Viral violinist is star of Godtube

Viral violinist is star of Godtube

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norman lebrecht

March 03, 2021

Her name is Karolina Protsenko and she’s 12 years old.

She has almost 5 million followers. Godtube loves her.

Let’s hope God gets her a teacher.

 

 

Comments

  • V.Lind says:

    Yeah, she wields a promising bow, but to me that’s Muzak. The ONLY versions worth listening to are Ray Charles’ and — the top of the mountain — the Righteous Brothers.

    • Violin Accordion says:

      The Spector Wall of Sound . Better than a weedy amplified violin. How’s she ever gonna learn dynamics ?

  • EMore says:

    Really? This is ridiculous.

  • PHF says:

    I’m always impressed about youtube huge channels, gathering that many people around silly and shallow content like this. People are amazing, some waste their time in SD while others watching these videos, I guess.

  • Hannah says:

    This came to mind immediately.
    https://youtu.be/1Q9HVsgvVe8

  • Greg Bottini says:

    “Let’s hope God gets her a teacher.”
    What a nasty comment – she’s 12 years old.

    • Violin Accordion says:

      She is not altogether unconscious of the attention and the offshore investment accounts she must have. This has little or nothing to do with music or violin.

      Best to ignore and check out The Infant (William) Crotch

    • Barney Joseph says:

      I hope you can play the violin as well she does. Yes she has some way to gobut who doesn’t?

    • Violin Accordion says:

      With all her money, a lot would come running, headed off by Zachar Bron

  • Terence says:

    Best wishes to Karolina with her playing and there is no harm (one hopes) in people enjoying her playing, but …

    One commentator on You Tube described her as ”the best violinist in the world”.

    I think that gives you an idea of her fan base.

  • Concerned uncle says:

    Cringe. Btw, did you know there was a huge child pornography problem on youtube a while back. Nothing actually explicit, but a lot of borderline content by kids uneducated to the dangers of the cyber world (and without adult supervision), and with no regulation by youtube whatsoever. Those guys would share these videos on their own websites, as well as download them before they got taken down by the owners. My own niece suffered such a situation, posted a video of her at the pool, 300,000 views in a week, and a bunch of disgusting comments! She never posted again, needless to say…

  • CYM says:

    Excellent drummer, and wonderful treatment of pianist’s root chords – mostly in happy-optimistic major keys, much in need in our Covid time.

    The simple & constant up & down of all chords was very relaxing. I only wish the song would be longer, but respect the wish of the musicians to avoid possible exhaustion or even tendinitis.

    The ‘slowing down’ at the end was perfectly timed, and prevented possible heart attack in case this magnificent tune had ended abruptly.

    Uplifting feeling, for seeing a 12 years-old not involved in a youth gang, drugs, a satanic cult or little league baseball.
    – Would love to know the name of composer, as I would
    like to purchase the score, and play it for my cleaning
    lady and my terribly unstable pit bull.

    • Elizabeth Owen says:

      That is not a drummer it’s drum machine.

    • J Barcelo says:

      “Unchained Melody” was written by the great film composer Alex North for the 1955 film Unchained. How do we know she’s even really playing this? Could it all be done on computer, clearly background is.

      • Brettermeier says:

        ““Unchained Melody” was written by the great film composer Alex North for the 1955 film Unchained.”

        So, that’s it then. Sarcasm really is dead.

        “You are posting comments too quickly.”

        Erm, what?

      • Marfisa says:

        About half-way through this dreadful video her feet are dancing about on some sort of rocky outcrop, so the background may very well be really there; as for the playing, you can see she really is playing that poor fiddle, no microphones, pre-recorded sound track.

  • violafan says:

    We are now seeing the effects that Lindsey Stirling has had on young children.

  • Ricardo says:

    Impeccable intonation, nice sound and vibrato. Her right elbow is a bit on the high side. Her right hand is supple enough. She hits fourth position effortlessly and finishes the tune with the fourth finger (brave). Looks to me like she has a good teacher. Admittedly, what she is playing in this video it is pretty simple. As for the choreography and all the murky machinery that, no doubt, is lurking in the background, what can I say… Let’s wait 10 years.

    • John Marks says:

      Agree re: the right elbow.

      Also, the other pandemic that has been around, for much longer than CV, is the “Too-Tight Bow-Screw Syndrome.” Which skews the entirety of the tone production in one direction.

      Also, at least through the signal chain we are stuck with, it sounds like she’s got loud but cheap strings. Perhaps a little time spent with a Baroque violin might help, and I am being serious, not snarky. Back when I also played viola I LOVED the sound of having a pure-gut A string.

      So, right shoulder and elbow lower; loosen the bow until the space between the hair and the stick at the midpoint is no wider than the width of the stick; and invest in some nice strings like Pirastro Eudoxas. Class dismissed!

      • David K. Nelson says:

        I think there is some promise here, because the basic sound is clean, not unpleasant and not sour. Unless someone is regarded (by more than their grandparents and BFFs from school) as a genuine prodigy, I would generally endorse the idea that making comments about a child that one might make about an adult should be reserved.

        The video is (in my opinion and I see that of at least one other commenting individual) clearly mimed so I am reluctant to judge her bowing and her right elbow both of which are perhaps what they are because of the perceived need for her to swing and sway.

        And I am also prepared to guess that the original sound comes from an amplified or electric violin, so that the sound went directly into the mix – it just has “that” sound to me. (There is a funny video on YouTube of Itzhak Perlman trying out the electric violin of a member of a klezmer group he was performing with and saying something like “whoa! that’s dangerous” when he hears the result.) Thus I also make no comment about her choice of strings (says a Thomastik/Dominant guy). The fiddle in the vid looks different than the fiddle in the still picture.

        When I was that age my folks would trot me out to play for company. One man requested (after a martini or two) “something like Florian ZaBach” and at the time I had no idea who or what he was talking about. So my folks got me the sheet music to the Hot Canary but I still had never heard ZaBach play it, and needless to say I did not “swing.” It likely sounded more like Poliakin’s original composition. Eventually I did learn to play simple tunes with the violin held behind my head. Unchained Melody was not one of those tunes.

        That (and the gin martinis) seemed to make everyone happy. By the time I finally did hear Florian ZaBach’s recording of the Hot Canary my folks had ceased asking me to play for company.

      • Violin Accordion says:

        Who cares she’s just a placebo ooh aaah for the heaving masses and their bathos. And MONEY
        If you want uplift go listen Kitamura Yo.

      • Violin Accordion says:

        I got Peter infield on everything.and much better al fresco.

  • Nigel Goldberg says:

    The times we live in.

  • Violin Accordion says:

    Cavorting and gyrating. Kneebend. Gurning and mindlessly grinning. She’s too sexy for her fiddle Dee Dee

  • Violin Accordion says:

    She looks quite like Alma deutscher ? Any relation

    Or is it just the grin ?

  • CA says:

    Seriously? Let’s see her play something like the Brahms concerto-then we will be able to better judge her playing. (My opinion. I also thought the sound quality was….????)

  • Marfisa says:

    She is miming to a recording, in a ‘Sound of Music’ landscape, in a terribly winsome manner. Not my thing. For music outdoors, try Mario Brunello (not a cute pre-teen) in the Italian Dolomites, playing the cello for real: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HDRYDw9qv8 (the music begins at 2.35), or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HDRYDw9qv8 (shame about the inept camera-work).

  • Frank says:

    Beautiful playing, beautiful sound. I would love to hear this young lady play something like a bach sonata to see what her capabilities are at this moment in time. I get the impression this was pre recorded, I just hope it hasn’t been messed about with in the recording studio. Beautiful sound, which is the most difficult thing to achieve . I hope she has a great future.

  • Dragonetti says:

    Bless her socks! She looks like a nice kid who plays adequately but without any earth-shattering extra skill. My big concern is as to who’s pulling the strings and driving the rest of the machine. There’s big bucks to be made here. Unfortunately I have a horrible suspicion that at best she’ll disappear without trace in a short while and at worst…well it doesn’t bear thinking about. Excessive exposure; overestimation of talent; crashing back down to Earth with a nasty bang…Poor kid. Just let her become a normal teenager, play in her youth orchestra and have fun.

  • CYM says:

    Looks like parental neglect. Where is the police ?
    Her parents should try some of that special Russian tea …

  • Kermit says:

    Electrically enhanced…..pants!

  • Basso Continuoso says:

    It really must be discussed what the effect of social media followings is on young musicians. On the ones I follow, between the constant approval of followers, and the need for approval from peers, and the awful repertoire requirements of competitions, the effect is artistically disastrous. And it encourages them to bounce from teacher to teacher, getting as many names as possible as credits, as if that’s an asset. There’s no purity anymore. And no standards other than playing fast. And no core repertoire, only junk. It destroys their taste, which should be carefully developed. And now these young turks are already teaching and spreading their disease.
    Having a following may be helpful financially, and it is pubilcity, but as it is rarely carefully managed, it remains harmful.

    • Messala says:

      This comment is not directed at you personally, but I would rather see a discussion on how social media effects the behavior of adults rather than the young ones who seems to be doing just fine.

      The kids are now the adults and vice versa.

      Lot’s of adults clearly can’t handle their online presence in a productive manner instead exposing their grievances, jealousy, failed ambitions and inner assholes, instead of just minding their own god damn business and just have some fun. Some are just grumpy old bitter men(or women) yelling at the skies. There are many of the above described on this platform.

  • Anonymous Bosch says:

    This made me do some research to find out what GodTube is. Yikes! Reminds me of commercials I see when watching livestreams of American news for an app/website called Pray.com where you can listen to James Earl Jones reads the bible … “Get a membership for just $79.99”! Those Darth Vader residuals must be drying up.

  • Nijinsky says:

    Sorry, but I fail to see how this would be so dramatically different from said star soprano, already mentioned too many times, singing the Countess arias, turning it into a display of how precious it is for her to squeak at the height of each phrase, smiling how wonderful it is people become suicidal (which the Countess is) just so Ms. Mezzo can delight at being famous and “act” it out. And so it goes for the lot of them…..

  • Dorothee says:

    Il y a un public pour tout, même pour l’insipide…

  • M McAlpine says:

    Just a simple theological explanation, Norman. Whether we are believers or not, God does not find our children music teachers. We do! ‘Faith without works is dead.’

  • Tea says:

    Just Fabulous

  • Fei Fei Dong says:

    YouTube seems to celebrate mediocrity. Look at Tiffany Poon, for instance.

  • Violin Accordion says:

    But can she compose ?

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