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Monday, July 28, 2003
posted by gbarto at 3:39 AM:
Following up on the banjo questions raised at Dr. Weevil: Dropped by Barnes and Noble tonight and listened to some Bela Fleck. Much of it was too bluegrassy or country for my taste, though that seems to me the fault of the music, not the banjo. But two albums were top-notch.Perpetual Motion, mentioned somewhere down below, is named for Paganini's Moto Perpetuo, a showcase for the violinist based on a work whose name I really should recall but don't. The album consists of a series of classical pieces arranged for banjo and other instruments by Fleck and Edgar Meyer. A few of the pieces, notably the Debussy transcriptions, didn't quite work. On the other hand, you haven't heard Bach until you've heard him played on banjo and marimba. The most striking thing is that the pieces that worked best were, in fact, the Bach selections. I found this interesting since Bach is among the few greats who wrote "pure music". Mozart, Beethoven and others seemed acutely aware of what instruments they were composing for, which is what a) makes their pieces so marvelous when performed as per instructions and b) makes performances on original instruments so desirable. Bach, on the other hand, can be - and is - played on just about everything. A banjo-marimba rendering of some of the two-part inventions may not even be the strangest combination ever seen. But since it's pure music, i.e. elegant counterpoint in action with nothing fudged, it works. I recommend the album highly for those who are awed by Bach's talents and possibilities and in the mood for something a little different.
Tales from the Acoustic Planet is not classical. Rather, it's in Bela Fleck's particular genre, jazz for the banjo. While several of his discs struck me as a bit much, a bit too country or - in a few cases - too jazzy, this is a wonderful album again showing that it's possible to play music on the banjo that is good enough for one to get past the banjo associations and just listen and enjoy.
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