The Minute Waltz in less than

The Minute Waltz in less than

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norman lebrecht

March 21, 2020

Is this a record? No, it’s never been released.

This is Jean Doyen, professor of piano at the Conservatoire de Pari, 1941 to 1977.

Uncovered by Mikhail Kaykov, for Slipped Disc.

 

Comments

  • christopher storey says:

    It’s about 1 minute 13 seconds in all if one adds back in a fraction of a second for the clipped ending, and looking at the film rather than listening , the left hand part seems to me to lack quite a few notes . Utterly pointless

  • sam says:

    What a refreshing interpretation that is light, transparent, fluid, free of distorted and self-indulgent artifice.

    In 80 years, that tradition is lost. Compare to what is celebrated as pianism today:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKILwVH_MdM

  • Steven Holloway says:

    It would have taken rather longer if he had not axed the B section, aka the entire middle section of the piece.

  • PHF says:

    Not less than one minute.

  • Bryan Youl says:

    Middle section missing, it goes without saying. Beautiful playing, though.

  • Fred Wanger says:

    Easy, if you leave out half the piece

  • David K. Nelson says:

    Well part of the Minute Waltz anyway; was the sostenuto section omitted by Doyen or cut from the film? Given his reputation and the important teachers Doyen had I imagine pianists will value this for the chance to see his hands on the keyboard. And fortunately he did record the complete “Minute” waltz.

  • Vlad says:

    (1) The B-section is skipped, as other commenters have mentioned, so whether it’s a “record” or not is moot. (Or did you mean “record” as in LP?). (2) Be that as it may, Monsieur Doyen’s performance is rather uninspiring. (3) Faster is not often better. (4) Wasn’t the publisher’s moniker intended to mean “very little”? (5) Since others have posted various performances (some perhaps good, some very bad), allow me to throw this one out there, a long-standing favourite of this hackneyed piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q03IHbDxy5A. Wait till the penultinate bar: now that’s how you play a scale!

  • TooManTooFastSlowFast says:

    What a bunch of ….
    Playing with the clock running.

    It doesn’t touch me. It’s not earthy/expressive/dreamy enough.
    Needs to be SLOWER.

    Bloody slower and more expressive.

    Everyone wants to be like “John Moschitta, Jr.” today.
    Not only today, but since decades.
    Argggggggg! Stop it.

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