Most pianists tends to be a little 'rough' at the beginning.

Bach would be beaming with pride if he had a chance to hear this performance.

Very serious pianist with a deep understanding of and insight into music.

The more you listen to Bach, the more interesting he becomes.

Incredible composition and playing. One is just awestruck

Er hat Bach wirklich verstanden - Kontemplation und Brillanz und alles, was diesen Erzvater der Musik so groß macht1

00:00 - первый раздел Фантазии; 1:24 - 2 раздел Фантазии; 5:01 - кода Фантазии; 5:57 - Тема Фуги.

@barronhung8246

3 жыл бұрын

Спасибо!

@armandssurins3364

Жыл бұрын

2:56 ( 2:58 ) Recitativo, ( 5:59 ) 6:00 Fuga

Listening to Professor Schiff play Bach is like taking a course in architecture. So satisfying! I’ve been able to say this about only one other pianist: Alicia de Larrocha.

Probably my favorite performance of this piece. I'm seeing Schiff play the Goldberg Variations later this year. Can't wait!

@marymills3581

2 жыл бұрын

How was it?

@Melchiorblade7

2 жыл бұрын

@@marymills3581 Easily one of my favorite concerts. Schiff is always so in the moment performing live. A joy to listen to

Great performance as usual from this great artist.

Andras Schiff, a great pianist I like so much, and Bach's music of God...

The fact that we are allowed to comment and even criticize this performance is ironic. Magic fingers commanded by his imagination and understanding. Beautiful voicing. Such a great interpretation so different from others like Gould. What precious golden tone finger pedal I think Bach would have liked the sound of this piano and how it was interpreted.

@armandbeede1540

Ай бұрын

@philippe573: Exactly. By the way, a nice touch was the Amazon commercial in the middle -- said NO ONE ever. András Schiff is a wonderful pianist, whose interpretations not only of Bach but of music from the Romantic Era are breathtaking. With artists such as András Schiff, Alfred Brendel, Glenn Gould, it is ironic we laymen can just critique at will.

Such a beautiful work of art:).

Uhhh...no hay dudas de que el Piano forte añade a la música de Bach un plus encantador...una resonancia espacial que no se percibía en la sonoridad...muy seca y metálica del clavecín...que abarcó todo el periodo barroco...! El pianista Andreas sabe traslucir las partituras...dotándolas de un encanto sonoro...especial y espacial...!

Bach es un músico celestial. El Espíritu de Dios se expresa por excelente versión de su música. Gracias, Gonzalo

Divine!.. Thank you, Maestro!!!

This is as good as it gets.

Magnificent, very magnificent. It's an wonderful work of art:).

8:25-Fantastic!!! When Mozart got to know Bach's music he was shocked. This says it all.

@dionhalic

Жыл бұрын

Mozart was sent to us from heaven! Bach sent him.

Absolutely fantastic!!

Beautiful performance !

Gran interpretación con gran energía de espíritu, de acuerdo con el espíritu alemán!

This here is some Bach playing! Musicianship of this caliber is its own authority.

감동 그 자체입니다. 브라보! 안드라스 쉬프!

How satisfying!

This is the *genius* of Bach, in a nutshell. Pushing the musical forms of the day to their absolute limit!

Beautiful

I was just feeling guilty for my comment on A. Schiffs master class on trills, YT video where he said baroque ornaments are decorations,.. and was revising my opinion , while enjoying this piece without extra "unnecessary ornaments" (to quote myself), and then the 2:30's came along with extra notes added to the arpeggio's and then a completely superfluous ornament AFTER THE CADENCE at 2:50 AAaaaargh! to quote Linus.... but on the whole his performance is SUPERB.

That is wonderful.

outstanding performance!!

Восхищена исполнением Баха этим исполнителем!

Awestrikingly (just invented the word for this performance) beautiful.

fantastique interpretation ! jouer apparament sans partition , bien qu un peu rapide par moment tout et juste et chaque note et audible separement ce qui et rare ! bravo et un grand merci a andras schiff pour ce moment hors du temps : pierre_xavier de chassot .

amazing

Master!

Fantasía cromática JS Bach. ,está maravilla ,no llegaban.grabadas acá donde vivo. 🇮🇷🙏😍 La exelencia 🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨✴️ 👏✴️

Does anybody know anything about the sound recording equipment used in the video? I think it sounds wonderful.

how can anyone remember all of this? I cant even remember hearing, imagine playing

@supahsekzy

7 жыл бұрын

If you do it enough, it becomes muscle memory after a while. You're not really thinking too much about it.

@slug182

7 жыл бұрын

supahsekzy well, I imagine that by enough you mean A LOT then

@coolmuso6108

7 жыл бұрын

Felipe Forlin You've also to love playing it as well if you want it to remain in your head. Schiff plays Bach everyday - why wouldn't it remain in his head?

@Baton793

7 жыл бұрын

After a couple of years of playing, you don't need more than a couple of weeks of practicing a composition. Most of the work comes from the experience.

@docsketchy

7 жыл бұрын

It's not actually that hard to memorize music. I'm sure you do it all the time, when you're humming along to your favorite tunes. When you play the piano, the memory is reinforced, because you have aural, visual, and tactile inputs. I have found that it is particularly easy to memorize Bach's music, and most teachers will insist on memorizing it in order to really internalize it.

Technically one of the best pianists that maybe has ever existed, I don't hesitate saying although I'm not a professional piano player myself (doing my best though!) and I'ld rather not prefer mr. Schiff's interpretations. Still I think we're very lucky to have a pianist among us like Mr. Andras Schiff. Let's listen to his play and enjoy his talent, his incredible smooth key-handling en way of interpreting this particular, exceptional peace of Bach. No need or reason for the thumbs down at all. Henk Wilbrink, Netherlands, Philippines

What a performance!! :o

Amazing!

I was wondering why A. Schiff didn't record this piece before... At least I never found it in the gone record stores. What a wonderful performance.

@RoxanneM-

8 ай бұрын

Listen to his interview this same day before he played this. On this same channel, he explains.

Beautiful smart playing.

Surprisingly Romantic sounding.

sublime

Ощущение такое, будто сидит САМ БАХ и в эту самую минуту СОЗДАЁТ очередной ШЕДЕВР!!!

addiction of music score!

Fabulous Bach paying by a modern master. Reading through some of the other carping comments posted here, I am reminded of Sir Thomas Beecham's famous remark: "A musicologist is a person who can read music but can't hear it."

Schiff’s playing JSB was always among my favorite. But please, Compare this performance of BWV 903 to that of Angela Hewitt

чудесное исполнение, импровизандо вне всяких похвал!!!:)

Omg that was amazing

Hooray for KZread! I heard Maestro Schiff perform this last night (as encore to the English Suites) and now am delighted to re-listen on KZread. Last night I was sitting where I couldn't see his hands, so this is even better, in that regard. Which is the more stunning finish? The Gigue of the English Suite #6, or the fugue performed here?

Superb.

I don't even like Bach that much but this man makes me listen - what a special talent

Yes, he is the one!

KZread’a choice to place ads in the middle of videos really fucks up the ability to fully enjoy videos like this one

Fantazija - 0:00 Rechitativ - 2:59 Koda 5:00 Fuga - 6:00

especially beautiful arpeggio

What a genius

Miracoloso!Ha trasformato il pianoforte in clavicembalo. Come Richter.

Uplifting !!!

Another extraordinary performance of the great artist András Schiff! What I find most amazing is the thought that Bach himself has not only composed but also played all this himself. All the organ pieces, inventions, fantasies, fugues, preludes, concertos, .. it is hard to imagine how this was possible ...

Великолепная музыка и исполнение

arpeggios!

Para tocar Bach es necesario sentir Bach, considero que este intérprete siente Bach.

Theme in bass at 9:50 is wonderful

Starting at around 5:00 there is a melody which sounds very similar to one in the first movement of Beethoven's op. 2 no. 3

@jakoblino

8 жыл бұрын

+Jacob Blank you're right :D The funny thing is, that this small melody is not written like this in the score, but a nice decorative invention by andras schiff

@violinhunter2

5 жыл бұрын

It's possible Bach copied it from Beethoven - it happens all the time - As Picasso said, great artists steal from other artists....

@brotherritsch2014

5 жыл бұрын

@@violinhunter2 Bach died 20 years before Beethoven was born...

@violinhunter2

5 жыл бұрын

@@brotherritsch2014 Yes, of course. I said it tongue-in-cheek. There are only 12 notes in the musical alphabet soup and rhythmic patterns are not limitless so similarities are bound to happen although not deliberate on anyone's part - when one composer quotes another we are usually told in advance and the quotes are also quite obvious. In the orchestral literature, there are a few which I have found - I used to keep a log of such similarities but then I lost my log. It's just trivia. I remember one in Carmina which reminded me a lot of Puccini's La Boheme.

@MARTIN201199

5 жыл бұрын

You refer to the second theme in the first movement of C major sonata. That part is in g minor, and indeed has a similar musical pattern.