Comments on: Bach, played on two pianos at the same time, by Evan Shinners

By: Duane D. Watts

Duane D. Watts — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 01:25:00 +0000

Is he wearing the Stars and Stripes around his neck? Nothing else matters. He could BE JS Bach, and I would shut him off.

By: Julien B.

Julien B. — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 13:55:00 +0000

No it’s not a fake, I was in the room and he was playing in front of a public. Believe me, it is just gifted!!
At the end it’s just an audio editing :)

By: MarcusH333

MarcusH333 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 06:24:00 +0000

I agree the editing could have been better. But one of the “live” pianos seems untuned. The studio ones do not.

By: noah django

noah django — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 05:41:00 +0000

you obviously have better speakers than the ones on my laptop. of course, he could have avoided any confusion by simply, you know, *not* editing in a studio track over his performance. why the onus is on me to notice this instead of on him to avoid any editing that might be construed as cheating is beyond me.

By: MarcusH333

MarcusH333 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 02:07:00 +0000

Or you could pay attention and listen to the fact that the music changes to a studio recorded track at that point.

By: Marian Maw

Marian Maw — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 18:59:00 +0000

I love this but can’t help thinking of Mr Bean somehow…….

By: Shane Beaumont

Shane Beaumont — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 18:37:00 +0000

Simply speculation, but perhaps the keyboardist isn’t aware of some harpsichords being fitted with pedal accessories? J.S. Bach was certainly a collector of many fine instruments, dying with 15 cembalos to his name. I doubt strongly that a man who practiced and spoke often in his letters about posture would allow himself to play two keyboards adjacent to one another (he was never an attention seeking performer like Mozart). –> exempli gratia: http://youtu.be/DI0xuYYHQNc

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 15:40:00 +0000

yeah, I think the technical setup failed to be of the same standard as the musical ability

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 15:39:00 +0000

I was blown away by the guy who could write different texts with both hands at the same time

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 15:34:00 +0000

I think it’s a very poor choice by the video’s director

By: BreakTheChains

BreakTheChains — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 03:41:00 +0000

The scarf looks like a flag of some country…

No questioning the technical ability of this young man. But the audio quality is disappointing (the video part) with the part played by the left hand not clear at all, with occasional out of tune bits.

By: urpBurp

urpBurp — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:18:00 +0000

I wanted to enjoy it, but I just couldn’t get past the O-Faces he was making.

By: Beanolini

Beanolini — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:05:00 +0000

Organists do this all the time (playing on two keyboards at once)

And they play with their feet at the same time. I have a suspicion that organists are, in fact, a separate species.

By: noah django

noah django — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:12:00 +0000

editing your video in such a way that it makes you look like you’re faking a performance undermines the contention that you are actually playing. why would you do that? maybe he’s just naïve?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEYE85R4UJ4&list=PL84C24BCA7636357E

By: Aos Crowley

Aos Crowley — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 02:35:00 +0000

Interesting, but the pianos are tuned poorly. I don’t mean non-equal temperament, but simply out of tune. Perhaps it was the video compression that caused a phase mismatch?

By: avraamov

avraamov — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 23:10:00 +0000

This and the ‘Skull Brain’ picture from a later post seem intimately related.

Reich’s ‘Piano Phase’ is occasionally performed like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKXy1FPTdvg

By: anansi133

anansi133 — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 23:07:00 +0000

Christ, what a smartass!

By: Xeni Jardin

Xeni Jardin — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:46:00 +0000

ta fixed

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:44:00 +0000

the Evan Shinners link is broken it should be: http://www.evanshinners.com

By: vonbobo

vonbobo — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:24:00 +0000

Scarf, different shoes, different socks… the eccentric showmanship is overdone for me.

But don’t listen to me… go on with your talented self and rock!!!

By: imag

imag — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:18:00 +0000

A big anti-meh from me. Bach is stunning, epic genius. This is a wonderful celebration of that genius by someone who appears to be quite gifted in his own right. Rock on.

By: jaybar

jaybar — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:13:00 +0000

Organists do this all the time (playing on two keyboards at once)- what impresses me the most here is not looking at either. And chewing gum, or something, at the same time, for the first minute or so.

By: Boundegar

Boundegar — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:54:00 +0000

Nut-uh! What if he’s telekinetic? Hmmm?

By: Anne Onimos

Anne Onimos — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:41:00 +0000

Good trick. Nice scarf.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:39:00 +0000

The notes are in the same range – your fingers would collide.
The melodic emphasis switches from hand to hand, this is a piece of musical gymnastics on a dual manual harpsichord. Playing it on two pianos is just showing off.

By: yragentman

yragentman — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:09:00 +0000

Why is this any more difficult that playing the two hand parts on one piano, exactly?

By: Rob Gehrke

Rob Gehrke — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:45:00 +0000

Not sure if you’re kidding but…
He gradually spliced in a different recording (on better tuned pianos…) from 1:06-1:09 – it looks like he was really playing.

By: noah django

noah django — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:23:00 +0000

???
he leaves the pianos and the music keeps going. that means it’s fake.