I've just come across this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkmFgQ9fM94&feature=related
of the great violinist Itzhak Perlman at some Klezmer sessions, listening to and learning the Klezmer music, recognising that he is very much a learner in this field, taking advice from the knowledgeable musicians around him, and, not least of all, thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. Things for us all to bear in mind.
You'll also hear his voice-over at intervals in this 10-minute video.
On another level, this is an opportunity to see one of the world's top musicians playing music for the relaxed fun of it and not in the formal surroundings of a concert hall etc.
I noticed that too, they tend to follow what the music is doing. Bear in mind he wasn't playing his classical pieces which he knows inside out and can play in his sleep; in those Klezmer sessions he was learning by ear and improvising when required to do so.
I thought this was really cool. I always liked to hear him play classical music when I was a kid and was learning that music.
As a (now) proper Irish American fiddler and a recovering classical violinist, I know exactly what he's feeling. It's nice Itzhak, right? Getting back to your roots? HA! Great stuff, and those guys can really play, too. Whew.
Sunnybear, it looked to me as if Itzhak was using two fiddles in the video. The first one, in the outdoors session at the beginning looked lighter (in fact reddish merging into a lighter colour) with a light-coloured tailpiece. The second one, indoors, looked an older instrument and seemed to have a dark tailpiece. Was the second one the Strad? If he was using two fiddles my guess is "yes", because insurance companies tend to get nervous about Strads and the like being played outdoors.
It's just a thought, but i wonder if he uses a replica for informal occasions.
A specialist luthier can make a replica of a "named" fiddle to a standard such that it is very difficult to tell the difference soundwise between it and the original. Another specialist can then "distress" the replica to make it look identical to the original. The audience can't tell the difference, the insurers are happy, and there'll be a substantial saving in the premium.
This webpage http://www.jose-sanchez-penzo.net/strad2k.html tells us that he owns two Strads, the "Sinsheimer" of 1721 and the "Soil" of 1714, the previous owner of which was Yehudi Menuhin.
So it looks like he was using both Strads in the video, and my previous post is therefore now not really relevant - unless both instruments are replicas!
Thanks for that link, Sunnybear. Pity Cao doesn't appear to have a presence this side of the Atlantic However, there are a number of luthiers in Europe doing the same sort of thing - it's just that I don't know who they are offhand.
Last year I met a professional cellist who was giving a recital to patients at a local hospital so I went along to listen (my wife works there, which is how I found out). He was playing a cello he had bought from a former colleague in one of the big London orchestras, and this cello had been made in Italy to order as an exact replica of a particular Strad except that it hadn't been distressed, so it looks very much as Stradivari would have made it (except for the longer fingerboard and a few other modern details).
The luthier apparently spent several weeks examining, measuring and photographing the original - which is in a museum I understand - and then used old wood in the making, employing the same techniques and tools that Stradivari would have used, including details like sharkskin to rub the wood smooth. The final result is a Stradivari sound (albeit to modern requirements). I was allowed to play it for a few minutes - the closest I'm ever likely to come to the real thing! The cost? - a minute fraction of the original but no more really than someone would pay for a top of the range family car, with the plus of an almost insignificant insurance premium.
Luthiers have been copying violins since, well, Stradivari....
it's just that some of these folks make accurate replications , even down to, say, the wax stamp that someone put on the back of the scroll of the Paginini Guerneri
and some of these fiddles are much better than the fiddles they are copying...they have yet to be "ruined " by regraduation by untrained luthiers, etc...
Vieulleume (sp?) regraduated countless Strads, not all to the best effect, but it was the trendy thing to do at the time...
sorry this is off-topic, but does anyone know if there are pedigreed factory fiddles out there named after their famous Irish owners? I'd love to know the fates of instruments belonging to Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford etc.
Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
I've just come across this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkmFgQ9fM94&feature=related
of the great violinist Itzhak Perlman at some Klezmer sessions, listening to and learning the Klezmer music, recognising that he is very much a learner in this field, taking advice from the knowledgeable musicians around him, and, not least of all, thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. Things for us all to bear in mind.
You'll also hear his voice-over at intervals in this 10-minute video.
On another level, this is an opportunity to see one of the world's top musicians playing music for the relaxed fun of it and not in the formal surroundings of a concert hall etc.
# Posted on May 27th 2008 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
That is muy cool, 'hound. I wish such a session existed where I am.
# Posted on May 27th 2008 by Hup
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
HIs facial expressions are almost as good as his playing.
# Posted on May 27th 2008 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
I noticed that too, they tend to follow what the music is doing. Bear in mind he wasn't playing his classical pieces which he knows inside out and can play in his sleep; in those Klezmer sessions he was learning by ear and improvising when required to do so.
# Posted on May 27th 2008 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
I thought this was really cool. I always liked to hear him play classical music when I was a kid and was learning that music.
As a (now) proper Irish American fiddler and a recovering classical violinist, I know exactly what he's feeling. It's nice Itzhak, right? Getting back to your roots? HA! Great stuff, and those guys can really play, too. Whew.
# Posted on May 27th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
that was a treat!
his cd"In the Fiddlers House" explores the Klezmer music...it is quite good
he is a great fiddler,no matter what genre he is playing...he knows his instrument inside out..that's how he can improvise like that
..and he is playing this session with his Strad to boot!
# Posted on May 28th 2008 by Sunnybear
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
Sunnybear, it looked to me as if Itzhak was using two fiddles in the video. The first one, in the outdoors session at the beginning looked lighter (in fact reddish merging into a lighter colour) with a light-coloured tailpiece. The second one, indoors, looked an older instrument and seemed to have a dark tailpiece. Was the second one the Strad? If he was using two fiddles my guess is "yes", because insurance companies tend to get nervous about Strads and the like being played outdoors.
# Posted on May 28th 2008 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
ironically the first fiddle, the outdoor one, looks like his Strad, the "Soil" of 1715
but upon another look it may have a mic on the bridge and I don't think Perlamn would do that to his Strad
the second fiddle was definitely not the Soil
# Posted on May 29th 2008 by Sunnybear
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
It's just a thought, but i wonder if he uses a replica for informal occasions.
A specialist luthier can make a replica of a "named" fiddle to a standard such that it is very difficult to tell the difference soundwise between it and the original. Another specialist can then "distress" the replica to make it look identical to the original. The audience can't tell the difference, the insurers are happy, and there'll be a substantial saving in the premium.
# Posted on May 29th 2008 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
This webpage http://www.jose-sanchez-penzo.net/strad2k.html tells us that he owns two Strads, the "Sinsheimer" of 1721 and the "Soil" of 1714, the previous owner of which was Yehudi Menuhin.
So it looks like he was using both Strads in the video, and my previous post is therefore now not really relevant - unless both instruments are replicas!
# Posted on May 29th 2008 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
http://www.scottcaoviolins.com/scviolins.html
here is a link to Scott Caos copies of instruments...among them the Soil
Cao makes very nice violins for the money
actually LH I would imagine that he is using different fiddles...it just looked like in the first part of the video that he was playing the Soil
# Posted on May 29th 2008 by Sunnybear
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
Thanks for that link, Sunnybear. Pity Cao doesn't appear to have a presence this side of the Atlantic
However, there are a number of luthiers in Europe doing the same sort of thing - it's just that I don't know who they are offhand.
Last year I met a professional cellist who was giving a recital to patients at a local hospital so I went along to listen (my wife works there, which is how I found out). He was playing a cello he had bought from a former colleague in one of the big London orchestras, and this cello had been made in Italy to order as an exact replica of a particular Strad except that it hadn't been distressed, so it looks very much as Stradivari would have made it (except for the longer fingerboard and a few other modern details).
The luthier apparently spent several weeks examining, measuring and photographing the original - which is in a museum I understand - and then used old wood in the making, employing the same techniques and tools that Stradivari would have used, including details like sharkskin to rub the wood smooth. The final result is a Stradivari sound (albeit to modern requirements). I was allowed to play it for a few minutes - the closest I'm ever likely to come to the real thing! The cost? - a minute fraction of the original but no more really than someone would pay for a top of the range family car, with the plus of an almost insignificant insurance premium.
# Posted on May 29th 2008 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
Luthiers have been copying violins since, well, Stradivari....
it's just that some of these folks make accurate replications , even down to, say, the wax stamp that someone put on the back of the scroll of the Paginini Guerneri
and some of these fiddles are much better than the fiddles they are copying...they have yet to be "ruined " by regraduation by untrained luthiers, etc...
Vieulleume (sp?) regraduated countless Strads, not all to the best effect, but it was the trendy thing to do at the time...
# Posted on May 30th 2008 by Sunnybear
Re: Itzhak Perlman learning Klezmer at sessions
sorry this is off-topic, but does anyone know if there are pedigreed factory fiddles out there named after their famous Irish owners? I'd love to know the fates of instruments belonging to Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford etc.
# Posted on May 30th 2008 by airport