Perpetual Motion

List Price: $9.99
Our Price: $6.90
You Save: $3.09 (31%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases

Music CD Cover

Free Music Notes for Perpetual Motion

Free Music Review: Perpetually Amazing
Hit: 5 Stars

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.

Classical Music CDs

• Music > Styles
• Country
• Jazz
• Rock