TwoSet Drops Two More New Videos: As Mozart and Beethoven

December 13, 2024, 2:14 PM · This week TwoSet Violin - Brett Yang and Eddy Chen - released two more new videos in their B²TSM (comeback? farewell?) series: one about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart an another about Ludwig van Beethoven.

Brett Yang as Mozart and Eddy Chen as Beethoven, in their latest B²TSM videos.

The videos followed their surprise release last week of I'm Bach, a video about J.S. Bach, which led to speculation about the two returning as "B²TSM." However a long feature about TwoSet in the New York Times (non-paywall article here) seemed to make it clear that these are farewell videos.

On Monday they released "Papa Wolfgang Style," a take-off on the 2012 song Gangnam Style (arguably the original breakout K-pop tune, featuring South Korean singer and rapper Psy.) TwoSet's video features Brett Yang as a cocky and coarse Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, rapping, playing the fiddle and doing a little dance-off with Salieri, a whole team of dancers in the background. It's another high-production video, shot at Schloss Eckartsau castle in Austria with great costumes and a sense of the cinematic. The third-movement "Rondo alla Turca" from Mozart's Piano Sonata in A, K331 runs as a musical thread throughout:

If the Mozart video veers into Weird Al Yankovic-style parody territory, the Beethoven video seems a lot more raw and serious - the lament of a composer gone deaf, who still wishes to make music while locked in silence. On Thursday they released "Liberation of the Soul," featuring Eddy Chen as a moody Beethoven - a solitary performance reflecting this composer's late-life isolation. There is a lot to hear musically, one thing I discerned in the refrain was a sort of a dark twist on the slow movement of Beethoven's 'Pathetique Sonata' (Sonata No. 8 in C minor Op. 13).

Find the website for their project here. Coming videos will (evidently) feature Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich.

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Replies

Ron Black

December 13, 2024 at 10:19 PM · They should stick to violins, seriously.

Paul Deck

December 15, 2024 at 12:29 AM · I really couldn't get much past half of either of those.

Kuntarini Rahsilawati

December 15, 2024 at 04:33 AM · Actually, their new songs are full of parodies and reactions toward the recent online songs that are hype among youngsters, such as songs from K-Pop and Tiktok influencers. When I saw the videos with my teen niece, she found the video very amusing and genius, touching several bands/influencers (which I've never heard). She then marked those videos to show to her friends at school the next day.

I think Twoset is revamping to keep its existence in younger audiences, as their former fans are becoming mature.

Ron Black

December 15, 2024 at 11:26 AM · They will need to revamp a lot more than that, each to their own, I wouldnt watch them if they were in our front garden playing for free, has he got a cold, he sings or trys to sing I should say through his nose, when he tries to hit higher notes its actually cringeworthy. Just shown it to my 13 year old daughter, who has just got out of bed lol her reaction,? She started to laugh, she actually thought it was meant to be funny, she also wanted to know why they were wearing old fashioned clothes, must admit she isnt into classical music at all, she is a pop music and boy band fanatic. She didnt get this at all. Forgot to add it was the beethoven one she watched

Richard Pairaudeau

December 15, 2024 at 01:55 PM · A few years ago I asked some younger people, fans of these guys, what was so important about them. Their answers:

-they are very funny

-they make a lot of money

-they encourage youngsters to take an interest in classical music

-they are not aimed at people 'like you'.

Mark Breiger

December 15, 2024 at 02:01 PM · Ron, your daughter thinking that it was funny is evidence the video is hittimg the mark. TwoSet violin are humorists/comedians.

We shall see where it leads.

There is a push for creators to make more unique content, as opposed to commenting on other sources. Maybe this relates to that.

Certainly an enprmous amount of effort and money was put into making these videos.

Ron Black

December 15, 2024 at 04:48 PM · mark, think you got the wrong end of the stick, she didnt think it was funny in a good way. she was laughing at the attempt, As I said each to their own.

I do agree that someone is putting a very, very large amount of money into it.

Steve Jones

December 15, 2024 at 04:58 PM · Laurie - thanks for identifying the quotation from the Pathetique sonata - it would have driven me mad! But sorry guys...

Laurie Niles

December 15, 2024 at 07:09 PM · Steve, as the kids would say, "it took me a hot minute"!