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"“Beethoven and Bluegrass.” April 25 Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall hosted composer and bluegrass virtuoso Mark O’Connor, his wife, fiddler and vocalist Maggie O’Connor, and the Vega Quartet, performing music by Beethoven and by Mark O’Connor. Mr. O’Connor’s instrumental skills are profound, but it was the depth of his compositions as much as the quality of the performances on stage that made the juxtaposition of styles and centuries work smoothly and create a joyful concert experience.
Mark O’Connor has been working for years to bring bluegrass music into the classical chamber music realm. The program concluded with the lilting “Appalachia Waltz,” which he wrote years ago for Yo-Yo Ma, who still performs it. But the central and much deeper exploration of bluegrass as transformed for chamber ensemble was his String Quartet No. 2, “Bluegrass.”
The Vega Quartet performed... a tour de force of time-tested bluegrass musicality refashioned with modernist rhythmic irregularity that takes tradition to another dimension. It calls for ferocious fiddling requiring both technical mastery and a feel for the grooves of acoustic country fiddle music. Violinists Emily Daggett Smith and Jessica Shuang Wu proved fully up to the task. Viola and cello also shoulder some of the weight, and (respectively) Joseph Skerik and Guang Wang dove just as convincingly into the spirit.
Themes leap from instrument to instrument. Resounding unison phrases break the breathlessness. The cleverness of the construction, the infernally complex part-mapping, together with the needed virtuosity, must make it a challenge to perform. The Vega musicians, quartet-in-residence at Emory University, played it as if born to it.
The third movement…is in the form of a theme and variations and partly in sonata form. As melody is traded among the musicians, O’Connor brilliantly stretches and deepens and develops bluegrass tropes into thoughtful concert themes. The ongoing development then lifts the harmonic language out of country modes and into the more complex modernist harmonies we heard in the previous movement. Good bluegrass performance requires serious musicianship…so it was not at all incongruous that it followed Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 95. “Serioso.”
The Vega Quartet gave this last of Beethoven’s Middle Quartets a sinewy and exciting reading. It was so experimental for its time, and for Beethoven himself, that he directed that it should never be performed in public, but only for a few aficionados. Still, it contains the full measure of his achievement and his genius up to that time; it’s essential Beethoven. This performance captured it all: the lockstep scales, the lullaby, the touch of fugue, the spaciousness, the “gypsy”-flavored section, the romance and passion, the aggression. I’m always divining new things every time I hear a Beethoven string quartet. This rendition was no exception.
There may not be a specific Beethoven influence on O’Connor’s string quartet, other than what every composer since Beethoven must reckon with. But the composers did seem to be speaking to each other in a way, through the interpretations of these four fine musicians.
After the intermission we experienced the performing skills of the O’Connors themselves. A long, original fiddle-shredding solo tune from Mark had an improvisatory feel and a tapestry-like structure. The numbers that followed from the two O’Connors ranged from [“Emily’s Reel” and “Jerusalem Ridge”] to a beautiful Dolly Parton song (“Wildflowers”) from that gorgeous collaborative album from years ago by Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt, with divine vocals from Maggie O’Connor. Mark demonstrated his guitar and mandolin chops too. This half of the concert was an absolute pleasure.
So: Beethoven and bluegrass? Bring it on. If this show comes to your town, go experience it. (The Vega Quartet would be well worth hearing on their own too.) The upshot: mixing up genres and traditions can be an exercise in rich creative fertility. And I think Beethoven would have dug it.”
-Jon Sobel, Blogcritics (May 2, 2025)
*****
“The Vega Quartet gave an electrifying start to the opening of Beethoven’s Op 95 String Quartet in Zankel Hall on the last Friday of April…their approach was extraordinarily intense—occasionally nearly to the point of aggression—and also extraordinarily compelling…The stunning luxuriousness of the “Larghetto espressivo” was transfixing, created by well-matched bowspeeds and vibrato use among the quartet. The precision of the rhythm and the lilt of the following movement were just right, and I enjoyed their lithe, sparkling spiccato.
Mark O’Connor’s String Quartet No 2 “Bluegrass” followed—this rhythmically complex work… busy passagework sixteenth notes were passed seamlessly from instrument to instrument as the musicians performed with great energy, passion, and enthusiasm. The third movement followed with a beautiful first violin introduction that soon gave way to a rambunctious movement that dissolved into a tender ending.
After the Intermission, husband and wife duo Mark and Maggie O’Connor took the stage and Mark’s virtuosic approach to the violin and masterful bow control were immediately evident in his work Call of the Mockingbird, which almost seemed a showpiece more characteristic of Sarasate or Paganini at times, with passagework, arpeggios, and scales running all over the instrument.
His incredible approach to articulation and rhythm continued to impress in Emily’s Reel (O’Connor) and Jerusalem Bridge (Monroe/Baker) that followed.
Wife Maggie O’Connor played with elegance and finesse…the charisma and connection of the two were palpable, and watching them perform together was beautiful.
They continued the program with a song from their newest album, Life after Life, a cover of an old Dolly Parton classic called “Wildflowers.” The warmth of Maggie’s vocals brought a tenderness to the stage that felt both far from the Beethoven but also a welcome vulnerability.
Although Mark O’Connor is best known for his violin playing, albums with his wife, and violin method books—he was actually a mandolin virtuoso at a young age, and he absolutely astounded the audience with his virtuoso mandolin work A Bowl of Bula—an original composition that really showcased his picking and mandolin chops. Nearly as impressive as his mandolin playing, however, was Maggie’s ability to match and imitate his articulation on the violin—her spiccato was simply unbelievable, and the ensemble between the two in the work was astonishing.
The next trick that Mark pulled from his bag was to perform his original Kamala Boogie with a “drop C” guitar tuning—as if the program needed another virtuosic showcase on yet another instrument! The fun that Mark was having in this work was tangible—like he was dancing with his guitar. The effortless way he performed another devilishly difficult work was remarkable; Sally Johnson Fiddle and Spoons finished out the duo’s set.
The stage filled again for the final work on the program as The Vega Quartet joined the O’Connors for an ensemble rendition of Mark’s Appalachia Waltz—a “modern day spiritual”… It was evident that every musician onstage was an exceptional listener. While not in the Western chamber music tradition, the program at Zankel proved that bluegrass is indeed chamber music in its own right, and this bluegrass chamber work finished out a beautifully varied and rich program that delighted both mind and ear.”
-Leah Hollingsworth, EarRelevant (May 1, 2025)
For further information or to interview Mark and Maggie O'Connor, contact:
Melissa Mathews / melissa@mathewspr.com
Find out more on Mark and Maggie O'Connor HERE
Keep up with the Mark and Maggie on social media:
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