Customer Reviews

Perpetual Motion

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The range of creativity that Bela Fleck possesses and displays on a continual basis is truly staggering. Few artists can claim to truly be original, but Fleck is one of them. From acoustic to electric, with harmonica (Howard Levy) or piano (Bruce Hornsby) or saxophone (Jeff Coffin & Paul McCandless), pure bluegrass to pure Bach, covering a multitude of musical categories inbetween, Fleck just produces great music, whether live or in the recording studio. Following his career has been like riding a roller coaster.

This latest effort is no exception. Long-time Fleck & Flecktones fans might be surprised (although we shouldn't be), and classical purists will be very surprised, but he has devoted his latest project to the works of traditional classical composers; they are well represented: Scarlatti, Bach, Debussy, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Paganini, and Beethoven. He had done one Mozart piece on a compilation CD, A Different Mozart, so this didn't come out of nowhere. He also enlisted some great help on other instruments: Joshua Bell on violin, Edgar Meyer on bass and piano, John Williams on guitar, Gary Hoffman on cello, Evelyn Glennie on marimba, among others.

Fleck's playing is crisp and clean throughout the CD, and his interplay with the other artists seems to be very instinctive and natural, even within the confines of traditionally-structured pieces. I would have thought that he would sound stifled in this environment, but I guess I underestimated him--big mistake! Improvisation seems to be his forte, but interpretation ranks right up there. The arrangements are incredible, as well, and Fleck explains in the liner notes about the difficulty not only in finding pieces that would suit banjo but in writing them out on paper for banjo, as well. The liner notes were superb, offering great insight to the whole process of initiating the project, finding the right pieces, arranging them for the various instruments, his work to practice and prepare them, and then the recording of them. Most classical artists just give you the product, good though it might be; Fleck takes you through the process in the liner notes and photographs, then gives you the product on the disc.

I'll let the more informed classical reviewers break down the CD piece by piece. I think he chose a great variety and range of composers and works, and he plays them incredibly well--I never thought I'd enjoy listening to anybody playing anything on a banjo, much less playing Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms!

Fleck fans should appreciate this foray into previously unexplored territory, even though it is well outside of his traditional realm, as undefined as that may be (you'll find his CDs in the Jazz section at Border's, but some of what he plays sure isn't jazz. . .). Classical fans should appreciate the workmanship of a fine musician, untraditional though he may be.

Bottom line: great artist(s) + great compositions = great CD!!!

The answer to my title question: apparently nothing. . . .

To be honest, I bought this CD to please a friend of mine who insisted that I listen to it. My gut feeling was that it was going to be a classical "Annoying Music" CD. (I love the "Annoying Music" CDs -- but classical "annoying music" can be absolutely grating!)

Now, imagine my surprise when I heard absolutely impeccable performances of Scarlatti, Chopin, Bach and Beethoven -- played on a BANJO!

Even more, imagine my surprise when I realized I had driven five exits past my turnoff while listening to this CD for the first time on my way home!

Some of the really outstanding moments on this CD are the Scarlatti Sonata in C Major (K159), Debussy's "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum", Chopin's "Etude in C-Sharp Minor" (which is a finger-breaker on the piano -- I cannot imagine it being played on a banjo, but he does it, and it works!), and Paganini's "Perpetuo Moto".

The clarity of the playing -- both solo and ensemble -- is nothing short of astounding. Fleck makes the banjo sound like anything BUT a banjo -- the Scarlatti sounds like it's being played on a lute; the Tchaikovskii sounds like it's being played on mandolin -- and it's all uncannily musical!

This CD is probably the biggest shocker I've heard in six years. I can't say this strongly enough: BUY THIS CD!

Ok, lets see here. Bela Fleck has mastered bluegrass, was one of the pioneers of newgrass, released a beautiful CD with Indian and Chinese musicians, and... oh yeah, all those records with the Flecktones crossing almost every genre of music.

Now we get to hear Bela take a serious look into classical music. I was a bit skeptical that he could pull this one off. Granted he has an amazing track record listed above, but that is exactly what made me skeptical. Classical music takes an entirely different approach then all of the other things he has played. Improv pretty much goes out the window, there is no "groove", and there is a much larger focus on the subtleties of dynamics and rhythm.

Needless to say, I was not disappointed. For what it is, this record is amazing!

I know some classical purists will not find this disc very interesting, as most of the works that were chosen for this disc concentrate more on technique and less on emotion, but as I said, for what it is, it is amazing.

This album is heavy on Bach, Chopin, and other composers whose works are very "symmetrical", for lack of a better term. These pieces are almost like technical exercises, with passages played in a very exact manner.

What makes the disc so strong is that Bela conquers the technique challenge so easily. The picking he displays is amazingly fluid, and bears with it a gorgeous tone. The name sake of the disc, a tune by Paganini, is jaw dropping. To hear a banjo rip through a million notes a second with such clarity is an absolute delight.

The second strength of the album is the arrangements of the pieces. The configurations of instruments are picked very well to create wonderful atmosphere. One of my favorite examples of this is percussionist Evelyn Glennie playing the marimba on a number of Bach Inventions. On some tracks the marimba brings almost a calypso feel, while other tracks, such as the Two-Part Invention No. 13, it is haunting when combined with the banjo.

I was very impressed to hear Chris Thile on mandolin. Knowing he is quite young, and from the "bluegrass side", I felt he did a very good job adding to the music. His role is similar to Mike Marshall's from Edgar Meyer's "Uncommon Ritual", and he plays just as well as Mr. Marshall.

Most of the tunes clock around or under 3 minutes, but there is one 9 minute tune of Beethoven's 7 variations of "God Save the King" with guitarist John Williams. To have some romance, there also is a nice take on Beethoven's "Adagio sostenuto" from "Moonlight" Sonata. There is also a little fun with a bluegrass version of Moto Perpetuo with the incredible guitarist Bryan Sutton

I think what Bela Fleck has done and is doing for the banjo and for music in general will be looked on in many years as some of the most imaginative and exciting work of our time. The chances he takes and the mastery in which he plays belongs only to the rarest of musicians. This album is another step in that amazing journey. Beautiful, hypnotic, and technically dazzling.

In times when we see many classical musicians crossing over into popular music it is refreshing to see someone like Bela Fleck moving from pop to classical. There is a delightful group of folks flitting like fireflies from one genre to another, pulling and tugging us along as they explore musical diversity. Fleck is one of them. I first heard Fleck in Anchorage about four or five years ago and loved the funky,energetic sound of the Flecktones. Listening to his performances on various CDs I've come to appreciate both his playing and his compositions--and have especially enjoyed being introduced to the musical inventiveness of not only Fleck, but also others such as Mike Marshall, Sam Bush, Edgar Meyer, Jerry Douglas, Darol Anger, Mark O'Connor, Yo Yo Ma, and Joshua Bell. Like Fleck they refuse to be categorized, whizzing off in new directions defying my efforts to categorize their artisty.

This is an enchanting CD that will hopefully introduce Fleck fans to the joys of classical music. The earliest music is perhaps the best on this CD, particularly the Bach. The banjo and the mandolin raced at blinding speeds, but stayed true to the clean, spare intelligence of the compositions. Each instrument provided unique color and texture and some surprises as they interpreted these mostly familiar short pieces. A few pieces were not as well served by this unusual chamber group, but they were still enjoyable.

All in all a pleasant collection.

WOW! Seldom do you come across an album where every piece of music is worth listening to repeatedly,but this one will blow your mind.Traditional classical works played on mostly Bluegrass instruments.Who knew it could work so well?Edgar Meyer performs on bass and piano;Joshua Bell on violin(His 1732 Stradivarius sounds golden);Gary Hoffman on a 1662 Amati cello;Evelyn Glennie on marimba;and Chris Thile on mandolin.Fleck and Meyer almost without exception(the Tchakovksy piece doesn't really work or fit)excellent pieces for transcription.All the works are given a new dimension or at worst lose nothing in the interpretations.A highly enjoyable disc.The musicians play like they are having genuine fun!The tempos are perfect,if a little too safe at times.Crisp,clear sound.No complaints.Disc time:57'44.Here are some highlights.Track 3:Are you ready for down home Debussy?Track 5:Fleck solo.Stunning interpretation of a Bach solo violin masterpiece.Track 7:A sly banjo and violin Chopin Mazurka.Track 10:Fleck and marimba.A kool and breezy take on Brahms PRESTO.Track 11: Outstanding Fleck solo for Bach's Prelude from cello suite no.1.Track 13:Paganini's Perpetual Motion.A perfect show off piece.Track 14:banjo and mandolin take on a Scarlatti sonata.Track 15:banjo and bass.Perfect.Even Bach would shake a leg.Track 16:The much played Moonlight sonata of Beethoven;here with banjo,cello and bass.The cello gives the work a very dark,rich feel.Very tense and brooding.Track 18:The highlight of the cd.Fleck and master classical guitarist John Williams do it duet style on Beethoven's "God save the king" variations,originally written for solo piano.They play off of each other perfectly. Without a doubt one of the best discs of the year.Don't hesitate.

Prediction: This new "Perpetual Motion" compilation by Fleck and friends will win a Grammy for best classical crossover album. By a - if you'll excuse the expression - country mile.

Béla Fleck, sometimes whimsically called "the Bartók of the banjo" (his full given name is Béla Anton Leos Fleck, for composers Bartók, Dvorak and Janácek) is - on this new album - "the Bach of the banjo" for nearly half of its 20 tracks. Collaborating with an all-star group of classical and roots musicians, Béla has come up with a delightful surprise of an album. Made up of - more or less - equal parts good cheer, tasteful and fitting arrangements of classical chamber music for novel groups of instruments, and just plain down and dirty fun, this album is sure to appeal to both "traditional" Fleck fans and classical music lovers of all stripes.

Once again, as on some previous projects, Fleck's main artisitc partner in the enterprise is Edgar Meyer (that man who can do absolutely anything with a string bass), whose roles here include not only instrumental contributions but repertoire suggestions and arrangements as well. The two of them team up to good effect in Bach's Two-Part Invention No. 6, BWV 777, and, with Edgar on piano, in a more-or-less "straight" version of Paganini's "Moto Perpetuo."

Of the other collaborators on this album (and there are several, including classical guitarist John Williams, cellist Gary Hoffman and mandolinist Chris Thile), special mention must go to percussionist Evelyn Glennie on marimba, for her delicately-shaded work on several of the Bach Inventions, and to Joshua Bell on violin (and Hoffman on cello) for a ravishing take on Debussy's "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum" from his Children's Corner suite. The latter is one of my favorite tracks on the album, and I'm not even a particular fan of Bell; he is simply perfect in this piece.

What would a Béla Fleck album be without some REALLY sidesplitting hot licks? Those who desire this "Fleck fix" need not worry; there are two tracks fitting this description: an arrangement for banjo and classical guitar of Beethoven's "Seven Variations on `God Save the King'," and, to wrap the album up, a bluegrass version of the Paganini title work.

Will my Grammy prediction come true? Who knows? The prediction could certainly be confounded if the appropriate NARAS Grammy nominating committee decides that Mark O'Connor's new album, "The American Seasons," is categorized as "classical crossover," leading to the possibility of a deadlocked vote. So why don't you just go out and try Mark's new album as well, and cover your bases?

Great stuff, this mind-bending finger-numbing work by Béla and his buddies.

Bob Zeidler

I bought this CD on the strength of a very positive review in the Chicago Tribune a few weeks prior to its release. I am both a classical music and a bluegrass fan, and I think, for the most part, this disc is fantastic -- the most successful attempt to merge the banjo and classical music to date. (Yes, there have been others!) I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could, or an A-.
On the positive side: If anyone has the chops to pull this off, Fleck does. His technical proficiency is mind-boggling, but his virtuosity never draws undue attention to itself. His instrument is miked a bit distant and echoey for my taste, but that was probably done to minimize the twang. In addition, even in the lively pieces, his touch is on the light side, probably for the same reason. The Bach & Scarlatti pieces fare best, in the sense that the pieces sound like they could have been originally written for the banjo. The more "romantic" pieces that might rely more on rubato and the piano pedal for maximum expressiveness, such as the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, just sound odd to me, despite the beautiful duet arrangement. In fact, nearly all of the contributing musicians here do a remarkably sensitive job in putting the banjo in a more comfortably classical context.
I've heard other attempts at "classical banjo" before, and the overwhelming impression I've gotten was that they shouldn't have bothered. On this disc, after the first few seconds where you might be thinking the same thing, that initial impression vanishes quickly, and you're just struck by the sheer inventiveness and musicality of it all.

Now granted, I am a bit biased as such a huge fan, having basically every CD that has his name in the title, but I never fail to be impressed how he continually changes his hats as a musician and still manages to never be less than incredible.

As a violinist myself, it was a pure rush a year ago to hear him play the prelude from Bach's 3rd Partita in concert and even more of a rush to talk to him after the show and find out he was working on this particular CD. However, nothing could truly prepare me to hear Paganini played on a banjo. It's one of those things that make you just have to hear over and over to even start to believe.

I'd say the technical ability he shows on this disc is astounding, but even that wouldn't do it justice. I feel he's further stretched the boundaries of an instrument single handedly. In doing so, he produces a sound that's really unlike anything I've heard.

This can also be attributed to the excellent arrangments where Bela teams up with Edgar Meyer in spectacular fashion yet again (Sidenote: If you have not heard Uncommon Ritual by these two artists with Mike Marshall, go get it.) The instrumentations for all of the tracks further transform the sound of all of these traditional pieces. The Marimba with the banjo on the Presto just floored me.

Finally, I also enjoyed the selections of pieces used for this CD. Again, I'm rather biased in the fact that I'm a violinist and a pianist (also a large Bach fan.) Many of the pieces are technical showcases and have similar feels no matter who plays them, but a handful of the pieces (such as the sometimes overplayed Adagio from Moonlight Sonata) are great examples of more soulful pieces that are given a completely new (and rather refreshing) look.

Now that I'm past giving my 2 cents into giving about 50 bucks, I'll close with the fact that I have a huge collection of music, but for a week and a half now this CD has not left my sterio.

The experiment does indeed work. In some pieces, the banjo is the main instrument and in others it provides the backup. Sometimes it is replacing a piano (or more accurately, harpsichord, which Bella's tone emulates very well)... others, it is replacing a guitar...

There were some minor variations to the pieces which even most classical music afficionados won't notice, or at least won't be offended by. But across the board the performances are excellent -- actually incredible. And not just the banjo performances. The violin pieces and classical guitar performances are notable standouts.

The most exciting thing one notices is the uniqeness of the tone the banjo brings to these arrangements. It is reminiscent of a long lost instrument of ancient days, being played for kings, noblemen and priveleged clergy.

Track 8, Bach's "Three-Part Invention No. 10", brings a smile as you listen to the guitar and banjo chase each other through a classical equivalent of dueling banjos. And track 20, a "bluegrass" version of the Paganini title track (Moto Perpetuo), is fun for a single listen, with the banjo staying mostly classical as the accompanying guitar mixes in bluegrass backup and fills. But this CD isn't about being "cute"... tracks 1 through 19 are solid, and I will listen to them many times.

There appear to be 3 Bela Flecks. One does new grass, one does fusion & now one does classical on the banjo.The curiosity factor is enough to listen at least once. Bela Fleck pays homage to all the masters& makes the banjo a classical instrument. Fleck surrounds himself w/different instrumental tyros (Bell, Glennie,Thile, Williams & my personal favorite Edgar Meyer). Fleck & Meyer co-produce. If you like the recent Appalachian Journey CD's you'll find a lot to enjoy here.Also check out Edgar Meyer's Uncommon Ritual. If you are looking for bluegrass,then buyer beware. If you are looking for something truly unique & very listenable then this is it.