Beethoven: String Quartet no. 11 "Serioso" - 1st movement (Benjamin Zander - Interpretation Class)

For more classes like this one, please visit the Benjamin Zander Center - www.benjaminza...
Amory Quartet: Janny Joo, Emile Campanelli, violins; Sam Kelder, viola; Tim Paek, cello
Interpretations of Music: Lessons for Life
with Benjamin Zander
Dave Jamrog Audio Video

[@MediaMantle3news2morrow]

I can watch this over and over again. To see how the Maestro transforms these already talented young musicians, who have just played an absolutely wonderful Beethoven opus, into a mature, inspiring, satisfying and, now, unrivaled, quartet -- is just incredible! And it's all done right before our eyes. Thank God for Maestro Benjamin Zander who, like the acrobat at the bottom of an acrobatic team, propels his students into astronomical heights.

[@rogerv1211]

Whoever that wonderful family from Connecticut is, thank you for being there. I enjoyed watching your faces and reactions as much as the music.

[@davidcox3452]

pass it forward....:-D

[@vivekbammi5133]

Yes, they are delightful and angelic!

[@davetubervid]

Zander is fascinating and irritating by turns.....but it is worth it because he understands and is able to communicate so well the transformational power of music , especially the special gift of Beethoven to make us feel more alive. His concluding comments are interesting in this respect because he makes the connection between suffering and disturbance on the one hand, and joyful transcendence on the other which is such a key element in Beethoven's music.

[@danielmasonmusic2353]

Benjamin makes me smile so much, what an amazing inspiration he is to all musicians. God bless him.

[@patrick6110]

The mystery that is this small audience and relatively modest number of views for what is an extraordinary music lesson. Maestro Zander is a magician. Extraordinary. And the revelation that Beethoven could be modern.

[@ftwong1948]

The moment Mr. Zander increased the tempo from 144 to 164 bpm, the colors of the whole world completely changed! This change has made this quartet become so powerful and outstanding, that world famous quartets like Alban Berg Quartet、Emerson String Quartet cannot compare (just this movement). Isn’t it a miracle? Isn’t it a big miracle of both music interpretation and music education? I believe Beethoven in heaven will be very happy and grateful to Mr. Zander, who made his music so powerful that it moves people and changes the world!

[@HausofKinney]

7:01 ... a true interpretation of Beethoven!

[@nachisuper]

LMFAO

[@ranbirkaur1078]

Yeah. Benjamin Zander is one of a kind.

[@brodhax6148]

I wonder how they wrote that in their notes. Zander suggestions: BRUUAAAHRAAABRAAHBRUUARAAHRAAR

[@HausofKinney]

@@brodhax6148 HAHAHAHA xD

[@monumentofwonders]

These are just wonderful musicians. There is no more exciting art or profound art than this.

[@johnalexander301]

Thank you. Benjamin Zander is wonderful!

[@lucasperez7149]

These videos are so under appreciated. Zander's philosophy on music is so otherworldly, it takes you out of everyday life and places you in reality. If Benjamin is reading this I just want to say you're an amazing old geezer and, to me, you are absolutely marvellous with the way you put these audiences in such wonder. Thank you for this inspiration, your musical vision is truly a gift from God!

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

I knew that he would encourage them to play this much faster. That is exactly what I thought when I heard their initial tempo: Just. Not. Fast. Enough. Much better in the faster tempo.

[@waltermayr339]

Großartig - muss ich seit zwei Jahren immer wieder mal hören und sehen. Kompliment an alle Beteiligten!

[@HausofKinney]

9:06 ... and this one as well!

[@jonteske4267]

I grew up with the likes of the Budapest Quartet (and met them and even (with friends) carried their instruments in an ice storm) "You guys live here in Madison, WI you know how to walk on ice. They of course were a great quartet. But at that time I was studying repertory with Rudolf Kolisch, 1st violin of the Pro Arte Quartet. I was studying violin with the 2nd violin of the quartet at the time Robert Basso....this in 1962. Kolisch was noted for his seminal work "Tempo and Character in Beethoven's Music" which expounded the same ideas Prof. Zander mentions here. I strongly suspect Prof. Zander knows Kolisch's work. I heard the Pro Arte do Op. 59 No. 2 and later Op. 132 which at the time was shocking when compared to the then traditional performances of these works. Kolisch's paper is available on the internet....it is worth studying.

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

What I find most curious, that this still has not been ingrained into young musicians of the 21st Century. The movement to bring Beethoven's tempi back to speed started to really gain wide recognition in the 80's when I was a child. So why are young musicians still playing his music at much too slow a pace? Haven't their teachers been paying attention 30 years ago?

[@lotusbuds2000]

love you ben zander...you said " I have a friend who puts all his bad reviews out there..."...love you more!!! I watch you to relieve my despair ...

[@rudyzulkarnaen1633]

Mr Benjamin Zander remind me of the late great comedian Garry Shandling😁. The way Mr Zander teaches is so inspiring. Although I don't play classical music, this gave me some insight of how to approach music.

[@brodhax6148]

16:36 Dr.Zander on percussion

[@carlitoTF]

9:33 The viola building for the real thing. Really awesome!

[@TimothyFish]

It sounded good the first time they played it and yet the second time was much better.

[@harryrees627]

8:51. That sounds so much better than the first time

[@pieisgood2372]

7:02 When my Mom catches me playing video games at 2:00am

[@leahkogut]

So great! Thank you for these great experiences

[@maxikahnorto3715]

16:49 awesome sound

[@bloodyhetza]

This man is a real understanding of authors. He gets why the pieces need to be played the way they were composed to be... Now I feel like shit because I can't play Carcassi's Etude no 7 Op 60 at the right tempo.

[@maestro7727]

Sounds good guys!

[@OutOfWards]

"Bravo, just Bravo!" -Me 2022

[@christ74]

The cellist's face at 9:33 😂😂

[@paacer]

Brilliant

[@Violinissimo2001]

Tim Paek in the cello, looking good man!

[@tristanrush5526]

Farrrr more interesting after stepping up the tempo.

[@HausofKinney]

Awesome!

[@AppaLV6]

May anyone tell me where Beethoven marked this tempo ? Although I agree with this tempo, but I really wonder why Zander says it's Beethoven's tempo marking. Where did he find it ? I can't find the tempo number marking on his manuscript nor on the first edition Breitkopf und Härtel. Only E.F. Kalmus edition has 1/2=92, but it's published on 1937. Thanks a lot.

[@ShinichiNishikawa1]

At 5:10, the 2nd violin player eye-contacts with the violist implying "Yes, we talked about his love of tempo and now we are into it!"

[@kurt_falzon]

It took them 3:42 at the end. Amazing!

[@quinto34]

Always wondered if Beethoven's deafness had any influence on his metronome indications, since he lost touch with outer acoustics and was left with inner voice only..Hammerklavier being the prime example I guess.. love Zander, wonderful man, great mind

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

There seems to be a misunderstanding what deafness is, in general and in Beethoven's case in particular. Complete hearing loss took hold of him in the 1820's. Before that he was just progressively ever more impaired in his hearing. So it's not like he didn't hear at all what he wrote.

[@qwaqwa1960]

Of course, there's a theory that many MMs (up to and beyond Chopin) are to be interpreted as half of what we do today.

[@ericlopez6866]

Way better at the intended tempo.

[@archangecamilien1879]

8:17 ah...interesting...those pieces in f minor...I don't tend to notice things like that...maybe I only know his 5th 's first movement is in c minor, haha...but other than that...

[@archangecamilien1879]

8:31 so sexist indeed...but we can't judge people in terms of our times...I can imagine what will be thought about us eating meat in this day and age...I wonder if they will deface the statues of strong proponents of eating meat, haha...forgetting virtually everyone up to their time did...

[@archangecamilien1879]

18:33 - ish..."We couldn't have *got* there without you", and I was just reminded he is British, haha...you start forgetting the accent...

[@p0t80]

The guy from India is kinda cute 🥰

[@constipatedlecher]

Beethoven's metronome mark for this piece really does seem insane. He has it as a half note at 92 bpm. You can definitely play faster than this quartet plays it but I don't think I've ever heard anyone play it at 92 bpm. Even here they don't really come close, although it's definitely better having been sped up.

[@simonegubbiotti5721]

7:02 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@RochestersGotTalentbyPaulRefic]

and it is not tempe, its tempo, just google it, and the listeners are applauding them for doing a job well done

[@CarpPinePlays]

Tempi is the plural form of tempo.

[@Rilberich]

*facepalm*

[@reflechant]

Oh, this is just awful. And yes, Beethoven's metronome markings are correct. But Beethoven (and other composers of the first half of XIX c.) didn't understand metronome markings as we do now. Basically you should read them twice slower. One "count" of metronome was full swing, full period (not unidirectional movement) as we still count in physics. The argument for deafness is not consistent as we have the same metronome markings from his pupils and publishers: Czerny, Moscheles, Artaria, etc. I just cannot believe that this issue doesn't bother a lot of people (it actually bothers as most good musicians just don't give a fuck about Beethoven metronome markings as they are unplayable if understood as we do now and ruin all the music) and can't believe that a man with such good musical intuition like Zander can blindly follow this markings in modern understanding (it just doesn't work) which even Valentina Lisitsa and Maurizio Pollini cannot achieve. Scientific evidence (and with examples) of what I say can be found on "Authentic sound" channel

[@popodopulus3826]

What are you talking about? It felt much more dynamic

[@reflechant]

@@popodopulus3826 no doubt it has much more dynamics. Why not to add even more? Make an experiment: use this KZbin feature to speed up performance and find the point where this is too fast for you and cannot be justified by any metronome marks. For me this point is already crossed: this performance has almost no articulation and phrasing

[@popodopulus3826]

@@reflechant The difference is that with the KZbin feature it won't add any dynamics. My point is that with that tempo the players had a wider range to interpret the different emotion through the piece. In my opinion at least.

[@reflechant]

@@popodopulus3826 Zander in one of these interpretation classes quoted Beethoven: "tempo is character". It's right! And therefore metronome marks(MM) are really important. BTW, Beethoven metronome is perfectly working even now: Andras Schiff was permitted to turn it on in Vienna and it counts as other modern metronome. But those old ones had a iambic sound: one tick louder than the other.

[@reflechant]

@@popodopulus3826 So, to metronome marks (MM). We have plenty of them from that period. Beethoven himself put some, Czerny did, Moscheles did, etc. etc. And they do not differ a lot for Beethoven's music (average variation is below 10% as I remember)! As for me (and other people) it means that even when Beethoven lost his hearing he didn't lose his sense of rhythm and tempo otherwise someone should have made an edition with lowered tempi. They didn't. And there is a problem: there are many metronome marks which are physically unplayable as they are too fast (Czerny has a lot of these). Even more interesting: they happen in operas (how about singing 10-15 syllables per second ?), in string music (where it contradicts other marks like for example indication to play with bouncing bow - but laws of physics didn't change since early XIX c.!). There is a lot of information that can make you suspicious about applying modern understanding of MM to early XIX c. and I already mentioned a channel where you can find it.