I have a question about... A new DVD?

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Benji
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Post by Benji »

eva03 wrote:I dont expect a V-M DVD in 5 years.
I really don't expect another DVD period. It's not that I think Vanessa's career is dying, but things are different than they were 10 years ago.

With Vanessa more or less managing her own career, she doesn't perform as many concerts as she did back in the mid 90's. I expect her future records to be like those of contemporary classical artists, i.e. a limited release followed by a few concerts in different parts of the world.

I think the whole Vanessa-Mae extraordinaire violinist days are over. I also think that Vanessa-Mae is a little "burnt out" as a travelling performing star she has been. I think that she will still release records and do concerts, but it will be slower pace, and not as many appearances.

My only wish was that sometime last year, Vanessa-Mae would honor her 10th year as a pop violinist. But no such luck .. ah well, maybe in 20 years :-)
Xanthippe

Post by Xanthippe »

I definitely agree with Benji: I too would love to see Vanessa-Mae honor a decade as professional violinist since The Violin Player. I don't think she just considers herself to be a pop violinist. Anyway, it would have been interesting to see how she would look back to this period.

Things have changed a lot indeed since The Violin Player. Back then, Vanessa-Mae was playing a new style of music and the electric violin was new too. It all was unprecedented and Vanessa-Mae being a smart and an exceptionally beautiful young girl was interesting for the media and the audiences fel in love with her instantaneously and bought her albums and visited her concerts in large numbers.

Vanessa-Mae fully exploited her potential by sacrificyng her personal life and youthand adolescence, and she made a lot of money these years. For about 5-6 years she only worked by recording several albums, doing promotion and touring around the world in a crueling concert schedule.

Since being an adult, splitting from her mother as manager and faling in love with Lionel, Vanessa-Mae chose to slow down her career and invest in her personal life and relation.

I too would love to see Vanessa-Mae being more active in publicity and doing more concerts all over the world, but her caeer intensity is not for us to decide. We just have to accept her choices.

Will there ever be a DVD release?? It all comes to the question whether Vanessa-Mae and Sony see any profits in it. I don't see why not!

Personally, I would love to see Vanessa-Mae record a Paganini album that would contain his 1st violin concerto, Moses Variations on G-string, Cantablie and the 24th caprice, all in special arrangemnts by Vanessa-Mae herself.

I think this would make a brilliant album and it would be nice to have a simultaneous DVD release with a documantary about Vanessa-Mae's connection with Paganini mixed with live music from concerts where she plays music from this album. Something in the style of the 'Storm On World Tour' movie.
DavidM
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Post by DavidM »

Rijko, I agree with you about a Paganini album. We know that Vanessa-Mae has a special love of his music, so it is strange that she has actually recorded such a tiny amount of it. Perhaps she feels that Paganini has been recorded too often after by other violinists? But an album of "enhanced" classical arrangements similar to how she did The Original Four Seasons would be uniquely hers and would be something very special.
Xanthippe

Post by Xanthippe »

Hi David,

Paganini's 1st violin concerto is one of my favourites concertos for violin: it is such great, exiting and challenging music and it opens so much possibilities for personal embelishment and arrangements for Vanessa-Mae. Besides, Paganini liked to experiment with it and all his music himself so that really legitimate Vanessa-Mae in making version of her own in her own personal style.

Vanessa-Mae's version of Moses Variations is in the Red Hot Royal albert Hall concert of June 30th 1995 as it is on the video tape. There, she also performs the 24th Caprice in a special arrangement on electric violin.

I also heard Vanessa-Mae play the Moses Variation and Cantablile at her concert in Hamburg in 1999.

Paganini's music really works well as our girl plays it and it would make a great album.

Anyone has an opinion on this too?
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Atreides
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Post by Atreides »

Hummm, VM recording hardcore Paganini scores sutch as the caprices or one of the concertos ... well .. i m not so sure about that.

I think the result would be avrage at the very best. Her sound and tight range she developped since "China girl" simply wont do the job. In my opinion her classical skills cannot tackel succesfully these pieces as they are written. She simply is no match for the likes of Accardo, Menuhin, Milstein, Zukerman, Chung or Kremer in that feild.

Her apogee as a classical violinist was with the Butterfly Lovers Concerto. Her recordings of that piece is for me a reference recording. But since she has pretty mutch left the classical world and chosen a different path, her technique, sound and range evolved according to that path. Her recording of the Four seasons almost came as an aftertought. We clearly see the reslut of that evolution in Choreography, a very even sound not fully exploiting the possibility of the score, with that even sound came a incredibly tight range further more decressing her expressiveness. Altought this is perfect for pop virtuosity it will kill you in classical works.

Dont get me wrong, I dont think she is a bad violinist. I love her work. But she has her creno and her limits. She is simply no longer a versatile violinist.

To produce a successfull Classical album, especially a Paganini album she is going to need some serious work to overcome her short commings in that field.

Atre.
Xanthippe

Post by Xanthippe »

Atreides

This is of course your opinion and I do not agree with you.

I think she is a very versatile and technically highly skilled violinist. I am sure she is well equiped in technique and expressiveness and to make an interesting Paganini recording.

I am sure Vanessa-Mae has something to add in this to the existing catalogue, as she did with Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Tartini's Devils Trill Sonate.
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