Midnight on the Water | ||||
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Studio album by Mark O'Connor | ||||
Released | 1998 | |||
Recorded | 1996 | |||
Genre | Classical/Bluegrass | |||
Length | 69:43 | |||
Label | Sony Classical | |||
Producer | Mark O'Connor | |||
Mark O'Connor chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic |
Midnight on the Water is a solo classical/bluegrass album by Mark O'Connor. In it are six of his original caprices and four improvisations, as well as his arrangements of some traditional folk works.
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the United States Appalachian region. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass has roots in traditional English, Irish, and Scottish ballads and dance tunes, and by traditional African-American blues and jazz. The Blue Grass Boys played a Mountain Music style that Bill learned in Asheville, North Carolina from bands like Wade Mainer's and other popular acts on radio station WWNC. It was further developed by musicians who played with him, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe characterized the genre as: "Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound."
Mark O'Connor is an American violinist whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical music.
The caprices are loosely based on Paganini's 24 Caprices for Solo Violin. They are in much the same spirit of technical difficulty - Mark O'Connor's word was that "This album easily represents my best playing on a recording." They contain many references to Paganini's Caprices, and draw upon O'Connor's repertoire of classic Texas fiddle motifs. In this, they represent a sort of bluegrass/classical virtuoso crossover, and a dedication to Paganini.
NiccolòPaganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices for Solo Violin Op. 1 are among the best known of his compositions, and have served as an inspiration for many prominent composers.
The 24 Caprices for Solo Violin were written in groups by Niccolò Paganini between 1802 and 1817. They are also designated as M.S. 25 in Maria Rosa Moretti's and Anna Sorrento's Catalogo tematico delle musiche di Niccolò Paganini which was published in 1982. The Caprices are in the form of études, with each number exploring different skills
Midnight on the Water, the first part of the album's Track 17 medley, is a tune that Mark O'Connor's Texas mentor, Benny Thomasson, attributed to his father and uncle. It is somewhat of a dedication to Thomasson.
Benny Thomasson was an American fiddler in the Texas style of fiddling.
All tracks are traditional and arranged by O'Connor or original works by O'Connor, except as indicated.
The violin, sometimes known as a fiddle, is a wooden string instrument in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino piccolo and the kit violin, but these are virtually unused. The violin typically has four strings tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings, though it can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow.
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that usually has six strings. It is typically played with both hands by strumming or plucking the strings with either a guitar pick or the finger(s)/fingernails of one hand, while simultaneously fretting with the fingers of the other hand. The sound of the vibrating strings is projected either acoustically, by means of the hollow chamber of the guitar, or through an electrical amplifier and a speaker.
A mandolin is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is usually plucked with a plectrum or "pick". It commonly has four courses of doubled metal strings tuned in unison, although five and six course versions also exist. The courses are normally tuned in a succession of perfect fifths. It is the soprano member of a family that includes the mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello and mandobass.
Caprice No. 24 in A minor is the final caprice of Niccolò Paganini's 24 Caprices, and a famous work for solo violin. The work, in the key of A minor, consists of a theme, 11 variations, and a finale. His 24 Caprices were probably composed in 1817, while he was in the service of the Baciocchi court.
Charles Samuel Bush is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music.
The Telluride Sessions is an album recorded by five acoustic-music instrumentalists under the name Strength in Numbers and released in 1989 on MCA Records Nashville. The five members are: Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck, Mark O'Connor, and Edgar Meyer. The album is progressive bluegrass with jazz inflections, but also adds elements from classical music. O'Connor, Fleck, and Meyer further developed this genre in their compositions for orchestra and chamber music.
The mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone/bass instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paired courses, with the strings in each course tuned in unison. Overall tuning of the courses is in fifths like a mandolin, but beginning on bass C (C2). It can be described as being to the mandolin what the cello is to the violin.
The Grandes études de Paganini, S. 141, are a series of six études for the piano by Franz Liszt, revised in 1851 from an earlier version. It is almost exclusively in the final version that these pieces are played today.
Perpetual Motion is an album of classical music released in 2001. The album is unusual in that none of the pieces featured on it are played on the instruments for which they were written. Arrangers Béla Fleck and Edgar Meyer won a Grammy in 2002 for their arrangement of Claude Debussy's "Doctor Gradus Ad Parnassum". The album also won a Grammy as Best Classical Crossover Album.
Caprice No. 5 is one of 24 pieces composed by virtuoso violinist Niccolò Paganini in the early 19th century. The piece is known for its incredible speed and extremely high technical difficulty. Paganini is said to have been able to play it on one string, but there is no evidence to support or refute this.
The Night Atlanta Burned is the forty-sixth studio album by Chet Atkins, credited to "The Atkins String Co." — a quartet comprising Chet, Johnny Gimble, Paul Yandell and Lisa Silver. The album is a fusion of classical musical techniques with country, folk and bluegrass.
Norman Blake/Tut Taylor/Sam Bush/Butch Robins/Vassar Clements/David Holland/Jethro Burns is a studio album recorded by American musicians Norman Blake, Tut Taylor, Sam Bush, Butch Robins, Vassar Clements, and Jethro Burns and British bassist Dave Holland. It was released in 1975.
John Douglas Craton is an American classical composer. His works have been performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. While his compositions cover a diverse range, he is best known for his operas, ballets, and works for classical mandolin.
Natural Bridge is an album by American banjoist Béla Fleck, released in 1982. Bela Fleck was a young bluegrass player whose work with such bands as Spectrum and the New Grass Revival pushed the envelope of bluegrass tradition and contributed to the development of the New Acoustic movement spearheaded by mandolinist David Grisman, guitarist Tony Rice, and others. Influenced by Bill Keith and Tony Trischka, he moved the banjo sound much further than anyone could imagine.
DGQ-20 is a 1996 compilation album by American musician David Grisman, recorded with his group David Grisman Quintet. Spanning the period from 1976 to 1996, this triple-CD set offers 39 songs, 18 of which were not released by Grisman before. Musicians include Tony Rice, Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, Mark O'Connor, Stephane Grappelli and others.
Dawg Duos is a collaborative bluegrass album by David Grisman and 12 different artists, released in 1999. Each of them performs a duo with Grisman on mandolin or mandola. The instruments are as diverse as drums, accordion, autoharp, besides banjo, guitar, string bass, and violin. . This album can be compared with similar effort by Béla Fleck, Double Time, where Grisman performs duo with Fleck on one of the tracks.
Common Chord is an album by American musician David Grisman released in 1993. Blending different genres such as classical music, bluegrass, rock and jazz, this album includes, but also classical violin virtuoso, Daniel Kobialka, Grisman's son Monroe on guitar, and many others.
Shunsuke Sato is a Japanese born, classical and baroque violinist and violist.