What Makes a Good Classical Music Performance

Ever wonder why some musical performances sound so magical? In today’s video, we try to uncover the secrets to a captivating classical performance!

Huge thank you to Augustin Hadelich and James Ehnes for taking part in this video.

James Ehnes episode coming soon!

Special thanks to Simone Maurer, PhD, for helping with research and writing.
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Remember to GO PRACTICE.
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Follow us or Ling Ling will be disappointed.

[iamyourboredom]

Loving this series as they bring back the more nerdy side of this channel, where they explain classical music in a easier but, still, a theoretical way. Keep it coming, Brett and Eddy!

[solbjorns]

As an OG TwoSet fan, I feel like they have been making their videos a bit more educational instead of fun or personal, but hey, thats why I love TwoSet Talks!

[jinheelim]

i know this video is a build-up towards twoset academy but it is such a thoughtful/kind gesture for lingling wannabes who are not in the mental, physical, financial and time-wise capacity to actually pick up an instrument. even though we might not be able to join the academy as players and performers, we do want to learn more about classical music as listeners and consumers! that said, please keep it up guys!
- love from a korean fan

[therakeshkrishna]

01:55 here’s an example from the international Chopin competition: the year in which pianist Ivo Pogorelich had taken part, Martha Argerich was one of the members of the jury.

Pogorelich had given an performance of the piano sonata no 2 by Chopin (people say that his interpretation of that piece is top notch from the competition) but unfortunately, his performance did not make it through, as he did not “stick” to the orthodox way of playing Chopin (plus he had a few wrong notes here and there)

Martha argerich simply couldn’t agree, that the jury would NOT let Pogorelich to the next round, so she GOT DOWN FROM THE JURY THAT YEAR, telling that whatsoever they’re doing is totally wrong and that she would not stand along with their decision 😭😭😭

[ripbingbong]

as a non-musician simply sitting in the back listening to passionate people do what they love, this was a fantastic explanation of everything i've heard them discuss! thanks guys for all you do!

[LinhChi]

38 minutes of nerding out, what a treat!!!

[tjohns]

I was a music major, and this is why there were always multiple people (at least 3 usually) critiquing/judging your performance.. because it's definitely very subjective. There of course should be clear expectations for what you'll be graded/judged on in certain situations (such as juries and recitals).

[durps]

james ehnes' book analogy was so interesting!

[salionshatterstar]

22:04 That glissando is one of my favourite sounds on the violin! It saddens me that it's fallen out of favor. I was rehearsing with a soloist on a concerto I'd written, and I asked him to add in a bit of a glissando during a key moment. He looked at me affronted, saying, "But that will make it seem like I lack the skill to shift in-tune!" I was a young chap, and the soloist was an older gentleman. I found it surprising that I held this old-fashioned sound in high esteem, whereas this elderly player did not. It turned out that he'd been young when the glissando was still popular and experienced the change in fashion first-hand. To me, it sounds emotive; but to him, it sounded cheesy. He was surprised that I even knew about that style, but I'd grown up listening to recordings from that time. The whole interaction reminds me of clothing fashion, where styles fall out of favor but are then brought back by younger generations who "rediscover" it. I hope the schmaltzy gliss makes a comeback!

[sabrinai]

Kinda still have to get used to them not doing their "Welcome to another episode of twoset violin!"-intro. Love the fast dive into the topic of the vid though.

[Ssudesudesuu]

Thats Twoset and this is their masterclass 🤌

[Whatever]

Damn bro is teaching us destructive interference of waves... that's a literal topic in Physics 😭🤌

[alexeichel]

You can tell they spent so much time effort and production in this video. Absolutely amazing

[sabrinai]

The twoset academy vibe is strong in this one!!! And I'm all here for it! Learning so much through Yang and Chen sensei's lessons.

[josephotoshi]

14:45 Brett meant "Melodie" (by Tchaikovsky), not "Salut d'Amour" (by Elgar) in case anyone was confused! But both pieces use very legato phrases anyway :)

[juliegill]

Guys, thank you VERY MUCH That video (and this is REALLY saying something) has GOT to be one of your BEST I learned SO MUCH from

I'm going to be (SHUDDER!!!!) 50 in January, and first started studying Music seriously when I was around 8. In all that time, I never knew that so much of what we take for granted today was brought about by the Greeks and their love of maths.

That MUST have taken you LITERALLY FOREVER to put together, and you MOST DEFINITELY did NOT labour in All the best, Julie.

[darcydevries]

Bro, Simone Maurer was my favorite lecturer at the first Uni I studied at!! I know she had studied with you both back like 12 years ago or something, but that's pretty cool that your still in contact with her!

[eyuan]

James Ehnes is a trillion percent the short video/article/clip form of content shared on social media is really affecting how we subconsciously think about not just music but also literally any topic of discussion ever 🙃

[MD-zmsn]

As an adult new to classical music but not to instruments, these are my favorite types of videos. There's a lot of intricacies to violin and the classical music world that you can't just come across if you're not directly involved in that world. You've got a lot of specialized knowledge of a complicated subject and you're good at communicating in a relatable way. I find myself rewatching the same handful of videos because I wish there were more like them.

[TitusTheBard]

James Ehnes makes some great points about making a piece sound like a cohesive narrative. I find that this can be tricky as, as we practice a piece, we usually break it down into sections and practice them individually, which in turn can make us forget about the full narrative/story that the piece is trying to convey.