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  • Welcome back to another episode of TwoSet Violin.

  • Recently, we made a video

  • where we introduced

  • 8 classical music performances that

  • we think are just absolutely epic,

  • that everyone should listen to.

  • And you guys really loved that video.

  • It got like, over a million views in...

  • - I don't know, like a month or something? - A month. Yeah, yeah.

  • You know, at the time, we actually meant to do 10,

  • but then it just went too long,

  • because there's too much to talk about.

  • So today we actually came up with another 8...

  • - Yes. - ...recordings.

  • 'Cause there's so many epic performances out there.

  • And a lot of these recordings,

  • - we pick up from when we're studying music. - Yeah.

  • Actually, a lot of these recordings shaped...

  • our careers, I guess.

  • Probably gonna get copystriked for half of this,

  • so definitely check out

  • - Appreciate the support. - Bang!

  • Yeah. Anyway.

  • - Whoa... Starting off strong! - Oh yeah, okay.

  • There's this composer called Shostakovich,

  • who wrote some of the most

  • emotionally dark and intense...

  • ...music. Just, ever.

  • And then there's this violinist called Sergey...

  • "Khachatryan"?

  • But anyway, here's a live performance he did.

  • And you have to check out this cadenza.

  • It's just insane.

  • - Dude, it might... Yeah. - That control!

  • The vibrato, the bowstroke.

  • The intonation, that...

  • That kinda like...

  • You could feel the pain.

  • He keeps the tension and the suspense,

  • in the most softest of passages.

  • Anyone that's performed violin in front of people

  • know that it's always the soft passages

  • that are the most nerve-wracking.

  • Because, you know, you can get shaky bow,

  • the tone can thin out.

  • It's a lot harder than playing fast parts.

  • - Like, most of the time, right? Yeah. - Yes.

  • But, this is only the beginning.

  • - Yeah, I guess. - So let's skip forward, because it's...

  • You know, it's a long concerto.

  • - Dude, I got goosebumps mate. - Yeah, that was ****ing good.

  • Anyway, you guys get the point.

  • Like, that was even higher.

  • Yeah yeah yeah! And so in tune!

  • So in tune!!

  • And it's a live performance!

  • This is already 30 minutes of playing in.

  • I wanna get to this buildup bit.

  • - I got goosebumps so many times on that one. - Yeah...

  • I remember listening to it like,

  • - 10 years ago, I'm like... - Yeah.

  • "Holy moly."

  • I only had to stop because I realized how...

  • - Yeah, yeah! This will be one video! - The video will be like this YouTube video, it's just like...

  • You notice like that octave BAM!

  • And then it's soft again.

  • It's like a good gear shift in a car.

  • And you really feel...

  • This kind of, sense of like,

  • - the pain. - Yeah.

  • If you guys know about Shostakovich, right,

  • - his life, the stuff he went through, - Yeah.

  • - Russia. - Human suffering.

  • - Human suffering. - Just a lot of suffering.

  • I wanna know what this guy was thinking

  • when he played this, too.

  • Did he have some image of something that

  • - compelled him to do such a performance? - Yeah.

  • (Ling Ling is practicing FORTY hours a day!!)

  • - It feels genuine. - It wasn't put on.

  • He was trying to get some sort of emotion out of it.

  • Dude, this is legendary.

  • How does this only have 34,000 views?

  • Come on, all Ling Ling wannabes!

  • Go watch it right now.

  • Alright, next one.

  • Okay, this is a big gear change.

  • Many of you guys know Paganini Caprice 24, right?

  • But do you know Paganiniana?

  • Okay, so Paganiniana is like,

  • this rendition created by another famous violinist

  • called Nathan Milstein.

  • - I feel like he was quite a good overall player. - Yeah.

  • A bit more old-school. You know, from

  • - '40, '40-'50ish? - Yeah.

  • - Don't quote me on that, but... - Yeah.

  • This is old-school.

  • - The recordings are all black and white. - The black and white days.

  • Yeah, black and white days!

  • - So, can I say the old-school pose? - Can I just say, the pose?

  • Yeah, it's such an old-school violin thing!

  • - You all know that theme, right? - Yeah.

  • Now the variation starts coming.

  • Can I just say how easy that was for him?

  • - Dude, he didn't bat an eye. - Yeah.

  • They should make all the

  • "fastest violinists in the world" play this.

  • Ohh, yeah!

  • That would be the challenge! Like...

  • He's like, "I've done my scales."

  • Yeah yeah yeah...!

  • It's kinda like that kind of old-school feeling,

  • where it's just, they're just...

  • - Boom. Straightforward. - They're not trying...

  • To like...

  • - Trying, gonna go... - Move around.

  • And add extra flair.

  • Like, if you compare it to the Khachatryan earlier,

  • - it's a completely different style of playing, right? - Oh yeah. So different!

  • And it's funny how these great artists,

  • they play it in a way that make you feel like

  • you can do it as well.

  • - Yeah... - "I got that."

  • "I can probably try learning it."

  • Yeah, and you try it, but like a year later, you're like...

  • - "Oh, f..." - "Nah."

  • Okay, next one!

  • This is a personal favorite recording of mine,

  • back in high school.

  • It's basically Korngold Violin Concerto,

  • and I like the piece a lot.

  • And there's so many great recordings from different artists.

  • I guess I just like this because...

  • It's like, nostalgic for me.

  • - It was the recording I listened to back in high school. - Mhmm.

  • But it's also nice because

  • we haven't included Itzhak Perlman yet,

  • and he is a legendary violinist

  • - that I'm sure many of you know. - Mhmm.

  • Something about this recording and his playing style

  • hits the kind of idea of romance.

  • - To me. Like this romantic... sound. - Oh, yeah.

  • - Nice. Nice, nice. - It's so nice.

  • It's so like,

  • - warm. Sweet, old. - It's warm and old.

  • A lot of times, violinists...

  • I mean, I do it too.

  • - We just gliss when it's convenient. - Yeah yeah yeah.

  • - When he glisses, it's very effective. - Mmm.

  • The combination of the vibrato, the gliss...

  • And the bow change, the way the phrases work.

  • This is a type of like,

  • phrasing that also reminds me a little bit of like, Nadien's.

  • - Yeah, yeah! It's got that style, yeah, it's got that... - The same style of playing.

  • - I don't know how to describe - - Sweet, it's so sweet and old, you're like, "Mmm."

  • Zapa...totato.

  • Zapateado.

  • Ah, Midori...

  • She's had quite a long career, actually.

  • She was very good at a young age already.

  • And I just remember this recording,

  • it was just crisp,

  • on point,

  • can't go wrong.

  • This is how it should sound like.

  • - Yeah. - So we'll play a bit of it.

  • - Dude... - Bro, those harmonics!

  • - They're not easy to do that quick. - Yeah, that's not easy!

  • Your hand has to,

  • one finger press down, one finger lightly touch.

  • But then, being a violin,

  • each note is a slightly different distance,

  • and if you mess it up, it doesn't speak.

  • She played it as if there was no octaves.

  • Did they just cheer??

  • - I would cheer to that! - Yeah...!

  • - WHOO!! - She was smiling.

  • Everyone's like, "WHOA!"

  • - Yeah... That's pretty good. - Oh, that's so funny!

  • Bro, what even is that?!

  • I don't know.

  • She's just moving so fast.

  • - That is virtuoso playing right there. - Yeah.

  • - Alright! - Next one.

  • Again.

  • - Which I played a lot when I was in high school. - Mhmm.

  • She has the ability to be so powerful, but yet still lyrical.

  • It sounded like a Disney scene, that moment.

  • - Oh, yeah! - Like a fairy tale.

  • - "BOOM!! Wow!" - I think you've said that before.

  • - Did I? Oh, really? - Yeah yeah yeah.

  • That passage there

  • does not sit comfortably on a violin.

  • - Yeah! This is not easy. - It is not...

  • It is written very awkwardly to play.

  • Most people playing that would be

  • figuring out how to even technically hit the notes.

  • She makes it sound like a melody.

  • - Well, there you go. - Yeah.

  • - You should definitely check out the whole thing. - Yep.

  • - Mhmm. - It gets epic.

  • The second movement, beautiful as well.

  • Next one!

  • Okay.

  • This one was just a very solid Beethoven.

  • By the way guys,

  • Beethoven Concerto is one of those concertos where...

  • It's hard to be solid.

  • It's very hard to be solid.

  • - It's too easy to just mess up. - Yeah.

  • People are probably gonna kill me for saying this,

  • but in my opinion -

  • - In my humble opinion... - In my humble opinion,

  • if your Beethoven doesn't offend,

  • you're already at god level.

  • Yeah! If your Beethoven doesn't offend people,

  • - you're doing a very good job. - Yeah.

  • - Dude, the concerto's basically arpeggios and scales. - Yeah.

  • And then you have to make scales and arpeggios sound like...

  • - ...a melody. - Yes!

  • That is hard.

  • Did someone just scream in the audience??

  • - Dude, help! Yeah! - I offended someone.

  • Already!

  • Dude, that would throw someone off!

  • But you can see how exposed that is, right?

  • - A freaking octave dominant seventh arpeggio. - Yeah.

  • The orchestra tutti plays for four minutes,

  • - so you're standing cold-handed, no warmup. - Yeah.

  • And you're just expected to play

  • octaves that are in tune,

  • exposed by yourself in a concert hall.

  • And the orchestras just go, "Peace."

  • - Yeah, we're all, it's like... Yeah! - "It's all up to you. We aren't supporting you now!"

  • - "We can't help you. You can't hide in us." - Yeah.

  • - Broken thirds. - Broken thirds!

  • Carl Flesch, it's the 6th or 7th...

  • Scales up.

  • Oooh!!

  • (both) Arpeggio!

  • Oh s***!!

  • Oh s***!

  • If you play violin, you know what it means.

  • - Just, just... - Yeah.

  • That is so...

  • ****ing scary!!

  • Dude, that's all you get!

  • Bum, bum.

  • Yeah...!

  • - Orchestra's like, "Your turn again!" - Yeah! Bum, bum, bum.

  • "Here, go play!"

  • Anyway, you guys should listen to the rest.

  • So, I actually played the Barber Violin Concerto with, um,

  • orchestra. Back when I was in uni.

  • And so my friend was like,

  • "Have you heard Hilary Hahn's third movement?"

  • And I was like, "Nah."

  • And my friend was like, "Dude, it's messed up."

  • "It's messed, like it's so good."

  • Yeah. Messed up as in like, it will mess you up.

  • - Like, "WHOAAA!!" - Yeah!

  • Dude, the whole movement is just 3 minutes.

  • In her version.

  • - Yeah, yeah. Yeah! - It'd probably be like 5 minutes for me.

  • All the awkward string crossings.

  • Dude!

  • - It just doesn't stop! It doesn't stop! - Dude.

  • And the rhythmic pulse she had,

  • it's not just playing on time.

  • - That's one thing. - Yeah.

  • But the rhythmic pulse.

  • She brings out the syncopations when there should be.

  • Yeah, when it's important.

  • Can I just say it's like this again,

  • - the timpani or the percussion's like, - Yeah yeah yeah!

  • "Your turn!"

  • Yeah, "Your turn!"

  • You think that's messed up?

  • - Wait 'til you get to the coda. - Yeah.

  • Holy mol...

  • I forgot how fast it was!

  • I can't even like, physically do it now!

  • Let's air violin it.

  • I wanna get my violin.

  • You would have to be so efficient, like...

  • And my fingers are already leaving the string too much, a bit.

  • Yeah, like the pinky, it's like...

  • - Your pinky is curling out. Yeah. - The pinky has to be like that, right?

  • Your pinky wants to lift up!

  • - And it's projecting! - I need to practice.

  • - And it projects! - It ****ing projects!

  • Bruh, like, with violin playing,

  • half the game is projecting.

  • Oh yeah.

  • "iF yOu caN pLaY iT sLoWLy, yOu cAN pLay iT qUicKLy!"

  • Last one.

  • - Let's just chill out a bit. - Damn, that was a lot for me.

  • - Yeah yeah, chill out. - That was a lot. This is a chill-out video.

  • Whatever.

  • You guys know this one.

  • - Kreisler wrote this piece. - Yep.

  • Guess what? Played by Kreisler. 1930s.

  • How rare is it to be able to hear

  • - the composer play his own piece? - Yeah.

  • - Mmm. - Oh, he just went for it.

  • There's a lot of...

  • (both) Rubato.

  • A lot more than what we're used to today.

  • The vibrato is obviously also very...

  • - It spins. - The style's... Yeah, it's just old-school.

  • - Yeah. - It keeps going.

  • A lot of glissando.

  • I feel like this is more like this kind of a...

  • - Yeah! There's a lot of more... - Articulating of notes.

  • - Articulating, and portamento. - Yeah.

  • Keep in mind,

  • the strings and everything was a lot different.

  • - Yeah. - Like, you wouldn't be playing with a shoulder rest...

  • I wonder if they had string companies back then.

  • - Yeah, where did they get their strings from? - Yeah, what the hell?

  • How did they make the strings...?

  • - *sings Illumanti theme* - Yeah...!

  • Yeah, what the hell?

  • Did they order online?

  • "Free shipping if over

  • 100 and something dollars of violin strings!"

  • - Oh, that's our website. - Oh!

  • - Guys! Check it out. - Oh yeah!

  • We're gonna get copystriked in this video,

  • but we have to share this with you guys.

  • Anyway, guys.

  • I think that's enough. Long episode, I know.

  • We tried to keep it short, but hey.

  • If you enjoyed this type of video,

  • accent the like button if you made it this far.

  • Legato the subscribe button.

  • And see you guys next time!

  • Keep practicing!!

  • I wanna slap it.

Welcome back to another episode of TwoSet Violin.

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