Violists are indeed the butt of most music jokes. When we were in college, we had thought about assembling all the viola jokes and finding someone to publish them. If I had found a publisher, I might have made a quick buck but I might also never get hired for a gig with a violist again.
In this small video I can assure you no violists were injured:
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Thursday, September 10, 2009
see no evil, hear no evil
I was rehearsing today for a church service today when the church secretary started to talk to me about her disappointment at a concert she had gone to. It peaked my curiosity so I stood and listened.
She had paid real money to go to Carnegie Hall, to hear the New York Philharmonic accompany Andrea Bocelli.
How do I describe Bocelli? I hate him. I personally can’t stand his voice or his inability to phrase or sing half the music he attempts. His is a very small voice, with little carrying power. So of course my first question was “WAS HE MIKED?” Her answer was NO, which did not bode well. She said that from the first balcony at the front, she could not hear Bocelli, and that the orchestra was too loud. I beg to comment that the orchestra was just fine, Bocelli was too soft.
A number of years ago, I read that the Metropolitan Opera was getting bombarded by people writing them to ask when Bocelli would be singing at the met. RIGHT! Bocelli can undoubtedly fill the Met with people, however only a fraction of them would be able to hear anything that he had to say, sing, hum whatever.
Bocelli is a singer, nothing more nothing less. He does not possess a voice for opera, and should stay as far away from it as possible. His recordings of full opera are little more than curiosities, which are to be laughed at and played during parties as part of some obscene listening game.
When Pavarotti died, I was rather upset to see Bocelli singing at the funeral. First of all, he sang badly, second of all, this man HAD a career. He has sold more records as a “classical artist” than he had any business doing. What he should have done is stepped aside and asked that a young tenor from a small Italian town be given the honor of bidding the grand maestro good-bye. Thereby insuring that a new generation of operatic singer be given a good push onto the world stage. No, instead the media hog stood in and sung himself.
A number of years ago, my sister had a birthday party at Mohegan Sun. The room reserved was the presidential suite at the hotel. It was quite nice with a panoramic view and steps and all sorts of furniture and accoutrement. The people were trying to impress me in that Andrea Bocelli had been there the night before. I looked at them and said what a waste. This is a death trap for a blind man. What does he need with the view from the top of the building. His seeing eye dog will have a fun time peeing on the leg of the piano! You could have given him the first floor and he would have been none the wiser!
If Bocelli wants to sing his italian songs and make pop albums, that is fine with me, but leave the New York Philharmonic out of it. Don't let the youth of today believe that this is "singing." Trust me there are plenty of singers out there who have better voices than him, unfortunately for them they have their vision.
She had paid real money to go to Carnegie Hall, to hear the New York Philharmonic accompany Andrea Bocelli.
How do I describe Bocelli? I hate him. I personally can’t stand his voice or his inability to phrase or sing half the music he attempts. His is a very small voice, with little carrying power. So of course my first question was “WAS HE MIKED?” Her answer was NO, which did not bode well. She said that from the first balcony at the front, she could not hear Bocelli, and that the orchestra was too loud. I beg to comment that the orchestra was just fine, Bocelli was too soft.
A number of years ago, I read that the Metropolitan Opera was getting bombarded by people writing them to ask when Bocelli would be singing at the met. RIGHT! Bocelli can undoubtedly fill the Met with people, however only a fraction of them would be able to hear anything that he had to say, sing, hum whatever.
Bocelli is a singer, nothing more nothing less. He does not possess a voice for opera, and should stay as far away from it as possible. His recordings of full opera are little more than curiosities, which are to be laughed at and played during parties as part of some obscene listening game.
When Pavarotti died, I was rather upset to see Bocelli singing at the funeral. First of all, he sang badly, second of all, this man HAD a career. He has sold more records as a “classical artist” than he had any business doing. What he should have done is stepped aside and asked that a young tenor from a small Italian town be given the honor of bidding the grand maestro good-bye. Thereby insuring that a new generation of operatic singer be given a good push onto the world stage. No, instead the media hog stood in and sung himself.
A number of years ago, my sister had a birthday party at Mohegan Sun. The room reserved was the presidential suite at the hotel. It was quite nice with a panoramic view and steps and all sorts of furniture and accoutrement. The people were trying to impress me in that Andrea Bocelli had been there the night before. I looked at them and said what a waste. This is a death trap for a blind man. What does he need with the view from the top of the building. His seeing eye dog will have a fun time peeing on the leg of the piano! You could have given him the first floor and he would have been none the wiser!
If Bocelli wants to sing his italian songs and make pop albums, that is fine with me, but leave the New York Philharmonic out of it. Don't let the youth of today believe that this is "singing." Trust me there are plenty of singers out there who have better voices than him, unfortunately for them they have their vision.
Monday, June 22, 2009
the Horrible Staccato
Great violin virtuosos are supposed to have a great staccato but for some this technique is quite elusive. Even great violinists like Milstein or Kogan didn't have the greatest staccatos.
However I give you that acid test of staccato...the Hora Staccato.
First we have the composer himself. Dinicu was a wonderful violinist whose one ethnic background peppered his playing and his compositions. No one can really copy this performance and really do it HIS way:
Of course Heifetz heard this and wanted to have a go, so he made his own arrangement and did both up and down bow staccato just to prove that he was, IN FACT, THE man!
Many people prefer the Michael Rabin recording which has an incredible velocity, however one wonders if Rabin's stacatto is only one speed.
whatever your choice i suppose it is still one of those guilty pleasures
However I give you that acid test of staccato...the Hora Staccato.
First we have the composer himself. Dinicu was a wonderful violinist whose one ethnic background peppered his playing and his compositions. No one can really copy this performance and really do it HIS way:
Of course Heifetz heard this and wanted to have a go, so he made his own arrangement and did both up and down bow staccato just to prove that he was, IN FACT, THE man!
Many people prefer the Michael Rabin recording which has an incredible velocity, however one wonders if Rabin's stacatto is only one speed.
whatever your choice i suppose it is still one of those guilty pleasures
Friday, June 12, 2009
The Great Train Robbery
Two differing views of the Great Train Robbery, by some of the greats of British comedy
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
duet
I happen to have performed this piece and know that both parts are fraught with technical problems. I find this amusing that the cellist plays the violin as he would a cello, unfortunately, as a violinist, it is highly unlikely that I will play the cello the way that I hold the violin.
There are other attempts at duets like these. Some instrumentalists like to play both parts of the Bach double violin concerto (Heifetz) or the Sarasate Navarra (Rosand), however the most interesting one is probably the recording that Artur Grumiaux made of himself playing the violin AND the piano part to a Mozart and a Brahms Sonata. Grumiaux was a great violinist and a very good pianist. The story goes that he excelled at both as a youth and his grandfather made the decision that he would study the violin at the conservatoire since there were lots of pianists.
The piano worlds' loss is the violin worlds' gain.
Then of course there is Ethan Winer who came up with this ditty.
maybe it is a cellist thing
There are other attempts at duets like these. Some instrumentalists like to play both parts of the Bach double violin concerto (Heifetz) or the Sarasate Navarra (Rosand), however the most interesting one is probably the recording that Artur Grumiaux made of himself playing the violin AND the piano part to a Mozart and a Brahms Sonata. Grumiaux was a great violinist and a very good pianist. The story goes that he excelled at both as a youth and his grandfather made the decision that he would study the violin at the conservatoire since there were lots of pianists.
The piano worlds' loss is the violin worlds' gain.
Then of course there is Ethan Winer who came up with this ditty.
maybe it is a cellist thing
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Branford, tell us what you REALLY think
I think once they get to him, these kids have been treated in such a way that it must infuriate him. I have to admit that this is a symptom of society, what we could call the Lake Wobegon effect. Lake Wobegon is of course the fictional town in Minnesota where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."
It is hard for kids of today to understand what it was like growing up in a different age. A month today is the same as a year in the past. As technology hurtles past us at this incredible rate, the amount of recordings you can download on itunes far surpasses the amount of recordings that we had at our disposal at the local Sam Goody....sam what?
Monday, April 13, 2009
it's out of his hands
This video defies description, because we don't have a clear enough view of what has happened. The violinist looks like he knows what he is doing, but the violin looks like it has been pulled by the scroll away from him. I can only assume that the conductor with all of his waving got his sleeve caught in the scroll and pulled it with him.
The soloist is all smiles at the end so we assume that the instrument was not damaged.
I worked with a conductor who was telling me how he had conducted somewhere and the podium he was standing on gave way as he was leaning towards the cello section. He landed IN the cello section and let a cello break his fall. It was heavily damaged and he had to pay for thousands of dollars of repairs.
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