Ah, YouTube. Repository of some of the finest classical rarities just waiting to be chanced upon by some digital adventurer.
But YouTube has its classical blockbusters as well--videos that have attracted a critical mass of page views.
They're not always the most obvious.
Sometimes, indeed, the performers aren't even known.
But here are Classicalite's Five Best of the most viewed classical videos we could find...
1. Valentina Lisitsa has become the poster girl for YouTube classical success, and good luck to her. Her Beethoven "Moonlight Sonata" has more than 7,000,000 page views.
2. There had to be a high-ranking Beethoven Symphony No. 9. We just didn't expect it to be the Joseph Krips/LSO version. Fine conductor, great orchestra, but hardly the biggest name at the baton. Upwards of 25,000,000 people have seen it though. Yes. 25 million.
3. Mischa Maisky of yesteryear. His Bach Cello Suite No. 1 defeats all comers with its 14.2+ million views.
4. Yundi Li may have attracted some of the wrong kind of attention lately with his rather bizarre "Flight of the Bumblebee," but his Chopin Nocturne here bags nearly nine-and-a-half million views.
5. And one from a performer no longer with us: Maria Callas sings "Ave Maria." More than four million people nod in agreement.
