The Mozart Sessions
Product Details
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Bobby McFerrin's signature falsetto envelops a poignant, wordless melody, embellished by piano flourishes that uncomfortably tow the line between classical decorum and Chick Corea's airy, modal jazz style. Suddenly the music segues into the opening of Mozart's D Minor Concerto. The A Major Concerto (K. 488) is similarly introduced. While the smooth, thick orchestral fabric suggests forces larger than a chamber aggregation, McFerrin clarifies important woodwind details (the elusive bassoon, for instance, in K. 488's slow movement) and infuses the outer movements with controlled brio. By contrast, Corea's Latin-tinged, improvised cadenzas (and overeager embellishments during solos and tuttis) lose their novelty over repeated hearings. Elsewhere, Corea's literal, dutiful phrasing smacks more of a talented student than a daring and vibrant pianist whose impact on jazz is unassailable. --Jed Distler
Customer Reviews
Beautiful album
Don't listen to the other idiots on here. If you actually read the other reviews, you will see that they were all just "Don't Worry, Be Happy" fans who have no idea what a concerto is, don't listen to classical music(nor want to), and simply thought they were getting 60 minutes of improvised voice by Bobby McFerrin. Maybe we ought to have read the track listing? Should we have seen that it was "Mozart" not "McFerrin"?
But as for the album itself it is a beautiful rendition. I even liked it better than most. The improvising is excellent on both musicians parts! It is very invigorating for someone who never gets to hear things like that. McFerrin's interpretation is great. I even liked this better than many other classical conductors. He really seems to keep it at a good tempo, and brings out parts in the orchestra that are often times just kind of drowned out. So, great job on his part. And his improvisations (especially the one at the end with Mr.Corea) are amazing!
Corea's performance is excellent as always. Although I'm used to hearing him as a jazz artist he performs this very well. His time is perfect. His technique and interpretation are again beautiful. And his cadenzas are amazing! It's really something to hear a beautifully performed classical piece, and then an actually improvised cadenza!
I'd recommend this to any classical music lover (though net necessarily a strictly McFerrin lover)! This is something any Mozart fan could appreciate. A brilliant performance!
misleading marketing
I guess I fall into the category of listeners who feel somewhat cheated by this album.
Based on their previous collaborations and by the cover art, there is no indication that McFerrin would take such a back seat to primarily conduct while leaving Corea to create the music itself. To address another reviewer's slight, it is not the outdated perception of McFerrin as the guy who sings "Don't Worry Be Happy" that I sought, but rather McFerrin's ephemeral and versatile jazz vocalize melding with Mozart's incredible creations as performed by Corea which drew me to purchase this album. Based on their prior collaborations, the combination of all three seemed ripe for brilliance.
Instead, what I received was basically another recording of Mozart's music pretty much done the way I've always heard Mozart's music. Now - I will be the first to admit that I am not a classical music connoisseur. When Corea is riffing on and improvising around Mozart, I don't know the music well enough to know the difference.
Classical performances strike me as the equivalent of various cover bands playing the same songs over and over again for centuries. Detracting nothing from the brilliance that was Mozart's work, I simply do not appreciate that, as described in the liner notes, there's usually a break where musicians readjust and cough before starting the next segment. Corea moving through without a break is simply defying well ingrained expectations held by the initiated, not really creating something beautiful that can stand on its own to capture the visceral emotion that music can sometimes do. Sure there was more energy behind it than normally exists simply because the orchestra was caught off guard. I guess if that is enough, then this album may be perfectly suited for you.
I'm not taking anything away from Corea's performance or McFerrin's conducting - certainly a more discerning ear attached to a person who knows Mozart's work in and out could make a strong argument for the subtle innovation in this interpretation. It was simply lost on me and probably would be on any casual classical music listener.
If that makes me an unsophisticated brute, then so be it. But I didn't pay to just hear another orchestra perform the same music orchestras have been performing for centuries. I paid to hear McFerrin integrate his vocal talents as a prominent instrument amidst what Corea does so well with conventional instrumentation. Nothing in the exterior presentation of the packaging indicated such an opportunity would be limited to a mere 2 minutes or so. Perhaps that slight of hand was done on purpose to boost sales. After all, how many McFerrin fans would pay to hear him conduct? Either way, I was disappointed.
the one from the old audi commercial
If you're looking for the cool piece from the old Audi commercial, it's the first part of the 466 -- Allegro. Apparently you have to buy the whole piece to get it on iTunes. Very pretty.
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