Sarah Chang - Jean Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor

Sarah Chang plays Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor (full) ---   4,089,903 views
萨拉张 - 西贝柳斯小提琴协奏曲D小调

Published on Sep 27, 2011

1. Allegro Moderato - 1:07
2. Adagio di molto - 17:18
3. Allegro, ma non tanto - 25:09

 

sanjosemike2 years ago

Definitely Sibelius' best work. Truly inspired. Sibelius found a "spot" of intensity that is unmatched in classical (or any other genre') work. It touches us and always will. I had the honor of meeting Ms. Chang while we were waiting for a plane at the Seattle airport. She had her violin of course. I said: "You're Sarah Chang, aren't you?" She was really surprised that I recognized her. It was many, many years ago at the start of her illustrious career. She was gracious and friendly. She remarked to me that she was "grateful for her career", but the "traveling was exhausting." I guess that classical musicians don't expect to be recognized in public. I pity those who have not opened their hearts to classical music. Concertos like this have the ability to touch our hearts at a level that nothing else has. sanjosemike?.

muzik mazik1 year ago

Sibelius's concerto is second to none. It's the crown jewel of violin concertos. I was listening to Beethoven earlier, and I tried very hard to fall for it but ended up returning to this piece for the satisfaction that only such divine piece can grant. Oh Sibelius, where did those notes come from? It's madly madly beautiful and fierce.

 

Rolando Reyes1 year ago

In the New Year of 1904, a young man in Ainola, Finland has just finished writing  a violin concerto. Some say, that he wrote it as a testimony to his failed ambition to become a violin virtuoso, pouring into it every known technical difficulty and then some.  

Today, it is considered as one of the most intense and difficult violin concerto ever written. Its first premier in Helsinki was a disaster which forced the young man to make plenty of revisions. Subsequently, after a successful Berlin concerto the following year, it has become one of the most recorded violin concertos. The name of the author is Jean Sibelius.  

In  the winter of 1993, a young woman from the other side of the world, traveled to Ainola, Finland and visited the house of Sibelius.  She needed to know and understand how this magnificent violin concerto came into being from the land of the midnight sun.  

Winter in Finland is dark and harsh. It can kill. But, the young lady chose this season, because she knew Sibelius used the winter landscape as a material for his music. The day she visited, Ainola was drenched with snow so deep, that even Lake Tuusula disappeared from view. She stepped into the house and was shown the window that Sibelius chose to keep  open to break the winter silence. 

 As she looked out the window in this cold, freezing day, she could make out the outline of the frozen  lake  and suddenly she felt the intense, brooding melancholy that is synonymous with Sibelius’ name. Now, she finally understood why the maestro  described his concerto as “confessions of faith”, and that it was compressed to the point of ultimate silence.
 
“Never write an unnecessary note,” he proclaimed. “Every note must live.”   Since then, she made sure each note pouring out of her violin is alive! The young lady looking out of the Sibelius window was 13 years old. Her name is  Sarah Chang.

Uts G6 months ago

and that man's name? Albert Einstein!

dwayneparkerUSA2 years ago

She gets it. She is a performer! Her technique is second to none. And she plays with a very savvy level of panache. It's clear she's there to give the audience a show, and not just out there for herself. Her entrance on the stage was simply breathtaking. The dress, the colors, her carriage - she get's it! I was hooked before she even played the first note.

HaoJingChangZai2 years ago

Have been listening to this performance again and again. Just realized quite a few people think her 3rd movement is not good. That's so natural. I listened to some other great violinists playing this. David Oistrakh might be able to satisfy most of critics. But Sarah "totally out of tune", given those few notes played a bit off? Sarah's performance flows, which to me an evidence of hard work. Can someone really be able to "fake" through a technically demanding piece like this? I wish I could.

She does play a bit like a bulldozer, which makes her performance disliked by some but at the same time liked by some others.It's not that she didn't understand, but rather she had a different understanding, when she renders some pieces in a beautiful way but this one in such a "rough" way. 

Obviously to some people her version is "sawing noises, totally out-of-tune, hysterical and out-of-control vibrato, all brute no fineness whatsoever". I understand. But the words being used? Exaggerating and Mean. Also I don't see any necessity to feel sad for others who can connect with what Sarah wants to express with her "sawing noises and hysterical vibrato".

I believe there're many here who listen to not only classic music, but also good rock'n roll and even heavy metal.