Has anybody heard of this or played it?

That has got to be one of the most beautiful pieces ever written for piano. I've attempted to play it, but my piano skills are practically non-existant!!

Of course! We love Mr E.

This is one of Einaudi pieces that I actually like

I like this one
Though some of his pieces I'm not so keen on

Sorry, but I beg to differ. Grossly overrated in my view. This particular piece is (grudgingly) probably the best, but even then it's too long and repetitive. It could have got over the desired effect in a lot less time. Einaudi was my most overrated composer in the forums' survey of that name. And the choice of quite a few others incidentally.

LR

I think it's beautiful; I would love to play it if anyone has the music?

There's been a huge thread about this before. Do a search!

I think I Giorni is his nicest ever piece. Oddball plays it wonderfully, had a quick look at it last night.

You're not alone, Lone Ranger, I totally agree with you. Einaudi is the "pianists' equivalent" of Tony Blair. The biggest "con artist" of all time. His music is repetitive, boring, has no substance. AGGGGH!! Ghastly C**P

I almost took that personally!

I probably wouldn't go that far, but this kind of quote:

makes me sad - there is so much beautiful music out there...

I thought he was refferring to you too Carol

All of his music sounds simple

Of course there is Carol, and none of it is written by old Ludo.....wouldn't you say?

no not really - a couple of his I find vaguely pleasing but that's about it...

Thankyou!

I think that a lot of people are forgetting that Einaudi's music is supposed to be repetitive. Music does not have to be complex to be pleasing.

I think that his music is quite good. Simple but beautiful.

Wow - big response - I didn't expect so quick a reply.
I like the piece a lot - it's beautiful, but I wouldn't say it's one of the most beautiful pieces ever written - there are so many nice pieces. It's relatively simple to play too, because of the repetitiveness.

By the way, for anyone who enjoys Einaudi's music, he is playing at the Barbican in London again on 30th of March.

Why does it make you sad? Surely everyone is entitled to have a favourite piece of music, whether it is simple or complex or repetitive or not? I find it beautiful because of the emotions I feel when listening to it; surely that should be what all music is about? Not whether it is overplayed or uncultured?

I think she means that there's just so much more to music by the really great composers. Someone once said that Classical music is not "better" than pop music, it's just that the two forms exist for different reasons.

I like Einaudi, play his music a lot and get great pleasure from it. However, I can also see that music by Chopin and Debussy has so much more too it. To hear someone say le Onde is one of the best pieces of piano music ever written makes me a bit sad too. Means that someone has missed out on a lot of what artistic music is about.

I used to think Satie's music was some of the best piano music ever written, still like it and enjoy it, but learning his music opened up an other world to me.

Anyway, should let Carol speak for herself!!

I do see what you mean. Not being a classical music connoisseur as such though, I don’t know exactly how music by Chopin and Debussy has so much more to it. All I judge music by is what I hear, and, yes, Chopin’s piano music sounds very complicated and obviously took a lot more effort to compose than Le Onde, but that doesn’t affect what I actually hear. From what I hear, I would say that some of Einaudi's music is more beautiful than some of Chopin's, yes. (Without over-generalising!)

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam sounds beautiful when sung by a three year old that I know, which is obviously simple and clichéd, but what I am hearing and what I am feeling when I listen is what it’s all about, not what was behind the composition of the song.

I don't know; perhaps if I studied composition then my opinion would change!

Just my two pennies’ worth anyway...

No that is absolutely what I meant Stu - thank you x

I think the point about Chopin and Debussy (to take two of many possible examples) is that their music has a greater variety of emotional expression - the feelings being expressed may change within a single bar. In that sense it certainly has more to it than, for example, a pop song, and that brings us to StuMac's comparison: classical music is meant to have this variety of expression, whereas pop songs are meant to express just one thing for three minutes or however long it might be. There are exceptions on either side, but this is still a good rule of thumb. It also shows the absurdity of saying that one type of music is inherently "better" than another. You might as well say that Princess Diana was a wonderful human being but would have made a hopeless frog.

I admire littlelady87's other remarks. It's too easy to convince yourself that complicated=good and simple=bad when in fact there is so much brilliant simple music in the world. And the effect of music on the emotions of the listener is surely the most important consideration - I would hope that if you ever did study composition then your opinion on this would not change.

I don't think either Stu or I meant to say complicated=good, simple=bad - if I may speak for him this time! They are simply different.

You state that some of Einaudi's music is more beautiful than some of Chopin's (I would obviously beg to differ!) but earlier you wrote that you not a classical music connoisseur - therefore your opinion may be somewhat biased.

What you hear is exactly what everyone else hears - it is how you perceive it that is different. Perhaps after an afternoon sitting with someone who can explain Chopin's or Debussy's music to you and what is beautiful about it, maybe your perception will change. Quite a few of Chopin's compositions are simple yet so beautiful, e.g. Prelude in A major and some of his shorter waltzes.

No, I wasn't meaning to suggest that either of you thought or implied that. I don't think I actually made that suggestion in my post, but thanks for the opportunity of clearing it up in case of future confusion.

You are such a smartar*se

Yes, but isn't bias the point of an opinion? Opinions can never be objective, neither can they wholly encompass all of the known facts about everything.

If I sat down and listened to someone talking about how good Chopin is, they would be biased as well, surely?


Just for the record- Le Onde is not actually my favourite piece of music.

I disagree that bias is the point of an opinion. An opinion can be objective if given by an expert in a certain field/related discussion. However, it is true that most opinions given in day-to-day life are not substantiated by knowledge or proof and are thus biased.

You have missed the point - the person talking about how good Chopin is could be biased, but that person is not the focus, you are. I was merely highlighting the fact that ideally you should hear both sides of the coin - from the Einaudi and Chopin/Debussy camps. From your mentioning the fact that you are not a classical music connoisseur, that in itself puts the Chopin/Debussy camp at an immediate disadvantage. I'm sure that there would be lots of people willing to argue for the Einaudi camp!

My my my isn't this exciting!

Well, Le Onde is beautiful, don't get me wrong, but it is reptitive, and yes it is meant to be like that, but somehow... I get a more satisfying feeling when I listen to Debussy or Chopin or something along those lines. Thats my opinion, alhough I would be a wee bit biased towards Debussy as I am head-over-heels in love with the 1st Arabesque I'm doing for my G8...!

I'm beginning to feel like everyone is in love with Chopin and Debussy. They're fantastic of course, but there are others!
I think that Le Onde is more accessible to a lesser advanced audience, so that is an advantage to that.

Well, that's a good thing!

Yes, I'm sure that someone arguing for the Chopin/Debussy camp would have a lot of good points. But the point I was trying to make was that it’s not about an argument, or a discussion, or a debate. For me, it’s about what I feel when I hear the music; it’s about an instinctive reaction. Arguments won’t change my instincts, even if it’s an objective, rational explanation of why Chopin is so good. Even if they were to point out hues and shades of the music that I had perhaps missed, the next time I listened to that piece it would be a conscious listening out, which would remove the instinct, for me anyway, as I have experienced that in the past…

Soon I will be a classical music connoisseur and then I shall be even more argumentative

We all look forward to this!

Chopin's music is wonderful - especially the Nocturnes. Listen to E flat (the famous one, Op 9 no2) and G minor (Op 15 no. 3) a few times and I'm sure you'll see what we mean.

Here here! Well I'm doing my G8 but I only really don't have the ability, and I would say that Le Onde would be perfect with less experience, starting out or somebody who infact would like to progress onto the Musical Masters like Chopin and Debussy. Having said that, if anyone puts in the work and enjoys it then there is no reason why a pupl of a good intermediate standard couldn't experiment with a bit of the olde' Chopin ok I'm off the thread, please continue...

I do love Chopin, don't get me wrong - but why are people only comparing le onde to Chopin and Debussy rather than other composers but hey!!! It doesn't matter...

Ok, then let’s compare Einaudi to Mendelssohn, who is my favourite composer (at the moment…)!

Anyone up for it?

Like some of the songs without words - particularly no. 14 in C minor.

Never thouight of him in comaprison to Einaudi though"!

Not read the rest of the thread yet... *hides*



But Einaudi = <3







Never thought about comparing him to Mendelsohn either...hmm...



Though Einaudi may not be the most challenging piece there is or anything, it certainly is one of the most captivating I find. Music doesn't have to be really complicated to be accessible and I think Le Onde is a wonderful example of this; I love playing it in all occasions.

now, that's what I meant when I started this thread!!!

I use Einuadi for pre-assembly playing at school, or for open evenings etc. The pieces, though sound ok for non-musical types, are easy enough to require little practice, and I can look up for when I get the nod to stop- otherwise I would get annoyed teachers!
From a musical point of view, repeatitive, but very easy listening- especially pieces such as Le Onde.

Though I do agree with my music teacher, who refers to such pieces as "Wallpaper music"- this sums it up exactly!

Or furniture music as Satie put it!!

I can understand why...

I like his music - but too often I end up thinking "he should have stopped 2 pages back".......and some of it is sooo simple - I once used him to illustrate to a class of students how easy it is to improvise and that some of his pieces, anyone could have written.......

You could say that about a lot of things. The fact is - they didn't!!

Even carol*piano said she could compose most of his music....and she is rubbish

Ben! I said no such thing!

harsh, ben!

Only just seen this thread. A friend asked me to learn "Le Onde" for him a while ago.

It's nice enough. It strikes me as the sort of thing you would expect to hear as a film/tv theme? I haven't listened to a lot of music by Einuadi. It seemed a little predictable, but if that's the style the fair enough

Not something I'd buy to listen to myself