Mendelssohn - Octet in Es groot: Vilde Frang, Julian Rachlin,Rick Stotijn e.a. 

See the above "First Fat Lady on the left" note...lol

@@CLASSICALFAN100 ?

+Yamato Taiki I think it helps that each part is very engaging and for the most part fast-moving. you dont have time to think about egos. Although you hear the first violin doing most of the solo stuff each part really has its purpose

the perfect series of adjectives to describe this ensemble! :)

​@@britdude74Yes, you are absolutely right: a perfect characteristics of their play! Only those are... nouns:)

hi Linda Day

A bullseye observation! I started to comment in more detail, but found that my comments distracted from this simple but profound point. So - Long live live music-making!

This is a magic of chamber music, all of them are No 1, team work essential.

It's especially true at the end where Boris is clearly doing circles around every one but it meshes so well!

Janine Jansen was too dominant in her group.

Amihai grozc fan are here!! ahah

It's not the viola. Grosz could play on a $2,000 Chinese student viola and sound fantastic because he is fantastic.

@@tomboyer5608 I didn't say it was the viola... just appreciating the beauty of both the artist and the instrument.

+Bryan Ho prodigies come once in a life time, and 70 years after copyrights expire

Here's FM's grave site in Leipzig, a small park-like cemetery. No statue, no nothing: www.findagrave.com/memorial/10315/felix-mendelssohn

Lauwrence power is also an incredible violist

C'est beau comme la rencontre inopinée d'un fer à repasser et d'un journal gratuit périmé sur le coin d'un guichet de gare en travaux!!!

Vous avez parodié sans le savoir peut être , la sinistre définition de l'acte surréaliste de André Breton .

Does that mean you like it?...lol

Ju-Fang Liu exactly!!!!!

Did you listen carefully to the beginning of the last movement? I doubt it. (And if it helps, change the speed from normal to 1/2.)

Julia-Maria Kretz performs on a violin by Joseph Nicola Gagliano, Naples, ca. 1791 :)

Thank you!

While we're at it, Amihai Grosz plays a 1570 Gaspar-da-Salo viola. Lawrence Power's viola is by Antonio Brensi of Bologna.

and then to close the list: Jens Peter Maintz plays a Vincenzo Ruggeri cello of 1696 and Rick Stotijn plays a Rafaele & Antonio Gagliano double bass.

Thanks very much for mentioning the New Yorker article about Eric Sun, which I had not read. Fascinating and moving. It's interesting that playing this piece on his Vuillaume was part of Sun's "bucket list." I find Vuillaumes hard to resist -- they have a tone that is remarkably clean and pure, yet also rich and warm. Here is another example, played by Antoine Bareil: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y5z9D0S0TCM.html

I completely agree!! The perfect viola section (maybe inverted as Lawrence Viola 1 would be better, but that’s also a personal preference)

professordodo1 Only way I could see this is that he was assisted by holy spirit.

It is indeed, and especially so because these performers do not play together regularly (as one could guess from their disparate styles of dress). Each of them is a distinguished soloist or principal in an orchestra, and they assembled just for the purpose of playing this composition at the 2014 International Chamber Music Festival organized by Janine Jansen. They can't have had more than a single rehearsal, and yet the coherence of their approach and the way they communicate to build a unified interpretation makes it sound as though they have been playing as a team for years. Very impressive!

I agree. A haunting suspense builds as the contrapuntal theme travels through the ensemble, and then almost magically collapses into unison playing, breaking the tension with a burst of light. This ensemble makes the passage very dramatic, and the double bass helps with the overall effect.

Back again for another listening. Emotionally exhausting after just the first movement.

Ian Stephenson The original copy of the manuscript is scored with a double bass :)

+Lio Doddemeade The manuscript can be viewed on IMSLP and unfortunately for bassists it's for two cellos

Ian Stephenson someone goes for the sloppy bear type

"Oh Eye Candy, Where Art Thou?" (ROFL)

Writing music, but nothing as good as this!!! Good story.

Playing the Mendelssohn octet at a music festival! It was great fun.

For an interesting take by another 8 young musicians on this great piece, also using a bass, check out the performance at thespotmusic YT channel from the Zagreb International Chamber Music Festival. It's not better than this one, but, IMO, it's a bit more energetic and dynamic and brings out the bass a little better.

davehshs Where did the tradition of performing it with a double bass come from?

MercurySaturday Don't really know that it's actually a "tradition." The Zagreb performance is the only other one that I know of, and I just happened upon it a few years ago on youtube.

They put the most famous names in the title, not as an order

Chue Vue It's called libero. Buy it from maison tasset. 100 euros cheeper than anywhere else. i used one for 2 years now. make a violin sound 50% better! Enjoy!

It's possible because they are masters of their craft!

Yes, I agree. but sound's good! Thank you.

pff wat the fuck hehe

its like, i listen to classical to get away from these crazy rock dudes, but in every symphony, there one is! i saw putin conducting just yesterday

+Leonidas Diamandopoulos Hahaha, Paavo ;)

Absolutely disagree. It is chamber music, and the balance with the other 7 instruments is crucial, and it's super hearing it as played here. Heifetz was amazing, but he was really not a great chamber musician.