Added: 4 years ago
From: Nodame2006
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  • I'm working on this right now, and it's a bitch.

  • @Cellomaster1234 Dude, if you think the first movement is hard, wait until you get to the third.

  • @Cellomaster1234 Yeah, offrhode92 is right. The 3rd movement makes this one look like a cinch...

  • whose cadenza is this?

  • He has a BLACK KEYBOARD? WHAAATTT! =0 / =)

  • I did a bit of research. This was taped in 1970, which means that Yo Yo was 15 at the time. Pretty amazing. Such talent!

  • @rabbitlady You're wrong. John Williams never conducted the Boston Pops in 1970, he first conducted the Pops in 1980. And this is in the 80s that he played this concerto among many others. This is the beginning of the collaboration between Ma and Williams.

  • @GGbreizh That could very well be. I got the info from a TV Guide page that YouTube won't let me link to, and with the way the page is set up, the description and the date and this particular video may not all match. It's still a VERY young Yo Yo Ma! I think that 15 would be about right.

  • @rabbitlady No, that can't be, because this is obviously Williams conducting (there aren't many person that looks like him). And he did conduct the Pops the first time in 1980, playing for the first, before the film was released, the Imperial March and the Yoda theme. You can search on wikipedia or in any Willimas biography, he never conducted the Pops before. This concerto was played during the 90s

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  • @rabbitlady " I began work (the Cello Concerto) at the end of 1993, and I celebratory concert that marked the dedication of Tanglewood's exciting new venue.

    I had known Yo-Yo Ma for quite a few years before this event. Together we had performed concertos of Elgar, Dvorak, and Haydn among others" Williams speaking of his cello concerto, premiered by the Boston Symphony. "Quite a few year" is not 23 years ago.

  • I can't tell if Yo-Yo Ma is playing with his eyes closed or not? Oh well so Beautiful to the ears.

  • Ha, I played this with my high school orchestra and haven't heard it in a while especially played so nicely. What a great trip down memory lane.

  • Mi reacciòn es de indignaciòn, no por Rostropovjch ni por Yo Yo Ma sino por la"genios" que critican para que todos creamos que saben mucho, serìa bueno que nos hicieran escuchar lo que ellos hacen y nos dijeran quienes son.-

  • he plays it like he is playing it for the first time

  • At 4:52, Yo-Yo Ma looks like he's recovering from a kick in the face.

  • @izzyjamm4 LOL

  • A different interpretation from what people are used to hear which is good for change. Not my taste but he's definitely an amazing cellist. I respect his courage to play this piece so differently! :)

  • a little too romantic for this baroque piece, but still fabulous:)

  • The Rostropovich group had more excitement in their fingertips than this orchestra, though well done, this is a complex piece!

  • @Doll0555 This is still one of the best orchestras in the world (and one of the best strings section).

  • It's a shame the sound quality is too bad to afford this performance a fair assessment.

  • Congratulations! I am a young cellist, and I really like this version!

  • this concerto is the bane of my existence!!! nowhere to hide..

  • Sorry Gabrielle, should have been for @xbasket12x!

  • He got bored so he decided to play the orchestra part too. BOSS

  • Always so good!

  • who cares if its c major, intonation and everything still count. it matters about emotion and heart. not key.

  • @4:58 Yo-yo ma gets his.

  • Hands down, Haydn must be the bane of string performers. Seriously, C major?

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  • @GabrielleduVent What is wrong with it being in C-Major?

  • @xbasket12x C major is one of the toughest for the string players to get the right intonation, because it's counter-intuitive for the strings. That's why a lot of the concertos are written in D major. The lowest string for the cello is C, but D just resonates throughout the body much more than C.

  • @GabrielleduVent That being said D major is one of the hardest keys to play in tune with on the cello

  • @GabrielleduVent C major is "counter-intuitive for the strings"? Please explain? The cello, as I´m sure you are aware has A, D, G and C strings, which all fit perfectly into the diatonic scale on C. I agree with the lower D comment, but was always taught by maestro Wallfisch to vibrate on the C an octave above on the G string whilst playing an open C, resonating the first harmonic...

  • @GabrielleduVent

    I disagree, the composer doesn't take into account which keys are hard to play in. They compose according to what will give the best sound and atmosphere according to the individual piece.

  • I wish the recording didn't have a muffled sound :(

  • 18 people have no ears!

  • Now they are 19!

  • omg I didn't know Kim Jong-Il played cello! praise Dear Leader!

  • @fornello123 Wow shut the fuck up you fucking asshole

  • @xbasket12x learn to understand a joke, duuuude!

    chill

  • @fornello123 Wow. I actually laughed hard at this! LOL!!!!

  • WARNING! Do not read any of these comments! They will spoil this for you!

  • @LlamaLlord21

    That's not possible.

  • cello*

  • At that time, who could have guess that this concerto would be the begining of a friendship who brought us wonderful pieces (Williams' celle concerto, Memoirs of a Geisha, 7 years in Tibet).

    Wonderful orchestra !

    Wonderful cellist !

    Wonderful conductor !!!!!!!!

  • he is very good, and god his face that just... makes it all so much better

  • @TheAirsofting He born in Paris...O_o

  • eew why gray?

  • crazy chinese guy

  • @TheAirsofting fuck you

  • My high school is playing this, but only a sall number of jr's and sr's are able to play this, I am so lucky that i get to play. It is absolutly beautiful!

  • the face he makes at 4:57 makes me want to make the same face along with him

  • Does anyone know which cadenza is he doing?

  • ah! the cadenza was brilliant! i almost cried - haha Yo-Yo Ma is seriously me hero.

  • his sound is so crystal clear... i would kill to be able to produce that kind of sound!

  • i love this movment!!! i like how the basses have the C extension

  • lol i thought i was the only one who noticed the face... lol honestly though, that feeling is priceless... to just be so lost in the music you are performing, you care not how ur body reacts ... its like euphoria!

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  • God, I wish I had his fingers

  • His facial expression when he plays the cello is much like Ha Na Jang's

  • His face at around 4:50 looks like he's having an orgasm :P

  • His face at around 4:50 = priceless

  • And My Favorit Lynn Harrel

  • Yoyo ma is outdone by many cellist like Rostropovich, and even hana chang

  • @noobaricia dont forget jullian!

  • The French hornist were Very sloppy earlier that day and thats why my hair may seem unruly But Never fear I overcame my Puny receding follicles and hit another one outta the park. You are Welcome Middle Aged America

    Love Yo-Yo Ma

  • Yo Yo Ma + John Williams = great combination

  • magical....

    he makes it really great music...

    if you listen to han na changs version- you cannot even compare

    and still it looks so easy :)

  • incroyable

  • I love how he hardly even glances at his cello throughout the whole movement!

  • he's gonna get some after that concert!

  • John Williams is such a bad conductor! The orchestra just doesn't follow him at all haha

  • I think Yo Yo Ma is the only person I've heard play this song sweetly. I like it better, even though I play it Gritty and Angry too lol. Well done

  • well I'm 13 and I'm expected to practice at least 2 hours a day

  • This is undoubtedly amazing, but I think I prefer Du Pre's version because it's a bit more ... gritty? This is amazingly fine too, but just my personal tastes likes Du Pre's better.

  • man, he's lookin young!!

  • I'm playing this piece right now and its pretty challenging :) but i get to play it in a concert in front of my friends, and this piece is pretty flashy. So its going to be great :D

  • practice atleast 4 hours a day, or at night...if your day is busy.

  • If a man could make love to a musical instrument this is what it would look and sound like!

  • wow!

  • @tmack1337

    I forget the context of my original comment, but I'm pretty sure I meant to say one hour for professional musicians is not that much. I'd be surprised if there was a professional musician who only practiced an hour a day.

    For highschoolers or amateurs, I would think that 1 hour is plenty, maybe 2-3 hours if you're in the mood.

  • Does anyone know where to find virtual lessons on this peice? Or, perhaps if you know how to play this on cello, could you post a video of it? Please? I would rather much apreciate your help. Thank you.

  • @asdfghjkl3666 Ah, so I'm not the only cellist having trouble on this piece? I'm playing it right now, and though the piece itself sounds awesome when played by someone who has it down pretty well, for me, it's extremely frustrating, especially since I have trouble reading treble clef despite the fact that I took piano for quite a few years up to my freshman year in high school...

  • WHAT A CADENZA! BRAVO!!!!!

  • however long he practices he's doing it right. YO YO MA is the yo yo MAN!

  • Well, he might just practice only a hour a day since he has perfected like almost EVERYTHING. He has SO many peices memorized perfectly and plays perfectly in tune almost ALL of the time (Don't take it wrong its impossible to play everything PERFECTLY) And has been playing ever since he was like 4 or something. So maybe he really does only practice a hour a day.

  • @jaimelikecrazy I would say Starker comes pretty darn close to playing every note perfectly. You may not agree with him interpretation or how he performs, but he performs it exactly how he intends so I would consider that as perfect as it gets. Also if Yo-Yo only practiced 1 hour/day he would begin to lose his stuff. I'm sure he has his cello with him all the time. He probably plays around 8 hours/day (but not all practice time).

  • diggin Yo Yo Ma's glasses and sound.

  • 05:07 Ludwig Streicher?????????

  • Love this song

  • Way to dismiss the years of hard work that musicians put into their training and education.

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  • That better be a sarcastic comment....the pianist Sviatoslav Richter practiced about 12-15 hours a day...I don't think one hour a day is really dedication :P.

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  • Yeah, however, I don't think somebody like him only practices one hour a day, it has to be more. Not much can be done in one hour, also, people usually don't time themselves when they practice, they set a goal for themselves that day and try to achieve that goal, and if they don't reach that goal in one hour, then they keep going. Timing yourself, now THAT'S not practicing the right way.

  • I was listening to the radio, and they were talking to a pianist who wasn't performing but still practicing and he was like "I don't practice much, I only do 5 hours." 5 hours is like a warm-up. I mean, seriously, one hour? If Richter did one hour a day, he'd only know maybe some Etudes, and probably wouldn't know any of his piano concertos because all he was able to do was his etudes in the one hour of time he had to practice!

  • haha yeah theres no way yoyoma only practices 1 hour a day, high schoolers practice more than that

  • Exactly! I'm in high school, I practice piano 3-4 hours a day!  What a stupid claim....

  • this is true

  • Yes I do call that dedication wise guy. That was exactly my point.

  • you do realize one hour a day isn't that much?

  • he does not hate practice... and he practices much much more than one hour a day.... professional musicians practice around 8 hours a day.... it is there job after all ; )

  • I found it!! It's now an evidence! The perfect Haydn's cello concerto interpretation:

    First mvt: Yo-Yo Ma

    Second mvt: Du Pré

    Third mvt: Rostropovitch

    It's not to be diplomatic or sth, to me it's just the better!

  • definitely not a bad interpretation, but i really don't like his opening, i just dont think that first scale should be played legato!!

  • Wow, I learn things every time I watch Yo-Yo play.

    I watch the styles of other players and listen to the sound of other instruments in order to become a better player my self.

  • THE face of Yo-Yo are good.

    I like it.

  • The face alone makes all of this worth while.

  • I have this song and the ending CADENZA played by yo yo ma is different.

  • So do I. And it doesn't matter; you can play whatever the hell you want for the cadenza.

  • its not a bloody SONG!!!!! it s a piece of music, songs tend to have vocal parts to them!! sorry lol, i just hate it when people call instrumental music songs! and yeah, you can write your own cadenza for classical concertos, i wrote two for this one when i did it last year?

  • unless theres a written in cadenza in the concerto, you can compose your own cadenza

  • @TheTradge Sorry lol, I just hate it when people are wrong.

  • @TheTradge my friend in college wrote like a five minute cadenza it was amazing, its just like your own way of expressing your feeling for a song, i love it

  • @MrHerecomesjared Yeah I know that, my point is that IMHO if you're going to write a cadenza, it shouldn't really be much more than a minute and a half, unless it's for a romantic piece of music. Classical period music really doesn't need to have 5 minute cadenza's, because a) theres only so much one can do with the thematic material in the movement, and b) you would't find extensively long cadenzas written by 18th century musicians.

  • @TheTradge cadenzas weren't exactly popular within the 18th century and during romantic periods there werent too many accompanied pieces for solo violin, cello, what have you, so music didn't have too many chances for cadenzas, and you have an excellent point but when you really feel the music and take that long for a cadenza you must be really dedicated, and it was enjoyable if you ask me personally

  • @TheTradge From this day forth, The word "psong" (silent p) will be used to describe pieces of music, not "song!"

  • @TheTradge I'm sorry, but u're wrong. It´s a song. Why don`t u cheek over the definition of song.: It´s complete perfect to call it song, grammatically and conceptually!!!

  • @mathiasalex69 and why don't YOU look in a fucking dictionary or encyclopedia, and read that a song is a piece of VOCAL music! generally when someone breaks into song, they don't get out a violin and start playing do they?? trust me i'm a music student, so i think i know what i'm on about =] god some people are so ignorant!

  • @TheTradge Well of course you're going to think other people who do not major in music will not know what they're talking about. I'm an art major. It's like me calling someone who doesn't know the difference between bristol and and finch paper an idiot. Heh, and you say they're the ignorant ones.

  • @sasukesgirl4life okay first, not once did i say he didn't know what he, i only corrected him, and made a point of telling him that to prove that it's best he double checked his facts! secondly, the difference between a 'song' and a 'piece of music' is MUCH more obvious than the difference between your paper types, i have no clue what they are, but i know lots of people who AREN'T musicians who would be able to tell the difference between vocal and non-vocal music! gods sake, stop this idiocy!

  • i played this cello solo for the wisconsin solo ensemble for my high school and i made state! so i am performing it at one of the local colleges this saturday

  • the sound isn't good!

    but yo-yo ma is incredible!

  • Since when did we start giving tributes to people who are still alive.

  • Does anyone know if Ma wrote the cadenza at the end of the movement?

  • I don't think so, we just played this at a festival last month and the soloist played it, too.

  • yeh i think the cadenza in this one is written in the music

  • it's too bad... i would like to hear something that just created himself... not that is was bad, but it's something that most people are familiar and can recreate.. unlike rostopovich's version.. THAT was nice.. and i actually kind of copied it haha...

    anyways... yo yo ma is magical overall.. flawless performance as usual, and he even played with the orchestra in the beginning! -something i always like to do when playing with the recording haha

  • 9:28 that clarinettist is huge!

  • Whoa!!!

  • good lookin' out.

  • I bet you he replaced his mouthpiece thingy with a poptart.

  • gah I almost had this piece playable and I quit playing cello when I went to engineering college... damn engineering. All that work to teach myself cello (yes, myself) for nothing!

    So how's that, kiddies! Don't listen to your parents if they tell you to give up on your dreams, and just say, "No" to engineering school.

  • i am so proud to be an asian... look at all the first chairs... asians!

  • yeah really, asian pride!

  • hahah deff

  • what's the date of this performance?

  • I know this is a really odd thing to point out, but those chairs look really uncomfortable for the musicians...

  • what was that great cadenza?

  • Is that his Stradivari cello? When was this recorded?

  • that probably isnt a strad. this is when yoyoma was just begining is marvelous carreer. and i dont know when this was recorded

  • it was probably his montagnana named petunia

  • well, technicaly he doesn't actually OWN the strad, he just borrows it from some rich guy he knows.

  • i actually think this might be his gofriller-before his father sold it

  • he plays beautiful + elegant

  • Excellent!

    Love from Brazil

  • amazing, as always...

  • He is Yo MA MA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • whatt? this is the Boston orchestra?

  • im studying it too, right now. And its not that hard

  • It's quite good!!

    ^.^

  • I can only play the first page

    My goal is to finish this by the end of school year

  • The movement or the whole concerto?

  • 2nd page needs a lot of practice (mainly because of the triplets), but it's possible. 3rd is more or less the same like the 1st one, and the differences aren't more difficult neither.

    You'll get that, I believe! :)

  • You mean the minor-passage? This is way easier than the rest of the 1st movement.

  • I just thought because of the triplets which are quite difficult in bowing In fingering, I haven't got any problem now.

  • wow. this is really good :]

  • I'm starting this one next week! :D

    It's sort of my intro to thumb... I've dabbled in it, but only in etudes, and I'm not very good with it. This is going to be my first time using it in a real piece... hope the callouses come fast!

  • theres a lot of thumb position in this piece, most of its in either tenor clef or treble clef

  • Calluses needed 2 weeks to come in my case. And I recommend you: Practice in etudes (such as "Thumb position for Cello" by Rick Mooney), it's worth it (also for the sound quality). Thumb position is not that difficult as the "jumps" from "normal" to thumb position (these are really demanding like the last raise on the first page for example)!

  • yeah i used rick mooney's thumbs of steel (second vol of that series) to learn moveable thumb

  • im playing this peice right now!!

  • Me too :)

  • me three XD

  • El chino esta a full

  • I liked rostropovich's rendition a little better, but Yo-yo ma is a master none the less.

  • I blv he plays on Mantanana right now (mon-tin-yawn-a) I'm not sure if that's his mantanana in the vid. I've been to the shop in Chicago where Yo Yo got his Mantanana. It has a big room where everything sounds amazing (a little rigged) bt they still some of best in world instruments anyway

  • i think it's "Montagana"?