I’ve posted about this Chinese Violin-playing Goddess before, and see that it’s time for me to post again.
Vanessa Mae has been one of my favorite musicians ever since I watched her play in a Grammy Awards show back in the late 1990s. She is an ethnic Chinese woman who grew up in Singapore, and was identified as a music prodigy at a very young age.
From the ever-wonderful Wikipedia:
“Vanessa-Mae was born on 27 October 1978 in Singapore, to a Singaporean mother Pamela Soei Luang Tan and Thai father Vorapong Vanakorn. After adoption by a British father, she moved to London at the age of 4 where she began playing the violin, having already started the piano in Singapore. At the age of eight Mae embarked upon an intensive period of study with Professor Lin Yao Ji at the National Conservatoire of Music in Beijing. Vanessa-Mae returned to London and entered London’s Royal College of Music.
Wikipedia Entry – Vanessa Mae
At age thirteen, Vanessa-Mae became the youngest soloist to record both the Beethoven and Tchaikovsky violin concertos, according to Guinness World Records […]”
There’s a lot more about her. She’s also an Olympic-class skier.
But Wait, There’s More!
What I really want to share on this quiet October morning is one of my favorite Vanessa Mae music videos.
Again from the Wikipedia:
The Violin Sonata in G minor, more familiarly known as the Devil’s Trill Sonata (Italian: Il trillo del diavolo), is a work for solo violin (with figured bass accompaniment) by Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770). It is the composer’s best-known composition, notable for its technically difficult passages. A typical performance lasts 15 minutes.
Wikipedia – Violin Sonata in G Minor
Vanessa Mae, of course, plays this difficult piece while obviously having fun at it.
So, with no further ado, here is Vanessa Mae playing “The Devil’s Trill Sonata.”