duggup

Artist: Lara St John
Website: magnatune.com/artists/lara_st_john
Track Name: Bach violin concertos
Playback: mp3/flash
Download?: Yes

Something a bit less in your face this week, although no less passionate. Lara St.John plays violin, which is a bit like saying Michael Schumacher drives cars. It’s a true statement but it tends to leave out th e sheer brilliance of the performance.

She has been described as a “high-powered soloist” by the New York Times, and when you listen to the Bach Concertos above you will see why. Lara St. John has gigged from her Canadian roots, as a soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, the Montreal Symphony, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra of Budapest and you get the idea.

So why did I pick her? Well truth be told, I found her by a serendipitous accident involving the Magnatune website and a flaky laptop touchpad. (You have to love serendipity some times.) So instead of the “The Napoleon Blown Apart” obnoxious high-energy rock (that’s what they wrote, how could I resist?) I got this stunning violin playing instead.

I was chatting with a friend earlier in the week about how classical music is one of those hard things for me to evaluate. I don’t listen to enough of it to discern the sometimes microscopic details that make a good performer or a great performer. And sometimes it is just incredibly easy as the performer totally manages to bypass the critical bits of your brain and just stun you. I can really recommends that you give Lara St.John a listen. Track 3 is a beaut.

I still haven’t managed to hear the “The Napoleon Blown Aparts”, maybe later in the week.

thatch is fascinated by guitars, music, guitars, production, silly noises, guitars and used to be a musician. Did I mention the thing about the guitars?
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