Welcome to another episode of TwoSet Violin!

When people think about classical music,

we often think about dead composers.

Yeah like really old school composers

that are all gone.

They're already...

...decomposing.

(both) Ohhhhhhh!!!!!

But, what people don't seem to realise is,

there's actually classical composers alive today,

composing classical music.

When people think contemporary classical music,

sometimes it's easy to get the impression that

it's really kind of weird, or...

- ...inaccessible, modern arts type of music, you know. - Yeah.

I mean, to be fair, there are some that are like that.

For example,

18.

The sailboat.

And, it could get for—

So in today's video,

we decided we'll pick 5 composers,

whose music is quite accessible.

Yeah, we thought this might be a gateway

for those of you that are wondering

what modern classical music sounds like.

And on that note guys,

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It hurts our heart and feelings.

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Anyway,

let's get right into the main juice of this video.

The first composer is called...

...Arvo Pärt.

- I don't know if this is how you pronounce it. - Arvo...

How do you say "a" with two dots (ä)?

Pa-a-a-a-a-a-art...

It's like Elon Musk's kid's name.

He's an Estonian minimalistic composer,

so if you know minimalism you probably know like

Philip Glass,

uh, Steve Reich.

His particular music...

...includes a self-invented technique that he calls...

But uh, I'll explain more of that in a sec.

- Let's just listen to it first. - Yeah.

It's like "going to bed" music.

Like a lullaby.

So this piece's called Spiegel im Spiegel.

"Spiegel im Spiegel" means...

..."mirrors in the mirror", or "mirror in the mirror".

So I guess it's like,

you know when there's two mirrors,

- Oh...yeah. - and you take a selfie, and it's just like...

- And it's like infinite, right? - Infinite.

It keeps going.

I'm guessing that's what it means, I don't know.

But...

The cool thing about this is, um...

...two things you'll notice. One is, it's very...

...triadic, it's not really dissonant.

For a lot of like contemporary classical music

that employs a lot of...

...dissonance, and trying to push the boundaries,

Arvo Pärt really likes to keep things simple.

Yeah. He also...

- He almost went the other way. It's like... - Yeah.

This is...the most basic form of triads you can get.

- Yeah. - And here it is, in the simplest form.

Yeah.

I think he felt that the most profound things...

...can only be expressed through simplicity,

- rather than trying to be all like complicated and stuff. - Yeah...

I can see that.

- Yeah. - This is really basic.

- Yeah! - And you just enjoy it.

There's nothing—nothing will make you like,

"Whoa. What's going on?

Yeah.

But the cool thing, 'cause I actually...

...did a little bit of a research on this piece.

The violin line mirrors itself.

So the...

...and then it goes...

And if you keep listening,

It...it's all like a mirror...image,

in the melody.

- So if you look at the score, - Oh right,

- it's a mirrored image. - it's a mirrored like...

Yeah so, you'll see, like it always...

So F-G-A, right?

And then the next one...

C.

C.

B flat.

(both) A.

So it always ends on A.

A is the mirror line.

Ahh!

- So they go up—ohh. - So F-G-A, C-B flat-A.

And then the cool thing is,

Each phrase, adds one more note.

- So the first one's with 2 notes— - So they're getting—

- They're going more and more apart? - Yeah.

You guys should definitely check it out in your own time.

He has a violin piece called "Fratres", which...

The opening just looks hectic, man.

It's like, Paganini wakes up from his grave.

- He's like, "The 1st Caprice?" - Yeah...!

- I know, right..? - "Paganini 1st Caprice?"

It just sounds like Paganini Caprice, but...

...with like modern film music aesthetic.

- It is, yeah! It is, yeah! - You know what I mean, right?

Second, Max Richter.

Max Richter, this is cool.

So he's um, also a contemporary classical...

...composer, but he's also written some film music.

- Mmm. - Yeah, and people often discuss...

...where's the line between film music and...

- Classical. - ...classical music.

Yeah.

- We're not here to— - I mean...

...film music does sound like classical music sometimes.

Just kidding!

- Yeah, I mean... - Just kidding.

I mean, the same chord progressions.

Well, film music came from classical music.

- Yeah, I think's the Korngold— - Korngold.

- Yeah, all that stuff...yeah. - Yeah. Stravinsky.

And so, it was a...

- ...evolution, from classical music. - Yeah.

And where that line is drawn is something...

- Still a bit vague? - Yeah.

I think the scholars out there

could probably define it for us.

- Yeah. - But we're here, just here to enjoy it.

Yeah.

So this first one, absolutely beautiful piece,

called "On the Nature of Daylight".

Dude I really like that.

- Yeah. - It's like...

You're in a mountain over a sunset,

and you're riding a horse.

I don't know if I see the horse.

I feel like...

It's so nice to hear...

...something that just sounds...

It's a simple chord progression.

It's not too simplistic, there is a progression,

you know, he does switch things up.

- No, I just...feels... - I think it's easy to digest.

- Yeah. - Which is also makes it like nice,

- warming in some ways. - Yeah.

We should listen to the bit when the violin comes in.

Ah, that's so good.

- Mmm that blend of sound, it just... - Yeah.

- It feels like it's so creamy and warm. - Yeah, the warmth...

How could anyone dislike this?

Ahh yeah, you can't not like it.

- Alright, everyone hate this piece right now. - Yeah, hate it now!

Dislike it right now!

- Yeah. - You can't not like it.

And also, that violin part is...

...deceptively hard, it sounds very simple,

but it's all fifths.

That's true.

- Uh...yeah. - To make it sound smooth and even, it's not easy.

Not to go too nerdy, but it's just...

It's not just the choice of chords, but...

...the choice of inversions,

- how he voices the chords that makes it blend so well. - Ohh.

It goes the other way.

It's not always like...

- ...1-3-5. - Yeah, the bass is not always there at the bass.

Yeah.

It's simple.

- I think I like the layering of it... - Mm-hmm.

- ...as well, when that violin part came in. - Mmm.

Just when you thought what else could he add to it

without...not being too much,

and doesn't become too boring too soon.

Yeah.

We won't listen to it much now,

but um,

Max Richter also recomposed Vivaldi's Four Seasons...

Ooh.

into a kind of minimalistic style,

which is...

...really cool, it's really trippy.

- It's got his like, effects in it, the chord, the... - Yeah.

the long drone sounds.

And you can tell, obviously it's The Four Seasons.

It's almost like Vivaldi but film music.

It is, right? It is!

If Vivaldi was in an epic, like...

- ...Christopher Nolan Interstellar... - Yeah...

Dude, it's Vivaldi in the future,

in a parallel universe.

In space, Vivaldi in space.

- Traveling through galaxies. - Yeah...!

Star Trek and Vivaldi.

This one's uh, just a personal favorite of mine.

I had to put it in.

Uh, it's a Japanese composer called Yoshimatsu.

Takashi Yoshimatsu.

It's a long concerto, so I'll just pick little bits, but,

being a Japanese composer,

certain parts of this concerto literally sounds like anime.

- Yeah...! - It's like Final Fantasy in a concerto.

- Oh, I can't wait. - How epic can it get?

So, for example...

Dude, it's like a boss battle coming up, you know?

So much of the Japanese...music aesthetic,

well, from how I understand it, is...

Even when it's dramatic,

it's almost always like this kind of...

- ...soft, distant, nostalgic dream. - Yeah

- You know what I mean? - Yeah, I see what you mean.

- Well, it's never like Avengers, in your face. - It's never...it's never like...

Yeah, in your face.

But let me find this...build-up.

- That's cool rhythm as well, the use of rhythm. - Yeah...

It's like you can't...you can't really feel where the beat is.

Yeah, it's just taking you on this long journey,

- it keeps going. - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

It feels a bit like it spirited away,

just going through the clouds.

Dude, I think if you like anime,

you like Ghibli films,

- definitely check out Yoshimatsu. - Mm-hmm.

It's just...

- That Ghibli kind of sound, but in... - Good vibes.

...frickin'...a concerto.

We won't listen to it here,

- but he also composed Astro Boy. - Oh, Astro Boy!

- Okay. - Well here you go.

Nyman!

Nyman.

Minimalism, again!

Oh my god.

- It's just so nice. - It's just nice,

it's not—it doesn't like...

As we said at the beginning,

It's a conception that modern classical music is kinda...

- ...puts you on edge. - Yeah.

But there's also just...

- ...nicely written classical... - Yeah.

...contemporary classical music you can just enjoy.

Like if I was a pianist, I would enjoy playing this.

- Yeah. - I would enjoy playing the Yoshimatsu.

Yeah.

Last one, David Lang.

Yeah, David Lang!

- These titles are hilarious. - Yeah, "Cheating, Lying and Stealing'.

Oh!!!