# Astonishing Musicianship



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)




----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

The Butterfly Lovers video is astonishing; the level of skill these youngsters demonstrate is awesome. I've heard groups like this in China and its amazing what they can do - the energy and genuine feeling is inspiring. And frightening: they play Bach, Beethoven, Brahms equally as well - with standard western orchestral instruments.


----------



## pediatrie3emerotatio (8 mo ago)

One that always messes with my mind about musicians is the ability to listen. Because music is a "hearing art", having an incredibly accurate ear for pitch makes a big difference. I find it interesting because it's not necessary to become a great musician, but it is a key attribute that makes all other elements of music easier. On your number 3, I have always found musicians I greatly respect can not only bare their soul, but there's this mood about many great musicians. It's not a "trying" effort. They aren't trying to impress anyone. This is just what they do, and they are having a blast, and if you aren't along for the show, it doesn't make much of difference. I think anyone can "feel" when someone is trying and it shows in a lot of little ways.
192.168.100.1 192.168.1.1​


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Excellent points Pedia. Especially with jazz, an improvisational art, true masters can unfurl a string of notes that sound like somebody wrote them with great effort over a long period of time. Paul Desmond, for instance, could quote three or four other songs in the course of a solo, often songs that were related not only harmonically to the song he was soloing on, but often he'd choose songs that had the same word in the title or the title was somehow related to what he was playing. His mind worked so fast it sometimes takes YEARS to catch up to him.


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Being an aficionado of flamenco, I am always astounded by the easy proficiency with which the many fine guitarists accompanying singers play their instruments. Their mastery of _ligados_, the plucking of strings by the left hand while continuing to finger the other strings is amazing to see when the camera zooms in on their left hand work.


----------



## scott.stucky48 (7 mo ago)

The 1955 Czech PO in the second movement of Shostakovich's 10th Symphony.


----------



## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

mbhaub said:


> ...And frightening: they play Bach, Beethoven, Brahms equally as well - with standard western orchestral instruments.


You know who I find 'frightening'? Lang Lang.


----------



## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

mbhaub said:


> The Butterfly Lovers video is astonishing; the level of skill these youngsters demonstrate is awesome. I've heard groups like this in China and its amazing what they can do - the energy and genuine feeling is inspiring.* And frightening: they play Bach, Beethoven, Brahms equally as well - with standard western orchestral instruments.*


I was contemporary with Evelyn Glennie at my Alma Mater. I remember once walking through the practice rooms corridor and hearing the most fantastic Mozart being played on piano drifting in the air. I looked in the room to see it was her playing, so not just a virtuoso percussionist when younger. (...just as an aside, I remember when I first spoke to her in the student bar I didn't realise she was deaf until she mentioned it).


----------

