So , I was watching the Pyeongyang Olympic closing ceremony a couple of weeks back, and this boy
(yes, it’s a boy)
absolutely trashed the Four Seasons of Vivaldi on his electric guitar, accompanied by some ancient Korean instruments. Since then, I have been trying to track down a recording of the closing ceremony, so I can listen to it again, but even after a couple of weeks, I have still been unable to find a complete one. The best I can come up with is a fragment of it in this video
(from 6.49 to approx. 8.00), but that is definitely not the full version.
Now I know this doesn’t even closely resemble the original Vivaldi, and I know the guitar isn’t even plugged in. I don’t care. I just loved what I heard, and I really want to hear it again. Does anyone have suggestions on how to find it, other then the obvious Google-stuff I am capable of? The kid’s name is Yang Tae-hwan and he’s Korean, if that helps…
I can’t help with that, but I can point you to this instead
Uli Jon Roth’s thing is now electric guitar versions of classical music. This specific album he does the full four seasons, but he has others too. Bonus: better audio quality than that video ;)
Ah damn, totally missed that in the original video (which, apart from rewinding the part where he is playing, I haven’t watched too closely). No wonder I did not get the reference!
I checked my recording from NBC and I think there was about a minute and a half of this kid. I’d be interested to know exactly how much they cut. There seemed to be a ratio of about 1:1 content to commercial and the content was like 1:2 bullshit talking and montages to actual closing ceremony.
I’m not going to bother recording NBC again. I’ll use my VPN for Canada next time I guess.
That’s awesome, especially the canon! He’s really very good, even more so considering his age!
They cut quite a bit then, probably mostly the part with the old Korean instruments (which is also very good, IMO). The full version is just over 5 minutes (which is 55 minutes too short, as far as I am concerned). I now have access to the complete recording of the entire ceremony, but I have to check with the person who very kindly provided it whether I can share it here, so I’ll get back on that soon. There’s a bit of a problem with sharing it anyway: the file is way too large and I have no idea how to edit an MKV file to cut out just the relevant bit. So if anyone has experience with that, by al means let me know!
You know what, I take it back. I missed it because they didn’t put the kid on screen for all that much of the 5 minutes, but the talking heads wouldn’t shut up during the performance so it’s kinda sucky anyways.
I acquired the Korean KBS broadcast of the event and they talk over it too. There’s no justice in this world. :P
Edit: This Australian (?) broadcast I found though… they don’t talk through it at all. Joy!
