most contemporary violinists

Vivaldi's works for violin, mostly the many concertos (and not just the very overplayed Four Seasons) usually are characterized by passages with furious bow work, in which the violinist must work his or her bow at a very rapid pace. This produces a rhythmic, repetitive sound not unlike that of a motor--the author is using an imaginative phrase to describe this effect.

Syncopated actually has more than one meaning. In general, it means a rhythmic passage which follows a certain measured pace, like the beating of a drum. In jazz music, syncopation is often characterized by sudden, unexpected changes in tempo and beat. I suspect the reference to Shostakovich derives from his Romance from The Gadfly Suite. The Gadfly was a motion picture in the Soviet Union, for which Shostakovich wrote the score, and there is an orchestral suite of that music, the Romance passage being the most well known and the most popular. The violin work from the Romance could reasonably be described as syncopated. Here, it is performed by a group of high school students:

Sorry, I am afraid I could not get you much. There are few things which is stopping me to get the concept.

Here are these silly doubts ...If could explain these then that'll be just wonderful.

'Vivaldi' is the name of person ?

what is so called 'Four Season' ...is it the name of the music ?

I'm sorry ...I don't understand much of the musical stuff....If you could explain these , then probably I could be in a better position to understand your post.

Vivaldi is a famous composer. "The Four Seasons" is one of his works with a movement dedicated to each season.

It's difficult explaining musical terms without using more musical terms, but in a nutshell: syncopation is when a beat that is not normally accented becomes accented. For example, in a 4-beat pattern the rhythm would normally sound like "ONE-two-three-four, ONE-two-three-four," with the accent on the first beat. If you place the accents on other beats, such as "one-TWO-three-four, one-TWO-three-four," then that's syncopation.

"Motor rhythms," on the other hand, is a term given to rapid, repetitive rhythmic patterns that are fairly regular with little or no syncopation. In a "motor rhythm" (a term that many Baroque musicians despise, incidentally), patterns like "ONE-two-three-four, ONE-two-three-four" tend to dominate.

In other words, "motor rhythms" and "syncopated phrasing" are opposites. Your sentence is trying to say that contemporary violinists are very versatile because they are able to play many different styles, from the rhythmic regularity of Vivaldi's motor rhythms to the rhythmic irregularity of Shostakovich's syncopated phrasing.

Ok . feeling comfortable now.

But see these ...Can you please explain further ?

" driving motor rhythm of Vivaldi"------> motor rhythm ? peculiar wording .

"to the syncopated phrasing of Shostokovich"----> how is that ? syncopated phrasing is nice to hear ? Do you have any example for this ? I don't have test of it.

oh..thanks ..you are pretty fast !

Yes, it is a little peculiar but as I said it is a common phrase in music. In this phrase, "motor" is an adjective being applied to "rhythm." Vivaldi's rhythm is being compared to a motor or a machine because both are constant, regular, and rapid. Compare the following videos:









Again, not many Baroque musicians would approve of the above comparison, but there you have it.

Here's a good example of Shostakovich's syncopation. This is the second movement of his 10th Symphony:



The music is in a fast 4-beat pattern but it is difficult to follow because the music does not use a regular "ONE-two-three-four" rhythm. Often the violins are doing "one-TWO-three-FOUR." That's syncopation.