Not only does it show a very talented kid, but it's a reminder that Stravinsky's fearsome music has a direct sort of visceral appeal that doesn't have to be an acquired taste. Certainly some people still hear this music as bewildering and difficult to process (I once did!), but that probably has more to do with the kinds of barriers we bring to it.
Anyway, seeing it again today, I was reminded that I've been sitting on a fun video of my now 10-year old daughter trying, as a completely untrained 2-year old violinist, to play along with Anne-Sophie Mutter on the Beethoven "Spring Sonata." She had watched the Mutter video many, many times, which you can tell in such important details as the hair flip at 0:06 and the downward glance at 0:08. Daughter of MMmusing didn't really know how to use a bow then, but as the video goes along, you can tell that she knows the music quite well. She has an especially good handle on the second theme that begins around the 1:20 mark.
In some ways, the most remarkable thing is that she "played" through the entire 10-minute movement, although this video only goes up through the exposition and its repeat. She did get distracted by my camera at times, but the music always pulls her back. I've even come to enjoy the odd little aural haze that her fiddle-scratching adds to the Beethoven. The violin she's playing is just an old 16th size family instrument we happened to have around. I'm happy to report that she now actually knows what to do with a violin and could probably do a pretty credible job playing this sonata, but I might end up missing the scratchy haze. Of course, if I want that, I could always just play it with a violist...
1 comment:
have you seen this Violin Hero?
http://tinyurl.com/violinhero
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