Pt. 4 Rostropovich Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante

[dhgcello]

8:40 Slava's bow hold :P AMAZING.

[aabaker22]

5:08 Slava makes a disappointed face at the cello section

[CROMPZ65]

I love how in 8:43 he resorts to grabbing the bow in his fist... as if literally squeezing out all the juicy sound possible!

[cellodaniel1]

awesome

[koeloekai]

I mean the trumpet

[koeloekai]

8:45??

[gagagoogoo]

what a horrible orchestra

[kulsho]

Povero Slava, il direttore è totalmente incapace, nemmeno di seguirlo! Fa perdere il meraviglioso pathos finale! Riesce a riprenderlo, per i capelli alla fine DA SOLO il grande Rostropovich. Però interessante video.

[George6Cavendish]

Perhaps, perhaps...

However that really didn't spoil the joy of rediscovering this 2nd Concerto with our beloved Mstislav.

So, in brief: molto interessanto video.

Feel free to comment.

[Thomascello]

Not Slava's best hour... it seems like he disagrees with the conductor and the orchestra does not know who's tempo to follow.

[rasputin1357]

As anyone that has ever performed in an orchestra accompanying a soloist knows, the soloist is the one that dictates the tempo. In this case, the conductor is totally off as he needs to be following Slava, not the other way around.

[cellogeek95]

I think this performance is incredible. It´s not his best performance, one of his best recordings of Prokofiev is definitly with Sir Malcolm Sargent and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He pretty much plays everything perfect!

[thomasodelago]

I love this guy

[kwen092185]

that last note is cruel and very hard to hit in general, especially at the speed he was playing. That doesn't take away from the performance one bit.....amazing. After all, this peice was written for Rostrpovich

[rasputin1357]

Actually, the solo part in this piece was pretty much written by Rostropovich, within the framework that Prokofiev provided him.

[Lezzaz]

@rasputin1357 actually, if you read Slava's autobiography, you'll see that he didn't write most of the solo part. In fact, the only part he actually wrote was a short section for the first movement; apart from that, he made occasional suggestions with regard to balance and other such issues, and told Prokofiev what was possible to play on the 'cello, since this piece pushes the bounds of virtuosity to the utmost

[Mikey423]

@rasputin1357 thats incorrect, all rostropovich "wrote" in this concerto were 8 bars, prokofiev asked him to write something virtuosic for him, its 6:57-7:13 in the first movement, as for the one he did help "write" that is the cello concertino op. 132 composed by prokofiev just before his death, he never completed it but told rostropovich what he wanted done with it and rostropovich finished the orchestration with kabalevsky

[whatthecello42]

Watch his face. He grimaces right after he misses the last of the high notes at the end. If anyone would realize it, it would be him. He had incredible ears.

[accnmbr1]

he holds the bow with a fist at the end. Badass

[anisometropie]

where do you see that ?

[anisometropie]

oh yeah i noticed 8:30. Rostropovich played this symphonia in paris and my teacher was here.

And he played this passage holding his bow in the same way. But the end is extremely demanding physically. So this is certainly one solution to play it with enough energy, otherwize it would be too exhausting.

Purist would say we can't play holding the bow like this, but we have the proof here that they would be wrong, this is perfectly played. yea, Rostropovich is a total badass. admirable performance

[fiddlinmatt]

yeah he did, but no biggie! The buildup before it does more for me than the ending. even though the ending is really great

[allegrettus]

it is still music, it's even music, than it is soal;

[C0urante]

I love how the tension just builds in the last three minutes or so and then at the end it all just goes (metaphorically) BOOM!

[marinacaaaa]

unico en pasion y virtuosismo.

[whatthecello42]

He misses the last of the high notes at the end.

[hazardperry]

I don't know why you are being voted down - he did miss the note. You can hear it, he can hear it, and you can see it all over his face.

Hardly diminishes a punishing performance.

[bckm54]

I don't know why hes being voted down, either. Even if he DID totally screw it up, you're absolutely right about the performance. After all, it isn't an easy piece, and he IS playing in the area where the rosin has built up.

[IBarry66x]

Jeez - who cares!!

[whatthecello42]

yeah, i agree, who cares, i was just making an observation, the point is the amount of intensity and energy he puts into the performance and interpretation of the piece. He also deals with the technical challenges in incredible ways. A missed note here or there hardly detracts at all from the result.

[Wallace1234567890]

the note's not really missed, but slipped. He rushed to pizz the last note with the orchestra, and hence the mistake.

[bckm54]

i'm not so sure. I had to listen to it a couple of times but i think he hit it OK. With notes that high on the cello, it's hard to do it perfectly cuz youre just running out of room. Also, I find it hard to believe that he would actually miss the most dramatic note. My old viola teacher would half jokingly tell me that the only notes that matter in any piece are the first one and the last one, cuz people tend to forget all the notes in the middle.. :)

[danzango]

I look forward to a day when the comment option in youtube is deleted.

For now, though, I have to say: The part starting at 1:49, when he switches between arco and pizz is very very lovely.

[Kurtyoungblood]

8: 15 on... Holy shit.

[fiddlinmatt]

great performance by the great master. Orchestra is quite lacking in places though... oh well. Still fun to hear this interesting and engaging work.

[Wallace1234567890]

Woah somehow dissing one of my favorite cellists down there. I just hope he/she can see what I enjoy in Slava's music a lot one day.

There're certainly some intonation problems and the orchestra wasn't great either. But it's still exciting to see his fingers flying all over, eh? I personally prefer his recording with Seiji Ozawa. It's really fiery and articulated with a good orchestra too.

[rasputin1357]

The orchestra is terrible! There are moments where Slava seems like he is rushing but in actuality he is trying to get the orchestra to speed up as they are too slow!

I personally think his best recording of this is with Sir Malcolm Sargent. Too bad there's no video of that one!

[battleblades]

Dude. Get a life. The only reason I am not swearing at you in full caps lock right now is because my mother is in the room. All people like you are the ones truly hated in the music world. You have no brains, no skill, or no kindness.

I feel so sorry for "aggressive cretins" like you. You are the ones who are mediocre. If you cannot understand music in its purest form, played by one of the most remarkable (yes, I said remarkable, bite me) people on earth-

[battleblades]

then I would suggest shutting the hell up.

[Slavoljuban]

You are some kind of a stupid dig and son of the bitch if you are jokeing, and if you arnt jokeing than you have a serious psyhical problems. Go cure yourself! Freak!

[rasputin1357]

Does your mommy or daddy know you are using the computer without their permission?

No rides on the merry-go-round for you this summer!

[battleblades]

you talking to me?

[rasputin1357]

Nope....replying to slavaswrinklyknob

[Zfunksta87]

I don't think that some of the great twentieth century composers would have composed pieces for a mediocre cellist and musician..may I also point out that to play this piece at all well, you need some serious chops and musicianship

[Lezzaz]

@slavaswrinklyknob you're an idiot and a freak; and please change your name, it is grotesque

[Thomascello]

the orchestra is not that good... but great performance by Slava!!! Even if i like Heinrich Schiff's version best :P

[huarachetes]

WOOOOOW....WHat a BEAST !!!!!! He is just amazing... the best. I am so sad I could not hear him playing live. In the last part he is holding the bow with the entire fist !!! that´s crazyyyy ! The Bestttt ! Maestro Rostropovich

[AbsoluteZ3R0]

Holy shit that's so cool, he used the same theme from the concertino in this piece (or vice versa)

[langstra]

I went to a National Symphony Orch. (Rostropovich's old orchestra) concert two nights ago with Alban Gerhardt taking the solo slot. What an amazing piece!!!

He then played a Rostropovich moderato that had me in tears. What an amazing piece and evening!

[evpirazzi]

holy crap!! I saw that performance as well! I went to the Saturday performance and had a masterclass with him on the Rococo Variations the same day. He was absolutely amazing! He also played in the Rachmaninov after his solo :P Best concert I've ever been to.

[battleblades]

I think I'm in your string quartet-If I'm wrong, don't get mad.

[jsboy88]

geez i love it when he just grabs the bow and forgets about technique at the end, and then hes playing right off the fingerboard....man he was toooo good, wish i couldve seen him live.

[rasputin1357]

I'm not sure what you mean by "forgets about technique at the end" That last section is so high it can only be played off the fingerboard. I had the privilege of seeing him perform once and afterwards meeting him. It was a day I shall never forget.

[OfficerChan]

He probably means his unique bow grip at 8:42.

[rasputin1357]

I'll be darned! I never noticed that before! It looks as if he lost his grip on the bow but held on for dear life and just kept on playing to finish the phrase! Thank you for pointing that out. It is most interesting!

[fiddlinmatt]

I'm totally not trying to sound impressive or anything by commenting like this just so everyone takes it with a grain of salt. I really think that anyone interested in an extremely in depth account of this man's life and work should check this book out. It was just recently published and I saw it in the library and had to read it... but anyways, I really can't say that I believe he was worn out at the end. At, least, not worn out by our standards. Hetypicallywouldsleep 3-4 hoursoutof24evenontour

[sethlightking]

@fiddlinmatt im currently reading this book, it gives amazing insight into the life and cello playing of Slava,I highly recomend it!!!!!

[fiddlinmatt]

Don't want to surprise anyone or anything but he actually did that on purpose as it gave him an extra amount of leverage to get closer to the bridge and continue his crecendo to the end of the phrase, I just finished a book about his entire life written by one of his English students (Elizabeth Wilson) and she adresses this "unorthodox technique" remember, Rostropovich was known as a pioneer with the cello. If he wanted to do something he did it and it worked, note his endpin, etc., etc.

[cattleman6420012000]

He did such an incredible amount towards charity. He was such a truly good man.

[cattleman6420012000]

Thank you so much for showing this superb video. I am a fantastic fan of the late Rostropovitch. During his best playing years, no other cellist came near him.

[rasputin1357]

You are very welcome! Slava gave so much to the world and he will be very much missed!