Hello guys, welcome to another episode of TwoSet Violin.
And today, we're going to be reviewing classical music stats.
Statistic-Ling Ling...doesn't need [statistics].
Ling Ling is all-knowing, but for us mortals,
we found some interesting statistics on classical music,
published by Bachtrack,
and it says stuff like "What are the most popular composers?"
"Pieces that are performed the most."
- So this was conducted in 2019. - Mm-hmm.
Out of 34,000 concerts, these were the top 10 concert pieces.
- (Brett) Whoa! - (Eddy) Should we start from number 10?
(Brett) Yeah, okay, we'll start from number 10.
Coming at number 10 is...
- No way! Actually, I'm not surprised, I'm not surprised. - Not surprised.
Probably one of the most popular violin concertos, I'll say.
Oh, for sure, I feel like everyone that knows classical music
- most likely know Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. - Yeah.
I mean, you got Mendelssohn coming up.
4 mil subs!
Guys, we need to hurry up and get 4 mil subs,
so then we can hit 5 mil,
so that I can start having something to practice.
Coming up at number 9...
Ohh!
That is a really popular piece,
I think at my time with the Queensland Symphony,
- I played that like, three times. - Really? That's a lot.
But it's a good piece, I can see why it's popular,
especially the fourth movement,
- the fourth movement is a famous one, it's the one that's like... - (Brett) Mm-hmm.
It's not around the...
But yeah, this one's um...
- It's interesting, because it's got a story behind this, right? - Mm-hmm.
- So, he had this massive crush, - (Brett) Yeah.
he's like simping hard, right?
And either he got rejected or he didn't even approach, like,
approach her, I don't know, like,
I just know that the fourth movement is meant to be in his dream,
he gets decapitated. So at the very end...
- You hear that? - Yeah.
That's his head falling off.
And the fifth movement's like,
- he goes to hell or something, I...I don't know. - Yeah, he's...
- ...interesting. - Yeah.
Alright, coming in at number 8...
Definitely not the most famous Brahms.
- Four is...more famous. - Four is the most famous.
I like two though, I actually like two a lot.
Yeah, okay, that's nice.
- "Dooooooo", and then brass went... - Yeah, yeah.
It's a great sound.
- Number 7! - But of course...
I'm surprised Brahms's up top 10.
I love Brahms, don't get me wrong.
But Brahms 1 is like,
I've only recently started listening more to it,
I feel like it's the least easy to get into,
- I think so. - out of the four.
But it's interesting though, because I think he spent 20 years
- composing the First Symphony. - Because of Beethoven, right?
Yeah, he was so scared of Beethoven that he spent like
20 years or so, writing just that First Symphony.
There's notes from him saying it's like Beethoven's watch—
—breathing over his shoulder or his back, just looking at him.
There's this epic bit in Brahms 1 though, with the violin solo.
- That's like, my favourite bit. - Yeah, it's nice.
- It's so glorious! - It is.
Number 6, okay, yeah.
See, this is one I'd totally picture being top 10.
Okay, I've played this so many times.
- I played so many arrangements of it, variations of it... - Baba Yaga...
I'm like over it, I'm sorry to say...
- Don't get me wrong, it's a great piece and I like listening to it, - It's a great piece.
but it's definitely one of the more like,
cliché pieces in the symphonic world.
Alright, number 5!
Handel Messiah, yeah,
- I think we're getting pretty like mainstream stuff, - Yeah.
you know, the famous "Hallelujah!"
and the rest of the piece that no one really knows?
Yeah...!
I don't have like, proper choral...
...appreciation, so I don't know the rest of the piece, I...
But I played the Hallelujah like 50,000 times.
- Ohhhh, number 4, Four Seasons! - Ohhhh, yeah...
- Alright, uh... - (Eddy) Yeah, we're getting into...
- We're getting into that territory. - ...mainstream territory.
Look, I know a lot of you non-classical musicians love it,
and some classical musicians still love it.
I don't mind it, but it's really hard to like just listen to it
for the sake of how it is.
It would take an amazing...first, like,
- the soloist, or an amazing ensemble to make me go, "Oh, wow." - Yeah, yeah, same.
Anyway, you guys get it.
Number 3, though.
Ooh.
- Did not expect that to be there. - Interesting.
That's the one with um, the French horn solo right?
- Ohhh! It is... - You will now see why.
...transcend, okay.
- When I think of French horn I kind of think of that, actually. - Yeah, I do.
Guys, this is Tchaikovsky...
Can I just say that...
- It's just one note! - Mm-hmm.
There's so much to it!
This is one note, and the harmony is moving with it!
That is genius writing there, I don't...
- it's so... - Melodic writing at one of its finest,
- I think Tchaikovsky. - Yeah Tchaikovsky is...that's Tchaikovsky.
- This was the golden time of melodies. - Dude...right that, oh my god, yeah.
Okay, next one, of course...
Have you noticed in this list,
there's been three violin concertos,
- Ohhhh!!!! - and no other instruments?
Ohhhhhhhh!!!!!
- I do think it should have like, some... - Piano stuff.
...variety.
Alas, violin, it's just too good.
I'm sorry.
Number 1.
Yeah, I think the reason that's number 1 is because
2019 was like Beethoven Year.
- And so everyone was playing Beethoven symphonies, - They had something, yeah.
- to commemorate Beethoven. - Mm-hmm.
I'm surprised it's number three though, it's not my favourite.
- I think I'm gonna offend a lot of people. - (Brett) I don't mind it...yeah.
Historically, it represents the birth of Beethoven's new language, right?
- One and two are still kind of Mozartian, Haydn. - Before he made that transition, right?
Three was the one he started doing the big codas,
and the big development sections, and all that.
- I like number six. - I like five, six, seven, and nine.
- Three is like... - (Brett) Yeah.
- Yeah, because there's all the other ones. - (Eddy) Mmm.
Five!
- Yeah. Yeah! - You think everyone would like five!
- That's really interesting. - That's really interesting, right?
Another very interesting stat though,
if we look at composers that got programmed in the most...
Top concert composers!
Number ten is Mendelssohn.
- I mean, Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. - Probably carried it.
Number nine, Chopin!
- Alright, here we go! - Whoa, now we're talking!
- The pianists are getting some time to shine. - Number eight, Haydn.
- Okay, yeah. - Haydn?
- These Haydn symphonies, like it's...I don't know. - Yeah, who listens to Haydn symphonies...?
Schumann!
Ooh!
- I like that. - I feel like there's definitely more like,
piano influence in the top 10 composers.
Six, Tchaikovsky.
- Yeah, of course. - Nice.
Five, Schubert.
(both) I N T E R E S T I N G !
- Number four is Brahms. - Four...Brahms, yeah.
- Three is Bach. - Number 3, yeah.
- Two, Mozart. One, Beethoven, yeah, I...yeah. - Mozart...okay...
The top four doesn't surprise you at all.
In fact, top ten I'm not that surprised either.
- Like they're all notable composers. - Oh yeah, they're all great.
Very interestingly, there's no 20th century composer.
But probably 'cause of copyright laws.
- No, actually, I think so, I think so. - Like, it costs more to do deal with copyright.
Like, in the world of copyright, guys,
- it's...I think it's like 100 years or something? - Yeah, yeah...
Like even Prokofiev,
- some of his later works [has] copyright complications, Barber... - Barber...
Yeah, there's too many rights,
and rights takes a lot of fees,
- so performers...organisations don't generally... - (Eddy) Yeah, yeah...
...it's just, it's expensive.
- It's a bit more tricky to deal with. - Yeah.
Whereas like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven,
- they're the Holy Three, right? Holy Trinity. - Yeah, you can't dispute that.
And the rest, apart from Haydn,
are all Romantic composers.
- (Eddy) Hmmm. - Hmm, interesting.
There's a lot of interest...other interesting stats,
definitely check out this PDF,
there's a really cool page talking about
women composers and conductors,
which is obviously a very important topic.
Work about contemporary composers,
- which I also think is very important. - Yeah.
But, I think the interesting one that I really want to go over,
- is the busiest performers. - Oh, yes.
- Like the soloists, performers, orchestras, - Yeah.
conductors that get the most concerts.
- Should we go over violinists? Let's go over violinists. - Yeah, I wanna go [over] violin.
The most busy violinists are...
...Kavakos, nice.
- Great violinist. - Finally got to listen to him live,
- Yeah, it was... - like last year.
- Was it last year? - When we listened him...yeah, last year, early last year.
(Both) Joshua Bell.
Isabelle Faust.
I never know how to pronounce this guy's name.
- Yeah. - Sorry. Renaud Capu..."Capushon"?
- And Hadelich, yeah, of course. - Hadelich! Oh, nice.
Ehnes! Woo! James Ehnes!
- Zimmerman, okay. - Zimmerman!
Vilde Frang!
- Jose...oh, I can't pronouce, like.... - Josefowicz, and...
...Kuusisto.
I mean, they're all pretty famous names.
Oh here's an interesting stat.
The busiest performer was Andris Nelson,
he's a conductor, who conducted 132 concerts!
And opera performances.
That's one every three days, almost.
For your whole year.
Oh my god, that's hectic.
- But it's just busy, it doesn't mean the best. - Doesn't mean...
- It's just how many concerts...right? - That's true. That's true, hey, that's true, yeah.
It's just who's making the most...nah, just kidding.
- Moolah! - Yeah, it's like which performer's like,
- making the most "ka-ching ka-ching!" - Yeah.
Anyway, guys.
- Look, I think there's some interesting stats here. - Mmm!
Obviously, 2020 and 2021 there's no stats, because COVID,
so, hopefully in the near future,
there's a lot more performances, you know, to be new stats,
and classical music is back on—
Ohhhhh!!!
And with that beautiful joke,
- time for us to go practice. - That's right.
And time for you to go practice.
And we'll see you guys, bye-bye!