Vanessa-mae arrives at the classical brit awards

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Xanthippe

Post by Xanthippe »

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Vanessa-Mae arrives at the Royal Albert Hall for the Classical Brit Awards. She will perform in the opnings act of the awards show and play 'Sabre Dance,' a piece based on the music of Khachaturian in an arrangement of Tolga Kashif. Sabre Dance is on Vanessa-Mae's new album 'Choreography' that is due for release in September.
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Post by Arioch »

Hey Rijko is that the same dress that
Vanessa wore in Classic FM?
It looks similar, it difficult to tell from that
photo.
Although the dresses colour looks like gold.
-----Arioch------
(Lord of Chaos)
------Image-----
www.vanessa-mae.co.uk
PressGuest

Post by PressGuest »

Yup, same dress.

But 'technically' its the dress from the awards not for the mag. After she performed the opening sequence at the Brits she popped down to the media/green room for some photos and schmoozing with the likes of people like me (She is SO nice!) Then after that she went to pose for ClassicFM in the mini-studio they had setup down there.
Apparently she spent ages with the dress designers (took about 2weeks) and was created especially for the performance.

Anyways, that’s some gossip from the Press-Room @ The Albert. Any more questions just fire away... likewise if you ever want/need anything from Vanessa let me know (With reason you understand ;)

Regards,


Anonymous PressGuest

- Commonly found backstage in a tux schmoozing with stars and free champagne (Thumbs up to the caters at The Albert)
eva03
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Post by eva03 »

thanks PressGuest! you're LUCKY! got some questions for you:

1. what do you think is the height of vanessa-mae?

2. was vanessa-mae's performance live? because i'd like to know the sound of a ted brewer violin.

thanks for dropping by!
PressGuest

Post by PressGuest »

Hey again, sorry for the delay in replying...

In answer to your questions, Vanessa-Mae is quite shorter than I imagined her to be, very petit but not tiny. Probably about the same height as me so I'd guess 5 5/7" As for the violin, yeah it was a live performance but I must admit I am a complete philistine with these things so I couldn’t tell you what a brewer sounded like anyways :confused: Regards,


Anonymous PressGuest

- Commonly found backstage in a tux schmoozing with stars and free champagne (Thumbs up to the caters at The Albert)
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Benji
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Post by Benji »

Not to send the board until another live vs mime argument, but I can tell you unequivocally as a violinist, that it was mimed. The sound of her Guadagnini Gizmo is very distinct, and since I've listened to so many of VM's performances with her violin, I can hear the nuances unique to her instrument.

You also have to remember that electric violins have not gotten to the point where they can successfully imitate an acoustic violin, at least not yet. What you see is Vanessa-Mae playing on her Ted Brewer miming, but the earplugs she's wearing is more like headphones--so she can hear the song and remain in time with the music. The transmitter on the back isn't transmitting--but the opposite, it's a receiver for her earplugs. You also have to understand that using an electric violin for a piece such as Sabre Dance would be very out of place. An electric violin can easily overpower everything else, and would cause an embalance.

At first, I was very disappointed that VM mimed the performance, but I didn't realize that Sabre Dance had the Royal Philharmonic orchestra as accompanyment, that would be very impractical to go through setting up an entire orchestra (especially as one as big as the Royal Philharmonic) for a 4 minute performance. So I understand why it was mimed.

I hope this clears up any questions ...

--Benji
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Post by Atreides »

I ll have to agree with benji on this one ... she mimed ... It is quite apparent in full screen as you look at her vibratto being slightly out of phase with the music ... or bow changes beging done late ... The most incriminating evidence i saw was 1min 53 sec in the video , we see the bow leave the string but 2 more notes follow. Dont get me wrong, she did one hell of a mimic job, but the evidence is there.

Moving around that mutch in those cloths, having interact with dancers in a complex choreography while playing the most difficult instrument and get out studio quality music is just not possible no mather how talented you are.

Atre
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Post by foreverred »

Accidentally posted the same thing three times so I erased this one. Sorry guys. Obvious newbie here! :)
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Post by foreverred »

I did not see the performance at the CBA's since I'm in the US, but I do agree with Benji and I also wanted to answer eva03's question. A Ted Brewer electric violin uses a bridge pickup made by Ashworth Electronics, which also furnishes pickups to Starfish and Violectra (both which coincidentally endorse Bond).

The Ashworth pickups and their competitor here in the US, Barbera, generate very a synthetic, clean, and stereotypically "electric" tone off of a violin, similar to that of Jean-Luc Ponty's electric violin. However, since they're made of maple, the tone is a bit more organic and woody than that of a Zeta.

I honestly don't blame VM for using the Ted Brewer (and in years past, the white Zeta Jazz) for these performances or miming. It's a headache to do soundchecks on violins and could be quite a hassle to set up the entire Royal Philharmonic just to perform one track. I also wouldn't take my expensive acoustic violin (like her "gizmo") onstage with me for fear of it being damaged or destroyed (again). I do a lot of my own recordings with an acoustic, both mic'ed and plugged in (with a pickup, to get the nice low end texture), but at live shows, I use my red Zeta electric. It's not worth having my baby smelling like smoke or being damaged just to play a big gig.

-Omar
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Post by foreverred »

Accidentally posted the same thing three times so I erased this one. Sorry guys. Obvious newbie here! :)
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Post by eva03 »

omar thanks for the post about the ted brewer violin. ted brewer violin has the best design!
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foreverred
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Post by foreverred »

eva03 wrote:omar thanks for the post about the ted brewer violin. ted brewer violin has the best design!
Yes, I think they're awesome as well. The sound is a bit richer than the Zeta Jazz because of its maple construction, and they're very gorgeous.

I want that red acrylic one that looks like it's on fire. It would be perfect for what I'm doing now. However, I still love my Zeta. It's not like Vanessa-Mae's, since it's an acoustic (classical) violin with a translucent red finish, but it has the same Jazz pickup as hers. It sounds de-lovely!

:) -Omar www.omarlopez.com
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Post by CKmaverick »

Hi guys and gals. I went back to watch the recording of the Classical Brit Award 2004 shown on British TV a while ago, particularly Vanessa Mae's opening act.

If she was miming, she really did a good job. The orchestra for the night did not accompany her as it was almost totally dark in the orchestral pit. And the players music scores only lit up after VM's performance, as they played to accompany Katie Derham's (the host) entry to the stage.
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