A Musical Interlude...
February 16, 2020 7:37 PM   Subscribe

 
At about four minutes in, I'm getting concerned if the bow is going to make it through this......
posted by thelonius at 7:49 PM on February 16, 2020 [2 favorites]


It's there another piece of music that sounds so modern and so incredibly ancient at the same time? This is an excellent performance.
This video is synchronised with the sheet music - it's a fascinating thing if you can read music. Even if you can't, the dark cloud of notes representing the violinist's part should impress you. As should the borderline trolling of the legato instruction.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 8:02 PM on February 16, 2020 [4 favorites]


I don't know how much of these old master violins power is in the expectation you have, but this piece is amazing (Between this and The Good Place's use of Spiegel im Spiegel - Arvo's having a reappearance in my life.)

I got to sit once in a standard LA Valley middle class living room with a bunch of my brewing friends and hear Elizabeth Pictcairn play the Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius right in front of us. Talk about an instrument out sized for the space, but watching any master craftsperson wield such a.. totem?.. in such close proximity is breathtaking and makes me want to believe in something more.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:31 PM on February 16, 2020 [7 favorites]


Music for the end of the world.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:09 PM on February 16, 2020 [5 favorites]


I am not a classical music nerd or the sort of person who can just hear a Stradivari and get what the big deal is, but this past weekend I went to see one of our resident chamber ensembles, A Far Cry, perform a concert where they managed to acquire 21 of these Cremonese violins, violas and cellos (5 Stradivari, 3 del Gesus, 3 Amatis, etc.) to perform Tchaikovsky's "Serenade for Strings".

And it was just ... so ... FUN.

Prior to the Tchaikovsky, they warmed up with a bit Elgar, then had a little mini lecture to talk about Cremona and the history of the various violin masters who worked there , along with a couple of demos to display the difference between a Stradivari and del Gesu violin. I don't have the ear to distinguish a difference, but the excitement and joy that these musicians had to play with such marvelous instruments was utterly infectious.

The whole concert and lecture is on YouTube (including one of the Criers doing some bluegrass fiddling on a Stradivarius because why not?). If you want, check it out for yourself, and have an additional helping of great musicians with great instruments playing great music.
posted by bl1nk at 4:36 AM on February 17, 2020 [10 favorites]


Punk as fuck.

Holy harmonics, Batman. Anne Akiko Meyers could teach Steve Vai a thing or two about squealies.
posted by flabdablet at 8:25 AM on February 17, 2020 [5 favorites]


Then after the return to Pärt, then I got lost over in Youtube, and foundThe Baltic Sea Youth Symphony playing more Pärt, with a lot of strings, and an amazing bell, and a clearly ecstatic director. This thread is a gift.

Anne Akiko Myers skill, focus, force, and beauty what a wonderful experience for an otherwise ordinary morning, that is if you believe in the ordinary...
posted by Oyéah at 8:45 AM on February 17, 2020 [4 favorites]


That highest artificial harmonic was in dog whistle range for me...
posted by jim in austin at 11:44 AM on February 17, 2020


Beautiful.

My dream is to one day hear a live performance of Sarah Was 90 Years Old.

I was in Tallinn for one day this winter. I saw a poster for performance of Pärt music for the next day. I think that would have been magical.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 3:05 PM on February 17, 2020 [2 favorites]


Thank you. this was spectacular!! That bit in the middle where the music, the player, and the instrument were all screaming in harmony, my God!
posted by riverlife at 6:23 PM on February 17, 2020 [1 favorite]


One very seldom thinks of the word "athleticism" in conjunction with a violin performance, but my God, there were places where I was reminded of Mike Tyson in his prime.
posted by MrBadExample at 8:54 PM on February 17, 2020 [4 favorites]


It's pretty uncommon to see a piece of music performed on an instrument that was built nearly 200 years before the composer was born, instead of the other way around.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:12 AM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]


Thank you so much for posting this - Tabula Rasa as performed by the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra has long been my favorite album, but I think Ms. Myers performance has stolen top billing for Fratres. I listened to it with tears in my eyes for the whole performance and couldn't understand how the attendees could sit so docilely. What a performance!
posted by ikahime at 7:13 AM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]


couldn't understand how the attendees could sit so docilely

Filmmaker had them all sedated so as not to spoil the shot framing by moshing, most likely.
posted by flabdablet at 11:07 AM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]


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