Yodeling

[QUOTE author=Aragorn]Horowitz had that amazing and unique touch! [/quote]

Yes. I really appreciate listening to Horowitz. Kempf playing Beethoven too, among others.
 
Laura said:
Too bad you disagree since inborn - genetic - talent is probably more than 50% of a person's ability to do anything. We are not born blank slates that anyone or anything can write on as they wish (including ourselves).

It's no coincidence that the idea that "anyone can be what they want to be" underpins the American "way of life". What a set up! Millions of people convinced that their country was the greatest on earth because it gave them all the same chance to manifest the "truth" that we are all "blank slates" and anyone can be president! That this belief was promoted by people who are perhaps the BEST example (and not in a good way) of the reality of the fundamental differences that separate some human beings from others is also no coincidence.
 
Volodos and Arion playing is amazing!
We listening also all kind of pianist on You tube and besides Ashkenazy there are soo many gifted artists out there!
I find that not only mastering the instrument is important, technique, practice a lot, but understanding the composer's mind when he wrote the piece.
For me the major importance -knowledge- the background: What did the composer wanted to express, pay attention what's written in the notes and 'feel' it. There is communication going on from the composer through the interpreter and I try to be faithful to the original will of the composer.
I love Yundi Lee and just fly when I hear this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvm2ZsRv3C8&feature=related
 
A possible case for true talent: Paul, a mobile phone salesman from the UK, sings Nessun Dorma:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
 
Quote from: Data on Today at 01:17:14 PM
A possible case for true talent: Paul, a mobile phone salesman from the UK, sings Nessun Dorma:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
Agreed, I love his rendition of 'time to say goodbye' too. - I sing along at home - trying not to annoy the neighbours :-) BTW Potts is a forum favourite: Wow, wow, what a performance, and here: Something inspirational!!.

I prefer this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bvj6ML1xvM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_Corelli

Franco Corelli was one of the greatest tenor in the world.

[quote author=Wikipedia]Corelli was born in Ancona into a family without any musical background.[2] His father was a shipbuilder for the Italian navy and the family lived along the Adriatic Sea.[1] Corelli loved the sea and initially decided to follow in the footsteps of his father by pursuing a degree in naval engineering at the University of Bologna. While studying there he entered a music competition under the dare of a friend who was an amateur singer. While he did not win the competition, he was encouraged by the judges to pursue a singing career and Corelli entered the Pesaro Conservatory of Music to study opera.[2]

At the conservatory, Corelli studied under Rita Pavoni and Arturo Melocchi but was unhappy with the results, saying these lessons basically destroyed his upper register. After this Corelli decided to become his own teacher, and referred to voice teachers as "dangerous people" and a "plague to singers".[2] At first he tried to turn himself into a baritone, but quickly abandoned that pursuit. He then pursued learning the tenor repertoire by imitating the style and vocal effects of the recordings of great tenors like Enrico Caruso, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, Aureliano Pertile, and Beniamino Gigli.[2] Opera News stated that Corelli's technique used "a manipulation of the larynx downward that resulted in his cavernous sound even in high-flying passages, where it gained brilliance. Regulating the breath pressure, the tenor was able to reduce this sound while retaining the core of the voice in a diminuendo, or even a morendo on a high B-flat, the effect requested by Verdi at the end of 'Celeste Aida'."[1][/quote]

His education was extraordinary just like his voice, he became self -taught after many years of study with master voice teachers.
 
Laura said:
Well, while looking for additional videos of Volodos I came across this guy: Octavian Arion - playing Volodos' transcription of Mozart's Rondo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37-Ix3BRoZY

Well, I've watched Volodos playing it and this guy is just amazing. He actually seems to do it better!

So, I poked around a bit and found some more by this Romanian fellow I never heard of before.

A little background: I'm a lover of Liszt and I've combed amazon a number of times looking for people playing Liszt nowadays. There aren't many because it is so demanding. Ashkenazy and Barenboim kind of avoid him because their hands aren't big enough. Horowitz did a transcription of the 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody that is quite clever, but I think he did it to avoid the reaches. Volodos does Horowitz's transcription too. So, I've been looking for somebody who plays Liszt in the original, and voila! Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPQe156dEgM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoiYXmjluH8&feature=related

He didn't add to or subtract from, a single note of the original composition.

Have a look at this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdlb9I7kn9c

When he's done playing and stands up, look at the size of the guy!

On another note, I read that Volodos would have been totally unknown because he "doesn't like competition" if he had not been discovered giving a private performance. Maybe that's an aspect of "talent" - that you love the art for its own sake and don't have competitive impulses about it?

Whoa! VERY INTERESTING!!!! LOVE IT!!!! Yes, I love Listz as well esp. this:

From the Album of: Hyperion: Premiere Annee Pelerinage - Suisse Trois morceaus suisses: Leslie Howard
Front.JPG

MP3: Annees De Pelerinage-Au lac de Wallenstadt

Also, looking at Octavio, I found this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37-Ix3BRoZY&feature=related

Wow! Thanks for the information on Octavio!
 
anothermagyar said:
Quote from: Data on Today at 01:17:14 PM
A possible case for true talent: Paul, a mobile phone salesman from the UK, sings Nessun Dorma:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
Agreed, I love his rendition of 'time to say goodbye' too. - I sing along at home - trying not to annoy the neighbours :-) BTW Potts is a forum favourite: Wow, wow, what a performance, and here: Something inspirational!!.

I prefer this:

_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bvj6ML1xvM

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_Corelli

Franco Corelli was one of the greatest tenor in the world.
His education was extraordinary just like his voice, he became self -taught after many years of study with master voice teachers.
Corelli's Nessun Dorma is of course better from a professional point of view. Even if he was "self taught" (I always take these comments by the great "divas" as being self taught with a pinch of salt. They just love to point this out...the fact is that we all are self taught-one ultimately must find ones own way of doing things, don't you agree?) he had been honing his skills for many years having some guidance from professionals. Paul Potts on the other hand (or at least so we are told) has had none of this and STILL is capable of singing Nessun Dorma, now that is talent for sure. If I want to listen to a satisfying version of Nessun Dorma I probably wont choose the Potts version, but that doesn't mean I don't respect his talent. Let's hope the business machinery doesn't ruin his voice and personality.

Since we're talking about singers (sorry, you got me started :lol:), I'd love to list many classical singers here that are very talented in my opinion, but I'll save it to that other thread you started. But one singer I just must bring forward here, that is the baritone Thomas Quasthoff. From wikipedia:

Thomas Quasthoff (born November 9, 1959) is a German bass-baritone generally regarded as one of the finest singers of his generation. Although his reputation was initially based on his performance of Romantic lieder, Quasthoff has proved to have a remarkable range from the Baroque cantatas of Bach to solo jazz improvisations.

Quasthoff was born in Hildesheim, Germany, with serious birth defects caused by his mother's exposure during pregnancy to the drug thalidomide which was prescribed as an antiemetic to combat her morning sickness. Thomas Quasthoff is unusually short (about four feet tall) due to shortening of the long bones in his legs, and he has phocomelia of the upper extremities with very short or absent long bones and flipper-like appearance of his hands.
Quasthoff was denied admission to the music conservatory in Hanover, Germany, owing to his physical inability to play the piano, then a requirement for entry to the conservatory. He chose to study voice privately. He also studied law for three years. Prior to his music career, he worked six years as a radio announcer for NDR. He also did voice-over work for television.

Let him "speak" for himself. First, here he sings the famous Erlkönig by Schubert:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJsTfuM43J8

Then, listen to this - Old Man River:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiVwGsolJ3A

And then finally a complete "jaw drop", him doing jazz improvisation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkwKK-NjryU

Pretty talented, huh? OSIT
 
Hildegarda said:
It's not at a stupid question at all; actually it's not that straightforward.

Early talent selection programs for children try to gauge the child's natural sensitivity to pitch and rhythm (with simple assignments such as "find the note that has just sounded", "sing this song" or "clap this"). They are also looking at the child's natural ease at the instrument, how relaxed s\he is and how pliable the hands are. The teachers also somewhat subconsciously look at how "teachable" the child is, in a rather narrow understanding: how quickly s\he picks up instructions and adjust to the particular teacher's personality. So, the initial screening is for a person who is sensitive to sounds, a quick study, and compliant. Afterwords, it's judging how well and quickly the child progresses early on.

From what I've seen in music education, I don't think those early selection programs work. Meaning, they are not superior to non-selective programs that accept everyone who is interested, and then lets people self-sort based on motivation and actual achievement. I believe that the original Suzuki institute in Japan has years of stats on that. They are a non-selective program whose graduates go into professional musicianship in very high numbers.

With voice, they would do a similar thing: trying the person's voice range (how high or how low can you go), voice mobility and a good ear (how well you accurately you can repeat a sequence of notes), and listening for the voice's overall tone, volume and tembre. These seem like more objective measures, but they are also for a more narrow task, it's not simply selecting for an aptitude to music but also for a quality of the physical instrument -- the voice -- that is going to make this music.

Advanced programs select on proficiency, not talent.

Aragorn said:
You could look up the Finnish researcher Kai Karma. He has developed a musicality test for children and some other studies too. Unfortunately doing a quick search I couldn't find any publications of this musicality test in English. I could look it up the next time I visit the Music Academy in Helsinki if you're interested. Maybe they have it in English, dunno.

Thanks! I'll do some research in these areas and see what I can find.
 
Aragorn said:
Let him "speak" for himself. First, here he sings the famous Erlkönig by Schubert:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJsTfuM43J8

This was a special treat because the second number in this video is the Serenade which is, oddly, one of the few pieces that I did NOT lose and can still play relatively competently. My kids have always loved it.
 
Aragorn said:
You could look up the Finnish researcher Kai Karma. He has developed a musicality test for children and some other studies too. Unfortunately doing a quick search I couldn't find any publications of this musicality test in English.

here is a little bit about his method in the introduction:

\\http://books.google.com/books?id=OyRZAQL0x6QC&pg=PA221&lpg=PA221&dq=Kai+Karma&source=bl&ots=7r7k9u7bN5&sig=RNcKP7ElqRxSZJoK1N5NKAuvZcU&hl=en&ei=DucGS9n6CcbZnAfJuYjFCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Kai%20Karma&f=false

interesting!
 
[quote author=Aragorn]Quote
Thomas Quasthoff (born November 9, 1959) is a German bass-baritone generally regarded as one of the finest singers of his generation. Although his reputation was initially based on his performance of Romantic lieder, Quasthoff has proved to have a remarkable range from the Baroque cantatas of Bach to solo jazz improvisations.

Quasthoff was born in Hildesheim, Germany, with serious birth defects caused by his mother's exposure during pregnancy to the drug thalidomide which was prescribed as an antiemetic to combat her morning sickness. Thomas Quasthoff is unusually short (about four feet tall) due to shortening of the long bones in his legs, and he has phocomelia of the upper extremities with very short or absent long bones and flipper-like appearance of his hands.
Quasthoff was denied admission to the music conservatory in Hanover, Germany, owing to his physical inability to play the piano, then a requirement for entry to the conservatory. He chose to study voice privately. He also studied law for three years. Prior to his music career, he worked six years as a radio announcer for NDR. He also did voice-over work for television.

Let him "speak" for himself. First, here he sings the famous Erlkönig by Schubert:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJsTfuM43J8

Then, listen to this - Old Man River:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiVwGsolJ3A

And then finally a complete "jaw drop", him doing jazz improvisation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkwKK-NjryU

Pretty talented, huh? OSIT[/quote]

Thank you Aragorn for the treat! :)

Wonderful voice and style!
 
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