Audience DISRESPECTS Pro Violinist Playing God Save the King by Paganini 

500 Likes for God Save the King Sightread Challenge LIVESTREAM

I am the 'cello friend' in the video. Yes, the moment I heard the first few notes, I knew I was there for a treat. He is a living legend and listening to him playing this piece live was definitely something I'd remember over many years. Just commenting on the audience reactions - the audience here in NZ are generally extremely friendly people with lesser judgemental perspectives hence why those impulsive reactions to his extraordinary artistry. Paganini probably had similar reactions from the audience when he performed live.

I think the audience first thought he was doing mockery of the anthem, so they laughed. When the second variation came, most of them realized that this is something more than that, something elaborate, so they stayed quiet but a few dummies kept laughing.

its funny how people make fun of very talented people without even being close to perform at the same level. like lets see a random dude in that audience play god save the king

Imagine yourself playing this piece that you've worked on for thousands of hours and people start laughing. Just the most horrible and disrespectful audience I've ever seen.

As the violin that he played on, I can say that was the most disrespectful crowd i’ve seen

Ngl them laughing would have made me so insecure about my playing. Probably would have started crying and ran off the stage lol

Laughter is not always out of judgment. Laughter is also a way of releasing energy and it can be an expression of surprise. Most of the times audiences have lots of energy built up from an entire concerto, holding it in for almost half and hour or longer. Very often I announce my encores starting with “thank you very much”. And almost always the audience laughs at THAT. Not because what I said was funny, but because they are able to let go and connect with me through laughter. And some of them might be surprised that I speak at all. People here are laughing initially because they are surprised by the famous melody, and later on because they can finally let go, they can finally breathe freely and not feel held back by the typical seriousness of a classical concert. And PLEASE: let them have fun! Let them laugh! Let’s not make classical concerts even stiffer then they need to be. If people were giggling and clapping and laughing during my encores (as sometimes they do, although much less then in this video) I would be HAPPY about that! Don’t assume the violinist is angry or disappointed , he is much too experienced and great to be angry about such a beautiful thing. If I had to guess I would say he is happy about the fact that the audience is having FUN! Let’s not shame people for having fun and let’s not pretend this Paganini encore is anything other then a wonderful showpiece! The audience reaction was EXACTLY what it had to be in that moment. It was real, it was genuine and honest , and it was free. Let’s cherish that please 🙏

Check out Midori playing Zapateado at her Carnegie Hall debut. She was 18! After the first insane pizzicato section the audience cheered! It wasn't disrespectful because the audience KNEW the piece and it was at the end of a section so she had a chance to recover. A big smile came over her face and she recovered instantly. This audience was simply rude and most likely ignorant of the fact that it was Paganini. *sigh*

I can’t imagine being so lucky to see this live. Maybe one day.

They're not making fun of him, they just don't know the piece and are finding it humoristic.

I was at that concert. The audience loved every minute. Ning Feng wasn't offended (he plays with that orchestra to that audience every year or two), and if you hadn't cut off the video exactly as he finished, viewers would have heard the roar from an appreciative audience. But don't let all that get in the way of a narrative.

There is something about left handed pizzicato that is really difficult for the player yet entertaining and fun for the untrained listener. I imagine Paganini himself would have appreciated the laughter and excitement.

yikes, i can imagine the string players cringing at all the laughter and interruptions

I want to give this poor man a hug. That is genuinely the worst audience that I’ve ever seen.

I wanted to cry with him at the end 😭

"There is no harder piece" Roman Kim: "Hold my beer!"

I watched the original Ning Feng video, there were some interruptions, but nothing too outlandish in my opinion. Ning Feng seemed grateful that he was performing for the audience this Paganini piece that had a special place in his heart as he was the winner of the 2006 Paganini Competition that launched his career.

Thank you for this video! It kinda reminds me of my classmates and how they treat our teachers, it's sad. But I'm happy that there are people who can still appreciate hard work. (Good luck with your livestream, I hope I can be there! :-) )

I like the analogies you used in how interupting during a performance can be so detrimental all around. I'm looking forward to the live stream at 500 likes!!

I can’t wait for that livestream it’s literally been 8 hours and you already got past 500 likes

It’s New Zealand. People wear slippers to greet the Queen. It’s a such relaxed country.

Thank you for the post. I did enjoy mastero Ning Feng's recital in Taiwan Nov. He is simply amazing.

Not nearly as bad but this reminds me of the time I was singing (I was 8) and the audience started clapping to the song. Usually it’s just annoying but this time they were clapping soo off beat and I was trying my hardest to not get thrown off😭😅.

I think most classical musicians would find this audience reaction to be perfectly acceptable, especially during a light-hearted encore/showpiece (even one as technically difficult as this). The violinist is basically putting on an acrobatics display, so let the audience have fun. I don’t believe your narrative about the musicians onstage taking offense.

Are they drunk?. I cant imagine THAT many narcisstics in one place

Love that interspersed close up and explaination of the technique. My personal opinion is that the laughter is sheer joy and amazement. It's about as expected as a firecracker going off in the hall though and he was justified in being super annoyed.

omg, they are so rude... i can imagine how disappointed he was. When he took his final bow, I screamed and cried.

It is impressive that he managed to keep his composure so well.

I think the audience is in awe, and not laughing at him.

My good friend is a virtuoso pianist who no longer plays concerts and only does studio recordings because of similar reasons. Glenn Gould also comes to mind as a top pianist who hated audiences and exclusively did recordings after a while.

Something similar happened to me once. I was doing an orchestra audition and one of the jury members started laughing when I started playing one of my excerpts. It was really bothering me but I kept playing, not sure what was going on. I actually was accepted but I never understood why he had this reaction

I think this is an unfortunate situation but you’re much too hard on the audience. An audience isn’t expected to know anything, particularly not a very seldom-played piece. There is an inherent humour to the piece that you completely miss out of your reaction: God Save the King is a stately and somewhat pompous hymn, and Paganini treats it as the basis of extremely lively, lighthearted and virtuosic variations. There’s a mismatch there that is amusing. To a nation with it as their anthem this piece is funny. As an Englishman I laughed at the piece, not out of disrespect for the performer but at Paganini’s irreverence. These variations are so completely anathema to the associations of the anthem, it’s kinda hilarious. The original is very plodding and metrical, the Paganini requires a lot of rubato, the original has a very simple chorale texture, the Paganini employs a number of frantic textural effects, the original has a small range of a sixth, the Paganini goes right from the very nasal lows to the piercing highs of the violin. The extremity of the treatment is funny, and the audience as Kiwis got the humour. Those from outside the UK and Commonwealth could miss this, as it seems both you and the performer are surprised by the audience reaction. In this case the audience have it right: no matter how challenging it might be to play, it’s an 18th century meme joke.

I bet none of them have 1% of his talent

The audience may have no idea about the difficulty of playing this piece so they have no appreciation of it...he should just have played Flight of the Bumblebee and I bet this audience would have given him a standing ovation!!.🤣🤣

Student: I'm nervous Me, a teacher: what's the worse that can happen? Me, a teacher after this video: 😶

Every classical concert I went to, I suspected the majority of the audience were there to be seen, or had their reasons, not neccecssarily for the music.

Can't wait for your stream 🔥

And we never heard the piece finally.. .

They think he is making fun of great britain anthem. All this situation came from the audience ignorance.

Heartbreaking but I can’t say I’m too surprised because it’s New Zealand. That country is the international equivalent of Florida if you know what I mean.

Isn't that Roman Kim's recording playing in the background while you talk?

Which recording are you using in the bg of the beginning? (except the Bruch part)

As someone who's from new zealand i'm really ashamed to see this. Horrible audience.

this is so sad :((((((

Sadly this happened to him more than once, I went to his Hong Kong concert last year. When he was playing the Sibelius violin concerto a little boy was yelling for at least 10 seconds, Ning Feng stopped playing just like in this clip until the boy the escorted out by his mother.

7:20 you asked how we would feel to perform with passion after years of practice, only to be laughed at and i felt it so deep in my heart because I can honestly say it happens all the time for me. People think fire spinning is easy because i make it look easy. Its exhausting, so in a long performance i will stumble and drop it on occasion, just like a violinist may miss a note after playing for 30mins+ The ignorant masses have no concept of what we do. To them; your thing sounds pretty, my thing looks pretty...but a person is doing it and they are a person, and you make it seem easy so it must be easy. And they wouldnt have done it the way we just did it, so we aren't as good as them even though they have never picked up an instrument. One guy came over to me after a performance and said "can you show me how to do 'that easy move' please?" I was happy to introduce him to fire spinning so i showed him the basics, he shook his head. "No, i just want to spin it in a circle like you did" the Full Wrist Roll that creates a perfect circle of fire...is....NOT.....'That EASY Move'!!! It is a move that i have practiced for hundreds of hours, maybe thousands of hours. I make it LOOK easy, thats called Performing! Rant over, you gave me mega flashbacks and i needed to vent lol.

Honestly, I don't think its disrespectful. If someone played paganini's god save the king, I'd be freaking out in my seat from the shure impressiveness. But from their perspective, its understandable that some of the audience don't understand it. At the end of a day, a concert is a show, an experience. And introducing people who don't know better to a such an arrangement of god save the king with all these insane techniques (tell me left hand pizzicato doesn't look funny) only adds to educating them better.

They probably thought that he was taking the piss out of the British national anthem.

Probably the audience are historically informed performance enthusiasts who realise that this music is fun and impressive and audiences would never have sat solemnly through it like it was Sunday mass…

Thanks for your fascinating revelations regarding violin playing.

7:04 ... didn't hear interruption #4. Did I miss something? I just heard beautiful Pag.

I would be crying tears of joy and amazement, not laughing if I heard this.

I think you have all forgotten what we musicians are. We are performers. We are nothing without the audience. This fabulous musician chose a piece that was extremely difficult and impressive, however it is still known famously as God save the king, something we know will get a kick out of the crowd. Picture yourself at a Paganini concert - women screaming, people talking, and laughter/enjoyment. This was commonplace, Paganini knew this and was composed the variations for the delight of the crowd. To say that “this is not a reaction that is acceptable from a crowd” is absurd, the crowd reacted exactly how Paganini would have expected them to react. It is the job of the performer to adapt and meet these challenges, not the crowd. Unfortunately the performer in this instance did not see the humour of this situation and clearly neither do you. We musicians need to start taking ourselves a little seriously.

omg that's so brutal, I would cry

"Nobody plays this piece cause it's too difficult" Roman Kim: hold my beer.

You surpassed 500 likes!

Feeling so bad for the violinist 😢

Ernst last rose of summer is also extremely challenging

Thank You for Your insightful and Compassionate Narration of this Concert! Very educational, too! That said; It's so very sad for Ning Feng to have received such a disappointing reaction from the Audience, that it caused him sorrow.😢 However, we can be consoled by the Fact that he is a 🌹Legendary Violinist,🌹 and can expect better reactions from more appreciative Audiences in the future. Thank You, Great Video! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I would be laughing with sheer joy and amazement at the sheer difficulty of the performance.

As a violinist, this piece might sound like heaven, but trust me folks, playing it is just straight out of hell. And you better pay respect to every single one who dares and has the guts to play this piece. Cuz you might be blessed with the music, but the musician is cursed with those curly notes.

God Save the King isn't just the British national anthem, it is also one of New Zealand's two official anthems (the other being God Defend New Zealand).

I wouldn't be laughing. Yes I know how it feels like when you bust it destroy the best yet still disrespected and laughed at.

Don’t mess with The Shredder.

I'd be honored to be in Ning Feng's live, plus listening his Paganini would be one of the greatest experiences in my life. If I were on that stage playing those pieces, I'd be massively mad, maybe my arm(s) start shaking by anger. And I wouldn't forget to tell the concert organization that never let me play in your concerts - and I will never visit this country again. I mean, I can't even imagine my reaction! At first laughing at someone's performance (not only in music though) is not OK. I'm sure that Ning Feng isn't weak as I am so he would stay cool but I hope that he won't be traumatized by this.

No one except violinists or classical enthusiasts know this piece. It is supposed to be fun, people have a genuine reaction to it. Its not like you can't hear the piece. It's not like he was booed off the stage or something. He will play it again for more "cultured" people in the future. No need for fake outrage, just go next. Also, the speech comparison is truly stupid, because it is not a serious speech it is a musical joke of a kind (while being hard). You can be amused by the character of the music and amazed by the skill at the same time, it is not mutually exclusive. They wouldn't have laughed during Erlking

Having grownup in NZ he probably should have read the room before playing God Save the King. Which is honestly the last thing most people from the colonies want to hear. The Monarchy really isn't as popular as you might think. They probably laughed at first because they thought he was in on the joke by playing a funny version of the anthem. As difficult as it might be I think it just landed wrong and seemed like a joke.

5:58 more like treason.

I would have dropped my violin if I was him

I don't think, that the audience knew it's a piece by Paganini. And if they knew they may laughed especially because it's Paganini. In germany composers like Paganini or Wieniawski are not taken really seriously, because back in 19th century people believed music by Paganini, Wieniawski or Ernst is no art, because it's just to show of and just mechanics. And all these asthetic theories where received so in the german musicology you still have a lot of people who think like this. They love their Beethoven, Bach, Brahms and so on, but laugh on Paganini, Wieniawski, Ernst etc.

Has he recorded Bach's violin sonatas and partitas?

I don't think they were laughing out of disrespect. I think they were laughing because they thought he was playing that specific piece to be deliberately funny.

When I first started orchestra, the conductor would have audience etiquette pamphlets to inform the audience on proper times to clap and show appreciation for the musicians. You can’t expect everyone in the audience who may not be musicians to respond in a way a fellow musician may respond.

and they thought plucking only works in guitar lol

Everytime i go to a classical music concert 90% of people in the audience are there just for the photo or Instagram moment, they have no idea of what they are seeing and get bored withing the first 5 min, even if the piece is hard as hell. But most of them would get impressed by some "quick" and easy piece you won't impress anyone by playing this Paganini's piece but people will lose their minds if you play the first notes of Vivaldi's "summer" 3rd movement 😅

I think you are being harsh on the audience. I expect they were laughing out of astonishment joy and surprise for all the reasons you have articulated concerning the unique difficulties of the piece. I expect Paganini had much the same sorts of reactions at all his concerts given the musical culture of the time.

I would label the audience as ignorant rather than disrespectful. Their actions could be labelled disrespectful, but not the people ... in my opinion.

He is playing My Country tis of Thee.

I think he was just sad about the fact that those people are not able to understand the pure shallow beauty of music. This is actually so sad that the most people on this planet will nerver get in contact with music

well we couldnt hear the audience because you kept talkikn

It was a popular tune in late 17th century Europe, so ends up in many theme and variations of that period, including one of Fernando Sor's guitar studies!

I think it is absolutely absurd how you can know what everyone is thinking and their reasons for reacting they way they do. If the audience was not being respectful, they would leave in the middle of his performance. And who made you the gate keeper and arbiter of reactions in the performance space? When my audience stays in their seats, I don't care if they laugh or cry, I consider it to be a compliment and respectful that they are still giving me their time. And I think you're the only one who knows that the performer missed a note. Maybe they are laughing because they know how difficult the piece is -- maybe they are an audience full of violinists who realize just how difficult it is. I can tell you that I have been in several performance situations where people laugh out of sheer enjoyment of the performance and engagement with the performer. And how did you know that performer was disappointed? Maybe he is overcome with the beauty and awe of the composition he just performed and maybe he is humble enough to know and feel how privileged he is to be able to play it himself -- maybe for him it represents something or someone dear to him. How can you actually know?

I don’t think he was crying nor do I think the audience were intending to be disrespectful. He is a seasoned professional. I have seen other videos of him and he just has a hangdog expression all the time. He’s a bloody good violinist though: wow.

It is outrageous to accept people who place themselves above all the others and to whom we have to address as his/her majesty.

For sure Feng is such a perfectionist, hence his flawless playing. Just missed 1 note and he is pissed off. I hope he can take it easy. It was a flawless performance as far as everyone else’s concern!

it's in New Zeeland....they know God save the King so probably they thought guys is improvising on it or something like that. :*

What's his name?

But they might just be laughing in amazement and delight instead of gasping - just hard to tell with this one.

Your opinion is of course valid and I'm sure there are many who share it, but I believe you are wrong. Many musicians do not play for their recordings or their own accolades, or even for the composer- but for the audience. Most lovers of classical music albeit not musicians, are very very knowledgeable of scores amd their difficulty. Even the neophyte can discern a challenging piece from a simple one. So my point is to say that to truly woo an audience is to extract a reaction from them. Stoic, rigid and silent awe is great for concentration, but gasps and giggles of disbelief and glee are great for passion. I do not think they are laughing for the gaiety of the piece but for the technical accomplishment he had just performed. He also does not seem upset, he was smiling and motioning to them. Lastly, and this is just my take- I do not at all think he missed a note due to the audience, if he did, it was because it is an insanely challenging piece. Good day.

I love watching your videos but, in my heart, it was not disrespectful and a human way of reacting to being in awe! I would have preferred a reverent audience but this is just one of those nights where everyone is having a good time. ❤

its just the audience was probably full of a bunch of musically uneducated elderly people who dont realise its paganini they think hes just playing the anthem.

The best encore I’ve seen was der erlkonig the soloist was nuts (the encore was to the Sibelius concerto)

The only thing the public had to do, if he had one ounce of respect, was to get silent and stand up. It is the national anthem!

twoset where

I guess there was a kitten somewhere on the stage making its funny cattish things.

My man just chose a wrong piece for an encore

This is a very hard piece I feel bad

NZ is part of the Commonwealth. They recognize this melody as God Save the King/Queen. Consider Star Spangled Banner in theme and variations played by a foreigner…it’s nit something audience is expecting

It's also really disrespectful that you don't mention his name anywhere in the video title nor the video description.