In the world of violins, the names Stradivari and Guarneri are sacred. For three centuries, violin-makers and scientists have studied the instruments made by these Italian craftsmen. So far no one has figured out what makes their sound different. But a new study now suggests maybe
they aren't so different after all.
posted by unSane
on Jan 2, 2012 -
108 comments
So. While hunting for a
live performance of
a song from the
Beatmania IIDX series, a totally sweet primarily-piano piece known for its near-impossibility to play as a video game, much less on real instruments, I stumbled upon
this incredible version, performed by
the phenomenal TeppeikunViolin and his lovely pianist assistant.
Of course, it turns out that beyond just having RIDICULOUS chops on the violin, he's also a nerd in the best sense. Not only has he done a
great violin cover of the
internet sensation "Bad Apple!!", he's also done
a cover of the music from the original Legend of Zelda that must be seen, a
cover of Super Mario Bros. that makes subtle reference in the background, as any good Japanese Nintendo fan should, to
"Kintamario," and a little something he calls
"Tetris being played on a Game Boy with a dying battery" that absolutely must be seen to be believed.
posted by DoctorFedora
on Oct 26, 2011 -
4 comments
A Song of Ice and Fire [SLYT] Game of Thrones Violin Cover. An acoustic and electric violin cover of the main theme song from Game of Thrones. Arranged and performed by Jason Yang. Original song and soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi.
posted by Fizz
on Jul 5, 2011 -
55 comments
Fiddle, accordion, and a singing drummer. Seven minutes and fifty seven seconds of Gypsy music from Ukraine, live in Budapest. The real thing. Totally wailing. Kickass.
Técső Banda at Kertem.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Oct 10, 2009 -
23 comments
Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 9 in A, Op. 47 (
audio) was
originally dedicated to the black violin virtuoso
George Bridgetower after he gave such a brilliant rendering of the piece that prompted Beethoven to jump from his seat and embrace him. Bridgetower was a musical child prodigy and composer who, despite rampant racial prejudice, reached "unusual heights in the music world of his day". Having lived and performed in major European cities such as London, Paris, and Vienna, he would later die forgotten and in poverty.
A personal disagreement with Bridgetower led Beethoven to dedicate the sonata to the famous violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer instead who, incidentally, never played it in public deeming it “outrageously unintelligible”.
[more inside]
posted by lucia__is__dada
on Mar 27, 2009 -
10 comments
MusicMoose wants "to provide the world with free, useful music lessons, and a community based site to help back it all up." The
site contains hundreds of free video music
lessons (often containing notation and/or tablature) with a distinct focus on acoustic and bluegrass music, all taught by some pretty
badass pickers (including the astonishingly good mandolin shredder Anthony Hannigan). There are also obligatory but very useful
forums.
Takeaway: the whole thing is free and you don't have to register to watch the lessons.
posted by kosem
on Jun 29, 2007 -
15 comments
Have you ever stopped to listen? I do, when it's not bad, always. I've missed trains, I've been late. I've given all the money I had on me.
I've been reminded of - X -.
I wish I had been there; I fucking love that Chaconne. It's like the perfect prayer.
posted by From Bklyn
on Apr 7, 2007 -
105 comments
Long before Robert Johnson ever went down to the crossroads, violinist & composer Niccolo Paganini was rumored to have
sold his soul to the devil in exchange for musical ability. Evidence against this theory: Paganini's 5th Caprice actually
prevented the devil from
stealing The Karate Kid's soul (the devil settled for stealing Ralph Macchio's career instead). Evidence in favor of this theory: When played on acoustic guitar, the virtuosity in his 24th Caprice really
seems supernaturally inspired. For my money, however, the perfect storm of ominous music & stringed instruments comes together in
this version of Carmina Burana (mp3 direct download), arranged for solo banjo.
posted by jonson
on Sep 27, 2006 -
35 comments
So
these guys built a crazy y-shaped guitar that can produce sounds that sound like a regular guitar or
a steal drum[wav]. There are more sound examples on that page. Meanwhile
Mari Kimura has figured out a way to produce
sub harmonics on a regular violin, extending the range down an octave, producing some [
intresting[mp3] results.
via]
posted by delmoi
on Jul 13, 2006 -
15 comments
Her name was Courage & is written Olga "Olga"
(.pdf file in main link) is
Olga Rudge,
violinist, first promoter of the
Vivaldi Renaissance, and longtime companion of the
poet Ezra Pound.
Pound maintained a complicated and
delicate balance between the two most significant women in his life, Olga and his wife
Dorothy Shakespear (who, among other things, was
the daughter of Yeats's mistress).
‘‘Paris is where EP and OR met, and everything in my life happened,’’ Olga (listen to her voice
here) said later of the chance encounter with
Ezra at
20, rue Jacob, in the salon of
Natalie Barney. They were together for
fifty years, through the
dark-night years of
Pound's madness (arrested in 1945 for
treason, deemed unable to stand trial and sent to an American mental institution, he once suggested to the UPI bureau chief in Rome
that the United States trade Guam for some sound films of Japanese Noh plays, asked Truman many times to make him Ambadassor to Japan or Moscow;
Guy Davenport reports dining with him one evening and all Ez said was "gnocchi"), until
the poet's death in 1972.
She lived on for another quarter century, turning up at conferences of
Pound scholars --as far afield as Hailey,
Idaho, Pound's birthplace, where she gave a
lecture in the local movie theater. "Write about Pound", she told publishers who asked her to write her autobiography.
(more inside, with Cantos)
posted by matteo
on Jul 8, 2004 -
15 comments
