 |  | A touch of the arrogant and the avant garde |  |
Republicans will hate it and Democrats will love it ... just kidding, but in a way, not. The Classical purists will hate this type of album anyway and the fusion/acid jazz/avant garde will get behind it and see its relevance and appreciate it's sound effort. However, Ms Mae is not a an Itzhak Perlman or Nigel Kennedy, she is closer to a volvo mechanic than to a violin virtuoso: I have a number of her recordings both live and studio, where she is trying to be the latter; this album is closer to the former. She has had excellent training, sound finger, bow and string work, and precise mechanics, but an ear for the art in the music? Not quite. It does not "flow" out of her, as if it were a part of her, so much as she tries to master the notes, the key, the transitions, the pitch, etc. What she lacks is a creative style she can call her own. She has the skill without the warmth; the ability without the believability. That said, in this album there are hints of it in such pieces as the Toccata and Warm Air, but the rest are over-produced and so arrogantly, overtly refined that it makes it difficult to actually judge her talent, break-out as it tried to be for her. I'd much rather she focus on her erudite talents (as evidenced in her Johann Sebastian Bach work) and come back to this later. A worthy, but a back shelf, effort.
August 9, 2008I have been listening to such contemporary artists as Bond, Yanni, Taleinsin Orchestra,... so I am not a new comer to contemporary fusion classical music. If I had listened to this CD when it first came out almost 10 years ago, I would probably have given it a 5. I am only giving it a four now (maybe a 3.5?) because there are simply other better albums out there - most of the songs here are more classically influenced than its purported to be. Also, while Vanessa-Mae is an accomplished violinist, she is not the most spectacular violnist. At times, she lackes the energy to propell her music to the next level. However, all in all, an enjoyable album, although nothing ground-breaking.
June 3, 2007This terrible and dull album launched the career of Über-nothing violinist, Vanessa Mae.
It is hard to describe the depth of the level to which this album stoops to be "popular". Low brow? You bet! Exploitative? Oh yeah! Dumbed down Classical Music? Well, that's what we've got here!
Value of this album? Hard to say. I am sure that Vanessa's parents and agent are happy with this prosaic product.
Very dumbed down dumb music - for the legions of philistines and musically naive of the world.
In one word, a "dud".
March 1, 2005 | | HO HUM --- REALLY NOT INTERESTING AT ALL | |
As violin technique goes, there is not much here in evidence to get all fired up about. She is an adequete violinist who does just fine with the material she is given, but the only people who are going to think that she is a violinist for the ages are people who don't know anything about violin playing.
That being said, this album had the potential to be interesting, except that the arrangements of Mike Batt are about as flat as one can get. This album seems to be more about Mike Batt's ego than about Vanessa Mae, as Mike perform, conducts, composes & produces practically every piece. This would be fine if the end product was remotely interesting, but of it sounds like it should be background music. The Bach arrangement, with gratuitous techno-pop flourishes thrown in at every opportunity, just bogs down in an effort to be "innovative." Most of Batt's compositions leave no impression whatsoever.
Any lunatic who puts this crossover album in the classical category truly needs to go back to Music Appreciation 101, to be reminded of what classical music is. File this one in the Fluffy Boring Pop category and forget about it. July 10, 2003
The first notes of Vanessa Mae's The Violin Player sound like a dramatic beginning to a classical composition, but it's not. This album in fact is anything but traditional classical. It's unique, creative, energetic and alive and I give Vanessa props for being brave enough to come out with it. It's hard to be different. The fact that Vanessa did make the music and did it so well says that she's a true artist, something sadly lacking in a world where technical mastery is considered more important than artistic invention. This is a fantastic, fun album that you'll want to listen to again and again, the music hitting something within you and bringing all sorts of energy you didn't know you had bubbling to the surface. If you won't buy it for that reason, then buy it for it's historical significance. It's already plain to me, Vanessa Mae with this album changed the one sided face of classical music forever.
July 1, 2003More reviews at Amazon.com ...
Daily Birthdays
(29 reviews)
