Try before you buy!  Here are a few audio samples from our latest album All Kinds of Classics.  Its available now for digital download from the String Fever online shop.

Scroll down for the full track list and program notes.

All Kinds of Classics

program notes by Brenton

Its been 14 years since our last CD “Musical Rollercoaster” and a lot has happened.  A lot of living, a lot of entertaining, and a heck of a lot of practice!  We hope you’ll love this recording – the fruits of 20 years in showbiz.

1. La Cucaracha (The Cockroach) – traditional

I arranged an “insect medley” comprising this song and The Spanish Flea for our new themed show Animal Music for Adults.  My arrangement of La Cucaracha starts with the cello playing the solo and the violin imitating the strumming style of a Spanish guitar.  The second section sees the violin taking the lead with the cello in a high-pitched harmony reminiscent of the vocal style of Mariachi music.

2. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

In my constant quest for the perfect medley (showbiz is all about medlies!) I wondered if I could make an arrangement called The Four Seasons in Four Minutes.  I’ve gone a little overtime!  The resultant medley is about six and a half minutes long and we love it.  Its been a wonderful challenge to tackle all this beautiful but technically demanding classical material.  The medley consists of abbreviated versions of the first movement of Spring, the third movement of Summer, the first movement of Autumn and the second and first movements of Winter.  The whole year seems to be over before you can say “where did the time go?”

3. The Devil Went Down to Australia – based on Charlie Daniels

We’ve been playing The Devil Went Down to Georgia in one form or another from our very first year in entertainment.  In fact I remember trying out a version when we were performing as Edi’s Duo (predecessor to Two Hearts Duo) onboard the Spirit of Tasmania ferry before String Fever was even born.

I wrote an arrangement called The Devil Went Down to Tasmania for the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2007, but thought this was too much of an “in joke” for international audiences.  So I promptly wrote this version in early 2008 with plenty of references to Australian culture which I hoped would be internationally accessible.  I wrote the words (with plenty of constructive advice from Jacqui!) in our van while travelling down to our friends’ beach house in Sandy Point.

4. Sunrise, Sunset – Bock and Harnick

The first of two arrangements from Fiddler on the Roof.  This is a simple and soulful arrangement with the cello taking the male voice and the violin on the female voice with a simple piano accompaniment, also incorporating a few of amazing riffs written for Isaac Stern for the original Fiddler soundtrack recording.

5. The Barber of Seville – Rossini

I can never play this piece without thinking of the Bugs Bunny cartoons its been used in!

6. Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov

If you’ve seen String Fever live you may have seen me play this piece while blindfolded and doing my impersonation of a bumblebee.  So recording it in the studio was a breeze by comparison!

7. Waltzing Matilda – Paterson and Macpherson

For three years we performed almost exclusively for the intimate Silversea Cruise line and had the opportunity to have many luxurious dinners with the guests.  We were asked time and time again “why don’t you play anything Australian?” and this arrangement was my response to that request.

The arrangement was written specifically with American and English audiences in mind as I realised many of them had no clue what the song was actually about, although they were familiar with the tune and its name.  The arrangement is mainly in the form of the original poem spoken over the music played instrumentally, building to an impassioned final chorus.  It has brought a tear to the eye of many and has been incredibly popular with audiences of all nationalities.

8. If I Were a Rich Man – Bock and Harnick

Our second selection from Fiddler on the Roof.  This is a song which genuinely needs no introduction.

9. The Swan – Saint-Saens

The original arrangement for cello & piano by French composer Camille Saint-Saens.  It is arguably the world’s most famous cello solo.

10. Rhythm of Life – Coleman and Fields

We were inspired to create an arrangement of this piece by the legendary Australian variety act The Four Kinsmen.  It was one of their signature tunes.  I remember seeing them perform it on TV when I was a kid.  Four men with four puppets = eight-part harmony!  Rhythm of Life seems to be really well known to Australians although not that well known to people of other nationalities.  The original is well worth a listen if you haven’t heard it before.  Its from a musical called Sweet Charity and the original performer was Sammy Davis Jr.

11. The Thieving Magpie – Rossini

This is another piece I arranged especially for our Animal Music for Adults show.  We found it was so popular with audiences that we use it as our grand finale in most of our live shows.

12. Orange Blossom Special – Ervin T Rouse

About a decade ago we were performing on Princess Cruises and met a wonderful passenger who was a cousin of Ervin T Rouse.  She insisted that we should include the legendary bluegrass song in our show.  I had been considering it for years but wasn’t convinced it was a good fit for us.  A month or so after we got home from our cruise we received a surprise package in the mail from this very lady – a book called Orange Blossom Boys all about the colourful origin of the song.  The accompanying CD had about 30 versions of Orange Blossom Special on it!

Suffice to say we were convinced us to give the tune a go and we’ve been performing it live ever since.  I suspect ours may be the only version in the world which features a bluegrass cello solo!  Let us know if you’ve heard another.

Hope you’ve enjoyed these anecdotes!  And of course we really hope you’ll want to buy your own copy of our album. 🙂