When you're a classical violinist -- and popular -- there is always a lot of pressure to do some crossover and appeal to the pop market. Violin players deal with it in a variety of ways depending on their professional requirements, and/or temperaments:
Vanessa-Mae has almost spent her whole career doing crossover, whereas
Kyung-Wha Chung probably wouldn't have done it in exchange for lifetime supply of good violin bows. After resisting the crossover bug for some time,
Lara St. John did an album for Sony in 2001 that matched beats and breaks to her playing of Bach; it was hip, and better, perhaps, than it should have been. But it still didn't enhance her reputation more than just her normal playing of Bach-as-he-is does. While
Lara St. John is generally great in anything she tries, she's greatest doing the things she knows, and that she's known for, and that's generally straight-up classical lit, and this makes her something of a odd fit for anything considerable as crossover.
With
Polkastra's
Apolkalypse Now -- released on
St. John's own Ancalagon label --
St. John has managed to find a way to answer the challenge and to wholly sidestep the issue at the same time. She appears as a member of a unique and edgy ensemble,
Polkastra, which has devised a new and often hilarious spin on the age-old European dance form, the polka, which like the waltz, is a dance, a genre, and a tradition all its own. If you grew up in Cleveland you might recall a television show called Polka Varieties, where accordion-wearing guys in cheesy tuxes smiled broadly while a skinny, middle-aged maid played a standup cocktail drum set.
Polkastra is like taking Polka Varieties, injecting it full of youthful adrenaline and rolling it in a barrel off the top of the Terminal Tower. The album is replete with
Spike Jones-y sendups of traditional pieces such as Johann Strauss II's polka "Light as a Feather" and a tune similar to "Dark Eyes" (refashioned as "The Hora! The Hora!") and some conspicuously wrong instrument choices; sparkling vibes in the traditional piece "Sirba" and "Clarinet Polka" performed on the contrabassoon -- there is even a track featuring
William Barton on the didgeridoo.
Apolkalypse Now is faithful to the tradition of polka in that polka itself has always been a mish-mash of various things, a format that embraces eclecticism;
Polkastra seizes on the eclecticism and turns it up to 11. As with all other Ancalagon products, the sound quality is terrific and the packaging is exceptionally nice; the disc itself is a rollicking, romping good time for anyone who appreciates a little humor in their musical diet. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis