This man is amazing. I heard his group perform the Debussy String Quartet 0p 10 last night on the radio and was flabbergasted at the harmonic richness achieved. I'm dying to hear it live just to prove to my ears it really was a quartet.
0:43 Prelude from Bach's 1st Cello Suite played on Violoncello da Spalla, it's basically a Scaled Down Version of the Baroque Cello that's slung on a Strap.
I admire Sigiswald Kuijken's skill and his dedication to an unconventional way of playing the Bach Cello Suites. That said, I aesthetically prefer renditions of the cello being played between the legs because their larger size enables a louder and richer tone. This recording sounds like a detuned viola. And as musicologists and violists acknowledge, even most violas are not large enough to be "acoustically perfect" like a full-sized violin qua violin.
@MrVadiaRotor Yes, I believe viola da spalla doesn't exist, only the common viola. This is the violoncello da Spalla, a antique instrument who it's believed to exist before the modern cello. Any doubts, check out Wikipedia: wiki/Violoncello_da_spalla#Violoncello_da_spalla
The viola da spalla... a pseudo-cello as a violin? Or maybe it's being held more like a guitar? Kind of challenges one's preconceptions. Lovely tone. Nicely played! How about a violin as a pseudo-cello or maybe a pseudo-viol? Hope you like my video. The infinite variability of a fret-less stringed instrument gives nobody a free ride.The bottom line? From above or below, big or small...what comes out is all up to the player's willpower and imagination.
@VTKlutZ Eh, it looks sort of uncomfortable, but it can't be worse than the modern cello. I play cello and guitar, and I can't believe how inefficient the cello is to play - so stressful. But the tone is to die for.
+Alhamdulillahist I agree with you, there are some errors. But there are also recordings of him that are very great. When you play so much instruments, I can tell you that it can happen you play for for example a week not on this instrument, but instead on a violin or viola. This can be the reason for some technical errors. But still I love it very much.
well...he is not really fully in comand of that instrument. May he be an outstanding violinist, but not a specialist on the da spalla. You need much more grip for these strings... and as a result, here you here some not responding notes, and also some bad intonation.
My remark about holding it was a so called joke (which should be obvious). And no, this is not an ancestor to the cello. This is just a different instrument, which did not survive, for good reasons. An unsuccessful experiment, one might say. There are none left from back then, so they've made new ones - according to some very loose descriptions combined with a lot of guesswork - so that we can now all hear why the instrument didn't survive.
It most definitely came before the modern cello. This is a Viola de Spalla, which means "viol" under the chin. The Viola de Gamba means "viol" between the legs which in turn became the modern Cello
So I asked a friend of mine who in really into historical instruments and such, he said there was also a Viola de braccio which means viol for the arm, which in turn is an ancestor of the modern violin. He also said the Lyre de braccio was a big instrument used at the time, which is just a lyre with a bow "for the arm" as the name suggests. He said before they found the suitable "style" for each sized instrument (modern violins are made with different dimensions than modern cellos), they just created larger and smaller versions of instruments and gave them titles like de braccio, de gamba and de spalla to denote how they should be played (violincello, violone, viola de spalla...etc). But once the stylized designs for the modern instruments was set the titles became superfluous. I believe there was a video with Piatigorsky talking about how Stradivari made wonderful violins and cellos because the dimensions are similar enough, where as the viola demanded different dimensions and thinking about how the instrument processes the sound. Can't say I know enough about building instruments to give my own opinion on that but I have played a viola before and they are far less forgiving than a violin; you really have to play it a certain way to really produce the best sound. So I can see there must be some different dimensions and construction each sized instrument specifically calls for.
This man is amazing. I heard his group perform the Debussy String Quartet 0p 10 last night on the radio and was flabbergasted at the harmonic richness achieved. I'm dying to hear it live just to prove to my ears it really was a quartet.
0:43 Prelude from Bach's 1st Cello Suite played on Violoncello da Spalla, it's basically a Scaled Down Version of the Baroque Cello that's slung on a Strap.
I admire Sigiswald Kuijken's skill and his dedication to an unconventional way of playing the Bach Cello Suites. That said, I aesthetically prefer renditions of the cello being played between the legs because their larger size enables a louder and richer tone. This recording sounds like a detuned viola. And as musicologists and violists acknowledge, even most violas are not large enough to be "acoustically perfect" like a full-sized violin qua violin.
violoncello da spalla, no viola :)
+Simone Talvela It is often called viola da spalls because it is played like a viola.
What a heeling sound.I have several record which he playng.
I saw his brother in Lugano, fantastic!
Like a 1/4 cello
0:43 it starts
It's a Cello that can be played Standing up.
worth having it in my collection =)
hermoso
can i ask what size is this cello?
try not to poke your eye out!
Where does one purchase a viola da spalla??!!!!!
@Max0Inq I find it extremely hard to make it sound, apart from not being very confortable
Nice! Can I have one?
nice viola d'spalla ..
Violoncello; small violone. In the same way the gamba is not truly related to the violin, the viola da spalla is not related to the cello.
Where is the announcer from in The Netherlands? Groeningen perhaps?
@ElletrikaProductions , is there any difference?
@MrVadiaRotor Yes, I believe viola da spalla doesn't exist, only the common viola. This is the violoncello da Spalla, a antique instrument who it's believed to exist before the modern cello.
Any doubts, check out Wikipedia: wiki/Violoncello_da_spalla#Violoncello_da_spalla
It's a Scaled Down Version of the Cello.
The viola da spalla... a pseudo-cello as a violin? Or maybe it's being held more like a guitar? Kind of challenges one's preconceptions. Lovely tone. Nicely played!
How about a violin as a pseudo-cello or maybe a pseudo-viol? Hope you like my video.
The infinite variability of a fret-less stringed instrument gives nobody a free ride.The bottom line? From above or below, big or small...what comes out is all up to the player's willpower and imagination.
That's called Violoncello da Spalla
Here's the same piece played on a Baroque Cello:th-cam.com/video/TOU8WNZRi_g/w-d-xo.html
@VTKlutZ your wrong
@VTKlutZ Eh, it looks sort of uncomfortable, but it can't be worse than the modern cello. I play cello and guitar, and I can't believe how inefficient the cello is to play - so stressful. But the tone is to die for.
Actually the strap has padding on it to help
I don't think there is a difference. Both names apply to the same instrument.
always wear safety glasses playing Bach.
this player looks like how i picture Guarneri Del Gesu
Or like Captain Kangaroo.
Am I the only one who thinks this is not a particularly good performance of this piece? Seems to me that there's quite a lot of technical errors..
+Alhamdulillahist You are one of six, but you are wrong. Sigiswald Kuijken is a master musician.
+Alhamdulillahist I agree with you, there are some errors. But there are also recordings of him that are very great. When you play so much instruments, I can tell you that it can happen you play for for example a week not on this instrument, but instead on a violin or viola. This can be the reason for some technical errors. But still I love it very much.
well...he is not really fully in comand of that instrument. May he be an outstanding violinist, but not a specialist on the da spalla. You need much more grip for these strings... and as a result, here you here some not responding notes, and also some bad intonation.
It's a Violoncello da Spalla, not a viola da spalla.
This guy shouldn't play so badly.
Hey, you are holding that cello the wrong way, man!
More seriously: Compared to a real cello it sounds awful!
This is an ancestor of the cello and it is held right.
My remark about holding it was a so called joke (which should be obvious). And no, this is not an ancestor to the cello. This is just a different instrument, which did not survive, for good reasons. An unsuccessful experiment, one might say. There are none left from back then, so they've made new ones - according to some very loose descriptions combined with a lot of guesswork - so that we can now all hear why the instrument didn't survive.
It most definitely came before the modern cello. This is a Viola de Spalla, which means "viol" under the chin. The Viola de Gamba means "viol" between the legs which in turn became the modern Cello
So I asked a friend of mine who in really into historical instruments and such, he said there was also a Viola de braccio which means viol for the arm, which in turn is an ancestor of the modern violin. He also said the Lyre de braccio was a big instrument used at the time, which is just a lyre with a bow "for the arm" as the name suggests.
He said before they found the suitable "style" for each sized instrument (modern violins are made with different dimensions than modern cellos), they just created larger and smaller versions of instruments and gave them titles like de braccio, de gamba and de spalla to denote how they should be played (violincello, violone, viola de spalla...etc). But once the stylized designs for the modern instruments was set the titles became superfluous.
I believe there was a video with Piatigorsky talking about how Stradivari made wonderful violins and cellos because the dimensions are similar enough, where as the viola demanded different dimensions and thinking about how the instrument processes the sound. Can't say I know enough about building instruments to give my own opinion on that but I have played a viola before and they are far less forgiving than a violin; you really have to play it a certain way to really produce the best sound.
So I can see there must be some different dimensions and construction each sized instrument specifically calls for.