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well there a first time for everything & I just bought my very first classical music CD. Bach on the mandolin, Chris makes it sounds so sweet on you tube I figured what the hell. might as well expand my music library. I only hope the whole CD is as good as what he plays on the video & there is a volume 2 & 3.
I just listened to the youtube video of Sonata #1 in G minor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3lH_Tevw5o . He's very good, for a mandolin player.
Then I listened to a violin play the same piece https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpDaLZsZS4c no competition
Well, it's not a competition and you're on a mandolin site, so......
What blows me away as much as anything is that he seems to have it all memorized, no sheet music required....
thank you cornfield. after listing to it on both violin & mandolin I must say to me Chris just seems to put his soul into it & give it a whole new life & feeling. an yes this is a mandolin web site but that does not mean I am going to give it an automatic get out of jail card & like it squarrity just because I like Chris & the mandolin. he just seems to it a soul when he plays Bach. an your right jaycat no sheet music he is amazing in my book to.
Jaycat- when you practice the Bach Sonatas or Partitas enough so that it's at a "performance" level, it almost always becomes memorized, even though they're 4+ minutes long. Not to take anything away from Chris Thile- he's an exceptional musician performing at an incredibly high level.
Most classical soloists perform without sheet music. Practice the piece enough and it becomes like walking a well-worn path in your mind: you recognize landmarks and signposts and know where to turn and what's coming up next. That's how I experience playing the Bach Violin Prelude in E Maj.
The mind is an incredible organ.
Violin students are taught many of these works in their teens or early twenties, when the memory is like a sponge. The notes get embedded there just from the effort made to learn them. And revisiting the pieces repeatedly against the backdrop of life's experiences over many years never fails to bring more insight into the music itself. Bach never gets old.
bratsche
Billy and Bratsche, thank for the clarifications (not that it makes it any the less amazing in my eyes)...
Watch an organist play Bach sometime. They will have their hands playing two manuals while their feet are going at the pedals. They better have it memorized .
I'm glad that Chris has opened your eyes to classical music,especially Bach. I'd strongly encourage you to listen to more of it, no matter what genre you usually listen to or play. Variety is a wonderful thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by mandolin tony
I was a big fan of the great organist Virgil Fox. At one concert he introduced Bach's Gigue Fugue, describing how all of the voices came in one by one and said "when the bass comes in on the pedals, I'll literally be dancing a jig on the pedal board". Darned if he wasn't right!Quote:
Originally Posted by Cornfield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya7Pop9QoUo
I have a friend that is a DJ on WFDU FM 89.1. his name is Brian & he has invited me to bring some of my rare classic rock Lp's down to the radio station between 1 am to 6 am on Saturday morning. if it does not snow I will be there & I will bring that CD of Bach with Chris playing the mandolin with me. I will also bring Neil Young Live on Sugar Mountain & the Beach boys meet the Grateful Dead live at Carnage hall, plus Buddy Holly demo tapes & much more. please listen if you can. you can also pick up the station via the internet, take care & thanks for all the Bach info I think he rocks.
Ah! Bach!, Ah Chris! I like it.
I watched Fox play that in a concert back sometime in the '70s, and don't think I've heard the piece since, but that very performance was what came to my mind when Cornfield mentioned the organ. And how much fun he had playing it - you can see he was still singing it to himself as he took his bows. What a showman! Thanks for the memories.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Busman
bratsche
the pipe organ reminds me of a old Neil Young song he did on the organ. just think if Chris & Neil were to get together, what they could write & sing. it would be awesome.
What a showman indeed. You probably went to one of his "Heavy Organ" concerts where he toured with a massive Rogers traveling organ. There's more information here:Quote:
Originally Posted by bratsche
http://www.concertvault.com/virgil-f...r-01-1970.html
I went to I think two of these shows, possibly that one at the Fillmore East and they were amazing.They had a full 70's era lightshow going on in the background, synced to the music. Fox wore flamboyant multi colored jackets. At one of the concerts he had rhinestones on the heels of his shoe soles. When the pedal board came in they lit those heels with a spotlight and they sparkled like crazy!
Yes, it was over the top glitzy, but Fox's idea was to introduce this incredible music to a new,younger generation who may have never given it a listen. Showmanship aside, when it came time to play he was all business and he imbued the music with irrepressible joy.He played to packed houses and I'll bet he created a lot of lifelong Bach fans.
oh yes the 70's, if you could remember you were not there.
Neil Young has often traveled with a pump organ. I've seen him use it for "After the Gold Rush" in a concert with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.Quote:
Originally Posted by mandolin tony
Pump organs are inexpensive and are incredibly cool http://www.organforum.com/forums/for...mp-Reed-Organs
I would love to hear Neil on the organ & Chris playing electric mandolin & both of them doing a blues number.
If you ever get a chance to duet with a pump organ you will probably have to retune. Most of them were built nearly 100 years ago when A=445. Today there is the A=440 standard. Pump organs can be returned but it is an expensive process. They don’t go out of tune though.
I have two of them. One is a portable that was made in 1950 for traveling religious people. That one is tuned A=440.
This is correct, although a century ago (a little longer in some places) other tuning systems were just as (or more) common as A445, since there was no universally agreed upon standard. But yes, it's kind of a roll of the dice what any given wind instrument from a century ago will have as a reference pitch. In those cases, the mandolin player will always have the honor of having to completely retune ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Cornfield
Thile is the first to admit there's instances where the violin is, "Just... uhhhhh!".
Most honest musicians will concede that the violin is the pinnacle of musicianship. I rented one for 3 months and I choked on a big hunk of humble pie the entire time.
I got the cd a few days ago, & I must say I love it.