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| Photo credit: AT&T Performing Arts Center |
David Garrett
When David Garrett wanted a title for his new album, he came straight to the point and called it Music. A former child prodigy of the classical world who signed to Deutsche Grammophon when he was only 13, he now provokes Garrett-mania among hordes of international fans with his spectacular fusions of rock and pop with symphonic or baroque traditions. To him, it’s all music and all equally valid.
“I never stopped playing classical music,” he points out. “But when you become really accomplished on the violin, you can literally do anything. It’s just a matter of what you really want to do with music.”
Garrett’s art lies in the way he opens a two-way street between classical and popular music. His version of Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” makes use of sophisticated electronic multitracking, but also incorporates something of the spirit of Minimalist composers such as Philip Glass or Michael Nyman. When he takes on the crushing weight of Queen’s bombastic anthem “We Will Rock You”, he makes room for some daredevil classical flourishes in between the enormous rhythmic explosions detonating all around him.
