Mark O'Connor - The Essential (2007)

The southern American city of Nashville, TN, is primarily identified with country music, but it has always imagined itself a bearer of classical traditions. (Among its most prominent landmarks is a replica of the Parthenon.) The realms of classical and country intersect more often than you might imagine, and over the last few years a quite successful crossover group has coalesced around the indefatigable fiddler Mark O'Connor. He joined bassist Edgar Meyer and cellist Yo-Yo Ma for the hugely successful Appalachia Waltz release, and selections from that album and other O'Connor collaborations are represented on this greatest-hits collection along with solo O'Connor productions. The program is intelligently chosen, and the double CD is a generous and worthwhile offering for anyone who has run across O'Connor's music and wants to know more. The first disc includes short compositions that feature O'Connor alone and in chamber groupings, including the Appalachia Waltz trio. He plays the guitar and mandolin as well as the violin, and the guests include the unexpected Wynton Marsalis. O'Connor excels at these short pieces, each of which seems to explore a specific technical problem in O'Connor's fusion of American folk fiddling with classical chamber music. The second disc contains longer symphonic pieces; these too have been quite widely played. They are attractive but don't have the sharpness of the shorter works. Individual listeners, of course, may reach exactly the opposite conclusion, and the entire program is nicely laid out in order to effectively present the various aspects of O'Connor's work. A good choice for anyone wanting to sample O'Connor or sum up several years' worth of listening.