[.ca] The Violin Player

From Amazon.co.uk:
Vanessa-Mae, vehemently opposed to any "compartmentalising of music", describes the material on this album as "techno-acoustic fusion". As far as instrumentation and recording techniques go, that's a pretty fair description. But when the subtitle is "The Classical Album" , Vanessa-Mae and her producer/composer Mike Batt (of Wombles fame) stand accused of misleading their audience. Apart from the opening "Toccata in D", one of the prodigy Vanessa-Mae's favourite show pieces, all tracks are original compositions, most of them by Batt. What we hear are contemporary, poppy pieces, rock drum and keyboard-based, and tailor made for Vanessa-Mae's high-energy yet delicate virtuosity. The fact that the talented Batt is audibly influenced by Michael Nyman does not make his compositions more "classical", but thankfully steers them out of the tedious realm of "Classic Rock". "Widescreen" is a track where the Mae-Batt synthesis works very well; both violinist and producer making the most of the technology-meets-tradition concept. Some of this is film score material, some shopping-mall ear drum fodder, other tracks yet again, revisit Mike Oldfield's old pastures--it is a matter of discussion whether this album "defies all labelling" or simply makes a point of wooing them all in pursuit of the widest possible audience. Hence the "wet T-shirt", sorry, "glistening Sea-Nymph" photo of Vanessa-Mae on the sleeve. --Yngvil V.G.

Not For Traditionalists:
This is a fantastic cd. Vaness-Mae has managed to captured the sound of jazzed-up violin without distorting it, and the result is a truly unique sound. Many fans of classical music may criticize this cd for it's lack of "proper" tone and composition, but they fail to realize that this is a FUN cd, and if they want to hear traditionally classical stuff, put On a Classical Music CD! I'm not dissing classical music, I grew up on it, but I was also encouraged to listen to and appreciate a variety of music. Buy this cd if you want to broaden your horizons.

Musical Prodigy gives Jazz Album of the Century!:
A great album full of contemporary pieces and new life to classical ones! If you love Bond, you will see where they were inspired. Vanessa Mae uses her expert violin playing to jazz up the album. Very relaxing yet inspiring, the CD will be a great addition to your CD collection. The highlight is her arrangement of "Tocatta and Fugue." The famous piece is been given a rebirth through her strings and is an upbeat piece that will get your toes tapping and arms flailing like a composer's. A great album for your collection. Adds culture to your tastes.

Highly Listenable:
Let's get this straight upfront: Vanessa Mae is a good violin player, but I've heard plenty better in the classical world today. You buy this CD not for Mae's technique as a violinist (frankly, I'd give her just a 6 or 7 out of 10), but for her innovation - her ground-breaking album that blends the old-style classical music with pop/techno/jazz, and gives that genre of music (which had there for a while even before Mae) the kind of visibility that it did not use to have. This album is novel and upbeat, and is highly listenable both to people who like classical music and those who find it intimdating (or boring). Would especially recommend this to people in their 20s and 30s.

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.

Classical With a Twist:
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.

• Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
• Contradanza
• Classical Gas
• Theme From "Caravans"
• Warm Air
• Jazz Will Eat Itself
• Widescreen
• Tequila Mockingbird
• City Theme
• Red Hot