Virtuoso
I love listening to virtuosos. I also enjoy listening to different performers play a piece of music. The “Flight of the Bumblebee,” composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, is from his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900. My dad played trumpet and violin and could play it on both. I thought that was pretty cool. It is a flashy piece, though not nearly as difficult to play as it might sound. But there are those who can play it and those who can make it sing. The piece is meant to be played very fast, and typically, the faster you go the more exciting it sounds. I have several versions to compare. They are all interesting in different ways and for different reasons. All of the musicians are extremely talented if not outright virtuosos. Listen for is how well they bring to life the image of an actual bee in flight. Also listen to how cleanly it is played, how dynamics are used, and whether there is something particularly creative about the artist’s performance. The pair of clips towards the end are interesting in that one is from the 1996 movie Shine based on the life of David Helfgott, a brilliant pianist who suffered a mental breakdown. The last clip is Helfgott playing the piece. Some of the performances take the piece pretty far afield. I was impressed with the beatbox version. My favorite is probably Wynton, but then I love pretty much everything he does.
