Notes and Editorial Reviews
This album received a 1996 Grammy nomination for "Classical Producer Of The Year."
These performances are also available on MiniDisc.
Selections recorded in St. Paul, Minnesota at the Ordway Music Theatre, and in the Donald E. Benson Great Hall of Bethel College and Seminary.
It's both surprising and a bit risky for Bobby McFerrin to substitute his voice for a cello or violin in this collection of light classical pieces, but anyone who knows the man and his music knows that innovation and exploration of the possibilities of the vocal instrument are deep in his soul. To those unfamiliar with McFerrin or more used to hearing him in a jazz setting, the sound of his wordlessly thrumming the melody to Boccherini's "Menuet" may take
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some getting used to, like the Moog synthesizer in SWITCHED-ON BACH. In the second vocal selection, Fauré's Pavane, the listener begins to hear the voice as appropriate, somewhat melancholy and engaging.
McFerrin has picked a wonderful program to showcase himself and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, which he's served as Creative Chair since 1994. The pieces are generally lively and wonderfully melodic, and McFerrin proves in the opening, non-vocalized Mozart overture and elsewhere that he's a sweet and graceful conductor as well as a fascinating instrumentalist. That he doesn't choose to exercise vibrato and other techniques which enhance the drama of the familiar classical voice shouldn't suggest that McFerrin doesn't have a rightful place in this music. Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Le nozze di Figaro, K 492: Overture by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conductor:
Bobby McFerrin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1786; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 1995
Length: 4 Minutes 16 Secs.
2.
Quintet for 2 Violins, Viola and 2 Cellos in E major, Op. 11 no 5/G 275: 3rd movement, Minuet in A by Luigi Boccherini
Performer:
Bobby McFerrin (Voice)
Conductor:
Bobby McFerrin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1771; Spain
Date of Recording: 1995
Length: 3 Minutes 38 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Bobby McFerrin
This minuet, listed in Boccherini's autograph catalog as part of Opus 11,
was also published, and is known popularly, as part of Opus 13.
3.
Pavane, Op. 50 by Gabriel Fauré
Performer:
Bobby McFerrin (Voice)
Conductor:
Bobby McFerrin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1887; France
Date of Recording: 1995
Length: 5 Minutes 21 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Bobby McFerrin
4.
Pulcinella Suite: 8th movement, Minuetto e Finale by Igor Stravinsky
Conductor:
Bobby McFerrin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1922/1947; France
Date of Recording: 1995
Length: 4 Minutes 3 Secs.
5.
Concerto for 2 Cellos in G minor, RV 531 by Antonio Vivaldi
Performer:
Layton James (Harpsichord),
Peter Howard (Cello),
Bobby McFerrin (Voice)
Conductor:
Bobby McFerrin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: Venice, Italy
Date of Recording: 1995
Length: 10 Minutes 32 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Bobby McFerrin
6.
Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61: Scherzo by Felix Mendelssohn
Conductor:
Bobby McFerrin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1842; Germany
Date of Recording: 1995
Length: 4 Minutes 23 Secs.
7.
Concerto for Violin no 1 in A minor, BWV 1041: 1st movement, Allegro moderato by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Layton James (Harpsichord),
Bobby McFerrin (Voice)
Conductor:
Bobby McFerrin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: 1717-1723; Cöthen, Germany
Date of Recording: 1995
Length: 3 Minutes 50 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Bobby McFerrin
8.
Serenade no 13 in G major, K 525 "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conductor:
Bobby McFerrin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1787; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 1995
Length: 17 Minutes 25 Secs.
9.
Andante cantabile for Cello and Strings, Op. 11 by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performer:
Bobby McFerrin (Voice)
Conductor:
Bobby McFerrin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: ?1886-88; Russia
Date of Recording: 1995
Length: 6 Minutes 32 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Bobby McFerrin
Sound Samples
Overture to "The Marriage of Figaro" K. 492
Minuet from String Quintet No.1 in E Major, Op. 13 No. 5, G. 275
Minuetto & Finale from Pulcinella Suite (rev.1949)
Scherzo, Op. 61, No. 1 from "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
First movement from Concerto for Violin, String Orchestra and Continuo in A minor, BWV 1041
III. Menuetto. Allegretto - Trio
Andante cantabile for Cello and String Orchestra, Op. posthumous
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