Maya Beiser(s) and her cello(s)

www.ted.com Cellist Maya Beiser plays a gorgeous eight-part modern etude with seven copies of herself, and segues into a meditative music/video hybrid -- using tech to create endless possibilities for transformative sound. Music is Steve Reich's "Cello Counterpoint," then David Lang's "World to Come" with video by Irit Batsry.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/tra....

[@Aresftfun]

I can feel the effort in what she is doing. Especially in the case of her movements some times. This is a great talk to listen to while doing something in another tab.

[@parsonste]

Classical fussion as Jennifer Adams (Montana Skies) terms it. Great new expression and a lovely way to enhance the enjoyment of our instrument, the cello.

[@cnmaster01]

It's always great to find a Steve Reich work I've yet to hear, and a great performer too

[@cnmaster01]

@Shiga37 It's not her who wrote it, but Steve Reich, my favorite minimalist. look up piano phase or electric guitar phase by him. it's 18 minutes on the same theme, played by multiple musicians in different tempi. It creates a a series of auditory illusions. as you listen, you'll notice "new" theme's sneaking in, but it's actually the same theme interacting with it's self. A bit boring for the first 5 minutes, but fascinating for the next 13.

[@That1GuyWhosNumber1]

This gave me chills. I think the video offers a good mix of skill and creativity, and I very much enjoyed listening.

[@clorofilaazul]

I love STEVE REICH's music.

[@Iker888]

@Shiga37 The first piece was Cello Counterpoint by Reich, it's minimalist music (characterized my mellow loops with little variation). Many people tend to find this type of music almost exasperation because it sounds like it's repeating itself constantly. Music like this would very rarely be in movies.

[@Khazeous]

Beautiful, as was the music. I rarely listen to performances this intensely.

[@Eliphas_Leary]

@ybra She's not limiting herself to one particular style as Apocalyptica does. The innovative part is were she's playing multiple voices, there are not four dudes sitting and everybody wants to hear them playing songs that they didn't write themselves, here is a lady sitting and joining herself while playing her own compositions, expressing her own perceptions.

[@cnmaster01]

@tyrannicoystercult minimalism does that. It takes a little adjusting like any new genre does, but it's almost trance like and absolutely destroys your perception of time. My long journeys are not complete without my Steve Reich Collection.

[@sebagr]

20 minutes enriching my soul. Thank you.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

it was written by reich to be played somewhat like this. full title is 'cello counterpoint for cello and multi-layered tape.' it was actually comissioned to be played by this cellist. but innovation- i think cellists can be conservative and regressive... so they're just playing to a backing track-thats been around for half a century, just now it might be acceptable for neo-classical cellos.

[@FatLingon]

I normally don't care about the music at TED, but this caught my attention. IMO the first piece would have benefited from a stronger but still suitably dark melody, like the one in the second piece. And yeah, I'd reverse the order of the songs, the second one is more accessable.

[@ZaryGrabusey]

@cnmaster01 Oh sorry! I didn't make the distinction that by work, I meant the work that she's performed, like the music that's been written for her to play, or to be part of the musicians play. Thank you for the recommendation though, I'll have to check that out.

[@iFoamy]

Great video, wonderful work by Ms. Beiser!

[@Iker888]

uhh I love Reich's compositions...

[@Trinivalts]

The moment the tune kicked in, it reminded me of a nes game where that samurai runs and does long jumps and trows shurikens.

[@axelstall]

Steve Reich is amazing!

[@tremulent]

Second performance was better than the first!

[@whitneystriggow8007]

So beautiful. Baffles me every time.

[@fiercefunky]

She looks a lot like actress Pascale Bussières. Gorgeous.

[@cuntsound]

steve reich is lord.

[@shwestrick]

@Kebabsoup I believe that there are elements of a non-live performance that could be considered just as valuable as the elements in a live performance that people enjoy. Mixing live and non-live creates some interesting characteristics...

[@andreeaweed]

wowww...grate performance ...grate artist ...love it

[@defaultuser88]

I like the cello, it's a good instrument

[@profjaykay]

@morthim You dont need to understand the music... art is what you make of it.

[@Aresftfun]

Beautiful.

[@dozza06]

she's quite skilled at playing with that piece of wood between her legs

[@STevEKlm012]

Great performance.

[@MartinsaMadman]

@TheLonelyScribe01 Not to mention the mix of technology with it.

[@paskal007r]

this is good music, but why should be a TED conference?

[@1ucasvb]

If you enjoyed this, check out Zoe Keating. She's amazing.

[@verhaenk]

AWESOME!!! :D

[@NickRobo1994]

@dadhusbandcyclist modern classical music is an oxymoron. :P "classical Music" comes from the classical period. Modern music or contemporary music comes from the cotemporary era (1900-present+). The music is not classified by the instrument but by its characteristics that are derived mostly from the time period. I hope this will help you with your researching/learning. (don't take this a critic of your ignorance :P)

[@ZirconCode]

@ybra Same thing I was going to say, Apocalyptica is amazing in this area =D

[@JustMeZero814]

Lucky Musser..... aka Nick.... This one's for you my long ago friend...... I need to come visit you in Seattle someday soon and meet your significant others..... ??? when's good for you and family??

[@guitarvibe75]

I didn't know Black Widow played cello!

[@captainshadowdreamer]

i wish i was her cello

[@TheLonelyScribe01]

@paskal007r The E in TED stands for entertainment. This is an (at least somewhat innovative) entertainment method.

[@morthim]

i wish i understood the music. :/

[@Bocbo]

Someone has been watching mystery guitar man video's.

[@Wishrachi]

@sutphoe Both plural forms are accepted -_-

[@ninjakid165]

DAMN she ripped a bow hair!

[@Kojak7snap]

@ybra The novelty factor of playing metal with cellos isn't really what I would consider innovation, but even if it were, prog bands of the '70s were already doing that. I meant the music itself that they make, which is really generic. Again, it's not all bad, just not innovative. It's telling that their main success came from cover songs, but the style of the stuff they do write is mostly just swiped from B-movie soundtracks.

[@WilliamEGD]

no sound

[@Yokailo]

Apocalyptica is so much better.

[@ybra]

I like the cello a lot, but for some reason this doesn't do much for me. Way greater things have been done with the cello, take Apocalyptica for example. watch?v=4G3Ny7ACtqM

[@ybra]

@Kojak7snap You don't think Apocalyptica is innovative? So tell me, who did combine cello and metal before them? I am not saying that Apocalyptica should be on TED, but neither do i see why this should. Don't get me wrong, she is a good cellist and i quite like the 2ed half of the video. But I don't think it is amazing or especially innovative.

[@v1m]

It's not fair to pick on you, especially as maybe in a year's time you've learned a thing or two about what distinguishes a professional artist from an amateur in his or her bedroom. But if you haven't, then do try to catch up. A little more time learning, a little less time watching KZbin, maybe?

[@ybra]

@Kojak7snap Maybe it is simply a matter of taste, in my view Apocalyptica does more interesting things than this with the cello. Maybe you can enlighten me as to what is so innovative about this performance, because to my ears this is just some cello music.

[@morthim]

@profjaykay luckily music isn't art. perhaps thats how i fail, maybe i mistakingly assume there is a meaning,an idea,a purpose unable to be articulated any other way.yet really only theory and passion 13548. perhaps there's frustration founded not in the subject matter or those you try communicating to,but with one's self; like art..however if so,why would the mechanistic strikes of bow on string sound so shrill?no breaths of soft cadence, just drowning in vibrato. near pre-language's soft shore

[@ZaryGrabusey]

I think part of why her first piece comes off as monotonous, is because of her background. Beiser's work has mostly been in movie soundtracks, where repetition is frequently used.

[@amoneymoney]

Rasputina, anyone?

[@C0urante]

I hate the TED microphones. They make her sound so dry and nasal!

[@Kojak7snap]

@ybra Apocalyptica is pretty generic and derivative; not to say that everything they do is bad, but they hardly qualify for a gathering like TED which focusses on innovation and new ideas.

[@mtdeezy]

2nd.

[@j3feazell]

hella hot!!!

[@neonwind]

Pretentious

[@MrAkifusion]

Cheap and lame. So pretentious.

[@clothearednincompoop]

Another video with a lot of cellos played by one single person: watch?v=ve4cBOnSU9Q ("A Cello Rondo" by Ethan Wiener that is...)