How is this physically possible?

[Dave Johnston]

Wang is incredible!! Thx for sharing this.

[Tom Fones]

I wonder if there is an entry in Guinness for most notes per minute.

[Chris Weber]

I don’t know if Guinness tracks that, but tempo on songs can be stated as bpm, beats per minute. It might be on the sheet music. So it probably wouldn’t be that hard to track.

[Jung Roe]

Hi JP

Thanks for sharing these. Yeah Yuja Wang is amazing, and she’s climbed up into the top echelon of the greatest pianists of all time lists all over the the classical music community.

That second Bach Adagio rendition was done very beautifully. Bach’s Adagio is absolutely stirring. Bach is a musical world of it’s own you can easily get lost in, I can see how great musicians like Glenn Gould devoted a life time to Bach’s music, and why so many artists in the rock/pop industry like George Martin, Paul McCartney, Ray Davies….etc admired his music from over 250 years ago. Bach captures the beautiful essence of the universe.

[Ian Boggs]

Gents, you have set me on a new journey of discovery.

For me, the two standout classical pieces of the 20th century would be Ravel’s Bolero and Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue.

After watching the Rick Beato video about Wang, one of the suggestions was her with the Wiener Philharmonic playing R. I. B. Naturally, I had to watch.

Well! What to say?

I’ve heard a lot of versions of this piece and since I was a kid, I thought that Leonard Bernstein at piano and conducting the Columbia Symphony was the best I’d heard. Others seemed a bit dull to me.

That has changed.

As far as I can tell, the arrangement is the same. I could be wrong here. I just hear all the right notes on all the right instruments………

But the feeling is changed; intensified, if you like. The brass use more wah on their mutes, the tempo is bent back and forth more and then there is Wang.

What she does with the tempo, dynamics and syncopation floored me. I don’t have words for this.

Watching her face, especially during her little solos, shows that she is feeling every note and loving each one. If I close my eyes and not watch, I can still hear it and feel it myself.

Music really is a language.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO-4X3iBGws

Thank you very much for this pointer. 🙂

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by  Ian Boggs. Reason: Forgot to add link

[Chris Weber]

You said, “Music really is a language.”

Agreed. I’ve always said that.

I think that’s one reason it’s so universal.

[Ian Boggs]

Indeed. I;m far from the first to have said it.

Maybe folks would like to share this around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zvjW9arAZ0&pp=ygUhdmljdG9yIHdvb3RlbiBtdXNpYyBhcyBhIGxhbmd1YWdl

[Chris Weber]

Everything he said is true. I can think of a lot of examples. And he said it really well. He is a teacher indeed. Thanks for posting that, Ian.

I’m going to share that vid with other people. So many Ted talks that I’ve seen that move me – that was another great one.

[Chris Weber]

And I’ll mention one more thought.

Can you imagine those two toddlers we see in some videos, wandering around at a home with a studio in it, with pro musicians coming and going, growing up that way.

It’s no wonder Mona and Lisa speak music so well.

[David Herrick]

I agree: what this guy says about learning music in the same way as we learn our native language makes so much sense in retrospect, and yet it probably never would have occurred to me.

I’m also struck by his “pedestal” comment near the end. It’s really worthy of contemplation.

[Ian Boggs]

Yes; the commitment.

I see no reason why any of us who play anything shouldn’t join him on the battlefield.

Getting out and playing acoustically in streets and parks might spread a little joy where it is needed. Besides; why should Mona and Lisa have all the fun?

What if playing outdoors for the joy of it just kinda became a ‘thing’? I mean, when I was a kid, guitars at the beach was pretty normal.

We can’t bring those days back but we can make today a little brighter.

Here comes the sun, doot ‘n doo doo…………

[Chris Weber]

Yuja is amazingly talented. I also thought she needs a good piano to be able to do that too. The action needs to be in good condition to play that fast.

And it reminds me of something I used to tell people.

“If the leader calls a Rock tune, it doesn’t matter if you can’t play Rachmaninoff.” You can play lots of styles of piano really well without ever playing like that, or even playing stride

Too bad you can’t hear some of the old time players, to see how they could play. Looking at the music they wrote, they must have played really well.

[Phil Whitley]

WOW! Yula Wang WOW! I wish I could play the guitar at half her speed!