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From: SamLee0519
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  • strange audience, almost cold a the end...I would have lost my mind and fucking scream all over the place if i was there :(

  • best version i ever heard ever

  • great musician!!

    

  • Zubin Mehta fa piangere

  • I love this video!!!!!!

  • ferras is SO underrated compared to people like Heifetz and Menhuin but he is SIMPLY FANTASTIC!!!!

  • All three movements of Ferras' Sibelius reek of sweat, tears, and machismo. He perfectly expresses the music through his violin and bodily motion. Ferras enraptures the ears, nostrils, and eyes.

  • why do people bother to dislike this? are they trying to say : "Look at me, i have no talent except being and idiot" ? LOL

  • @carlafierro7 10 people accidentally clicked the dislike button. its okay, it happens, theyre right next to each other, after all.

  • oooh my ...this is extrordinary ,,,,

  • omg Soooooooooooooo powerful! He was not "French - Belgian" at this point... haha

  • this movement reminds me of sledding out of control on a icy russian hill, well maybe on the border with finland (distinct slavic feeling here). thrlling at the same time.

  • Wherever the violin goes, the Hahn-bashing soon follows..

    Great concert this, also.

  • What an extraordinaire rendition, even 46 years later, still the greatest performance!!

  • ay por Dios la parte final me mata, cuanta pasión y belleza de la vida expresada en la música! Amo la música

  • Ferras was depressed, one of the things that could make people a real 'heartbreaking' artist. I cannot imagine Hilary Hahn being that far.

    Ferras has much more pain to put into the music so that makes it different, but not really better. Would you want miss Hahn to suffer this much? I wouldn't.

    Also I'd rather have an artist less if that would mean that person could be happy instead.

  • Damn, no Mvt. 4.... now i can't pretend like this wonderful concerto goes on and on... :(

  • I can feel Enescu spirit in his interpretation of this piece .. I really like it .

  • this movement is dope. nuff said

  • sorry for not commenting on ur vids 4 a while! download this album in downloadmusic .im

  • j'ai la version qu'il a enregistré avec Karajan et OPB ; celle-çi est encore meilleure. Insurpassable ! liberté de ton incroyable ! une vraie rhapsodie....

  • I keep wondering what sort of teacher he was.

  • 7:08..then audience realizes that they can breathe again!

  • Marvelous! :D Ferras did an excellent job when he performed this concerto. I have few words for something so perfect. lol :P

  • molto passionato..

    christian ferras and the sibelius concerto,wonderful..it sounds like a paganini concerto,apparently effortless but played so passionately with an immense power and imagination.this authentic interpretation is really an enrichment and suddenly the sibelius sounds as it ought to be: easygoing!!!

  • maybe he was just an amazing musician

  • Comment removed

  • mr lee pls tell where can one get this

  • I don't know why he played that way at 5:35- 5:58. A bit scratchy for my taste.

    But having said that, his interpretation definitely has something in it.

    Very addictive. I CAN'T STOP LISTENING!

  • @pinball2734 I CAN'T STOP LISTENING.. 6:11 i want to cry.. his glissando on that note is simply incredible.. this interpretation is fantastic of ALL concerto.. i listen oistrach.. very very beautiful.. than i listened vengerov... particular and very beautiful.. but after FERRAS.. I CAN'T STOP LISTENING himand his concerto... i love this concerto thanks to FERRAS.. sorry for my english if is bad but i'm italian .

  • he is great really great , but i want to ask something and if there is a professional that knows this please answer cause day by day i get very comfused ! ...How many bow techniques do actually excist !!! ??? i mean i play the violin for many years but i see very different techniques !!!! i m getting crazy lol heifetz has other bow technique , mistein olso is different , elmans oolso different, stern olso different , and now ferras how could he survive with this technique without problems ! ??

  • @violonistchris infinite

  • @violonistchris Maybe this players had different body types....

  • Say SamLee0519, were do you have all these fantastic videos from?

  • Bravo!!!!

  • Great musician, burned out too early.

  • @userblue Dude, he wasn't a child when he retired from performance, at like 50! What I hate most are dying artists trying to eek out a few more bucks on piss poor concerts. Get your facts right!

  • @jko314

    You were at one of his last concerts, jko?

  • @jko314 ferras committed suicide...

  • best sibelius on youtube in my opinion

  • Mr. Ferras has recorded this Concerto with von Karajan too.

  • @MrGunterguerrero and that is a great recording. in some ways better than this, though we are so lucky to have this video recording of him playing, esp. of the 2nd movement.

  • @stradgirl Of course, you're right !

  • tremendous,so much power,internal strength and soooo deep inspired. mr.ferras was a great great violinist,for sibelius beyond all measure..moving listen to this!! :-)

  • wow..... I love it love it love it love it

  • Great bowing technique and vibrato!!!

  • Rather surprising to see Mehta in Sibelius. I recollect an interview he gave to Gramophone magazine where he said he had picked up an Austrian/Viennese bias against Schumann and Sibelius. He has recorded this concerto though, with Midori.

  • Closely related to Sibelius' En Saga

  • Hey everyone! Listen to Lisa Batiahvili play the movement. It's sweeeeeeeet!

  • 04:53

  • good akcents

  • Cosmic!

  • I must agree with some others that this is maybe not quite the way the 3rd movement should be played. This performance as a whole wouldn't be the best without the divine 2nd movement that will probably never be surpassed by anyone.

  • Or actually, who am I to tell mr. Ferras how this should be played!

  • proabably someone who has heard other recordings and is able to decide for himself which one he likes more.

  • Certified Intergalactic! The Ferras Star!

  • where has this version been all my life? it is the best interpretation of sibelius i have ever heard.

    thank god for not another note by note metronomic reading of sibelius that i have heard in competitions and other artists not willing to take a risk.

    a true artist!

    rest in peace, sir!

  • I can accept that not all violin lovers likes this version the most.

    But Feras version must be considered as one o the best there is!!

  • Really an exceptional player...

  • This is obviously an unreal performance, but i must admit its a tad scratchy for my taste, and the intonation is quite wobbly a couple of times plus the band really have to work to keep it together with him. He's got the intensity alright, but I do find that scratchy sound distracting, that obviously how he dedicded to play it.I love his 2nd mov best, Oistrakh is my favorite for the first mov, and jascha heifetz for the finale. Personal taste I suppose.

  • WOW. His interpretation is different from any of the others that I have seen in the past. The Sibelius is amazing but it can be played in so many different ways and that is one of the things that I love so much about it. Ferras' interpretation is SO intense and emotional... he allures me in hsi playing. Truly phonmenal. The filming on this video was horrible but I'm glad they chose to zoom in on his fingers and face at times. I can't get over this concerto.

  • And another, this violin concerto has the notoriety of sounding easy but actually is very, very hard to tackle. Being able to play it the way all these great violinists did was a blessing already.

  • Hailstormand: yeah this concerto is very very difficult. one of the hardest of all the popular violin concertos

  • So intense! And I don't mean Ferras and Mehta. Cool it, guys. Sibelius' Violin Concerto was written never to be judged but to be enjoyed, as I am sure it is with the rest of the music that ever existed. We're lucky to have Sibelius jot all these precious notes down before they escaped his mind. Be thankful that he did that.

  • I'd advise you to listen a few more more times and then try and restate the same opinion.

  • I think you just don't have any sort of understanding of how hes interpreted this piece. Listen to the second movement and you will find the mood hes setting for the entire piece.

    (His second movement interpretation is absolutely the most intense and moving recording I've yet heard.)

  • this isn't the second movement. Being wrong isn't interpretive.

  • i really want to hear this played by you. pls post it on youtube :) because... i really want to hear a "better" version of this concerto :D

  • please post ur playing i would love to hear someone who is -better- than ferras play !

    loooool i dont think so

  • the lack of video of me playing this concerto has nothing to do with the fact that he's ignoring everything on the page other than the note heads.

  • evoandy: go criticize heifetz cuz he ignores all tempo markings. musicians have a right to interpret the music.

  • evoandy: how is the first note out of tune. ive just listened to it ten times. its in tune. somethings wrong with ur ears

  • its sharp, and then he adjusts it. if you can't hear the pitch bend, or hear the difference between the first pitch, and the next time he plays that "same" pitch, then I have no explanation for you.

  • i hear it a bit. but i think its his vibrato that caused a slight alter to the pitch, but overall he plays this very well. one of the best of all time

  • actually, when reviewing the urtext version of the score, you can quite obviously see that Ferras very closely follows the original bowings.

    Every violin player that ever lived plays this "hacky" at tempo. intonation is nearly flawless given this was a live performance that brought everyone to tears. Zubin said it was one of the most emotional concerts he'd ever conducted.

    can you play this concerto? didn't think so.....

  • actually, this is my audition concerto. And I own a facsimile of the manuscript.

  • haha if you're still taking auditions you may not critique christian ferras on the sibelius.

    you own a facsimile of the manuscript, which is my point exactly. take the bach cello suites for examle, we have "facsimiles" of the parts sloppily copied by his wife. no bowings or articulation, little dynamics.

    what you wan't is an urtext version of the score, with the orginal bowings and dynamics. barenreiter is the best reputable source for accurate editions.

  • its called a facsimile because its a copy. I don't actually own the piece of paper sibelius was writing on. And the urtext editions are taken from facsimiles of manuscripts 90% of the time. The bach cello suites are inconsistent because bach was writing in the late 18th century. Sibelius was writing in the 20th century, and the originals exist, and ferras is still doing it wrong. 95% of violinists do it correctly, so theres no reason he shouldn't.

    I can critique ferras because he's wrong.

  • Listen to Heifetz, Perlman or Shahams Version yall.

  • This version doesn't lose the nordic quality of the music as so many other versions absolutely do.

  • This is a unique version of this concerto. You can not compare with any actual young violinists. I can compere only with Oistrakh. for me this is the best version of this concerto.

  • which year is this?

  • sorry I've just realised that what i wrote was totally incoherent... ignore it! lol.

  • I don't think you guys are seeing the point here. Hillary Hahn, and she has a lot of potential to become a great, but few violinists will ever equal up to Oistrakh, Menuhin, Heifetz, or Szeryng.

    The best violinist right now in my opinion, is Pearlman, simply because I have never been disappointed with anything he has played. I love Gil Shaham too. I believe he also has potential to become a great.

    I like Ferras is this, but I prefer Oistrakh, that being said, I still like Ferras as a player.

  • Actually Itzhak Perlman is way past his prime and no longer the best violinist on Earth. In my opinion Leonidas Kavakos, Maxin Vengerov, Alexander Markov, Leila Josefowicz are all in the running for the current mantle.

  • Actually Itzhak Perlman is way past his prime and no longer the best violinist on Earth. In my opinion Leonidas Kavakos, Maxin Vengerov, Alexander Markov, Leila Josefowicz, and Christian Tetzlaff are all in the running for the current mantle.

  • I agree but it doesn't take away from the things he has done etc.. so when u compare those in their to each other eg. perlman and vengerov perlman is always better in my opinion. it hard to explain but all i'm trying to say is that although he may not be as gd as he used to be that doesn't take away from what a great violinist he is and if u ask the question: best violin alive? I would say perlman.

    Cheers

    alex

  • To Violatione and others discussing the best violin of this modern age:

    Just stop, this generation overall will never come close to the mastery some of the previous generations have. Let us look to the future and tighten our bows :p

    P.S Don't forget your rosin ;)

  • I'm sorry but the only reason that I think you hold that opinion is because you're out of the loop. Go to some concerts or simply youtube some of the names I've mentioned, and honestly tell me that the old guard was better.

  • I have both of those, and most modern "musicians" are bloody awful. They were also from a time when people cared about classical music, now look at today. How many kids in today's youth have even heard of Sibelius?

  • I would be classed as one of todays youth, and i certainly have! Just because there is other music out there... there is such a thing a diversity.

  • You are stating you have heard of Sibelius in a comment, on a video of a performance of one of his pieces. Go see how many other people have heard of him elsewhere.

  • sometimes i feel like the only people that actually appreciate classical music are just other musicians.

  • im a youth today that likes classical music along with Sibelius very much, but I also like many pop musicians. There is no such thing as an awful musician, just different perspectives.

  • what?! lol. vengerov isn't even actively performing anymore and hasn't released a recording in years. perlman's career as a performer lasted for like 30 years, and even now he's a sought after soloist. And not including hilary hahn on that list of best existing violinists is pretty ignorant.... she's revolutionized violin playing. Her influence is probably the strongest on new players. Its because of her that people even look at scores anymore rather than deferring to antiquated recordings.

  • Hillary is very young yet and does not perform the most difficult pieces in the repertoire. She is not a revolutionary but a well programmed machine. Replace Vengerov with James Ehnes.

  • Didn't she perform the Schoenberg? Heifetz labels it unplayable.

  • Hillary Hahn is a good violinist but you can't tell that she's revolutionized the school of violin... And you can't compare her to great Masters like Ferras who didn't have to do marketing to make their promotion :!!!

  • Word!!!!

  • That says volumes about 'today', and none of it very good.

  • She is undoubtedly great but she is young yet. She may very well one day be as good as the top players. But her discography is yet lacking.

  • If Hilary Hahn watched this she'd wet her pants! This is how you play the fiddle, Hil!

  • That would require her to understand and share the intense internal FIRE that burned Ferras to the bone. Hahn has no such fire, interior or otherwise. She is a machine: Machines can be programmed; as Hahn has been, but 'it' will never burn with the Fire of Creation, AKA--Genius. Ferras was a Genius; Hahn is a well-programmed machine. Its a pity so few seem to appreciate the difference.

  • I agree

  • @PSnedden thts pretty hot

  • @PSnedden: What a stupid commentar! Hilary will know better than you to appreciate this video, because she is also a great musician and hard worker! I love both Ferras and her and everybody else who is into the music with the heart!

  • @Sorcerer2k Yeah, Hil is a good musician (I wouldn't call her 'great') and, of course, she works hard (doesn't every pro musician?). Comparing Hahn to Ferras, tho, would be like comparing J K Rowling to James Joyce, or the Coen brothers to Fritz Lang; know what I mean, pal!

  • @PSnedden: I know what you mean, "pal", but I dont agree. First if you are serious you cant compare musicians artistry because thats personal and it cannot be compared at all. If you compare technical skill and Details, wich is the only thing u can compare if u are serious.. then...well they all do wrong notes from time to time and the sound slippes etc. hilary and ferras is like bach and schönberg. They are both great in their way.

  • @PSnedden: J.K rowling is a one hit wonder, hilary not. I really dont know, why peaple dont see great personalitys as long as they are alive...Discover all the recordings of Hilary Hahn and I'm sure you will talk different about her.

    Ferras and sibelius is quite a good match, but in some other works I would prefer Hilary Hahn. And also her Sibelius is not just mechanical, its quite a piece of great art. And with halarys hard work I mean really hard work and lifestyle.

  • @Sorcerer2k JK Rowling is a horrible writer compared to Joyce, that's what he means. There are lots of great personalities amongst today's violinists (hi Janine Jansen), but Hilary Hahn is cold and boring. For me Ferras is an immense artist, Hahn has an incredible technique but it's so uninspired...

  • @PSnedden Agreed, except I would say the Coen Bros. deserved to be compared to just about anyone (except maybe Bergman) :) lol. But, yeah, I get your point. I honestly don't feel like any of the violinists today, with the possible exception of Repin and ole Gil (and maybe Kavakos too), really have their own unique sound like the greats of the past, such as Ferras, had.

  • @JPizzle1490: Dont forget they used gut strings... there is more possibility to form the sound. This comparison is everywhere but I think its missleading. I think every violinist has some kind of its own sound, but the most of them are unknown, because thats not the matter today.

  • I think this is the fastest version of Sibelius I' ve ever heard !!

  • Leila Josefowicz is much faster.

  • He's putting so much effort into it that I can see beads of sweat coming down his face even in black and white. 0.o

    That's quality.

  • Marvelous rendition. I just wish on the double stop parts between 0:54 and 1:06 he could've done down bow staccato then up bow staccato. It looks more effective. But how he did it sounded just fine too :)

    Just used to a different bowing I guess...

  • This is as good as it gets!

    I am Scandinavian and have studied Sibelius.

    Absolutely best version I have ever heard! And I think this one will be hard to do any better. Everything is absolutely in balance and sounds divine!!!!

    I have heard lots of violin players paying Sibelius violin concerto. But for me this is the masterpiece against every one else will be compared.

  • Yes, that is true;

  • For Scandinavia, 12 points. :):)

  • Nice mustache.

  • Ferras was totally fearless, while so many others are only shameless.

  • heard this yesterday at played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Thomas Dausgaard conducting and Henning Kraggerud as the soloist they also played the most passionate version of Dvorak New world symphony i've ever heard

  • You can really see him struggling to express himself beyond the means of the violin and even the music itself.

  • i think he desereved a loud bravo in the end....if i was in the audience i would have screamed the word out of my lungs.

  • @vlhere You would have been dead wrong, I do prefer quiet audiences and outstanding violinists. Now audiences are noisy (where education's gone?) and players (HH...) are unable to be humble and withdraw beforehand music

  • Ferras is emotionally in tune with sad times...

    So I think this is as good as it gets with Sibelius violin concerto!

  • You can never top this performance!

  • will Vanessa Mae be able to play this?????? I dont think so!!!! Ive heard her play classical music and her interpretation skills SUCKS BIG TIME!!!

  • Yeah, how exactly does a 29 year old Chinese Classical music "Pop Idol" manage to "Interpret" anything? I'll take Ferras's lifelong career along side most of this century's masters and his life long battle with depression that he outputted through his music over some stupid "Teeny bopper" that reads sheet music any day . Mae is as "deep" as a puddle in a desert compared to Ferras, Oistrakh, Heifitz and many of the other greats, not even comparable.

  • i listenned many times to all the interpretations of this amazing third movement and i must say that the ferras one is according me the best, he blows my soul...

  • even his first and second movements!!!! :)

  • I totally agree vlhere...i listen about 5 times a day to this incredible Sibelius-Ferras fusion. I hope i can play on a nivel of 1 percent of Ferras but i will be dangerous for my health...TOO INTENSE. Take care.

  • wish you all the best with your violin!!!!!

  • Watching a listening to his crescendo gives me tingles every time.

  • magistral performance fom old times

  • i like oistralkh better honestly

    but hes good too

  • wonderful performance..love his crystal clear harmonics! Thanks so very much!

  • ok, I got the feeling that he is better than Heifetz. absolutely amazing

  • the 'walk ups' in the beginning on that violin are amazing, guitarist have a hard time playing those and we have frets to help. i'm in awe.

  • Ferras was Feanor and he made the Sillmarils,

    "and the Sillmarils are lost".

  • he made inhuman music

    he was possesed by his own playing and eventually killed himself

    so sad but inevitable

    he is awesome!!

  • such style! dang!

  • Two magnificent young men. Mehta still using a score!! Noble, moving interpretation from Ferras.

  • Freshing mediterranean interpretation..unique!!! bravissimo...

  • god i love this piece!

  • ici nous avons la quintessence de sibelius.admirable!

  • I discorved violin with christian ferras and this concerto... magnifical, sobriety

  • magnificencia!!!

  • I have got to have a recording of this. This utoob audio quality is for the birds. Thanks for uploading just the same.

  • These are incredible. Utterly.

  • I'm lucky to see like this great performance.

    Thanks much!!

  • Just amazing!

  • Just...marvelous

  • Christian Ferras was a fantastic violinist. I really love his playing of the Sibelius Concerto.He puts so much colour and flair in to his performance.

  • I love his fast vibrato!! very good interpretation! Bravo!

  • I think he plays exceptionally well. It's almost as if he's trying to tame a wild beast(his violin), and it seems like he could lose control at any moment, but doesnt. I feel restless listening to this version, but it's great. I like the Oistrakh version better though.

  • No one can beat Christian's rendition.

  • Monster. Techincal Monster.

  • i defeintly like some of his articulations.

    although i wish he wasnt so screechy at some parts.

  • Bravissimo! His harmonics at 4:53-5:04 are awesome. It's like natural whistling. Priceless video!

  • Anybody knows what violin is he playing?

  • that false harmonic section was awesome!

  • he doesn't even play the high F-sharp, or the D for that matter, really sloppy. and then he clips at ends of phrases. distasteful.

  • notes at ends of phrases*

  • That's what phrasing is. Phrasing is a speech pattern where the emphasis is in the beginning and trails off at the end. One must sacrifice less important notes in the context of the 'phrase' so the 'principle' notes stand out and define the phrase. Without this sacrificial distinction, there is no phrasing. Modern performers don't understand phrasing any more than you do, so they treat all the notes the same. Your claim of Ferras being distasteful reveals your own lack of refinement.

  • my dear boy, you are very wrong. 1st, phrases are not always written with the emphasis in the beginning, and then it "trails off" because then everyone's playing would sound like a pool of swells. 2nd, you don't ALWAYS fade at the end of a phrase, only when appropriate.  ferras, CLIPS the note at the end of a phrases, TOTALLY different than trailing off, and unnatural to the human ear, but an easy mistake to make. for instance, if you sing something, you will never sing, "Oh say can YOU see"

  • I was referring to the phrasing in this movement of this work, not that all phrasing is the same. Ferras 'clips' the ends as a mean of a springboard to the next phrase. It's a means of producing momentum. Ferras' phrasing is not "distasteful" just because you don't like it, and it is more than likely that you just don't appreciate energetic phrasing in the first place.

  • why sir, why can't it be the other way around? Why can't it be that it is distasteful and you just like it? frankly, it can. and i find it odd how you have to defend him like he's your God. i never said i didn't like Ferras, generally, i find his play captivating, but those unwritten throwing of notes and just sliding a hard passage just was not standable. how do you justify that, the top of the d major arpeggio? it sounds horrid and sloppy, and he definitely has to miss that D.

  • Well, he is surely NOT my God. But I will admit that I may be overly defensive of him, as he is a rare artist in the truest sense, and around here it seems few know the difference between artists and performers. It could be that our tastes differ greatly, and that I like music to be an authentic exposition of the Formal Cause from within the mind and soul of the soloist. If you believe tasteful means 'well polished' then we aren't likely to agree on much. The other issues are merely physical.

  • Keep in mind that Ferras has been sweating very hard now for a while and that he didn't use a shoulder rest, and I can't even see that he used a chin rest! If he were to reach too high under these conditions the violin might pop out from under his chin and land on the floor. It is a very real concern, and that he has to make the call in the moment, and does, is a credit to his ability. I'm sure you're not suggesting that he couldn't reach the higher notes, so you know he had good reason.