''The Violin Player'' is the first

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

/ pop album by classical and pop musician

Vanessa-Mae Vanessa-Mae (陈美 Chén Měi; born 27 October 1978) also called Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, is a Singaporean-born British violinist with album sales reaching several million, having made her the wealthiest entertainer under 30 in the Uni ...

, released in 1995. It is the first album Vanessa-Mae released on the

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

label. The album was produced by

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt, LVO (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Having achieved substantia ...

, and engineered by Gareth Cousins, who also programmed the synthesisers and beats for the album.

Content

''The Violin Player'' features a varied blend of music – covers of classical music (

J.S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

's ''

Toccata and Fugue in D minor The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, is a piece of organ music written, according to its oldest extant sources, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). The piece opens with a toccata section, followed by a fugue that ends in a coda. Schol ...

''), remakes of old favourites (including American composer

Mason Williams Mason Douglas Williams (born August 24, 1938) is an American classical guitarist, composer, singer, writer, comedian, and poet, best known for his 1968 instrumental "Classical Gas" and for his work as a comedy writer on ''The Smothers Brothers ...

' "

Classical Gas "Classical Gas" is an instrumental musical piece composed and originally performed by American guitarist Mason Williams with instrumental backing by members of the Wrecking Crew. Originally released in 1968 on the album ''The Mason Williams Ph ...

"), original compositions (seven tracks composed by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

musician and songwriter

), and one original track by Vanessa-Mae herself, co-written with Ian Wherry ("Red Hot").

Singles

Three singles were released from the album: "Toccata and Fugue", which reached number 16 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, "Red Hot", which reached number 37 and "Classical Gas", which reached number 41.

Commercial performance

''The Violin Player'' reached number 11 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

in February 1995, and was certified Gold by the BPI in June 1995. It has sold over 1.2 million copies worldwide. The album has been reissued as a multi-channel

hybrid SACD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows multiple au ...

by EMI Music Hong Kong.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

Musicians

– violin *

– keyboards (tracks 1–9) *Gareth Cousins – synthesisers (tracks 1–9) *Martin Bliss – guitars (track 10) *

Clem Clempson David "Clem" Clempson (born 5 September 1949) is an English rock guitarist who has played as a member in a number of bands including Colosseum and Humble Pie. Career Clempson began his career in the late 1960s with the power trio, Bakerloo (or ...

– guitars (tracks 1–9) *Dick Morgan – oboe (track 1) * Maurice Murphy – trumpet (track 1) * Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – orchestra; conducted by Mike Batt *Phil Todd – saxophones * Vasko Vassilev – violin/viola section (track 10) *Ian Wherry – keyboards (track 10)

Production

*Tracks 1–9 produced and arranged by Mike Batt *Tracks 1–9 programmed and arranged by Gareth Cousins *Track 10 produced and arranged by Ian Wherry and Vanessa-Mae *Track 10 programmed by Ian Wherry; mix engineer: Ben Robbins *Mastered by

Ray Staff Ray Staff is a British mastering engineer, best known for his work with a diverse mix of artists including Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Clash and Black Sabbath. Most recently he has mastered albums for Muse. Biography and career Joini ...

*Music typesetting: John Zaradin *Photography: John Paul *Sleeve by Stuart @ Peacock Marketing Design *Recorded and engineered by Gareth Cousins at Abbey Road Studios and Whitfield Street Recording Studios,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Violin Player, The Vanessa-Mae albums 1995 albums EMI Records albums Albums produced by Mike Batt