This Week's Listen--Vanessa-Mae

A few months ago, I picked up a CD by a quartet of classically-trained, string-quartet hotties called Bond. While their music is good and the fact that they look they way they do helps the music go down a little, Bond was my first experience with the so-called Classic Crossover.

Last week, I picked up a CD by another great classic-crossover artist--Vanessa-Mae. A young-violin prodigy, at age 27, she has already had a career that has spanned a decade, Vanessa-Mae has a little different take on Classic-pop fusion. She does both the classic-crossover and classical recordings--as she puts it, "abandoning the 'academic' restraints of ow far I can decorage and individualise within the 'classical' tradition."

I picked up the Storm CD and was immediately impressed. Rather than hiding her work behind some synthesizers and overblown arrangements, Vanessa-Mae's violin stands at the forefront of the music on most tracks. Other tracks, such as Happy Valley and The Blessed Spirits provide a bit more traditional orchestrations and chorale music. What is impressive about her technique, is the ability to play very fast notes as well as hold great tone on the longer notes. From production standpoint, I don't think the CD holds together particularly well, although individual pieces are quite terrific, some are included for fun, in particular, the (I) Can, Can (You) piece is a lively take on the French Can-Can--I expected to see Moulin Rouge Can-Can dancers come out.

I like the work as a whole, but I have come to learn that the classical world does not take kindly to artists like Vanessa-Mae and Bond. That is too bad. To be sure, artists such as these may be trying cash in, but I can't fault them musically for that. I think that Vanessa-Mae is talented and could have a long career ahead of her, particularly since she has proven that she can do the classic classical.

My Favorite Tracks
Storm Based on Vivaldi's Four Seasons, the frenetic pace of the piece almost overshadows the speed of Vanessa-Mae's playing. The flurry of notes is impressive when one considers that they are not all played on one string.

Leyenda is a Spanish, Latin tinged piece with some excellent acoustic guitar work. Again, Vanessa-Mae plays with speed, but there is a mix of slow tempo work included. A nicely textured piece.

Happy Valley includes a terrific chorale element, in Chinese I think, that overshadows to a certain extent the violin, the piece is joyous and uplifting.

I Feel Love is a vocal peice with Vanessa-Mae providing some breathy, simple vocals. The music is dreamy and pleasant, with longer notes played well. As singer though, Vanessa-Mae should consider some voice lessons.

All in all a good album, one worth the funds expended to buy it.