Sexy violin
As faithful readers of this blog may remember, I wrote about the Jimi Hendrix of the harpsichord, Jean Rondeau, a few weeks ago. Today I want to tell you about another Jimi Hendrix, Shunske Sato. He plays the baroque violin, an older reincarnation of the violin. One of the differences is the material of the strings: the regular violin’s are made of nylon and metal, the baroque violin’s of sheep gut. They have a more subtle sound, with lots of overtones (and it’s organic and bio-degradable, too!)
This music is the same as the harpsichord piece from a few weeks ago, only with the violin replacing the harpsichord. I love it.
Once I was attending a concert of this piece. I sat in the front row, and I remember vividly how hard it was to restrain myself from standing up and start dancing. The music was so exciting. I am not sure if the decision to remain sitting was the right one, but I did. I was afraid that it might disturb the musicians and that they would stop mid-piece. On the other hand, being a musician myself, I love it when people start to dance to our music. So maybe it would have inspired them too, who knows…
The music you are about to hear is as exciting as a great rock band or Cuban salsa. I love to not only hear the music but also see it: the glances and smiles the musicians exchange, to watch their enjoyment and rapture, to see their skill on their instrument, etc. It also makes the music more intelligible: it is easier to realize how the instruments react to each other, which instrument plays what line etc.
So without further ado, I present to you, dear reader of this blog, the Jimi Hendrix of the baroque violin, Shunske Sato. I love every second of it, but listen to 5.35 to 6.35 if you want to hear the ghost of Jimi take over (so of course, in the end, he smashes his violin on the harpsichord and burns it to ashes.)