Since his early days in the band Nickel Creek, Chris Thile has always been pushing the boundaries of mandolin. These past few years, with the work Thile has done with the Punch Brothers and as a solo artist, those boundaries are being pushed even further. His latest genre-bending endeavor is his album titled Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1 released earlier this year, which tackles the first three of Bach’s sonatas and partitas, written originally for violin. I was lucky enough to catch Chris at the last stop of his self-described “Bachtoberfest Tour 2013” in support of that album.
Thile brought not only technical excellence but also emotional nuance to his performance. He showed a talent well beyond his years; his foot stomping was judicious, his voice powerful, and his flurries of notes were amazing in their complexity and spontaneity. Perhaps even more amazing was his ability to weave songs together; the Louvin Brothers’ “Broad Minded” blended surprisingly well with the Adagio section of Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G minor, as did many other tunes with works of Bach. He also included a stirring rendition of Fiona Apple’s “Fast As You Can” as well as works of his own writing, such as the spacey “Daughter of Eden” and a portion of the epic “Blind Leaving the Blind”—from the Punch Brothers’ debut album Punch.
Thile’s Conan O’Brien-esque sense of humor was also on full display. Before he played the Civil War-era tune “Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel”—featured on the new collection of Civil War tunes from ATO Records titled Divided and United—he told an extended joke involving a mythical “solo performer’s union” decreeing that “all solo performer’s must play between one and three songs of Civil War vintage.” One of the surprises of the evening was his inclusion of “If You’re Gonna Leave Me (Set Me Up With One of Your Friends)”—a perfectly crafted piece of pop cheese. Upon researching the biography of the song, to my surprise this tune was not a cover song, instead it was written by and for Thile!
Thile’s mandolin virtuosity was both impressive and expressive. His performance cemented him as not only one of the greatest mandolin players of all time, but also a leader for a new type of music that sees no genre boundaries. I—and everyone else in the audience—could tell we were witnessing a true genius on stage.
-rob dunn
Thile brought not only technical excellence but also emotional nuance to his performance. He showed a talent well beyond his years; his foot stomping was judicious, his voice powerful, and his flurries of notes were amazing in their complexity and spontaneity. Perhaps even more amazing was his ability to weave songs together; the Louvin Brothers’ “Broad Minded” blended surprisingly well with the Adagio section of Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G minor, as did many other tunes with works of Bach. He also included a stirring rendition of Fiona Apple’s “Fast As You Can” as well as works of his own writing, such as the spacey “Daughter of Eden” and a portion of the epic “Blind Leaving the Blind”—from the Punch Brothers’ debut album Punch.
Thile’s Conan O’Brien-esque sense of humor was also on full display. Before he played the Civil War-era tune “Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel”—featured on the new collection of Civil War tunes from ATO Records titled Divided and United—he told an extended joke involving a mythical “solo performer’s union” decreeing that “all solo performer’s must play between one and three songs of Civil War vintage.” One of the surprises of the evening was his inclusion of “If You’re Gonna Leave Me (Set Me Up With One of Your Friends)”—a perfectly crafted piece of pop cheese. Upon researching the biography of the song, to my surprise this tune was not a cover song, instead it was written by and for Thile!
Thile’s mandolin virtuosity was both impressive and expressive. His performance cemented him as not only one of the greatest mandolin players of all time, but also a leader for a new type of music that sees no genre boundaries. I—and everyone else in the audience—could tell we were witnessing a true genius on stage.
-rob dunn
RSS Feed