American bassist Lev Weksler has the internet divided over the authenticity of his performance of this showpiece.

Rimsky-Korsakov ‘s Flight of the Bumblebee – it’s a piece that requires a frantic scattershot of notes, impossibly fine dexterity and virtuosic talent. It’s also a piece that’s more commonly associated with the smallest member of the string family, the violin and not its bigger, deeper brother, the double bass. Clearly no one told this to American bassist Lev Weksler who released a multi-tracked video recording of himself performing the virtuosic showpiece on video sharing site YouTube, October of last year. However, some viewers have been left wondering if the recording is actually a hoax.

The video of Weksler performing the piece gone viral on social media, but YouTube commenters and a forum exchange on popular website Reddit have questioned the authenticity of the video. One bass player suggests Weksler programmed MIDI instruments to play the piece and that he’s merely miming along with the performance. Another says that the tone, finger placement and harmonics are all faked. Regardless of whether the performance is real, it still sounds great.

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