Hi.
(both) Welcome...
Oh, sh*t.
I mean...
Today, we have a very unique episode!
(both) Ooh!
Today, we will be watching
a mainstream television talent show
that actually appreciates classical music.
Whoa...!
Who, who?
- Norway! - Is that real?
Norway!
(both) Norway!!
(both) NORWAY!!
What country could it be?
Make sure to finish watching this video for a, for a...
Sweet!
- Sweet... - Sweetish...
We gotta make our, uh...
...pen mark on it.
Pen mark?
I don't get it.
"Are you in the right headspace to receive information
that could possibly hurt you?"
Denmark.
Alright, that's enough!
- Okay, Danish people, I tried. - Oh yeah!
All right, so!
I saw, like a fan send this to us on Instagram,
a while ago.
Decided to have a quick look,
and let's watch it again together today.
Who are you?
We are Kvartett Saphir.
What piece are you going to play?
We are playing Shostakovich.
Is there, like subtitles?
- 'Cause I'm not getting what they're saying. - Yeah.
- All I heard was "Shostakovich." - Yeah.
Yo, dude, I think we met that girl before.
Eddy: The cellist.
Yeah...!
- Ohh...! - She was uh, she was at our, um...
- The school! Barratt Due! - Yeah, the Barra...
- Barratt Due! - Barratt Due Institute!
Oh, Barratt Due...!
- That was our first time performing in Oslo. - Wow.
- Yeah, there was like, a school that we went to - Alright.
- with these genius musicians. - I know, I was so embarrassed, I couldn't play.
- Yeah. Oh, yeah! - They're like, "TwoSet should play." I was like,
- "Yeah, nah." - Yeah they asked us to play...
"Yeah, nah, I'm good. I haven't..."
"You know, being on tour is pretty tiring."
Contestant: The piece was written by Shostakovich
during the Cold War when he had been in Dresden
and seen bombing.
It sounds like something serious, you know?
I'm just guessing,
but it sounds like he's talking about
the quartet itself, the history
- Mmm. - of Shostakovich.
But I have no idea.
- So he was very angry and frustrated. - She's definitely listening. "Mm."
- "Ooh. We might have real talent here. Mm." - "Mm, mm, mm."
We’re excited to hear this piece.
Dang.
Okay. They're actually musicians.
- Yeah. - That's really good to know.
- They're musically trained. - Yeah.
I'm just, like...
surprised that this actually showed up
- in a talent show. - On a television.
It's kinda like, at first confusing,
but you're like, "Whoa."
- 'Cause you're not used to hearing, like, actual string quartet - You're not used to, yeah.
- Yeah, it's like... It's actually real playing. - ensemble playing.
There are octaves.
- Did you see how the - Yeah.
cellist and violists are not just in tune,
but they're like, they're communicating,
- they're phrasing together. - Yeah.
The best part is that...
they're not faking any actions,
or exaggerating anything!
Just the music itself.
I mean, they have microphones.
- But that's... - But probably because the venue is not meant to be
for classical music.
- Acoustically. Like a TV studio. - Possibly. Yeah, that's... I can see that.
Their eye contact with each other is just to like,
musical signalling.
It's not like...
They're not like,
- kicking over the music stand. - Yeah.
They're not... faking it.
Or dubbing it over background music.
I also love like,
♪ BUH buh buh buh ♪
- The beginning, like all the way half of the G string. - Yeah yeah. He was like, let's go.
- It's kinda high pressure on a mainstream TV. - Yeah.
When you're just trying to be as honest as you can.
They play together so well.
Oh lord my hat.
Ooh!
This is completely amazing.
Oh damn!
Oh wait, what's this?
They actually have dynamics
in a mainstream television performance?
What??
It's not just with a backing track with no dynamics?
Eddy: What??
They actually do phrasing?
No way!
- Wow...! - Norway's got it right!
- I got like, mini goosebumps during that like... - I love the...
- The reverb. - That uh, s...
- The sudden subito piano. - Oh, right. Yeah.
- And the crescendo. - That's cool.
And the first violin kind of just like...
- He just pulled back. - Yeah.
And that was enough!
He didn't need to do like...
These guys are students, so like,
props to them for...
To be on a talent show, a mainstream talent show.
Knowing what we've seen,
most likely they probably wouldn't have even gotten through.
I don't know. It was good.
Quite an intense classical music, actually.
- Yeah. - Shostakovich.
That's true as well, it's not like,
Czardas, or like...
Four Seasons, or...
Yeah, it's also so refreshing to hear something that's not
- just the typical mainstream televised classical music. - Yeah. Mhmm.
Can I also just say, too,
from a classical music perspective,
you often hear a lot of professional classical musicians
say that chamber music is actually where it's at.
Obviously, there's orchestral ensemble playing,
there's a lot of ensemble skills,
and there's solo music playing,
- where it's more like soloistic skills. - Mhmm.
Chamber music, especially things like string quartet,
is this weird twilight zone where you kind of need both.
Moments of soloistic playing
- and moments of ensemble blending. - Yeah.
- And it's actually... harder than it sounds. - It's very difficult.
You spend a lot more hours
- trying to get what you want. - Yeah.
Because like, if you're a little bit out of tune, soloistically,
it's okay.
Because you're tuning to yourself.
If you're a little bit out of tune in an orchestra,
it's okay, because there's a hundred instruments.
But if you're a bit out of tune in four people,
- Oooh... Yeah, it's very obvious. - it's very obvious. Yeah.
Just like our Navarra.
Anyway!
Let's see what the audience is like.
Great!
A thousand thanks!
This is the only time you hear the audience like...
- In beat. - Yeah.
This is what a standing ovation should be for kids,
- not like the... 325 beats per minute Bumblebee. - Yeah.
To us, to musicians,
I would much rather listen to this performance,
and I'm much more impressed by this performance.
I'm glad this is the standard in Norway.
- Yeah. - They're not just trying to play fast.
I'm sure these guys could play fast, if they wanted to.
But that's not the point, as we made it very clear!
And here, it's kind of inspiring to see.
other musicians doing classical music.
Everyone gotta follow Norway!
- Follow... - Follow the way!
Norway will show you the way!
You can express so much anger and be so in tune with each other.
"That's so amazing."
"I think you should continue."
Is that what she's saying?
Nah. I'm making it up.
There’s only one thing to do and that is…
"And so I'm going to give you the..."
He's like, "YAY!"
Imagine if he was like, "Yeah!"
and then she was like, "Pranked!"
Judge: Congratulations, it was so good!
Judge: Many congratulations!
Such a... Scandinavian cheer.
- So like, reserved. - Yeah, it's like a reserved cheer.
What do you guys think? In the comments below.
Do you appreciate seeing classical music like this,
on talent shows?
Or do you think talent shows should be reserved
to the Bumblebee sacrilegiousness?
Please let us know,
and we're very glad to see
progress and change in humanity and talent shows.
Well I wonder if it's just like, a European thing.
- It's just more in the culture. - It might just be... Yeah.
I don't know, who cares.
Just keep practicing, that's right.
40 hours every day.
Daily dose of inspiration.
I've got to practice Tchaikovsky.
Alright guys, thank you so much for watching!
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We really recommend you get together with friends
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