Perpetual Motion

Bela Fleck (Artist), Edgar Meyer (Artist), Evelyn Glennie (Artist), Joshua Bell (Artist), Gary Hoffman (Artist), John [guitar] Williams (Artist), Domenico Scarlatti (Artist), Johann Sebastian Bach (Artist), Claude Debussy (Artist), Fryderyk Chopin (Artist), Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Artist), Johannes Brahms (Artist), Niccolo Paganini (Artist), Ludwig van Beethoven (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 2, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00005OSX6
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,025 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #3 in	Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Symphonies > Sinfonia
  #12 in	Music > Country > Bluegrass > Bluegrass Jam Bands
  #14 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( P ) > Paganini, Niccolň

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Bela Fleck is one of the greatest five-string banjo players performing today. Beginning in the 1970s, he honed his lightning-fast chops performing bluegrass, then moved on to contemporary jazz and fusion sounds. With this album, he broadens his horizons once again by performing an entire program of classical music transcriptions. Reminiscent of classical guitar albums by John Williams (who makes a guest appearance here), the disc traverses a wide range of repertoire--from Chopin mazurkas to Bach's Two and Three Part Inventions. Throughout, Fleck displays a feathery touch on his banjo, and his instrument offers a pleasant, brassy tone with very little twang. The technique he displays on Perpetual Motion is astounding and a refreshing change of pace from the smooth grooves found on the banjoist's Flecktones recordings. The arrangements are generally minimalist and understated, but violinist Joshua Bell, bassist Edgar Meyer, mandolinist Chris Thile, and percussionist Evelyn Glennie join in on this groundbreaking disc. Bluegrass purists may be disappointed (this is a far cry from the free-spirited, folksy abandon found on Sony's Short Trip Home and Appalachian Journey CDs), but classical fans will be astounded by how perfectly natural Fleck's banjo sounds on these works. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Can This Guy NOT Do. . . ?, January 24, 2002

By	ROGER L. FOREMAN (Bath, Maine) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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. . . .

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who'd believe it? Classical BANJO????, April 2, 2002

By	Mark S. Carpenter (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perpetually Amazing, October 4, 2001

By	Andrew Kim (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews

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.