iternabe oh, thanks for posting that! I really enjoyed it!
I tried to play Una Mattina many years ago, but I gave up because I felt it was too hard. Not the notes, the notes are easy, but it didn't sound anything like Einaudi's playing. That was when I was between teachers, but if I had had access to this video, I might have been able to work on it more.
What he said about layering, the 3D quality, is so spot on. There's pianist, Jeremy Limb, who has released an album (or maybe actually two) of him playing pieces by contemporary pianists, including Einaudi, Philip Glass and others. And I have a strong dislike for Limb's playing of Una Mattina. This video now helps me articulate why! He's playing it too flat, no layering, it's like all the Einaudi-technique things that are described in the video are missing from Limb's performance.
Also that reminds me of a terrible piano teacher I once took lessons from (for a very short time, for obvious reasons!) She was terrible for many reasons, but I remember we were working on something (I don't recall now, but it was a contemporary piano piece) and she said something like "well, you want to play this very robotically, don't you. That's how all the music you play should be performed." I was stunned. She couldn't be more wrong. Yuck! And it's the opposite of what is talked about this video, about how you have to have that variation, tempo modulation, dynamic shading, the pregnant pauses etc. etc., it's not written in the score, but without it, the piece is just repetitive and dull.
Another thing I liked in the video is that he pointed out the importance of observing the rests for their full value, the pauses, the space between phrases. It's like the music takes a breath, and holds it a bit before exhaling. Einaudi's isn't the only music that has that, but if you don't do it, it can really make the music sound rushed.
I also like what he said about pop phrasing vs classical phrasing. Absolutely!! This is why I always think that Einaudi's music should just be called popular. Not āpopā per se, but he uses a ton popular themes and popular motifs. And popular chord progressions. (Unlike Ffrench, who does that, yes, but also has some very jazzy chords. I sort of think of Ffrench as jazz adjacent, but Einaudi is not).
Ok, so I do have to share complaint (or maybe 1.5 complaints.)
If youāre going to do a video like this, at least spend the time to learn about Einaudi a bit! First of all, he's not saying his name right, and he could spend 10 seconds online to figure that out. Also, he could have looked into how Einaudi's music is described/classified.
But the bigger thing that really bugged me is that he is repeating the mistake people often make, which is to assume that pianists who compose/play contemporary music are not formally trained. Einaudi, Sakamoto, Hisaishi, Ffrench, all were rigorously trained in conservatories. And all count as āclassically trained." And all of these composers also write fully orchestrated music as well compositions for solo piano or chamber. Their music is not "simple" or minimal because that's all they know. And they are all excellent pianists, separate from their compositional contributions. So his complimenting Einaudi's technique is just ridiculous and comes off sounding arrogant, and ultimately ignorant, because it makes clear how little he knows about Einaudi.
Ok, enough venting. Despite all that, I really enjoyed the video! š
