Classical

There are lots of instrumental pieces we’ve heard over the years, but don’t know the names of them. Pianist Vinheteiro decided to play a whole bunch of these pieces to help us connect these melodies with their names and composers. See how many you know.

His piercing glance burning a hole through the lens, pianist Vinheteiro performs a brief snippet from 26 different classical pieces of music, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet. We never knew what Gymnopedie No. 1 was called, but we recognized it immediately.

Archaelogist dusted off Claude Debussy’s famed classical piece Arabesque No. 1 and reworked it as a masterpiece of prog rock, giving it a powerful edge we’re certain the composer could have never envisioned back in the late 19th century when he wrote it.

Enjoy two strange musical bedfellows, Europe’s 1986 hit The Final Countdown and Dvorak’s 9th Symphony, melded by the Papageorgio String Quartet a. Be sure to listen to their Beethoven vs Metallica and Led Zeppelin vs Bach and My Chemical Romance vs Pachelbel too.

Pierre Fontenelle and Cristian Perciun of accordion/cello duo Made in Belgium turn in a vibrant and powerful medley comprised of three tracks from the James Bond universe – John Barry’s original theme, Adele’s Skyfall, and Sam Smith’s Writing’s on the Wall.

You’ve probably heard most of these pieces of classical music at some point in your life, but had no idea what they were called. Pianist Vinheteiro takes this opportunity to educate us, while at the same time showing off his impressive ivory tickling skills.

A wonderful classical arrangement of the 1985 a-ha pop classic Take on Me, as performed by the musicians of Brooklyn Duo and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect. We especially love the way they worked in the nod to Flight of the Bumblebee on the grand piano.

Most of us know it better as the opening theme from The Lone Ranger, but whatever you know the finale of Rossini’s energetic William Tell Overture as, you’ve probably never heard it played using a model train and a bunch of bottles. Hi-ho Silver, Away!

Electronic musician Kaskobi brings classical music into the 21st century with a seriously danceworthy arrangement of Beethoven’s 19th century classic, in a battle between his Novation Launchpad and Launchkey digital music controllers.

The consistently captivating Tina S shreds an insane rock rendition of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata (3rd Moverment) on her Vigier electric, her fingers flying across the strings and frets at supersonic speeds. Arrangement by Dr. Viossy.

Members of the Canadian Brass let their fingers go flying at breakneck speeds in this classic footage from one of their performances of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s high-speed orchestral interlude. A more recent incarnation of the group shows off their chops here.

Musician Chris Thile performs a wonderful rendition of J.S. Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, BWV 1001 on his mandolin. The entire 15 minute piece is impressive, but the bit starting at 11:42 is simply spellbinding.

While Nicolo Paganini’s compositions were largely played on string instruments, Nicola-Frank Vachon figured out a way to play each and every note of this concerto using only his goofy facial expressions. (Thanks OrionFyre!)

A street musician in Copenhagen rocks out an amazing performance of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik using a bunch of water (or possibly liquor) filled bottles as his instrument of choice.

Anna and Arkadiusz Szafraniec, the Glass Duo made Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies all the more dreamy with this impressive glass harp rendition.