Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • This is how 2020 has felt.

  • Welcome!

  • Hello everyone.

  • Do you guys wanna meet our...

  • ...amazing...

  • ...faulty budget light?

  • Look at that.

  • - Oh, so bright, like Ling Ling's future. - Yeah.

  • Ling Ling's future and past and present is equally bright.

  • Put your face in it, it gets really bright.

  • Dude, you're going to go blind.

  • Anyway.

  • Today's topic is about interpretation.

  • So we're going to be picking two pieces.

  • One is Bach, and one is...

  • ...Meditation,

  • Thais.

  • - Very famous, uh, composer, - Yeah.

  • very famous piece.

  • And the idea is we're going to be comparing

  • different recordings to show how...

  • ...different interpretations can be.

  • Interpretation is the way the musician...

  • ...interprets the music, to a certain style.

  • - There you go, that's your university degree. - Wikipedia!

  • Guys, we're kidding.

  • Our 4-year degree was definitely

  • worth way more than that.

  • - First one: Bach, Violin Sonata No. 1, - Violin!

  • and the first movement, Adagio, so G minor.

  • Uh, we are going to be watching...

  • - ...3 different recordings, artists. - Artists.

  • - We have a historically informed one, - Yeah.

  • - And then... - And a modern one, and an old school one.

  • I was gonna say, save the best for last.

  • Which one's the best?

  • Hmm...you guys will never know now.

  • - Uhh!!! - Let's just start with um...

  • Old school?

  • - Yeah, old school, old school. - I think so.

  • - I think so. - The OG.

  • What does old school mean?

  • - It means roughly 1950s, to 19... - Yeah.

  • - ...80s? Around that area? - Yes.

  • And there's no more older school than that,

  • 'cause recording wasn't even invented.

  • But Nathan Milstein was one of those um...

  • ...old school violinists that was very well respected.

  • I will say...

  • ...Milstein,

  • and Grumiaux, and Henry Szeryng.

  • - Yeah. - Those 3 were...

  • what the old school thought of violin playing seen as the best...

  • - Yes, yeah. - Bach recordings, right?

  • - Yeah. - And here is him playing Bach Sonata no. 1.

  • You would never hear that...this today.

  • He went for it!

  • He went for it.

  • I grew up...

  • ...listening to this Bach.

  • - Me too! - You too, right?

  • But I forgot it sounded like that!

  • - Wow, it's changed in the last 10 years already! - Even just in the last 10 years,

  • - the...the style that people... - Play...

  • ...play Bach in has changed a lot.

  • If you're a classical musician you'll know

  • what we...mean,

  • just by listening to that chord,

  • and we're gonna demonstrate now,

  • for those non-classical musicians.

  • He was like...

  • - It was like a romantic chord. - It was just like a non-apologetic,

  • this is the chord that starts the whole six sonatas.

  • - Yeah, it is the first... - Bring...bring it on!

  • - It is the first chord of the whole...yeah... - It is, it's more grandioso, it's like...

  • "Bring it on guys. Here we go."

  • I'm used to the...

  • - You guys will hear it soon. - Yeah, we don't wanna spoil it.

  • - Alright, let's keep listening to it a little bit. - Yeah.

  • Ooh, that wide vibrato.

  • - He even did a little bit of a gliss, right? - Yeah.

  • Dude...

  • That is very thick.

  • There's been a rise of the

  • historically informed performance movement,

  • where musicologists and historians, whatever,

  • have done research, and found...

  • ...a lot of ancient

  • Not ancient, but like old text,

  • - Yeah. - Written by musicians around that time

  • that indicated how they thought about music,

  • - Yeah. - and they'll write things like, you know,

  • the way they thought about vibrato

  • - only to be used as an ornament. - Yes.

  • Uh, how they don't actually hold notes for necessarily

  • - for the full intended period, - Mm-hmm.

  • which is a notation thing.

  • For now, I guess you can just remember

  • this is quite...thick.

  • I know people like really look down on it today,

  • but there's a certain...

  • - Yeah... - ...like epicness, and just uh,

  • - it's very, just straightforward. - Yeah.

  • It's like he's not trying to...

  • - Pretend, to be... - ...pretend.

  • - ...like Bach. - Historically, or Bach, or like "I'm gonna...I'm Bach..."

  • - Yeah...it's just like...yeah. - "I'm...I'm just gonna play it the way I see it."

  • What?!

  • Yeah, he glissed upwards...

  • Whoa!

  • - Dude I forgot. - I would get murdered!

  • You would get murdered for playing like that!

  • But to be fair though, back in Milstein's time,

  • - They hadn't done the research yet. - Yes.

  • So it's just a way as a great artist would interpret it, so...

  • Yeah.

  • *inaudible*

  • Ahh, that's nice.

  • That's a nice ending.

  • To be fair, even though it's romantic compared to

  • what people would play today,

  • compared to how he would play Tchaikovsky

  • it's still quite...

  • - Oh, yeah. - ...toned down.

  • - Yes, it's still... - There's still a difference.

  • Yeah.

  • If it was end of Tchaikovsky it'll be like...

  • Yeah.

  • - He'd go all out. - Yeah.

  • So there is still a difference.

  • And the next one is someone called Rachel Podger,

  • she's one of the more well-known...

  • - ...baroque specialist violinists. - Yes.

  • So the first thing you'll notice, two things:

  • - she is playing with a baroque bow, - Mm-hmm.

  • the shape is very different.

  • - You can see from the tip. - Yeah.

  • It's shorter as well.

  • It's that...the curvature of the wood is different.

  • - The wood is like more this way. - Yeah.

  • You'll notice too,

  • - by immediately with the...tuning. - Yeah.

  • It's a semitone lower,

  • because back then they tuned to 415 roughly.

  • I don't think she's using chin rest.

  • Oh wow, she went all out.

  • - Yeah, she's all out, man. - Dude, no chin

  • - Thatthis didn't—this wasn't invented. - Invented back then.

  • - Yeah. - Back then.

  • She's playing with music, because back then, it wasn't...

  • ...usual to perform recitals by memory.

  • Liszt started that tradition.

  • Oh damn, Liszt.

  • You setting the standards so high. *tsk*

  • For piano and strings.

  • Woodwind players today still use their music.

  • Have you noticed?

  • Oh yeah!

  • Wind players...just can't memorise

  • - Argh! Just kidding! Ohhh!!!! - Ohhhhhhh!!!!!

  • (both) Ohhhhhh!!!!!

  • (both) Just kidding, guys!

  • - Music brings people together. - Yeah.

  • She's rolled it.

  • Yeah.

  • It's a lot more...warm.

  • You'll also hear from the warmth of the sound.

  • - She's probably using gut strings. - Yes.

  • Gut strings...yeah.

  • - You don't want to know, but it's made out of gut. - Yeah.

  • - Go figure. - Yeah.

  • - Go to Wikipedia. - Yeah.

  • Yeah, it's a lot more...

  • ...improvisational.

  • The...

  • She's still playing the notes.

  • Even some people argue that, 'cause you know,

  • - some people argue you can add ornamentation. - Yeah.

  • But, she's seeing it as there's the chords,

  • and the alliance in between are almost...

  • ...improvisation.

  • - Yes. - It's like these pillars between you freely kind of move.

  • Yes.

  • The argument is that the rhythm

  • for this style of movement...

  • Not all, if it was a...

  • - Oh, you can't—yeah you can't. - ...fugue, you wouldn't be...

  • - You can't do it in fugue. - ...messing around.

  • But for like an Adagio like this,

  • - it is meant to be played with an improvising style. - Yeah.

  • I wanna listen to the end, see how she ends it.

  • I just want to say,

  • if you're really going all out and playing with no vibrato,

  • it's so hard to not get shaky bow on Bach.

  • Without the vibrato as well,

  • sometimes it's hard for me to make it sound nice.

  • Yeah.

  • The tone...

  • ...sometimes would sound very like "Ehhh".

  • But to be fair, she's using gut strings.

  • We got steel strings,

  • - they're naturally a bit more brighter in sound. - Yeah.

  • I think the best way I would describe it is,

  • when you don't have vibrato at all,

  • to help your tone sing,

  • your bow control has to be so immaculate

  • - that every note is resonant. - Yeah.

  • - Otherwise...you can hear... - The crunch.

  • And your bow has to draw the sound out,

  • you can't have this guy backing you up.

  • - Yeah! - And your intonation!

  • - You can't hide. - Yeah, yeah.

  • - Oh man. - Here's a perfect example, right.

  • I'm crushing a bit...

  • But if I add vibrato...

  • I mean, a good ear could still hear,

  • - it's a little bit overpressed, but it's not as offensive. - Yeah.

  • Bro...

  • Bro, she went all out.

  • Alright, last one!

  • Janine Jansen!

  • Mmm.

  • I mean, not being biased,

  • I didn't say the last one's like...

  • ...like the best one.

  • They're all pretty good in their own right, so...

  • Just...getting it out there!

  • Can I just say,

  • I've personally watched this recording so many times.

  • - Oh, yeah. - I love it, I think she does such a good job.

  • Can we just like look at the guy,

  • the Asian guy in the back,

  • with his hands like this?

  • - Oh, he's ready to judge! - He's like...

  • - "One does not simply play Bach." - Yeah.

  • So you can see a mix,

  • there's some vibrato to keep it spinning,

  • but it's not...

  • It's almost like,

  • they found a little balance.

  • That's beautiful.

  • That's nice.

  • It's...it's in-between.

  • - And I personally think it's perfect for me. - It is, yeah, you get a bit of both worlds.

  • For us, anyway.

  • It's subjective.

  • Subjective! Who cares, who cares, just enjoy it.

  • Also, keep in mind,

  • this is an encore,

  • - Yeah. - she's busting this out after like a concerto,

  • live.

  • Live...

  • - ...performance. - Yes.

  • If you mess up a Bach after a whole concerto,

  • - It ruins your whole thing. Yeah. - that's the...anti-climax.

  • It ruins your whole thing.

  • And out of all the Bach, she picked this one.

  • - Yeah...! - She could have done like a...

  • So much safer!

  • - It's safer... - Or...

  • She goes...

  • *Eddy groans*

  • - Shaky bow galore! - Yeah.

  • Ohh.

  • Oh that's nice.

  • Dude, her tone is so nice.

  • I know that...

  • She has those moments of release,

  • but yet, she still gives you a bit during those

  • - juicy dissonant chords. - Yeah. Janine, stop playing with our emotions.

  • The colour changes...

  • And she's not overusing vibrato.

  • It's just...

  • Dude, you just have more access to different colours,

  • - when you have vibrato. - You do.

  • - From what I heard; I'm not an expert. - Yeah, we don't know, guys.

  • - Baroque people did use vibrato as embellishments. - Yeah.

  • It's not like they completely didn't use vibrato.

  • Whoa, dude, that is some hardcore s***!

  • - I've got goosebumps, and I felt that like 10 times. - I know. It's just like...

  • That was a ballsy approach.

  • And like she didn't go for it, she went...

  • ...backed away.

  • - She backed away to wrap it up. - Yeah.

  • It's the...frog!

  • It's the frog!

  • Do you know how heavy it is here? It's like...

  • - No sound. - And you're like choking, you're like...

  • Right, next one's Meditation.

  • Let's do Vengerov first.

  • Okay, Vengerov is closer to you know,

  • - What we do today. - what we do today.

  • Before we do,

  • accent that like button!

  • Ow, that kind of hurts.

  • Oh, that's nice.

  • Ohh.

  • The colour changes...

  • Ohh, that's a smooth bow change.

  • That's tricky guys! Are you guys...

  • Are you guys hearing this?

  • Yeah, it's frickin' like...

  • Oh f***, I f***ed it.

  • I choked...!

  • - And also, the colour change between the E and the F. - Mm-hmm.

  • Deep.

  • This is kind of what we would...

  • - Probably play like. - ...play like today,

  • or what we would want to play like.

  • Yeah like,

  • - what we wish we could play like, yeah we tried. - What we wish we could play like.

  • - Okay, now we haveoh god. - Now, Elman.

  • 1962!

  • None of you were born

  • Okay, some of you guys are,

  • but majority of you...

  • I'm sorry...

  • Dude, this is like shot on a potato,

  • it's like 1 pixel.

  • 1 pixel...

  • - It's all we have with the old school recordings. - Guys, yeah...

  • Dude, it was a slap in the face.

  • It's like "Wake up, guys!"

  • This is our poptheir pop music.

  • Bro, he just went...

  • There's even more...!

  • Yeah...! He's like...

  • They do that a lot more back then,

  • this kind of...

  • Oh, yeah, yeah.

  • The...

  • - The portamento, and like the...hitting the string. - Yeah.

  • Ohh, that gliss.

  • - And then...and then it's also so matter-of-fact. - Yeah!

  • - Yeah! - You know.

  • "The music says this, we just do this."

  • It's like Milstein's Bach!

  • - They weren't...playing around. - Yeah.

  • Ohhh!!!

  • - Dude, it's like a high rev engine! - Dude! Just...

  • - Did he take a few more bows to this? - Yeah!

  • Also back in the days, they did play a lot more at the tip.

  • Yeah...!

  • - Now we're using a bit more of the frog. - Yeah.

  • This is so interesting.

  • - Times have changed so much. - I've forgotten how much has changed.

  • Guys, this is like 10 years,

  • I was like 15 years ago,

  • when Eddy and myself were always listening to these people.

  • - Yeah. - Milstein, Grumiaux...

  • ...Heifetz, you know, all those artists.

  • The great artists you see today

  • all listened to these people.

  • - Mmm. - And it still changed so much.

  • It's so interesting.

  • We definitely encourage you to

  • check out a range of different recordings.

  • Listen to how...

  • ...different uh, times have changed,

  • and also just the types of interpretations

  • - you can have in the same piece of music. - It's so creative.

  • I think it's also if you learn an instrument,

  • it's one of the best ways to inspire your mind,

  • - to think outside the box. - True!

  • This...

  • - This definitely did, it just hit me, I'm like, "Whoa!" - Yeah.

  • - Anyway. - Yeah.

  • Please like and subscribe.

  • You ready?

  • Whoa..!

This is how 2020 has felt.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it