There is no Free Lunch

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Before its premiere, Tchaikovsky's violin concerto was deemed “unplayable” by Leopold Auer, a famous violinist and pedagog. To paraphrase his words, playing the concerto is like “beating the violin left and right, over and over again”. Ironically, it's Auer whom the concerto was dedicated to.

Brahm's violin concerto suffered a similar fate. Pablo de Sarasate, a virtuoso, refused to play it on the basis that “the only proper melody was by the oboe”. And that's basically saying that only 1/3 page, out of 20 pages of scores, is worth listening!

Rachmaninoff's 1st symphony fared better where it made its first premiere. But then began the not-so-fun story: it's criticised by César Cui as “a symphony based on the Seven Plagues of Egypt composed by a student of a conservatory in hell”.

And yet, the above mentioned are now widely accepted as acclaimed pieces of work.

Of course, it's not happened just by a snap of fingers. Lots of things happened: revisions, etc. The old adage “there ain't free lunch” aptly sums up the situation. In the case of Rachmaninoff, he paid by suffering a great depression for several years.

Tuesday Water Cooler: 9-Mar-2010

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“For 37 years I've practiced 14 hours a day, and now they call me a genius”, Pablo de Sarasate, violinist and composer (1844-1908).


Sarasate, apart from being a virtuoso, is perhaps best reknown for his composition, Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs). Apparently, he composed that song specifically to showcase his mastery (much like Paganini's motivation for his concerti).

Surprisingly, there aren't many videos of Zigeunerweisen by top-tier violinists in Youtube. The cleanest one found is by Zino Francescatti. For the impatients who thirst only for fast-paced virtuosity, please jump straight away to 5:22 onwards and enjoy all the left-hand pizzicatos. Left-hand pizzicatos is analogous to playing a guitar with left-hand fingers only.

Actually, I wanted to put Anne Sophie-Mutter's, but it's audio only aka. no video. Well of course I could've put Perlman's yet again, but I thought this time should be by somebody else, for a change — still, check it out at least for the banter in the beginning.

Finally, I see a Video Footage of Young Yehudi Menuhin

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I've been hearing or reading how “young” Menuhin (1916-1999) is a wonderkid of his generation. But I've never really find his video footages. Well, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough.

Until I encounter a DVD titled “The Art of Violin”. There's him, playing a fragment of the 1st movement of Mendelssohn's violin concerto, performed in Hollywood in 1947.


The “Young” Menuhin
What's so special about this “young” Menuhin? Well, young may not be the most exact word. It should be: “prior to being ravaged by a serious injury”.

That injury nearly caused him to forsake violin for the rest of his life. That is, until he underwent a yoga treatment in India — that's how he started his collaborations with Ravi Shankar.

Some said that his injury is (partially) attributed to overstressing his body for performances. Performances that he believed as an act of reconciliation between the Jews and the Germans, done straight after the WW-2. This stirred some controversies, considering both the timing and that Menuhin himself is a (American) Jew.


The Art of Violin
And now, back to the DVD. I'm still going through the 1st part (out of 3). You'll see modern musicians (e.g., Perlman, Hillary Hann) discuss how each of the so-called greatest 20th century violinists are unique in their playing & musicality. Menuhin apart, there're Kreisler, Heifetz, Stern, Francescatti, Ricci, Rabin, and many more.

Listening to their explanations puts me in awe, for they just have the rich and beautiful vocabularies to describe the subtleties among those legends.

Now, before I mislead anybody into thinking how clever I'm, let me be the first to confess that I don't understand at all what they are talking about!

[I saw some parts of the DVD uploaded to youtube, but haven't had the time to check them]

Tango

[Original Post at my Blogs | My Blogs]

A (rather) senior aerospace engineer pointed me to the Schindler's List theme in youtube played by Perlman. It's a beautiful piece — there's absolutely no doubt about that. But I find it a bit too ... dark, and too ... grim. I really can't explain, but it somehow reminds me to the kind of music played right at the end of an enforced battle between two good friends/siblings/etc.; a battle where the winner wins loses as much as the defeated; a battle where the winner feels empty and full of resignation; where the winner just wants to completely wipe out the undeniable historical fact of his/her hollow victory.

Fortunately, I managed to spot the video of Perlman playing Por una Cabeza, a Tango. And I find this one to be much much lighter and cheerful for my ears, my head, and my heart. Here's the obligatory video on youtube which you could also find below. [PS: Don't be intimidated by the first 20-25 seconds, in case you're not used to classical instrumental songs.]




Perlman played the same piece for the Schindler's List movie, albeit with a different arrangement. I found two audio recordings on youtube, supposedly the original soundtracks: 1st version and 2nd version. Some how I prefer the 1st version than the 2nd, even though it's repetitive. It just sounds ... more cheerful. Might be due to the more upbeat tempo and more variations in the tempo itself [ha, me at my f.k.k.b.l. best]. In any case, the 1st version is also embedded below.

The Young Prodigies

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These have been in my locker for quite sometime (yeah, I blame myself for procastinating): two video footage of renowned violinists, born in the early-to-mid of 1900, performing at their (later stage of) childhood. These footage come from circa 1950-ish and therefore, are still in black-and-white.

• Michael Rabin (1936-1972) — he who (tragically) lived for only a short period of time of ~36 years. Here's the video of Rabin performing at the age of 15, in case the youtube video is not embedded below.
  
  
  
  
  
• Itzhak Perlman (1945-present) — he who overcome polio and defied the odd to become one of today's most celebrated violinists. Here's the video of Perlman performing at the age of 13, in case the youtube video is not embedded below.
  
  

Yet Another Game Sound Track

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Super Mario Bros, the classic. If you don't see any youtube video embedded below, then please visit it directly at youtube.



This piece is performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in their Orchestral Game Concert 4 (the 3rd track). Though the sound quality is not very high, it is still enough to bring back certain memories.

For those who're curious how an orchestra performs a piece of musical work, take a look at this one. The arrangement is nearly the same (well, I put “nearly” just in case I'm wrong) as the one performed in the OGC.

A beautiful...

[Original Post at my Blogs | My Blogs]

... song — Fear of the Angels, the theme song of the Secret of Mana series. [Your volume may need to be turned up a bit.]. If you don't see the youtube video embedded below, then please try your luck directly at youtube.



This version was performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra during the Orchestral Game Concert 3 (the 10th piece). [PS. I think there's a higher-quality version (200+ kbps) somewhere in the internet.]

I especially love the first-half solo which is played in the mp to mf range of dynamics (I think) — started with a violin which creates a sad feeling, then followed by a oboe and a flute which project a sense of calming. After the solo(s) is a short “loud” section (trumpets); and then, the song is re-played with violins. Finally, the closing part is in the form of, not surprising, a violin solo.

The melody is the main point why I enjoyed this song. Frankly, this is the second (orchestral) musical piece that can send a chill down my spine, apart from the Beethoven violin concerto (somewhere during the 1st movement, on the second page in the musical sheet). Ok, I lied abit, it's arguably the third, since one of the Mahler's symphony also makes me feel extremely uneasy and depressed when listening to it.

It's music time

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Title	:	Classical Music for Dummies
Authors	:	David Pogue and Scott Speck
Preface by	:	Zarin Mehta (Zubin Mehta's brother; Zubin is a well-known conductor who happened to lead a performance at Singapore in 2005, IIRC)
Foreword by	:	Glenn Dicterow (violinist and concert master)
ISBN	:	978-0764550096

This book is by far the most hilarious title of the “For Dummies” series, out of ones I've read. Which implies it's the best “For Dummies” for me, to date.

Iyep, that's right, pu(1) chuo(4). Perhaps the authors want to dispel the impression that classical music is boring, difficult to understand, and not fun. Or even sadistic — ever watch movies on Sicilian mafia where godfathers seem to have a penchant for this kind of music?

Here are some examples from the book.

On when to clap:

• the conductor puts down his hands and keep them down
• all the players onstage put down their instruments
• everyone around you starts clapping
• the concert hall lights come up
• the players exit the stage, carrying their instruments
• the entire audience leaves the auditorium
• the cleaning crew comes in and begins to mop the stage

On why conductors occasionally ignore the tempo specified by composers:

As a result, in the past century, conductors have felt free to treat the metronome marking only as a starting point — or even to ignore it completely. Beethoven's symphonies, for example, are virtually always played at a slower tempo than Beethoven himself specified. Tradition, along with various theories about the condition of the old man's metronome (not to mention his brain cells), has had generations of musicians to contradict poor Ludwig's specifications.

There's another one on violin: of course you want to play it with the accompany of X. Except that X is dead. [Can't recall X's name, but X is supposed to be a famous pianist.]

Other jokes are thrown here-and-there too, though some feels a bit “crispy” (Indonesian slang for rather-dry jokes). Like these ones on violin vs viola (note: a viola is simply a slightly larger version of a violin):

• Q: what's the difference between violins and violas?
  A: violas can burn longer
  
• Q: how many vioalas are needed to change a lightbulb?
  A: none, they can't reach that high.

Oh, you can find the book at Pageone@vivocity. Disclaimer: I'm in no way associated with the bookstore.