Why be the fastest violinist if you mostly play wrong notes?

Why be the fastest violinist if you mostly play wrong notes?

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norman lebrecht

November 10, 2018

Comments

  • Peter says:

    And somebody now has to quote Morecambe and Wise…..

  • Rachel says:

    I would hesitate to say that he is even playing a violin…

    • V.Lind says:

      Yeah — it’s while since I saw a 5-string!

      Anyway, should electric count in a record contest?

      • SharkyLarky says:

        I have no idea why I’m replying 2 years later (I found this through a link on Wikipedia), but to answer your question, no an electric violin is a subcategory of a violin and should not count when trying to break the record for ‘fastest violinist’, unless they’d name it ‘fastest electric violinist’. But with all the bad intonation I doubt that Ben Lee would get the record still.

  • Trevor S. says:

    He is the boss. Better than all the violinists I know: Lang-Lang, Matsuev, Mirga…

  • Pianofortissimo says:

    Faster is not better. Really, I cannot listen anymore to Baroque music as it is played today. And I used to love Baroque music. Just check Vivaldi’s Four Seasons played by Felix Ayo or by Wolfgang Schneiderhan in the late 50’s or early 60’s – that’s wonderful! Today’s HIP ensembles need a hip replacement…

    As for that Speedy Gonzales of the violin: he should play John Cage’s Freeman Études – that’s not music and one can never play them as fast as recommended in the score.

  • Michael says:

    I don’t know what’s more remarkable, the smugness of this “violinist” or the fact that the BBC would have him on their program. But at least he was good for a laugh.

  • Ben Lea says:

    They always amuse me but it would appear that the other Ben Lee is a master indeed.. I might change my name.

  • Martain Smith says:

    Why should “fake news” be the prerogative of politicians!

  • NYMike says:

    Good for a healthy laugh!

  • Barbara says:

    Please tell me who the 2 commentators were. They were so hilarious and deadpan at times.

  • Ben G. says:

    Proof that the BBC can mountains out of molehills when showcasing such charlatans.

  • Lilas Pastia says:

    Was I mistaken, or did Ben Lee actually attribute Flight of the Bumble Bee to Paganini? Twoset dis not comment on that, but they later correctly stated that it was by rimsky-Korsakov

  • Barbara says:

    Thanks everyone for telling me who the 2 young men were. Much appreciated. I will look out on YouTube and my part of the world if they venture over the ditch.

  • Millie says:

    I just saw his post in his Instagram account about this “Sacrilegious Boi” meme and damn, he was saltier than I thought.

    He’s got the balls to say, “Lingling polishes my violin” – Ben Lee 2019.

    If only I could say this personally to him:
    “HONEY, YOU GOT A BIG STORM COMING.”

  • Anonymous says:

    His sacrilegious violin

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