Bobby McFerrin sings Bach

Listen up, hep cats

Heard this on the radio and was transfixed: Take Five played by a string quartet.



For comparison, here's Dave Brubeck playing his original version. Four guys in suits and skinny ties, as cool as all get out.

Mozart Piano Sonata in C Major, Second Movement

I can only memorize about two piano pieces at a time, though neither of them is "Yankee Doodle". The second piece varies (right now it's "Fascinating Rhythm", mostly) but the constant is the second movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata in C Major, K. 545. It's embedded in my finger memory due to a year's worth of practice for a piano recital ages ago. Here is it, played by someone who does it better than I do.



ADDENDUM: Here, for Otepoti, is the version of Fascinating Rhythm in my head (but again, played much better than I could hope to).



My version is up to 1:00. Recording quality ain't great here.

Biber's Passacaglia for violin

Darwin has up a post on "babe violinists" over at American Catholic. Well, this guy isn't a babe violinist, but I love this piece of music:



The Passacaglia (also titled "Guardian Angel Sonata") is the last in a series of sonatas called the Rosary Sonatas, each of which involve tuning the violin a different way. They're all beautiful.

UPDATE: Ask and you shall receive... a reader sends us to a video of babe violinist Elizabeth Derham playing the Passacaglia.