Bourne Vivaldi

Who has a safety deposit box full of ... money and six passports and a gun? Who has a bank account number in their hip? I come in here, and the first thing I'm doing is I'm catching the sightlines and looking for an exit. I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs two hundred fifteen pounds and knows how to handle himself. I know the best place to look for a gun is the cab or the gray truck outside, and at this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Now why would I know that? How can I know that and not know who I am? –Jason Bourne, The Bourne Identity

This is too good not to share. If you're not a fan already, you will be after this. I'm not sure, but I think this might be my favorite video yet. Wow!


Available from The Piano Guys or on iTunes.

Story behind the song:
There are few "hooks" in the movie-music world that are as grabby as the Bourne Identity Soundtrack riff (starts at 0:29). Like the movie series, its intensity commands attention. We just had to figure out a way to use it. In our usual style, we thought we'd create an "action movie soundtrack" that combined this and a piece of classical music. In the early 1700's Antonio Vivaldi wrote a concerto for an instrument that was then largely "undiscovered" by the music world — the cello. Among the first cello solo pieces ever written, Vivaldi was gutsy enough to write it for not only one, but TWO solo cellos and string orchestra. With no "action movies" in the 1700's, this piece was probably the closest you could get to one. It has intense and exciting moments between beautiful lyrical moments. It was this piece, among others, that got Steven (the cello guy) excited about classical music—it was one of the first pieces he played with orchestra.

90% of this tune was written in 3 days. We worked on it day and night because it was so enjoyable to write.

This video features Steve's newest cello "Thor." It was handmade for Steven by Dawson Swan out of STEEL. Dawson is an amazing artist {website here}. This cello inspired a lot of this music and video. ALL the percussion sounds you hear were created by THIS cello. Thank you Dawson!

Recording of the actual Vivaldi piece played by Yo Yo Ma with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.

A HUGE thank you to the Heber Valley Railroad who gave us full access to a beautiful train in order to film this.

Another HUGE thank you to Paul Anderson (not our Paul Anderson, another Paul Anderson) — who rolled out the red carpet for us at the Mountain Cement Facility.

Filming Locations:
Mountain Cement Facility, Utah
Heber Valley Railroad, Utah

Credits
Bourne Identity Soundtrack ("Main Titles") written by JOHN JAMES POWELL Published by UNIVERSAL MUSIC CORP OBO UNIVERSAL PICTURES MUSIC
Concerto for 2 celli, strings, and continuo in G minor RV 531 composed by Antonio Vivaldi
Arrangement produced by Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson
Arrangement written by Al van der Beek, Jon Schmidt, & Steven Sharp Nelson

Performed by
Jon Schmidt: piano
Steven Sharp Nelson: acoustic, electric, & STEEL cellos; cello-percussion
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios
Video produced by Paul Anderson & Tel Stewart