sarah chang versus midori Options

[hanxiao]

thanks in advance for your opinion.

[miles]

I have not heard any of these two ladies playing, but these are what I know:

Similarities: Both are beautiful young Asian ladies in the US (Chang = Chinese Korean?, Midori = Japanese?), and they both play violins. Both are unhuman.
Differences: Chang started at very young age, 8 or 9, which was even younger than Heifeitz and another guy I forgot. Tha'ts why she's unhuman. MANFIO saw and heard Midoris playing in a hall after a concert in his country. In addition, she majors in Pschology; so she is unhuman, too.

No performance comparison from me since I cannot even make a fiddle sound right.

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Sarah Chang (born December 10, 1980) is an American violinist of Korean heritage.

She asked her parents for a violin at the age of 3 and auditioned for the Juilliard School at 7 playing the Bruch Violin Concerto. She was admitted into the studio of Dorothy Delay, violin teacher to some of the world's great violinists including Perlman, Midori, Gil Shaham, Shlomo Mintz and many others, including Chang's father. She was also taught by Hyo Kang, a former student and assistant of DeLay.

Chang was recognized as a child prodigy early on and when she was 8, was given the opportunity to audition with such names as Zubin Mehta and Riccardo Muti, who were working, respectively, with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Both gave her immediate engagements. At 9, she was the youngest violinist ever to record. Jascha Heifetz, another famous child prodigy violin player, recorded at age 11. Her teacher in an interview claimed that no one had ever seen "anything like her".

Yehudi Menuhin has called her "the most wonderful, the most perfect, the most ideal violinist I have ever heard".

[hanxiao]

miles, thanks, i think chang had a debut at 9. quite superhuman.

[David Tseng]

Sara Chang is a better musician. There is no doubt in my mind, Midori is a technician, but her interpretation is terrible.

[hanxiao]

i tend to agree with david in that every time i see chang perform, she makes me feel the music. on the other hand, i have not seen midori's performance much, but from cds, i can tell midori has a great command of techniques, but probably not as much emotion.

[djerzy]

A correction is needed here.

Mr. Heifetz began his study of the violin at the age of three, and gave his first public concert at the age of 5. Nothing extraterrestrial, yet extremely disciplined.

Regards,

Jerry

[hanxiao]

in response to that, i would really like to know starting at what age did mr heifeitz really wanted to play on his own will. i have a 5 yo niece who is more talented than heifeitz because she also plays golf, hehe. at this age, nothing can replace TV and computer games. may be a bowel of ice cream, but definitely not violin or golf. that is why it scares me when i read about 5 yo piano prodigies practicing 6 hours a day.

[miles]

Hi Jerry,

Thank you for the correction. I got the 10 yrs old from hearsay. My lord, how does one discipline a 3 yrs - 5 yrs old? Good thing my parents didn't know his parents.

> when i read about 5 yo piano prodigies practicing 6 hours a day.

Do they attend regular schools? Home schooling? Or what? I have been thinking about Michael Rabin's life since 2000. Is it good for a child? What have they missed?
Do they regret?

My school accepts 16 yrs into Ph. D programs, and from what I heard and my own expericen those genii are quite awkard socially if not anti-social...

How to strike a balance in life?

[hanxiao]

miles, interesting questions. in the case with my niece, the incentive certainly does not come within. she does her golf and violin between family memeber's bribery and discipline. the kid is very talented to start out with in both fields, but there is no way that she will prefer to play violin or golf when the TV is on. so many times, the lure is : hey, lets make a deal, 15 mins of violin, and 15 mins of golf, then you can watch some TV. she screams: alright! and there she goes, doing a good job in violin and golf knowing there is the real reward later. (let me see if i can convince her to let me record her playing violin for this board soon.)

i know there are 2 very outstanding piano prodigies, both about 6 year old, one in china, one in california, both chinese. both have floored the top piano teachers from the west. one of the kids have had a solo concert in france. i remember that the one in california is very into music, sometimes waking up in the middle of the night to review scores, hehe, and i have the good sense to call it quit after just 4 lines. the other one seems more "normal" if you ignore mastery of chopin's at that age. in both cases, the parents are 200% involved. i think for these 2 kids, going to regular school may not be necessary, even though it may be good for their psychosocial development. on that, i do not think chang or midori went through regular schools.

oh, miles, since you are in chicago area, i know of a very young japanese kid enrolled in u of chicago's medical school at the age of 13 or 14, the youngest medical student ever. no kidding. check it out. by the way, he also plays violin. i know... what a bummer, but you will be in good hands in case of a violin related injury.

[miles]

Funny you said that! I am a UChicago grad...I think he was admitted into Med School 2 years ago (2003) and he was supposedly to be Chinese (or we all look alike so it doesn't matter?????)

[OuchardGadda]

Midori, while a frighteningly exact technician doesn't reach (for me), the artistic heights that Chang does.

Of all the child prodigies, I'd say that Chang was the best (maybe Haendel was better, but there are no recordings). Not only does her technique match just about anyone's, but her sound is great. Her interpretations aren't always my favourite, but now she's blossomed into a violinist that will no doubt be considered legendary. I once heard a teacher say that we should all focus on music, because for me technical proficiency was a given, and no longer impressed him since he saw Sarah Chang perform the Bartok concerto when she was 8.

To think that one of the great, undoubtable recordings of Paganini 1 was made by a 12 year old is phenominal (sickening in fact). I have many, many recordings of this concerto, and this one is to be admired... I don't even listen to it thinking to myself that it is a youngster, but truly a master of the violin.

Chang wins in my opinion.

[Fellow]

Hi All,

At that level of playing (violinists) there is no such thing "who is better?"
Meaningless comparison.

One should know their own limitation and refrain from being a music critic.
Just my thought.

[hanxiao]

OG< thanks for your insightful comments. i have here a CD that chang made when she was nine on a 1/4 violin playing couple pieces that she later also did for that spanish night dvd in germany. not to say she did not improve with time, but she was that good already at 9. on the other hand, i remember seeing footage of midori taking subways in nyc going to inner city public schools for a program that promotes classical music. 2 thumbs up for that.

yuen: the point of making comparison in my opinion is one of the most important inborn and aquired skills in life. we do it anyway; it is human nature. but through education, hopefully we learn to make clearer distinction and make better choices.

with violin music, as a listener, we each have very personal taste while listening to music performed by top musicians. still, it will be highly unlikely that chang and midori will affect us musically to the same degree if they perform the same piece. to be able to tell the difference in the effect on us and the reason behind it will help us grow musically. with a purpose, the listening will be more meaningful, which may translate into better music appreciation and hopefully teeny weeny better playing on our part.

[yaumnik]

My vote is for Chang. I've seen her play and she just takes your breath away with her music. On the other hand, years ago I saw Midori play Mendelsohn with BSO in Baltimore and that was by far the worst Mendelsohn I heard, live or recorded. While Midori was exact technically, it was such a dull and uninspiring Mendelsohn performance that I was tempted to complain to venue's administration to get my money back.

Perhaps she was having a bad day, or forgot to change strings on her fiddle , but it was just plain yuck!

So on basis of that "memorable" performance, my vote is for Chang.

ATB, Gary

[hanxiao]

instead of filing a complaint, try filing a lawsuit. that is exactly the type of news i am trolling for on yahoo, hehe.

[miles]

quote:

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Originally posted by: yuen
At that level of playing (violinists) there is no such thing "who is better?"
Meaningless comparison.
One should know their own limitation and refrain from being a music critic.

---

Yes, Sir. For someone like me to critique a professional's performance is likely a joke. But for trained musicians [instruments makers also included], I think it is their job not only to critique, but better yet also to educate the public, the people like me. We've got a wealth of such professionals and professionals to be, like QuchardGadda, Andrew Victor, guta, David Tseng, nicolo, Dutchviolin, [Mr. Darnton is always included in everything since he's also unhuman.].. etc. to name just a few. From their posts, I am very certain that they know their stuff. Therefore, they are entitled to critique and it is always a nice treat from MN to hear their unbiased critiques (more like comments + analysis; nothing negative implied). I always enjoy critiqe posts from these members although admittedly most of the time I will have to scratch my head...

I once was expected to be a writer or a literary critic by trade although it never materialized. Since I paid a lot of tuition to my schools, I feel that although I don't write, I should be qualified to critique as long as what I say lives up to academic standars.

What do you say?

[Erika]

I think they're both exceptional.