“Virtuoso Béla Fleck has broken more boundaries than any other banjoist.”

“Transcribing the jazzy work from piano to banjo presented a formidable challenge. Great fistfuls of piano figures that can be tossed off on a piano are difficult to recreate on five strings. But Fleck’s feats of banjo picking often astonished in the way he was able to capture most of the piano notes, sometimes jumping up or down an octave, other times leaving out a few notes…Fleck brought artistry and considerable virtuosity to every passage.”

 

“Béla Fleck surprised the Blossom Music Center crowd not so much by the level of his playing — virtuosic as always — but by how well he adapted the solo piano part for the banjo in his transcription of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.”

“Fleck’s concerto for banjo and symphony orchestra off The Impostor edges out the competition for its determined attitude and ambitious undertaking in areas the banjo has never gone before. The world’s most popular banjoist essentially reinvents the rulebook in music written for banjo in an exceptionally grandeur vision. Writing for his first concerto, Fleck is crisp in merging trademark twangs with seeping, mysterious strings. The frontier/americana lineage of the banjo is highlighted in this surprisingly risky romp, protruding an adventurous sprit. Together with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Béla Fleck’s performance is fluid with just the proper amount of danger. But what really drives the heart of Fleck’s concerto for banjo is its pure honesty and genuine penchant for melody. While many concerto recordings in 2013 will ride on the strength of their performance quality none posses as much memorability and character as Fleck’s concerto for banjo.”

“While not a narrative work as such, Juno could nonetheless be regarded as a sequel if only because it is so successful in giving elevated credence to the banjo as a legitimate, indeed beautiful denizen of the Classical world…Along with revealing Fleck’s heightened appreciation of the emotive colors that a full orchestra can provide, Juno also shows a studied commitment to the traditional concerto format of three movements in fast-slow-fast order. Within that structure, Fleck’s thematic developments feel less frenetic than in The Impostor, though no less an adventurous platform for his astonishing virtuosity as a soloist. This time the music, for all of its harmonic eclecticism and contrapuntal complexity, exudes newfound elegance and confidence.”

“Rutland’s Paramount Theatre was packed Saturday evening, likely to hear the great banjoist Béla Fleck perform his own version of George Gershwin’s beloved “Rhapsody in Blue” with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. (Attendance at Friday’s performance of the same program at The Flynn in Burlington had the VSO’s largest attendance since cellist Yo Yo Ma was the soloist.)…“Rhapsody in Blue” is a delightful one-movement jazz-based piano concerto. And, although the powerful piano’s place in the piece will never be usurped, Fleck made a pretty good case for the banjo (amplified, of course). His performance was effective in part due to his amazing virtuosity, but also to his rhapsodic take on the work.”

“From the outset, Fleck treats the banjo more like a musical instrument than simply a bluegrass instrument. He puts it through its paces and demonstrates its potential far beyond its ‘Beverley Hillbillies’ persona. There are certainly a few captivating moments and flashes of virtuosic playing, but the focus seems to be on the intrinsic quality of the music itself (sounding at times like Bartok, Prokofiev, or Gershwin) rather than on the novelty of a bluegrass instrument paired with an orchestra.”