Mark O'Connor Caprice No. 1

Caprices No.'s 1 - 6 for unaccompanied violin are among Mark O'Connor's most critically acclaimed work. Receiving great interest from performers, teachers and students of the violin, O'Connor has contributed music here which will challenge even the most gifted virtuoso. O'Connor's caprices, like Nicolo Paganini's before and Pietre Locatelli before him, push the violin into a new direction, musically and technically, furthering the possibilities of the instrument.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mark
• O'Connor
• violin
• caprice

[StephaneGrappelli]

Bob,

I am European all I can say is that you're full of shit

[Violinfanatic]

this Mark O Connor Caprice No. 1. He composed it. So, I think his interpretation is the most accurate there is.

[Tokushimaz]

@ckies Well, the objective of the caprice is still the same tho. The search of the violin virtuosity.

[ckies]

I think mentioning this as being in the same category as Locatelli and Paganini is a big mistake.

[HapTrap99]

@justaburg at abilene? If so then thats awesome, my schools in  the contest too.

[raul20095]

He makes it looks easy!

[justaburg]

My school's orchestra won a contest and now Mark O'Connor is going to play in a concert with us.Such an honor.

[violinmaster3687]

@Fisherdec Actually, I heard him perform this live a year ago and this recording is not very good. You're right that his technique in this video is not clear compared to classical virtuosos, but I'm 'here to tell ya' that his live performance was just a clean and clear as say Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, or the great one; Heifetz. I went to his fiddle camp as a classical player interested in improvising, since I'd never done it before. His technique is completely natural, a freak of nature!

[smuffjules]

@ericnotthefish yeah..I doubt that Nigel had heard many fiddlers of the new breed...Stuart Duncan, Andy Leftwich, Luke Bulla, Casey Driessen, Michael Cleveland, Shad Cobb, Aubrey Haynie, Larry Franklin..etc.etc.. He;s probably thinking of the scratchy old timers of yesteryear

[Fisherdec]

@HillbillyJ I thought Mark was very famous in the bluegrass world, but I if I'm mistaken then my apologies. I was specifically referring to classical because these caprices are inspired by Paganini's 24 caprices which are advanced classical etudes. He is definitely innovative and creative but his technique is below the great virtuosos of the classical world.

[HillbillyJ]

@Fisherdec I don't think he meant just in the classical world. Mark is a master jazz player (think Grappelli on crack), bluegrass, western swing and he was also an amazing jazz/bluegrass guitarist in his younger years.

And I would like to know what you mean by "real" violin virtuosos. I am not saying there aren't better better classical players, but how many of them can compose as well as Mark?

[yoboe7]

@MattBronsil i mean, hes pretty fricking famous among anyone who knows violin or country -ish jazz / bluegrass lol