Fiery classical violin music (Paganini, Sarasate, Wieniawski, Vivaldi, Rimsky-Korsakov) on electric guitar with full synth. orchestra. Unlike "neoclassical" guitarists, Ferguson performs each work exactly as written by th... more »e composer, in entirety, including amazingly challenging passages for both instruments.« less
Fiery classical violin music (Paganini, Sarasate, Wieniawski, Vivaldi, Rimsky-Korsakov) on electric guitar with full synth. orchestra. Unlike "neoclassical" guitarists, Ferguson performs each work exactly as written by the composer, in entirety, including amazingly challenging passages for both instruments.
"Like his "Exotic Extremes" which brings music from the former
Ottoman Empire to electric guitar, "Strad to Strat" brings us
some of the boldest music for violin to the electric guitar
for the first time. Virtuosi Paganini, Wieniawski and others
wrote music that has been seemlessly adapted on this CD.
I'd agree with other reviews here that the orchestra does not
have the best sound ("Exotic Extremes" came later and has much
better fidelity overall). But the guitar is in the spotlight
and sounds great. As for comparisons to Malmsteen, this is
like comparing apples and oranges. Malmsteen is a rock
guitarist who hasn't recorded any actual classical piece short
of a few measures here and there, certainly none of these,
although he has raved about Paganini's Caprice No 5 in many
interviews and columns. As for vibrato, the use is appropriate
for the music on this CD and Ferguson has demonstrated his
ample ability for vibrato as required on tunes in
"Exotic Extremes." I'd highly recommend this CD to anyone who
wants to hear electrical guitar version of the actual music,
note for note written by the original clasical composers
(as opposed to a feeble imitation you hear from so many "neo-classical" guitarists)."
Ok, but not great.
Dr. Matt Navarre | Portland, OR USA | 03/28/2000
(2 out of 5 stars)
"These pieces would have sounded much better with less distortion, and perhaps played on a Jazz guitar instead of a Strat. Also, the accompaniment is a really cheesy sounding synthesizer that doesn't vary from track to track. As a guitarist though, and a lover of classical music, I'd LOVE to have this much technique - the guy wails. Wonder what he's up to today. I'd love to hear this with a real orchestra."
ONE OF THE BEST GUITAR ALBUMS EVER
Ignacio Mauri | Argentina | 02/19/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This cd is EXELENT, buy it now, you are going to listen to it forever. Kevin is one of the greatest players ever BUY IT NOW!"
[disappointing]
Ignacio Mauri | 02/25/2003
(1 out of 5 stars)
"One good thing about this guy - he sure has lots of guts...
I wouldn't dare playing like that in front of my grandma!
very very DRY and with a tremendeous lack of feel, the guitar's too much in your face and the arrangements are just [no good] and sound like they've been taken out of a ... portable casio organ.
But seriously, a few facts you just can't ignore:
The guy has no rhythm - listen to vivaldi's summer to understand what I'm talking about.
He's got no feel - and you can check it out on every other song incl. vivaldi.
Where is the vibrato? didn't he hear about such an invention?
Just another shredder wannabe..."