Customer Reviews

Liberty! (1997 Television Mini-series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This CD stands on its own merits as good music, not simply as music for a TV show. It evokes images of America old and new. O'Connor's violin carries us from the dance hall to the battlefield to the sorrow of lover's lost. Simple melodies twist and turn, rising up from their solid American roots. James Taylor's solemn rendition of "Johnny's Gone for a Soldier"is as true a telling of the grief of the soldier lost to war today as it was hundreds of years ago. Sit in a comfortable chair in the warm light of evening and let it surround you. To know where we have come from offers hope that the magic of freedom and liberty will not desert us in these troubled times.

Having enjoyed Mark O'Connor's playing for years on various Nashville-produced sessions, and as a house musician for the fantastic show on TNN~ "American Music Shop'... I decided to give this CD a try. Am I ever glad I did. I bought it about six months ago and haven't stopped listening to it since. All the music is worth hearing, and a wonderful tribute and companion to the PBS series. Especially moving are James Taylor's rendtion of "Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier" and the Richard Einhorn composition "Freedom"

I heard this music on the excellent P B S Documentary: "Liberty - the American Revolution" and I knew I had to have it! It is the finest music I have heard, capturing the heart and soul of the American Revolution. The documentary "Liberty" was a masterpiece that was beautiful and moving. So too this music with its most wonderful arrangements and accompaniment. I love it! I could hardly wait to get it in the mail. It framed the documentary (which I also bought) like a great frame compliments a beautiful canvas painting. Superlatives fail me. This music must be experienced by first watching the great series on the American Revolution and then by listening to it apart. This is some of the most wonderful music I have ever heard. It reminds me of the genius of Aaron Copland who wrote the Applachian Spring and Rodeo suites.

Liberty! The American Revolution's soundtrack offers some very beautiful and harmonious music while also offering various folk songs , too. I've seen the PBS series, but the music almost sounds better when you're listening to the cd without the video text.

It contains some traditional music such as "Johnny Has Gone For a Soldier" , "Soldier's Joy" , and "Brave Wolfe." Most of the cd contains music composed by Mark O'Connor for the PBS series. The music is beatiful, and concurrs with the colonial period in 1770's America.

I especially enjoy the tracks "Freedom" , "The Flowers of Edinburgh" , and the final track : "Songs of the Liberty Bell" which has wonderful cello solos by Yo Yo Ma. Mark O'Connor plays the violin and fiddle solos wonderfully, and he plays in every song.

I would reccomend this cd to anyone who loves traditional music, and to anyone who enjoys a variety of music that features stringed instruments.

I was greatly moved by the PBS series called "Liberty". One of the reasons that the documentary was so powerful and so deeply moving was because of the positvely exquisite music performed by Mark O'connor. The theme song "Song of the Liberty bell" makes one feel the mournful joy of those who sacrificed so dearly that this nation under God might be born. In it I can feel the icy chill in the air as Washighton crossed the Delaware and as freemen choose to go hungry and freeze at Valley Forge, rather than submit to the tyranny of unjust kingly taxation. And in it I can feel the triumphant joy of our soldiers at Yorktowne as the arrogant British are forced to lay down their arms. The tune, "the world turned upside down" so beautifully expresses the tearful joy of liberty and the end of British tyranny. It is the soldiers exhualtation of victory and the unspeakable joy at birth of a new country. Thank you, Mark 'Connor, for an excellent performance and so greatly contributing to a wonderful documentary, and for paying so worthy a tribute to those who, at our country's birth, backed up their ideas and words with collassal deeds.

I've enjoyed the music of Mark O'Connor for many years and listened to him evolve from the bluegrass wonder child fiddler, to a master of the fiddle/violin in almost every genre of the instrument from Celtic music, country, jazz and world music to classical.

This soundtrack recording took a while to grow on me, since it's a bit more subdued from most of O'Connor's other work, but I've grown to love this recording almost as well as his work with "Strength in Numbers" and his Appalachian recordings with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer.

Here O'Connor continues his work in the genre we've come to know as Americana, with its hints of bluegrass, chamber music, Celtic music, Revolutionary era tunes and classical.

While I'd prefer to listen to O'Connor and friends without vocalists, he obviously has developed an amiable working relationship with James Taylor, who does a sweet rendition of "Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier" here.

Since I've recently taken up Celtic music on the mandolin--which I'm still learning--I've had fun trying to keep up with this folksy version of "The Flowers of Edinburgh," which starts out slow and picks up speed. Here O'Connor is joined by Jerry Douglas (dobro), John Jarvis (piano), Russ Barenberg (guitar), John Mock (pennywhistle & bodhran) and Mark Schatz (bass), who also show up on a few other traditional tunes on this eclectic album.

One of the pleasant surprises on "Liberty" is the plaintive duet between O'Connor's violin and Wynton Marsalis' restrained trumpet on O'Connor's arrangement of "Brave Wolfe." The liner notes are worth reading just to read the anecdote about how the two of them got out their instruments in a New York restaurant to see what it sounded like. Wish I could've been there.

If you're an O'Connor (or Americana) fan, be sure to add this to your collection.

Fine CD full of great pieces of music from a great miniseries! Full of patriotism! I highly recommend it! Grade: A+

We really enjoyed the music in the PBS documentary and ordered this CD. The settings of the traditional folk tunes are great, and O'Connor's original compositions, including "Song of the Liberty Bell" and "Freedom," are timeless. "Song of the Liberty Bell" is presented in a folk-style and a symphonic arrangement, which bookend the CD. If you like Appalachian Journey, you will enjoy this. James Taylor and Yo yo Ma appear.

I watched the documentary and heard Mark O'Connor play this piece in a concert and loved it immediately. The music is great to help the battles come alive but great for just listening to anyway.

The music is very moving and perfect for this time of year.