Soul Music?

Although I'm not a geek, I've got to admit that I'm a sucker for a cool new gadget. I'm also a sucker for good music, so what better union of two disparate interests than a cool new gadget that plays music. No, I'm not talking about a new MP3 player, I'm talking about a gadget that actually plays music- in this case the violin.

Now, you know I love violin music, but has Toyota gone a little too far with this little contraption. Check it out and see what you think.

 

 

 

Violin Robot

 

Hmmm, I don't know. Could use a little more vibrato, don't you think. Well, maybe the violin isn't a good choice of instrument for a robot. A guitar would be better. Just teach it three chords and turn up the volume and it could probably rock out better than 90% of the bands out there nowdays. That would just be my opinion, of course.

Anyway, speaking of the violin, here's a new CD I got a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, instead of a robot this one was made by a real, living, breathing human being by the name Lisa Batiashvili.A bit of a disappointment to all the geeks out there, but not a fatal flaw.

Batiashvili has been getting a lot of critical notice lately,and I'd never heard her play so I ordered her latest CD. This is her second release in the U.S. and it features the Sibelius and Lindberg Violin Concertos. After reading all the press she's been getting I have to tell you I had high expectations for this one. One critic even said the young violinist was already on a par with current violin stars such as Hilary Hahn.

Well, Mr. Critic, not quite.

Batiashvili can certainly play, and she is not just another one of the photogenic pretenders making the rounds these days. She's got some chops, but a lot of violinist's have chops. That in and of itself isn't gonna catapult you up to the elite ranks. No, you need more than chops and what Batiashvili lacks, at least in her Sibelius Violin Concerto, is purpose.she plays the piece as though she is overly concerned with how it's supposed to sound or how it's expected to be played, rather than with how she feels the piece and how she wants to interpret it for her audience.

At times she seems overdramatic, then hesitant, then wooden, only to fly wildly off the deep end. It's a very disjointed effort, and certainly not one that belongs among the best of the great violinists. It seems painfully obvious that Batiashvili needs to let go of her self-consciousness and find her own voice, and then she needs somehow to develop the  confidence to trust her own gut instincts and play from the heart. As it stands now, this Sibelius, is a bit of a mess.

Also included on the CD is a wonderful concerto by the contemporary Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. I've never heard it before and what a amazing piece of music it is, and played exceptionally well by young Batiashvili. I can hardly describe it, except to say that it explodes with sound, including one point in the piece where Batiashvili's violin makes these weird sounds that reminded me of  a plastic slide whistle. It's really very cool and what I'd call a virtuoso or show piece, but then I'm not a violinist so what do I know. I loved it though, and maybe it's this type of playing that has earned Batiashvili her renown in certain critical circles.

However, if you buy the CD you're probably going to buy it for the Sibelius, and that would be a mistake. Far better to wait until 2008 when we finally get the Sibelius Violin Concerto CD  we've all been waiting for, and from a violinist who truly merits her critical acclaim. Until then, I guess the Batiashvili will have to do.

So there you go. A little geek news, a little music news - not too bad for a rainy night in California. Think I'll go pick up my axe and do a little picking now, You don't mind if I start singing, do you. 

Rainy night in Georgia, Oh, it's a rainy night in Georgia, I believe it's raining all over the world...