- Oh, I'm nervous.
- Oh, I'm so nervous! Oh no! Hey! How's it going? Today, we're going to be doing... quite a challenging game. We're going to try and guess... the violinist... based on only listening to the recordings. So this is testing our hearing abilities. - Z, z, z, z...
- Wauh, wauh, wauh... So here are the rules: There are 8 pieces. Each one will have 3 different recordings. And then we'll have 3 photos of different violinists. And our job is to match the vioilnist to the correct recording. 1 point for each one. - Loser has to buy bubble tea.
- Yes, exactly. So some of you might not be able to hear the subtle differences, but we'll be listening to a lot of things like vibrato, tone, intonation... I mean, they all probably have really good intonation. Sound quality... all that type of stuff. So turn your ears on, and listen with us. All right, let's go. Dude, are you serious? Okay, okay, okay. Can we answer once it's all done? Yeah. Ooh, I don't know. I'm not guessing it. Okay. Number 2. Bro... All right. I think... All right, number 3. All right, I've locked my answers in. - Do you wanna keep going?
- Nah, I'm locking it in. You locked it in? Yeah. Let me put it down. Oh, I'm so scared. - I'm so scared to guess wrong though, 'cause like-
- Yeah... Oh... I can't say! I can't say! What do you have? - 1, 2, 3?
- Yeah. Same! - Same?
- Same. All right, let's see. Yup! Oonga boonga! - I was nervous, like...
- Yeah. I was about to second guess myself. - But... yeah.
- Okay. It's fascinating actually, how... - You can hear the difference.
- ...you can hear. Janine has... her vibrato... and her tone... is more colourful, shimmering, fiery. Yeah, and then... I also feel like... Musically, she's like on the edge with the tempo. - Like, pulling back with... more rubato.
- More rubato. Playing around with time a lot more. Yeah, Janine's is very expressive, very lyrical. James, I feel like... He's just too in tune. - The octaves.
- Yeah, he's too in tune. - Yeah, we've heard him play.
- Yeah. - I remember...
- He's like, "Bam!" we were talking to someone, I forgot who... They're like, "If you hear a recording, and every note is perfectly in tune, - it's either Hilary or James." Yeah.
- Yeah, yeah. And it's... You can also see, it's like... in comparison to Janine, it's not as like... Whoa! Whoa! It's faster and more straightforward. - He just strives forward.
- Yeah, there's a direction he's going to, right? His articulation... It reminds me a bit of Benny's. Eddy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chloe Chua... I feel like I could tell because... it just sounded a bit younger. Mm, I think, musically, it sounded... - less...
- Less... There's less conviction, I'll say. - ...less personality, which I think is natural.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- 'Cause when you're still younger... Brett: Well, it takes time to build it. James and Janine are like... They've got like, 30 years on top of Chloe, - Brett: in terms of career, right?
- Eddy: Yeah. Brett: Chloe's like... - playing it really well.
- It's just safer. - It's a very- Yeah, exactly, exactly.
- It's a safer performance. Nice! Uh-oh. - OH WHAT?
- Oh, speaking of Benny! - Oh, I'm nervous.
- Oh, I'm so nervous! - Why did we agree to do this video?
- I wanna send a photo to Benny just while we're at it. Sorry, we might offend you, but... All right! Why does the recording sound so low budget? I think it's- I think I know! Oh wait. - Aw, it's like an iPhone recording.
- Yeah, that's not fair! It's a really bad recording. That's not fair. Yeah, next one. - Like, bad recording quality, I mean.
- Yeah. All right, next. That's better. Oh god! Oh, come on! - All right, that's messed up.
- Okay, next one. - I'm not sure 100%.
- Ooh, was that it? - I'm not sure 100%.
- I feel like it's not fair with the first one. It's not a very good recording, but I'm locking mine in. - I'm not sure, either.
- Yeah, same. I'm going with my intuition. Okay, you say it this time. So what do you have? I went the other way. Ooh. - But the first one, I just thought it was an old recording.
- The first one is so hard. So I just went Itzhak Perlman. I didn't think it's an old recording. - I think it's just a bad quality recording.
- Yeah. - I think someone's like... Yeah.
- It sounded like an iPhone in the audience. But second is definitely Hilary. - Second is 100%-
- I love how we just looked at each other like... "That's gonna be Hilary." - Oh! You got it right.
- Yes! Yes. You know why I thought Benny? Can I show you a little bit? That! - Yeah! I can- He's on the tip. Yeah.
- That's such a Benny thing. Yeah, that's true... - He's got that concentrated, sizzly sound.
- Yeah. Damn it. - Yeah, it's true.
- Yeah. Stupid iPhone recording! Not fair! And Hilary was just so... - Dude, it was just like...
- ...perfect. "Paw! Paw! Paw! Paw! Paw! Paw!" PAH!! "HOO-PAH!" in your face. Yeah, I wanna hear the bit that we both knew it was Hilary. That! That sounds so Hilary. Every attack on the string is like... It's like the E-string down, it's like... "You ain't getting away." Hilary's gonna articulate the... SH** outta you, hey. - It's got that... yeah, that weight.
- Fire, yeah. - Oh! So good!
- Brett: Oh my god. Last one was like- - Yeah, okay, fair enough.
- Yeah. That was good, so... - So...
- They're all pretty good. - I'm on 6 points. You're on 4 points.
- Yeah. Let's go. Oh, Hilary again! Okay, okay, that's interesting. Okay, let's go. Okay, okay... Yeah, okay, next one. I've got it. - Yeah, okay, next one.
- Next, next, next. Okay, okay... Okay... Damn! We should do a video with Hilary again. Yeah. - I'm always humbled by how good Hilary is.
- Brett: All right. - Yeah, I've got Heifetz, Vengerov...
- That's messed up. Yeah, same. That was messed up. Yeah. - I think that was pretty obvious.
- Yeah, it's pretty obvious. Heifetz is just... You can- It's kind of an old recording, - but you can hear the vibrato.
- Yeah. And also shifting, like... The shift was what gave it away. He slurred a bit as well. - "Drrrr!" And like-
- It's such a Heifetz thing. - It's like, everything is too easy for him.
- Yeah. - I mean, it's just old school.
- Old school, yeah. And Vengerov... - He just tries differently.
- He tried something different. - Like, "In the Russian winters!"
- Yeah, ha ha ha! - "Playing Baroque tuning!"
- Yeah, yeah. And Hilary Hahn is Hilary Hahn. Yep! - Nice.
- Hilary is just so sustained! But sustained in a way where it's like the sound is... so... There's nothing imperfect. Yeah, and the sound keeps going, - and it doesn't bother you.
- Yeah. - Like, I can imagine people sustaining, but it just sounds bad.
- Eddy: Yeah. - It sounds like an organ, dude, which is like Bach.
- Yeah. Ooh, okay, okay! This might be hard. I really don't wanna offend anyone. - Are you sending a photo to Bomsori now?
- Yeah... I don't know. I don't listen to... Okay. - I don't know.
- Next one. I think this one, I need to compare. Ooh. Okay, next one. Okay. Yeah, okay. Okay, okay. I know. - I'm more confident about the last one.
- Yeah. I don't know the other two violinists well enough. Like, I haven't heard them enough. I think... What would you say? I got... That's what I had. but then I switched it. So you got... - Yeah.
- Okay, let's see. - But honestly, I don't know...
- It's hard to tell. It's very hard to tell. Yeah! Damn, I should've stuck to my gut. - Szeryng was pretty obvious.
- Yeah. - I think you can tell just the old school style.
- Yeah. - Well, it's also higher pitch.
- So that was... And... And the pitch was very high. For me, it was the G-string that gave it away for Bomsori. Mm! Because I know Bomsori has quite a powerful G-string. 'Cause we heard her play Mozart 2... - Or was it 1? ...recently.
- Yeah. And I remember recalling her... sound on the G-string was very like "boom!" - And then...
- Yeah... And then the first one... I don't know if I should say it. No, I'll tell you why I thought it was Josh, initially. He rushed. - It's out of time.
- I was just gonna say the orchestra wasn't with him. Yeah, I don't think Bomsori would... - like, rush.
- Yeah, I just- The first one, I just... I can imagine Josh... leading, - but the orchestra not following properly.
- Yeah. 'Cause they couldn't read what he was trying to do. - Yeah.
- And I also feel like... the music side was a bit more out there. - It was like... "Whoa."
- Yeah. He's throwing the phrasing a little bit more. I thought that, but then I didn't think... Bomsori would choose those fingerings - going up high on the A-string, and she's...
- Oh, the... - At the E-string, "duh-duh-duh-duh."
- Yeah. It was also a bit more on the string than I expected. - Yeah.
- But... - Woo! Yeah.
- But I initially did think that, so... - Damn!
- Equal points now. Bro. Okay, okay... let's go. I already know. I already know. All right, next! Skip. Dude. All right. I think I know. - But I'm not sure.
- Yeah, I think I know, but I'm not sure. Ooh! I did the opposite! Kavakos, Sumina, and... - Sumina?
- Nah, I'm just joking. Kavako- You were like... "WhAT?" Nah... But 2 and 3 I don't know, I can't tell. - It sounded like 2’s bowing was separate, right?
- Separate… - I know Sumina does the original bowing.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Damn! - Yeah!
- Nice! Yeah okay, so Kavakos has the infamous, like, - super sonic speed…
- like high sp… …speed! Real speed, not the sacrilegious boi stuff, like real speed. Fun fact, Kavakos also said he felt like he was playing slow that day. When we met him, he was like, “Everyone's telling me to slow down, but I feel like I was very slow!” - He could have gone faster! Yeah!
- It’s how…it’s how in control he was, right? Okay, number 2 and 3 make sense, ‘cause… - Sumina does the original bowing.
- I…yeah, that's the main giveaway for me. (Eddy) And um, - the way he ended some of the phrases in the beginning for Hadelich.
- Ahh… It's a bit more fiery, - which I thought Augustin might have done.
- Yeah. Nice! (Eddy) Ooh! Ooh, lah-lah! Okay, okay, I’m not confident in this. I’m not confident I’ll be able to tell. I don't know. Okay, next one. - Ohh!
- Whoa!!! Ooh. That's very different. - Okay, and the next one…
- Okay. Orchestra? I have no idea. - I have no idea.
- Dude! I don't know! It didn’t go up. Can you play number 2? Came in early. - Bro, what?
- I know. - Okay, see that? That…
- Yeah. That to me means 2 is definitely not Christian. - It's either Ray or Anne-Sophie Mutter.
- Yeah. - You've locked in, right?
- I locked in, but… - Can I kind of just…talk through all my thoughts?
- Yeah. But you can't change. I need to think out loud. I think number 2 can't be Christian, and I doubt Christian will play with an orchestra, which makes me think number 1 is Christian. Now one thing that bothers me is 3 is not doing the right rhythm, but that's very confusing to me, It’s like why would they play the wrong rhythm? It's meant to be… But whoever this is goes… I mean... People do do stuff with this piece though, - it is quite…it's a piece where you can…
- It is a… - …take liberties, yeah.
- Push and pull. - You can push and pull.
- But… I just don't know who would do that. And the number 2 is also quite push-pull. Like he came ear— - Number 2 was push-pull AF!
- He or she came in early! Disclaimer: I love all of them, they're all great musicians. I just don't know the recordings. What do you have? - I have Christian, Mutter, Ray.
- My… That's what I initially had first, but then, I thought, “Why not just spice things up? 'Cause I don't know anymore!” I mean, possibly. I would think normally a young musician wouldn't take - so much liberties.
- That's true, yeah, no, you're right. I think [for] a young musician, a teacher would be like, - (Eddy) Yeah!
- “Rhythm!” - But I don't know.
- That's hard to say. - But i can also imagine number 1 being Ray.
- Yes. - Let's go!!!
- Ohhhhhh!!!! - You got it right!!!
- Let's go!!! Oh, yeah! Ray, just kidding by the way, I love your rhythm. Yeah...! (Both) Ohh!!!! - Ohhhh!!!
- Ohh! Oh! Oh-ho! Ohhh!!! - This feels like the epic climax of an anime,
- Yeah. where the three epics come together. Dude, they all play Ballade very well. Avengers, unite! Dreams. Hmm. Okay, that’s…yeah. I think I know who this is. - Last one.
- Okay. Alright, I think…yeah. Okay, yeah. - Let me just skip to the end to check.
- Just double-check, yeah! Okay, yeah. Yeah, okay. - Okay, 3 is obvious.
- Yeah! 1 is Chloe, 2 is Hilary, - 3 is Vengerov. Yep.
- Yep, same. - Yeah, nice, nice.
- Yeah, yeah, okay, so um, Vengerov was pretty obvious, - he's the one that goes berserk, it’s like…
- Yeah. Just… - The speed just…
- Ultra super sonic sound to the end, he's like… “Nothing ain't stopping me, man! I’m Vengerov! - Yeah!
- After my Sibelius concerto I got more!” - He did that as an encore after Sibelius, and the ending…
- Yeah. - Yeah, he doesn’t…he doesn’t take any music, he just…
- Just…doesn’t take time. ...not music, like pulling back, he goes forward. Second Hilary, ‘cause I think [it’s the] same thing, that attacking… And also, one thing for me that gave it away was you know, the… …all the way to the tenths… …she didn't take two bows, she only took one bow. - Oh, yeah, yeah!
- Hilary… Wouldn’t do… Yeah, Hilary would be like, - “One bow’s enough!”
- Yeah! And she gets enough sound. And there’s a bit that’s tipped the way, it’s like… - She did like a little thing, which I’m like…
- Musically…yeah. …I can imagine Hilary doing that. Chloe, we heard her play the Ysaÿe Ballade, she's just playing for us one day, we're hanging out, and um… …I still remember how it sounded, - and I remember…it just sounded familiar.
- Yeah, yeah. And also for me, Chloe is like… She goes to the “ba-dum” very quickly. Instead of… Yeah. So that's really Chloe's style. - Oh, what? Oh, ohhhh!!!
- Oh, that…ohhh!!! - Ohhh, I see how it is! I see how it is!
- Oh-ho-ho-ho! I see how it is! - Damn, the last one's tricky!
- Oh no! Who’s with who?! Oh no!!!!! Ooh. Alright, alright, next one! Oh, geez. - Wow.
- I don’t know. I don't know anymore. Bro, there’s coughing. What?! I’m so confused! I think I know what this one is though. Okay. Alright, I think I know what 3 [is]. I want to check 1 again. I don't know. - I don't know, but I’m gonna write some stuff.
- Yeah, I don’t know. 3 is very obvious to me, I would be surprised if I got 3 wrong. But 1 and 2, I have no idea. Alright, I locked it in. First one's Mutter/Zukerman, Nancy/SoHyun, and then Oistrakh/Menuhin. - Yeah, that's what I had.
- Okay. - Yeah.
- That's my bet. Oh!!! - Anne and Nancy!
- Ohhh!!!! Ohh-ho-ho!!!!!!! Woooo!!!!! - No, that makes more sense, that makes more sense.
- I had…I had a suspicion! - That makes more sense.
- No, you know, I actually thought Zukerman probably played with SoHyun, or Nancy, ‘cause Zukerman does play with students a lot. - I remember thinking Anne-Sophie Mutter has to be number 1,
- Yeah. but I remember thinking, “I don't think Nancy would play so slow.” Ahhh!!! - I thought that Anne…ohh…!
- In my mind, I just picked... - ...put Anne-Sophie Mutter and Zukerman together,
- Yeah! - ‘cause they’re like the same generation, right?
- Exactly, yeah! - Ohh!!!
- Oh, that's fascinating. 3 was obvious, because it's like… - …it’s too…expressive.
- Zukerman played second…yeah, yeah, that’s true. - And the bow’s like, swinging.
- And it’s so Menuhin, yeah, he’s like… - (Eddy) Yeah, yeah, using a lot of bow.
- (Brett) Yeah, yeah. It’s too expressive, too virtuosic for Bach. I guess we count that as…if we get half points. - Yeah, they're two, yeah.
- They’re two, we got two out of three. - Alright, so there you go.
- That was fun. Even though it's the same pieces, - there's always different interpretations of it.
- Yeah. And there's a lot of things you can do to a piece to make it sound personal and great. Let us know if you like this type of videos, by the way. - It's like, it's fun for us but I get it, it’s like,
- Yeah. - it's quite…classical, like you have to be kind of…
- Yeah, it’s very classical. …a classical nerd, maybe. But we encourage everyone just to go - listen to these artists, actually.
- Yeah. - Oh, definitely.
- The more you listen to them, the more attuned you are into the nuances of - what classical music can bring,
- Yeah. it's a beautiful thing. Anyway that's enough for today. As always, go practice!
