I Asked a Soprano to Sing Mozart Piano Melodies (ft. Chelsea Guo)

[@Thejoshuacarter01]

I can’t believe she survived that! That seemed torturous at points. Haha. Chelsea Guo has an amazing voice and was a wonderful sport to do this. Mozart was such a beautiful melody writer, for any instrument.

[@tonebasePiano]

She's a great sport!

[@serenanelson5326]

😢🎉

[@DavidSmith-kc4hz]

And she is a great soprano too. Real fun girl.

[@TheophilosPorter]

Torturous or tortuous?

[@Aninalos1]

@@TheophilosPorter Thanks for bringing this up. Tortuous means "winding" or "crooked," whereas torturous means "painfully unpleasant."

[@sophiexia9719]

When she demonstrated the verdi part on piano, I just realized she is an experienced pianist as well!

[@jingalls9142]

Agreed. That was really cool.

[@翁慈玲]

Yup，she should have been more famous❤

[@翁慈玲]

@@user-jn4mh1rh9l Wow！She is MUSICALLY TALENTED💯！

[@Oblivitana]

She’s so talented what the heck

[@aidanstrong1061]

You're spoiling us with 30 minutes of this! This and the chopin video are my favourites on the whole channel

[@juanvicentezerpa7250]

Dude, nothing like the Yuncham Lim video. That one actually made me cry 😭

[@danielbaech4272]

So fun! I'm baffled at how gorgeous these familiar melodies sound with her voice poured over them.

[@classicsbycandace]

Yes! So gorgeous! 💛

[@briannacombs]

Chelsea is incredible! Both at piano and vocals!

[@Pianoblook]

@12:43 excellent trill! Thanks for the fun video. What an awesome guest!

[@michellewangmusic]

This video was so much more than just singing Mozart piano melodies. So informative, fun, and educational! And Ms. Chelsea Guo is such an inspiration, I always wanted to double major in piano and voice !

[@randydavidson7189]

What a privilege to be able to hear, not just the music, but discussion about the music, by two such talented performers!

[@sauerjoseph]

Wow! Chelsea is so much fun! This video really melted these two art forms and these two instruments (piano and voice) together. And, such great editing to highlight all her little funny gazes at the camera. This really was "The Chelsea Show".

[@Jay-ru6kn]

obviously great skill all around, but tbh the thing that blew me away the most was the EDITING. SO MANY MOVING PARTs woven together so beautifully. stunning work.

[@londongael414]

I loved every minute of this. What a beautiful, beautiful voice! Informative content, sassy dynamic between Chelsea and Ben, and so well put together - and, again that VOICE!

[@Yotam1703]

That was such a fun ride! A rare glimpse into two expert musicians communicating. Chelsea is a true diva, a double diva even, and it shows. You two have great chemistry.

[@kristinamusik7414]

Can´t really express the gift you gave here. Thank you both from the bortom of my heart.

[@coloraturaElise]

Yes, Chelsea, YES! I'm a classical singer and a clarinetist (and a woodwind doubler), and everyone says "you can't do that!" Ma perche? Both my voice teacher and clarinet teacher advised me to give up the other so I could focus on what they considered to be my best. I ignored them both....LOL! Anyway, so great to see a video like this....not very common, and wonderfully done! btw, I used Chopin piano music for vocal exercises (I'm a coloratura soprano).

[@hentendou]

That was simply charming, very appropriate for a Mozart breakdown. I really love this playful juxtaposition of vocalist vs instrumentalist. Guo being a champion of both, brings brilliant insight and flawless conversion between the two. Bring to us more talent like this, Ben!

[@lehrmandavid10]

What a delight. Wit, a pianist who also just happens to be a soprano (ok, mostly a marvelous singer) , her partner in crime, a good sport at singing along, and good honest horse sense about phrasing. thanks so much to the both of you!

[@GarboFlow]

The Fantasy in D minor segment just melted my heart. So lyrical. Priceless.

[@theanswer_19]

Watched their Chopin video multiple times, this one is just as good! Keep Chelsea coming, so interesting to hear both of you discuss each piece from different angles.

[@kaypattersonvlogs]

I didn't know what to expect clicking on this but SO MUCH FUN! Thank you so much! I love Chelsea!

[@teraz76]

12:45 the laughter trill is perfect😂

[@juliannaw5712]

pleeassseee make more of these!! I love watching (and rewatching) them so so much

[@nikkivanzanen]

I'd love more more videos with Chelsea. Here voice is inspiring and I love you two together. Very educational as well❤

[@sonholee5769]

man, these are so fun. I thought 30 min would be too long, but it flew by...

[@bobbiecat7139]

I heard that the young (and brilliant) pianist,Yunchan Lim, when he was practicing his Mozart composition for the Cliburn competition, would practice playing the piano and singing. Apparently, he was well aware that (as you say) "Mozart was a master of composing for the voice and the piano alike," so many of his piano pieces indeed were very operatic in sound. Oh...and Yunchan LIm won the Cliburn competition at the tender age of 18.

[@PassionPno]

At my uni, all piano majors are required to take up voice as their minor instrument.

[@TeslasMoustache419]

I think the take on Fantasy in D minor was the most interesting. Great stuff!

[@shihyuinchew8494]

Really love how genuine their interactions were in this video. Like at times they challenged each other's boundaries, and those things usually are not to be heard in between normal friends. That also goes on to tell how close their friendship is.

[@virag56]

Ben, this was so instructive and just pure fun! I know you from your time as a student worker in the Juilliard Library (I'm Glenn Loflin). I'm so proud to have known you and to see how successful you are as a musician and educator. I look forward to seeing all your videos. Many best wishes! G.L.

[@ruhtrayen]

this video was absolutely lovely, i loved it! Being a very amateur musicien but a high music enthusiast those kind of videos just passionate me so much, thanks for those high qualities video everytime !

[@alwaysmushroom]

Yes, yes, yes! You are both so delightful and absolutely on point. Amazing musicians!! Thank you for this wonderful video

[@shawnmllr86]

This was so awesome. Thanks for making it into existence!

[@noragee5380]

Ah this is so great! The most helpful thing my teacher advised last lesson is to imagine the piano sonata melodies as song, now I get this treat! Amazing content as always ✨

[@kayleeson509]

Wow she's incredible Thank you so much for letting us see her flex like this. Just beautiful.

[@sxgtube]

I remember her from Chopin Piano Competition In Warsaw. So multi- talented!

[@margarethansen7480]

Thank you both for that amazing vídeo!! It’s so incredible how her voice can survive after singing such a difficult “songs”! I hope this work can continue ❤❤❤

[@iwishihadseenthatlol]

Thank you for including clips of dorothea röschmann as papagena!! She sings mozart so beautifully, I will never understand why she is not more famous 😍😍

[@lunarlyOn]

You two have such good banter. What an absolutely delightful video. 👏

[@pianist_depandaland4145]

Ur voice just brought some of my imagination of this masterpiece alive!❤ Such a beautiful voice !!

[@kesleropera]

oh, gosh, you guys are amazing. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you!

[@shilloshillos]

Tonebase Rocks!. Its been years since i've watched such inspired and insightful discussions on musical topics. Kudos to you folks!!!

[@TrevorduBuisson]

Oh, what fun!!! So interesting and informative, as well as having me laugh out loud at your jibing one another. Thank you so much. Thoroughly entertaining. Thoroughly musical. Oh, and Chelsea, that trill was sublime. Pianistically and vocally!

[@p.o.1129]

Such an amazing video! Thanks so much

[@animalsarebeautifulpeople3094]

These videos are just so FUN FUN FUN ~ !!!!!!!!!!!!!! A very original concept to do this!! 🧡💛💚💙

[@DB-bi1ph]

LOL man, that was super fun time between you two! Love it! 😂❤

[@thomasdequincey5811]

She's great. Great voice and fun to watch.

[@fishermann1102]

So insightful! Thank you.

[@navabenyamini]

Delightful. Thank you :) I hope Chelsea didn't hurt her voice too much :))

[@DavidMillsom]

What a delightful exploration of Mozart melodies.!

[@brandonmartin5650]

"Gounod?"... "I don't know" 😂😂😂😂 8:12

[@paintingpianopoetry]

When she started to speak after singing the first part I was like: "Does she SPEAK? Isn't she just an angel?!"

[@paintingpianopoetry]

AND she plays the piano. Nice...!

[@Radian1978]

Just... wow. Best video of the year for me! I've always wondered what it would be like to sing the melodies. I've loved the Fantasy in D minor since I started on the piano... to hear the melodies sung by someone as talented as Chelsea blew my mind. Fantastic editing and fun banter between you guys as well. A+++++ 🤩

[@england670]

OMG.... I felt like you guys were right here in my house...I love these kind of videos....more like these would be great in the future

[@suzettejansen9808]

When every one of a trillion molecules that make up your being is musical this is the result .Thank you Chelsea

[@jacquesracine9571]

This is very interesting video. Chelsea is wonderful (and you too, Ben).

[@miguelalexandercastrobauti3111]

It's such an amazing video! I always thought Mozart piano sonatas were small operas.

[@whitelawnick]

I’ve never even seen your channel, but I was talking about this subject last night with a piano student learning Mozart for the first time and two hours later this video popped up in my suggested videos and I’m so glad it did. it’s fun to watch y’all kinda just nerd out over this and I love it so much. I have a thought about the section (labelled coloratura in the time stamps) where you’re going over mvt 3 of K467. you know when in an opera there are duets, trios, etc., sometimes the voices each have ascending scalar passages over a few measures in parallel thirds/sixths/etc., in this case where they crescendo and then have a similar passage immediately following to build momentum and drama? I cannot think of a specific opera where this exact thing for sure happens off the top of my head because of the excitement, but it reminds me a lot of Rossini and in particular, “Zitti zitti, piano piano” from act II of ‘Il barbiere di Sviglia’ mostly because of the energy. I’m wondering if perhaps Mozart thought of the broken thirds as a way to pianistically create the momentum built in operatic passages like this and it’s approached with one voice singing the material (in this case the half notes) and then after the second voice joins in to make up the lower voice of the parallel thirds, a third voice interjects with a melismatic run

[@androidwalle4932]

So instructive, so joyful, so funny. 🎉🎉🎉 Excellent chemistry!!

[@TrinityDivineMozart]

This is tremulously wonderful she was amazing. 🎼💛

[@tjpj111]

This is BBC Radio 4 singing one song to the tune of another!

[@aldousprovus]

Its so important and beautiful to sing but how disconeted are the pianistst about voice!!! And they forget to sing...this lady si great!!! So inspiring!!!!

[@dawnkim4003]

Insightful and beautiful, this was so fun to watch !!

[@zdzislawmeglicki2262]

There is a reason for Mozart ornamenting his piano music: pianos in his days had a short, feeble sound. So if you had a slowly rising melodic phrase, it would sound hollow if you didn't fill it with ornaments. This is even more pronounced in Hummel's piano concertos (Hummel was a Mozart student). His piano music is made entirely of ornaments, runs, and arpeggios. There's not a moment without some movement. This, of course, does not apply to voice which can sustain and modulate sound. This is why the phrase, when sung, sounds better without those ornaments.

[@massipicun8658]

Mozart è stato un GRANDE MAESTRO di canto. Aveva un controllo del profilo melodico e della tessitura, modellando sulla retorica di un gusto raffinato. Le sue opere descrivono la sua maestria, che coniuga una parola sottointesa ad una melodia soave, morbida e sensuale.

[@da__lang]

Watching this video has convinced me that a bit of rubato has its place in Mozart.

[@lingmcloughlin8224]

Thank you so much for this precious video! Chelsea's Singing Mozart and the earlier Chopin's video are academically valuable, and the combination of knowledge and enjoyment is delightful to watch. I will definitely watch it repeatedly and share the content with my students🌹🌹🌹. However, with my picky ears, I noticed that the singing segment recorded in the studio this time sounds quite dry. Is it possible that the studio's walls absorb sound too well? For piano players, a bit more pedal with the right foot can alleviate this, but for singers, is it a bit challenging? If there could be a bit of reverb in the audio, would it BETTER REFLECT THE BEAUTIFUL QUALITY of Chelsea’s voice and singing, aligning better with SOUND TRACKS from OTHER performances PROFESSIONALLY RECORDED, and reducing the contrast between stage and off-stage effects? Some listeners, who may not understand acoustics and recording technology, might attribute the differences in sound quality to DIFFERENCES in the vocalist's voice and skills. I recognize the GREAT effort put into this video EDIT, and I hope you continue to improve, allowing more people to fall in love with classical music!

[@Omarmotte]

We NEED Chealsea's Vocal Piano concerto in D minor please

[@augmentedcarmen]

This was so incredibly funny and amazing to watch 👏👏👏

[@SuperKripke]

6:37 That moment when you have Ben Laude as a friend and have to put up with his bullshit.

[@unequally-tempered]

The most brilliant insight!

[@rahulnero2813]

Enjoyed this video so much. Please make more of these

[@JohnDoe-nt6sn]

Chelsea is a true treasure of Nature : in these reckless idealogical times we live in she represents a speck of light and hope. Glory to her !

[@ghostofyeats]

That fioritura around 15:25 is rare for voice in opera. I can only think of one example -- Lady Macbeth's cabaletta from the first act of Macbeth. But in that case Verdi was trying to depict something demonic, as Lady M is summoning the forces of hell in that aria, etc. Clearly taking advantage of how torturous that writing is for voice. This post was very enjoyable, I love Mozart and I consider him a bel canto composer at heart, so thank you!

[@ghostofyeats]

Ah, I just remembered another instance -- in Anna Bolena's (Donizetti) first act cabaletta, that figuration appears too. Guess it's not that unusual. But compared to gruppetti and scales, it's much rarer.

[@theatog]

@13:10 omg. lived my whole life for this moment XD that was steeamy! lol

[@brianr.3085]

That passage you two discuss at 5:30 with all the turns and how singable it is, there's a very similar passage in the aria "Ach Ich liebte" (which is also in B-flat) from Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, except it goes up to a high D. Definitely one of his more florid and difficult arias.

[@peteroselador6132]

I love seeing a clip from an opera with someone who went to the same school as me (at different times. Renee Fleming went to Crane where I did my undergrad)

[@Muzii3EK]

Love this. Love everything.

[@kyuntseng]

It was such a pleasure to listen to that Thank you

[@maui3947]

Great video as always, still waiting for lessons with Yunchan.. someday

[@leninvazqueztoledo]

The K 397 reminds me of the Donna Elvira, Donna Anna, and Don Ottavio trio from Don Giovanni.

[@ruansantos8064]

Raridade ver uma cantora tão talentosa com uma excelente técnica e com uma voz tão clara e límpida com uma dicção incrível excelente ❤

[@ruansantos8064]

Tá difícil hoje em dia ver uma cantora assim ❤

[@alfor99]

Great. I just came to know you, Mr. Laude, a couple of weeks ago. I come from Germany and studied with Conrad Hansen, the most famous pupil of Edwin Fischer, who could produce miraculous Sounds at the piano. I would not have believed, that an US American pianist could have such insight in piano technique and such a culture of piano sound, I believed was only to find with some european pianists. But that was obviously a prejudice. I will keep watching your Videos.

[@alfor99]

I mean Conrad Hansen could produce miraculous piano sounds (even more miraculous than that of Edwin Fischer).

[@gpeddino]

Amazing content. Some of the instrumental passages really sound vocal, almost as if words could be added to them and they would be hardly distinguishable from actual arias.

[@inespm1]

"Gounod? I don no!" 😂😂😂 loved the video!

[@RunEnabled]

Please make more videos like this.

[@irlpangilinan8816]

Great video! Although I remembered that any competent castrato of that era would've been able to easily sing some of the more "instrumental" sounding passages that you played, probably adding more ornaments in the process.

[@Mikupigeon]

the chemistry bewteen you two is just awesome.

[@jessewarner7962]

How fun! Thanks guys!

[@townc2824]

"Listen to opera" doesn't mean to play like a singer. It means to play while imitating different characters in an opera cast.

[@JimHopper]

wonderful! Thank you so much!

[@laurynk4209]

this was such a joy to watch! w woman

[@mai9396]

I hate to admit it, but "Gounod I don't know" made me cackle a little bit

[@beab8738]

Is she sight reading and singing? 😂 Gosh damn it I'm so jealous.

[@tombennettband1485]

fantastic video!

[@Organic_Organist]

Wouldnt mind a Chelsea Show.

[@GizzyDillespee]

Oh yes, the Chelsea Shuo would be great!

[@mariodebettio591]

beautiful vocals and funny video perfect combination

[@MiguelSousapiano]

Great great great video!

[@Shmookcakes]

Wow, such an amazing video

[@ya_ya_ya.]

Please do this for Clara Schumann's pieces as well~ Also Chelsea laughing here was so funny lmao 12:36

[@gauriblomeyer1835]

I like the Pamina song “Ach ich fühl’s..” in Italian, which is easier than the almost impossible German version.

[@lucae.pellegrino3734]

Even that laughing trill at 12:44 was on tune hahahaha

[@a360pilot]

only thing i can say here, THANK YOU!