David Garrett

David Garrett Rock Revolution (2017)   Time for classics: On his new crossover album "Rock Revolution," David Garrett primarily adapts timeless masterpieces of rock music. The star violinist makes pieces like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven," or Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" shine in a new light through innovative interpretations – making them newly experienceable in an inspiring way. View David Garrett albums on STAGE+ It all started with "Purple Rain": A few weeks after Prince's tragic death, David Garrett watched a tribute to the deceased musician on television. "I really like the song and I'm a big Prince fan, which is why it was very important for me to pay my respects and rearrange 'Purple Rain.' So I called my arranger John Haywood and asked him to record an instrumental version of 'Purple Rain.'" John sent him his suggestion the next day, and so the Prince classic became the starting point for a special experiment for David Garrett: "Actually, I never particularly liked the electric violin, but when I heard John's arrangement, I immediately knew that only this instrument would perfectly suit 'Purple Rain.'" So David Garrett acquired an electric violin – and with the instrument, he created an essential foundation for the powerful sound architecture of "Rock Revolution." This story is just one example of the experimental spirit of an extraordinary musician. David Garrett is a boundary-crosser, a wanderer between worlds. Musical curiosity has always been a key driving force for him. This is also why he developed into an outstanding world-class violinist over the course of his long career. He has released no less than 16 studio albums since 1994. Between 2007 and 2015, not a year passed without a new multi-platinum or gold album. On the works of this period, Garrett left all genre boundaries behind. He interpreted timeless classics of rock and pop music, just as he honored the work of perhaps the greatest violinist of all time, Niccoló Paganini, on "Garrett vs. Paganini" in 2013, and shone as a composer on his last album to date, "Explosive" (2015). Understanding these things is important to grasp what drives David Garrett as he now opens another chapter in his career: Seven years after "Rock Symphonies," the violinist once again dedicates himself to his love for rock music. He recorded the work in the studio of his band's musical director, Franck van der Heijden. "Normally, we only do pre-production there," says Garrett. "But this time, we consciously didn't go to a famous studio afterward; we stayed with Franck. We had a great, familiar atmosphere there, which played a significant role in the collaborative, creative work." Garrett deliberately says "we" when he talks about the recordings. He has been playing with Franck van der Heijden (guitar), John Haywood (piano), as well as Marcus Wolf (guitar), Jeff Allen (bass), and drummer Jeff Lipstein for over eight years now. "They are all very important to me, and we've become really good friends over the years," says Garrett. "This great band gives me enormous freedom as a musician." The special chemistry between the musicians was an important component for the success of "Rock Revolution." Together with his band, David Garrett interprets new versions of songs like "In The Air Tonight" (Phil Collins), "Superstition" (Stevie Wonder), and Michael Jackson's "Earth Song" on the album. Another highlight is the original composition "Duel Guitar vs. Violin," in which Garrett and van der Heijden complement each other congenially in a virtuosic way. David Garrett had previously selected pieces for over a year and a half, which he then rehearsed with the band and partly already played at concerts, as he values direct audience reaction as an additional criterion. Finally, 25 pieces remained, of which 15 were chosen for the standard and 18 for the deluxe version of "Rock Revolution." "I constantly note down titles I like," says Garrett. "The specific selection then develops in a very natural way. The pieces have to be fun, but also musically challenging for me." In this regard, the musician has set ambitious goals for himself on "Rock Revolution." Classics like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" are considered musically complex. "I love Led Zeppelin," says Garrett. "So I've wanted to arrange 'Stairway To Heaven' for the violin for a long time. However, the rocky part, in particular, only worked now in combination with the electric violin. Discovering new musical worlds in this way is the most beautiful thing for me as a musician." He has not only discovered these worlds but conquered them. The album draws its strength from Garrett's intuitive understanding of this music. This applies not least to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." The way Garrett interprets the song on "Rock Revolution," how he arranged the legendary chorus in the middle with violin and a large orchestra, testifies to his musical class. David Garrett has permeated the foreign material and added an individual moment to it, which makes his interpretations extraordinary. Because, of course, he had an obvious problem to solve not only with this song: The way most people perceive pop and rock is largely defined by the human voice and the underlying lyrics. For Garrett, it was ultimately about "replacing" outstanding rock and pop singers like Michael Jackson or Freddie Mercury with his violin. So, while there are some choirs on this album, such as in Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The USA," the lead melody is always carried by the violin. "That's a fine line," says Garrett. "Many people have the lyrics in their heads and a concrete image of these songs, which are all very well known. In that respect, one shouldn't deviate too much from the actual melody. On the other hand, one also shouldn't stay too close to the original. So you invent a kind of melodic line based on the original, but which technically deviates." On "Rock Revolution," David Garrett further interprets different songs from various genres. In addition to Coldplay's "Fix You," the album also contains an orchestral version of Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name" on one side, and an interpretation of Peter Tchaikovsky's "Concerto No. One" on the other. Under David Garrett's hand, all these pieces now come together to form a homogeneous whole. "Rock Revolution" has become an album that is equally rocky and symphonic – and a grand bow from master violinist David Garrett to some of his favorite pieces of music.