Compare performersCamille Saint-Saëns
Le Cygne: Bokor (1925) and Weilerstein (2009)
Le Cygne, from Le Carnaval des animaux
Bokor plays the cello melody with a pianist; Weilerstein plays it with a marimba player.
Recordings in
this comparison
Choose a recording and press Play. Selecting another card continues playback from the matching point in that recording.
Judith Bokor
A Columbia recording for cello and piano, issued on D 9758.
Alisa Weilerstein, Jason Yoder
Alisa Weilerstein, cello; Jason Yoder, marimba
Live at the White House, with sixteen-year-old Jason Yoder’s marimba accompanying the cello.
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Each strip shows changes in volume within one recording.
At the White House on 4 November 2009, Alisa Weilerstein played Le Cygne with sixteen-year-old Jason Yoder at the marimba. Judith Bokor’s earlier Columbia disc has a pianist accompanying the cello. In both arrangements Saint-Saëns’s long melody is played over broken chords.
Tempo map
Time taken compared with Judith Bokor: above 1×, the performer takes longer over the same music; below it, less time.
- Judith Bokor · reference
- Alisa Weilerstein, Jason Yoder
Passages compared
Each version plays in card order, for up to 12 seconds of reference music or until the next marked passage, whichever comes first.
- 01
Opening cello phrase
0:10 in the referenceThe cello begins its long tune above a stream of broken chords.
- 02
Rising phrases over broken chords
0:32 in the referenceThe cello plays rising phrases above the piano’s continuous broken chords.
- 03
Rising and falling phrases
1:10 in the referenceThe cello’s phrases rise and fall back, while the piano keeps up its running figuration beneath them.
- 04
Approach to the high note
1:45 in the referenceThe cello climbs towards a long high note; beneath it, the piano’s arpeggios continue.
- 05
Final held note
2:15 in the referenceThe cello holds a long note above the last piano chords, then stops.
Length of each recording
- Judith Bokor2:34
- Alisa Weilerstein, Jason Yoder2:56
These times include the lead-in and final fade. Cuts, repeats and disc-side breaks also affect a recording’s length.
Recording notes
Judith Bokor
A Columbia recording for cello and piano, issued on D 9758.
Judith Bokor, cello; unidentified pianist
Around 1925
Alisa Weilerstein, Jason Yoder
Live at the White House, with sixteen-year-old Jason Yoder’s marimba accompanying the cello.
Alisa Weilerstein, cello; Jason Yoder, marimba
4 November 2009, White House, Washington, DC
Further reading
- Bokor Commons file and upstream attribution
- Bokor upstream discography: Columbia D 9758/F 87, circa 1925; the Commons date and catalogue number differ
- Weilerstein and Yoder: event and separate performance/recording rights
- Le Cygne: instrumentation and written texture
- White House archive: Weilerstein and sixteen-year-old percussionist Jason Yoder, 4 November 2009
- Mike Telin’s interview with Alisa Weilerstein, 16 November 2009: she identifies Yoder’s instrument as marimba
- Saint-Saëns, Le Cygne: Durand & Schoenewerk cello-and-piano edition, plate D.S. 3767; cello part and piano score
How the recordings are matched
The matching follows sequences of pitches, using a method called dynamic time warping. Every recording is mapped to the reference, so switching between two versions goes through that shared clock. Where several reference times match one point, the middle time is used.
- Alisa Weilerstein, Jason Yoder: match score 0.882. Matched passages available.
Switching stays within the matched span, and trimmed recordings keep their original clock times. Match scores describe similarity in the sound.