Lara St John - Beethoven, Violin Sonata in C minor

[BeammeupSpotty]

I love Beethoven. Probably my favorite. And I love the sonata and the performance. Both great. BUT... I was thinking it might be cool if Mr. B. had been able to add a paganini/grossa fugue-esque wail to really put the angst over the top. Again, I love Mr. B. and everything but I wonder what it might be like if he got away from the simple military marching theme and got crazy on it. :-)

[longtalker]

So many dislikes just because of the weird studio setup?! It's still a very good interpretation in my opinion, and of course a wonderful sonata

[chazinko]

This music is at least as heavy on the piano as the fiddle and this guy is every bit Lara's equal. Question is, who is he?

[lovesGenet]

This is intense ,emphatic music as any fool can hear. It is not intimate music. C minor in Beethoven often has a menacing quality. Here he grabs u.Too bad there are no cello sonatas in this key his output. We pianists are lucky we get several sonatas,a variations and an entire concerto.

[seahyimin]

wow very well played! plus the violin has a very good tone

[michelleandpatrick]

doesnt sonata mean a solo performance with one instrument?

[Sviolinist]

@michelleandpatrick No, it's a form. Sonata form.

[pabloj08]

In the first times of the birth of the name sonata, this term means only those that the word indicates "to sound", from Haydn began to designate " the form sonata " since as we know nowadays

[badonov]

The most ridiculous comment one can make about a musical performance is one which emphasizes the physical. Is the performance persuasive? Is it technically strong? If you are worried about the health of the violinist with regard to position, that is fine. If it is merely a platform for catty chatter, share with your friends.

[xwkwarw]

I think there's no wrong as long as there's no tension and everything works. Whatever she's doing obviously works for her and I say bravo to her for daring to play the way she feels, and not the way people expect a violin to sound. True music, in my opinion, is not something about expectations and rules.

[RenzoColameo]

I'm Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kiss

*****

[RegnarEarthfury]

that would be my aunt

[ilgiardinobarocco]

i think she is very talented and i like her style especially on bach.there isn't a rule like if a musician is handsome/beautiful she/he probably bad!

[kenplaysviola]

But, you are more marketable and profitable if you look handsome/beautiful. Lets face it, people like watching beautiful people.

[mibrunildita]

I didn´t like the video, and a have to say there are many violinist much better than her but, I don´t know..., is about luky or to be in the right momen, or to find a very gooooooood manager or, make a good marketing..., gooooooood looking., to move the body like a crazy...as Sara Chang....show woman.....

make a show and that is nothing about serius music....or to be a maervelous soloist...

Ufff the sond of this video is very , very ugly....poor her.

[fiddlinmatt]

You're right, the sound isn't doing her any credit. She does sound very good though. One may argue that there are better violinists out there. I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but I have heard her live, and she is a powerhouse....

[porcelaina75]

this is such a strange production of this work! First off, the piano is off in the back somewhere, which throws off the balance and the ensemble entirely. It also loses the element of intimacy that violin/piano sonatas should have - this isn't her best playing but it isn't entirely her fault, as the setup is so odd...

[Sviolinist]

As an engineer, I must say that the piano has a few unisons that are out of tune (piano tuner required - I learned years ago), and the mic setup is strange to my ears. Very thin sound in general here...

[VladislavGomulka]

@porcelaina75 You have to change your hearing.

[jkircher314]

God! She's really awful!! Somehow her recording of the chaconne was okay - she must have made a million takes.

[leitfie3579]

In which ways is she awful? This is a hard piece, particularly the rapid semi-quavers towards the end of the exposition and recapitulation which are very ungainly for the player, and she does them very well indeed. She plays in tune, not faultlessly but well enough for a live performance, and with some spirit in this very 'Sturm und Drang' Sonata. What aspects of her work are 'really awful'?

[debchik]

Just wanted to say that my comment was supposed to be in response to Korobushka's. I don't know why it did not come out that way.

[SoloGuitaristNet]

Lara is a wonderful talent and has been from the begining. She deserves much respect!!! This performance is exceptional.

[pppsssssssss]

I just met her yesterday. She's here in Hawaii performing the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5(turkish) with the HOnolulu Sypmhony. Wonderful person! She's so nice and humble...asked me about how my violin playing was going, etc!!! Oh, and btw, She's 6-feet tall! I didn't believe it until I met her face to face.

[mgjas89]

U guys don't know shit about music if you think she sucks..she is fricking good...beethoven sonatas are hard

[viola989]

even i play better than that... not technically but musically

[johntomfoolery]

she's probably one of the 5 most musical violinists alive today. her bach is out of this world and the best thing to happen to bach since grumiaux. her beethoven is certainly exceptional, as well. and her technique is fantastic. i'm not sure what planet you live on.

[leitfie3579]

Great - let's see you on Youtube and we can all enjoy your musicality. Maybe Ms. St. John will see it and can learn something from it .......

[dwch35]

oh my god, i listen to the itzhak perlmans version, and seriously mr perlman was so so much better

[mrmatt24]

She's okay, but with so many amazing violinists out there, it's a mystery to me how she became famous at all.

[jgrab1]

> She's okay, but with so many amazing violinists out

> there, it's a mystery to me how she became famous at all.

She has two prime assets.

[mrmatt24]

Ha ha. I think I know what you mean.

[jgrab1]

You do? Wow, no grass grows under your nose! ;-)

[vlndv]

Very weird production with distracting editing, shrill sound, and out-of-sync picture. At 6:17 she plays a loud chord without the bow even touching the violin.

[CMUviolin]

You think the bow isn't touching? She is playing this. I have NEVER heard of a violinist "faking" a performance. I am accompanying her with the Midland Symphony Orchestra this week on the Bruch so I'll see how she actually is live.

[variousweetie]

Surprised that Canada could produce such a great violinist! Her playing is rich of life and power.

[maxrysan]

She sucks. C'mon people.

[Guinnie]

you are a moron

[cantabile91]

don't be mean. her interpretation of this piece is quite good. looks don't equal talent. and even then, she doesn't look like a frog.

[shastanley]

she looks liek a frog

[timroseh]

Lara's intonation is so exquisite. Her Bach recordings have given me much pleasure. Thanks for postisg this live performance.

[takemitsu]

I have seen her live twice, and I think she is nothing short of phenomenal. She's actually wayyyyy more subdued than normal in this video; she is known for literally leaping into action with the violin. I am most impressed by her strength of character; she remains true to herself despite having many vicious detractors.

[Korobushka]

The girl can play but I hate the way she holds her violin

[mrmatt24]

You shouldn't judge the way she holds her violin unless her technique makes her sound bad. You don't play music to look good--you play it to sound good (which I don't particularly get from Lara, anyway). She's more in the Vanessa Mae-pop category of musicians.

[Korobushka]

Your right, but when you do see her live, you think that she doesnt really care about it by the way she holds herself and her violin

\

[debchik]

This is true. I just saw her play the Vivaldi Four Seasons live, and she indeed played as though she didn't care what came out. She also gyrated a lot and made a number of screeches and crunches. Maybe she feels she has to resort to idiosyncrasies in order to interest an audience today, which is unfortunate for the music but also for the layperson who leaves thinking that this is what great music sounds like.

[Sviolinist]

Read Leopold Mozart's Violin Treatise. One of the examples of how to hold a violin shows the method she's using that is "bad" to you. Back then, violinists didn't have the chin rest. So, therefore, playing Beethoven in this way is completely correct and appropriate. Hmm!

[Elizamariegcastillo]

There is no wrong way to hold a violin,

there is different styles , for example,

I hold my violin differently, so do all my friends

(who go 2 a different teacher), were all different,

Wow i just used the word different a lot ,that's a new record (for me)

[Sviolinist]

No, there really are wrong ways to hold a violin. Each style might be different, but there are wrong ways to hold the violin for each style. For instance, you can't play classical violin with a bent left hand wrist. 'Nuff said there, really.

[leitfie3579]

Just not true - I presume you mean bent upwards towards the neck, and indeed that is not in general a good idea - but it must bend the other way a bit, and it must be flexible for different positions on different strings. The words 'you can't' are usually a bit extreme for violin playing!

[BeatrixPotterer]

- Sorry, you are making assumptions. There are many excellent soloists and professional violinists who use the bent left wrist either for certain sorts of passages, or as the preferred default in certain positions. Read Ricci's book, look more carefully at the many youtube videos.

[Sviolinist]

@BeatrixPotterer I can drive a car with my knees on the steering wheel, but that doesn't mean that it's a good idea. Don't tell me all this crap about "the many" soloists. The only videos you need to consult are videos of truly great classical violinists. Are they playing with bent left wrists? No, not really.

[246trinitrotoluene]

check out itzhak perlman

he alternates between different forms. sometimes bent sometimes straight

[Catsincages]

You made the very amateur mistake of looking at the performance rather than listening to it. I think you are just some troll type, please go away.

[pablogriggio]

Elizamariegcastillo, yo creo que estas equivocada, si hay formas malas de sostener el violin, St.John, toca con el violin muy bajo, y realmente eso le saca presencia en el escenario. Además que te saca sonido, un conocido, tomo clases con varios maestros, ilya kaler, elmar oliveira, y shlomo mintz por nombrar algunos, y todos, le dieron importancia a la postura, los 3 le dijeron que el codo iba a la altura de la 4ta cuerda. Así que yo no diría que no hay malas formas de sostener el violin.

[scottbos68]

marry me lara