What I know about classical music is, well, pretty much nothing. I’ve been to the Hollywood Bowl a few times to see the L.A. Philharmonic, and when I want background music that doesn’t get in the way of what I’m doing, I’ll pop something classical on Spotify, but that’s the extent of it.
So, when we talk about 2CELLOS, I have to take the word of their CVs that the two Croatian men who comprise the duo, Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser, have serious classical credentials: Vienna, London, Manchester, a slew of competition wins. They were teenage rivals on the classical circuit.
Okay, CVs out of the way.
These frenemies teamed up to redefine what cello music could look like. And what it looks like is two handsome men taking cellos to an unholy place.
I know this isn’t a hot take, but of course Mozart would have been a rock star if he’d been playing in the 1970s instead of the 1770s. And if you can turn just about any Rammstein song into a Beethoven-worthy orchestral piece, why did we ever think two cellos couldn’t just rock on their own?
Luka and Stjepan proved they could in 2011 when they put their cello version of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” on YouTube; it went viral, and presto (which even I know means fast), they were on tour with Elton John.
But for me, this video of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” is their magnum opus. I may not know shit about classical music, but I know when two guys are beating the hell out of cellos, and I like it.