Rare audio clip of the great Pablo Sarasate performing his piece Zigeunerweisen. Keep in mind that this was recorded around 1904, so the quality isn't perfect. Also, the slow movement was left out, probably due to time constraints.
The point of posting the clip is to show you how the piece is intended to be played. It's clearly impossible for Sarasate to "play way too fast" because... HE WROTE THE PIECE! That means the way he's playing it is how it's intended to be played by you. You might want to rephrase your thinking to be less pompous: "I like it played slower." With that said, I like it played exactly the way Heifetz plays it and I have never in my life heard a better recording. That includes this one.
actually, at that time, due to some technical problem, performers were forced to reduce the time of the piece. That's why he had skipped some part of the piece, and we will never know the reason of the fast playing is because of his interpretation or just recording problem.
@mister kluge well....IF there would be some kind of "last word", believe me, it would be spoken by the composer...and NOT someone coming from the "outside". Not that someone from the outside would be incompetent or anything like that in terms of interpretation. But in general, a composer as the creator has the basic idea, articulation and sound in mind...so...
@@js-wv2fr for my taste, the parts that he did not skip have a perfect tempo. Melancholic, introverted tempo and articulation, and... he definitely takes a lot time at some parts in relation to others...if he had to rush, then he would play everything quite fast, fermatas too.
Video wasn't invented yet in Sarasate's lifetime of violin playing. In fact, this recording marks the first time that AUDIO was invented, so it is amazing that there is even this clip to hear in the first place. Rest assured, it is him :)
Notice: he talks at about 3.25! Intonation is very perfect, the style elegant, brillant, wonderful oldfashioned, yet not so espressive as let's say Rabin, Mutter and others, who came later. That is also due to the change of interpretation style during all those decades since then. Today players are supposed to get a maximum out of every single tone. But when you read Carl Flesch's very interesting description of Sarasate it fits together with what you can hear in this old recording.But fascinating, that we can here this 19th century legend of the violin through our speakers in our privat rooms all over the world.
@@alexleanhyour skepticism is your prerogative, but it’s unwarranted and makes you look uninformed. A little research would help cure it. His recordings are genuine and historic. He made other recordings of his own Works, and also the E Minor unaccompanied prelude of Bach.
@@alexleanh This is a famous enough recording to have been reproduced on LP's, tape, CD's etc. copies of which from which the uploader @aimson probably obtained the audio. Anyway the copyright on this thing is probably expired so no museum could have an exclusive right to it.
I read the book when I was much younger and did not know Sarasate or any of his pieces. I wish I had known back then. After learning who Sarasate was, I appreciate Sherlock Holmes even more. Thank you for sharing this gem !
For those who are interested, Sarasate's favourite Strad of 1724 is in the Musee de la Musique in Paris, and they have several photos of it on their website. Some people seem to think The Soil is the most beautfiul sounding Strad, but I think The Sarasate sounds even more beautiful. Hill said it "stands apart in tone and style", and neither Paganini nor Sarasate ever voluntarily parted with it. I think by leaving it to the Musee, Sarasate felt he would still in some way always possess it.
Unbelievable control of his instrument. Sarasate was the greatest! The pianissimo on the fast legato I have heard noone else perform with such great tone. Most play it louder. Also his note focus and definition I have not heard elsewhere.
absolutely! we can only guess what it must have been to hear Sarasate live, without the frustrating time limitations of these old recordings. I haven't heard any other violinst who comes close to his excellence in this composition.
There's a contemporary recording by the Scottish violinist James Scott Skinner, and he plays badly out of tune. Sarasate was one of a kind, i'd say the Spanish Paganini.
Yeah I thought the same, this was 4 years before his death. I can't imagine how he would've sounded in his twenties with a good quality recording. Or even live! o.0 That would be my first destination if I had a time machine; Sarasate giving a concert in his twenties xD
At 3:25, there is someone talking. Can anybody figure out what he says? Maybe it's Sarasate telling his accompanist to skip some music. I think it's pretty amazing how well he plays -- at age 60! His technique is absolutely sound, left hand or right, intonation is dead-on. His left-hand technique and speed is as good as any, and he still has some fine staccato going! That's more than you can say of even most of the greatest violinists.
Yes, it is past marvelous. This unique Spanish master was supreme in his own music, and so as well in much else. Not credited in the G&T or early Victor labeling was his life-long (or very nearly) accompanist - Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt - a product of Paris. She composed a special piano solo of this very work recorded for the Welte-Mignon in Germany quite early, in 1905, if I recall correctly. It's particular rendering was one most vivid, that I once heard long ago. She was of virtuoso caliber, and was with de Sarasate 'till the very last. De Sarasate's great fame, wealth and success were all well deserved. Our luck is good indeed, to be able to savor these delicious musical treats of his.
Vlad Butica: How can you compare Sarasate to Perlman or Heifetz? This is the great virtuoso performing his own composition, you can't get more definitive than that!
You can. Composing and performing are two different jobs. Usually composers are not as good as full time concert players to perform their own work. In this case it's a concert violinist writing a piece for himself so of course you can safely assume everything in his version is intended but violin technique evolved a lot since then and most violinists today would play differently for this very reason. I'm sure Sarasate would too if he could listen to today's violinists.
It's super interesting to hear how he played the piece. I've heard many impressive interpretations by some great violinists like Heifetz, Perlman and Rabin, but this one sounds completely different from all the rest! Thank you for sharing this!
Muchas gracias por compartir esta maravilla, no todo el mundo puede decir que ha escuchado una interpretación de Sarasate, muchos artistas excelentes han pasado y grabado muchas obras entre ellas de Pablo de Sarasate, pero poder oir como lo tocó su autor es algo como entrar en el tunel del tiempo, de nuevo gracias!
We are so priveledged to be able to hear this. Such a luscious tone- you can almost grab it. Contemporary violinists cannot seem to capture this in their interpretations.
"During his residence in Brussels, Wieniawski's health was in obvious decline, often stopping him in the middle of concerts. He gave a farewell concert in Odessa on April 1879 and died from a heart attack the following year in Moscow. He is interred in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw." - from Wikipedia
Ahhhh---the dawn of modern sound technology...wish we could have heard Paganini doing some of his own violin compositions, too! Composer-Instrumentalists always compose as a challenge for other Instrumentalists, as well as themselves. Thank you for posting this!
MOLTO BELLO!!! Thank you for sharing this Great Performance of Great Navarrese Spanish violinist and composer PABLO MARTIN MELITON DE SARASATE Y NAVASCUES (10 March 1844 - 20 September 1908) .
Significa que omitieron un fragmento de la obra después del minuto 3:24 la parte del piano se escucha cuando Sarasate toca la parte rápida de la obra cuando normalmente el violín seguía tocando calmado.
Brilliant! Makes sense in the context. “Stop. Now continue with the second part.” Meaning the allegro section, of course. Of course, in 1904 there was no audio editing so whatever was recorded was pressed!
Some strings are still made out of gut, like the ones I have always used (Pirastro Eudoxa). I think that the "thick" sound you are describing is a result of the extremely old analog recordings that were literally burned into wax. You don't get that sound anymore in digital recordings.
That classic movie, by Seijun Suzuki, brought me here. In the film, the characters talk at length about the talking in the recording and what it means. I'm assuming it's Spanish, cause I definitely heard the word "para" ("for") at the beginning. Don't know if it's Sarasate or somebody else talking.
Thank you so much for posting this. Even with the audio quality, his left-hand pizz is the most distinct and pronounced I've ever heard. Is there any version of this with clearer sound?
Sarasate, King of violin film premiere on november 11 in Pamplona City, the birth place of Sarasate. I recomend this film directed by Joaquin Calderon, one of the most interesting music filmmakers of this City.
It's a real treat to hear Sarasate play Sarasate. Notice that a 3:35 you can hear Sarasate talking to someone. Listeners should delight in every second presented, as the recording is a real rarity.
Wow, amazing to hear the creator playing his piece, the true version! Not that it's my favourite piece, but it's an important part of the repertoire, and it's amazing to hear it coming from the body that created it
The story goes that Sarasate as a 5 year old child saw his father struggling with the phrase, then picked up the violin and played it perfectly and gave his debut at the age of 8. Of Sarasate's idiomatic writing for his instrument, the playwright and music critic George Bernard Shaw once declared that though there were many composers of music for the violin, there were but few composers of violin music. Of Sarasate's talents as performer and composer, Shaw said that he "left criticism gasping miles behind him"
I don't care about the recording quality; this is awesome. We played this in orchestra last year with our first chair doing to solo part. I think it's def. one of my favorite pieces of music. Thanks for posting this!
Recorded in late 1904 at Paris. From Gramophone Concert Record G.C.-37935 [s4262 o] - recorded by Charles Scheuplein (not Walcutt since "W" was not used for the matrix under label)
jamais pensei q ouviria isto em minha vida!!!!! q maravilha!!!! mais um viva pro youtube!!!! perfeito!!! simplesmente o máximo!!!! parabéns por partilhar essa raridade!!!
Many thanks for this. It helps me to understand what preceded Kreisler in that flowing sweetness without losing the cheek of gypsy air that pleased the royalty!? led, at least by the taste of the rich patrons... to my limited experience more of Viennese Circle than Sarasate's hometown Pamplona in Navarre where they run ahead of bulls in the Festival of St. Fermin (spelling?) that the legend goes : Sarasate never missed annually... even when he was touring America. Guess we will never know unless we can meet Sarasate on the other side and ask him. Like Bach's Chaconne expressing the loss of his first wife (!?), I wondered what the private version of J.S. Bach playing J.S. Bach will be like... My guess was Maria Dueñas's interpretation was nearer to this private Spanish version... though not as fast, flowing and sweet as Sarasate's recorded version for posterity of rich concert going global audience taste. I thank HopelessViolin for his correction and direction to this enlightening conversation.
How right you are! While Sarasate isn't necessarily considered some kind of violin god to worship, I think it is absolutely essential for any modern violinist to hear the works of past violinists. Sarasate played a huge role as a composer and performer in the 19th century and should be credited for influencing modern violin in some important fashion. The fact that we can actually hear him play is in itself an honor.
interesting to see how modern violinists have interpreted this v differently to the original if only there were some magic way we could here the grand master paganini
This, however, is not pop music. This music does not have words, just emotion. To interpret that emotion is to show how you feel when playing that piece. This causes classical songs to sound halfway decent when played by another person as opposed to pop songs. It is not arrogance either. The composer's contribution was the written music, and it is the musician's job to interpret it.
i agree with mexi. but still very good. i love this song, i wish i could play it. it awesome to hear the original play a song. thank u for sharing that with us aimson.
