01	Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata In C Major K. 159						02:16
	02	Bach: Two-Part Invention No. 13						01:35
	03	Debussy: "Doctor Gradus Ad Parnassum" From Children's Corner						02:29
	04	Chopin: Mazurka In F-Sharp Minor						03:40
	05	Bach: "Prelude" From Partita No. 3 For Solo Violin						03:50
	06	Chopin: Etude In C-Sharp Minor						02:17
	07	Chopin: Mazurka In F-Sharp Minor						02:24
	08	Bach: Three-Part Invention No. 10						01:00
	09	Tchaikovsky: Melody In E-Flat						03:15
	10	Brahms: "Presto In G Minor I After Bach"						01:44
	11	Bach: "Prelude" From Suite For Unaccompanied Cello No. 1						02:14
	12	Bach: Three-Part Invention No. 15						01:16
	13	Paganini: Moto Perpetuo						03:44
	14	Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata In D Minor K. 213						03:16
	15	Bach: Two-Part Invention No. 6						02:32
	16	Beethoven: "Adagio Sostenuto" From "Moonlight" Sonata						05:07
	17	Bach: Three-Part Invention No. 7						00:57
	18	Beethoven: Seven Variations On "God Save The King"						09:08
	19	Bach: Three-Part Invention No. 7						02:11
	20	Paganini: Moto Perpetuo (Bluegrass Version)						02:38

Date of Release Oct 2, 2001

AMG EXPERT REVIEW: Banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck has certainly broken more boundaries than any other picker in recent memory, from his early days performing bluegrass-inspired folk compositions on Rounder in the late '70s to his quirky jazz freak-outs with the Flecktones throughout the '90s. In late 2001, this peculiar innovator released an album of banjo interpretations of classical works by Bach, Chopin, and Scarlatti. Before classical purists roll their eyes, they must remember that the banjo hasn't always been seen as the instrument of choice of backwoods musicians in the Appalachian mountains, but as recently as the 1940s was used as a primary rhythm instrument in all manner of parlor music. That being said, Perpetual Motion is a bright and unique take on several well-known classical pieces (Moonlight Sonata, Bach's Cello Suite No. 1) as well as a number of interpretations of Bach's two-part and three-part inventions. These light and brief inventions act as buffers between the longer, more dramatic pieces, but end up serving as some of the highlights of the album. With Fleck often accompanied by Evelyn Glennie on marimba and Appalachia Waltz musicians Joshua Bell and Edgar Meyer on violin and bass, these short, delicate pieces weave in and out of the album, proving that the banjo can be seen in a different light altogether. Fleck's picking is uniquely unparalleled in that he can so easily dip his feet into so many different genres with an instrument that is so quickly pigeonholed. The album drifts easily into the background, which is not necessarily a detraction but, knowing the fire that Fleck can unleash from his fingertips, it would have been nice to have a few more impassioned numbers on the album. The closest the ensemble comes to really making some noise is the final track, Paganini's Moto Perpetuo (arranged in a bluegrass style), which is not necessarily more forceful, but is certainly faster and louder. - Zac Johnson



Bela Fleck
Born 1958 in New York, NY

Premiere banjo player Bela Fleck is considered one of the most innovative pickers in the world and has done much to demonstrate the versatility of his instrument, which he uses to play everything from traditional bluegrass to progressive jazz. He was named after composer Bela Bartok and was born in New York City. Around age 15, Fleck became fascinated with the banjo after hearing Flatt & Scruggs' "Ballad of Jed Clampett" and Weissberg & Mandell's "Dueling Banjos," and his grandfather soon gave him one. While attending the High School of Music and Art in New York, Fleck worked on adapting bebop music for the banjo. Fleck always had diverse musical interests, and his own style was influenced by Tony Trischka, Earl Scruggs, Chick Corea, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, the Allman Brothers, Aretha Franklin, the Byrds, and Little Feat. After graduation, he joined the Tasty Licks, a group from Boston. They recorded two albums and dissolved in 1979. Afterwards, Fleck joined the Kentucky band Spectrum. That year, only five years after he took up the instrument, he made his solo recording debut with Crossing the Tracks, which the Readers' Poll in Frets magazine named Best Overall Album. In 1982, he joined New Grass Revival and stayed with them until the end of the decade. During this time, his reputation continued to grow and in 1990, Frets magazine added his name to their Hall of Greats. In 1988, one of his compositions, "Drive" (from the album New Grass Revival), was nominated for a Grammy. Fleck, mandolin player Sam Bush, fiddler Mark O'Connor, bassist Edgar Meyer, and dobro player Jerry Douglas teamed up in 1989 to form Strength in Numbers and record The Telluride Sessions. Late that year, Fleck was asked by PBS television to play on the upcoming Lonesome Pine Special; in response he gathered together a veritable "dream team" of musicians to form the Flecktones. The original members included Howard Levy, who played piano, harmonica, and ocarina, among other instruments; bass guitarist Victor Lemonte Wooten, and his brother Roy "Future Man" Wooten on the drumitar, an electronic drum shaped like a guitar. Though the special wasn't aired until 1992, the Flecktones recorded their eponymous debut album in 1990 and followed it up with Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (1991). In 1993, they released their fourth album, UFO Tofu, which featured music blending different genres ranging from bluegrass to R&B to worldbeat. In 1995, they released Tales From an Acoustic Planet; Left of Cool followed in 1998, and Tales From an Acoustic Planet 2: The Bluegrass Sessions was released a year later. Outbound followed in mid-2000. - Sandra Brennan


1979 Crossing the Tracks Rounder
1982 Natural Bridge Rounder
1984 Double Time Rounder
1984 Deviations Rounder
1986 Inroads Rounder
1987 60 Plus Series Rounder
1988 Daybreak Rounder
1988 Drive Rounder
1988 Places Rounder
1990 Bela Fleck & The Flecktones Warner
1991 Flight of the Cosmic Hippo Warner
1991 Live Art Warner
1992 UFO Tofu Warner
1993 Three Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest Warner
1994 Tales From the Acoustic Planet Warner
1998 Left of Cool Warner
1999 The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from the... Warner
2000 Outbound Sony
2001 Perpetual Motion Sony
2002 Live at the Quick Sony




About Perpetual Motion:

This recording has been a long time coming. I guess it starts with being named Bela Anton Leos Fleck, after composers Bartok, Dvorak and Janacek. It continues with listening to my cellist stepfather Joe playing string quartets often throughout my teen years. Then it jumps forward to a new friend I found in 1982, who plays the bass like no one I've ever heard, happens to be deep into classical music and also likes the banjo.

Edgar Meyer and I first met in Aspen, Colorado. I was performing in the New Grass Revival and he was studying in Aspen for the summer. He had won the Pitkin Country Fair's fiddle contest on the upright bass - an act of will. NGR had played there that afternoon, and with the evening off I went in search of the great bass hope. I found him performing in front of the Haagan Dazs store on the street in Aspen. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship that has deepened as the years pass. Eventually he moved to Nashville, and we have continued to play music together as the opportunities present themselves. I've watched him perform classical recitals whenever possible. Edgar has often pushed me to get involved with classical music, whether it was writing a piece together for banjo and string quartet in 1983, recording Uncommon Ritual with J.S. Bach and William Byrd pieces, or looking for interesting Bach duets to perform together.

This project came directly out of that, as Peter Gelb became aware of our friendship and extended a record deal in my direction. We had several meetings and discussions about what would be the best first record to do as a banjoist on Sony Classical. It seemed important to start off with either a concerto or some traditional classical music and he pushed me to consider the latter. I agreed to listen to some music and see if I could find any pieces that I loved enough to learn. I went through hundreds of recordings and very gradually began to find the odd piece that might work. Eventually I had found enough to believe there would be enough to bring this idea to life.

Now I had to figure out how to learn this stuff on the technical level. Although a terrible music manuscript reader, I am fairly adept at reading banjo tablature, which is a number system we use to notate music with. Because the banjo is tuned in close intervals, one can play many of the notes in a variety of locations. This makes conventional notation a little confusing to me, as it doesn't tell you where on the instrument to play the notes.

Every part of this process was new to me - even going into manuscript stores to search for the pieces I had found was an adventure. My mother, who lives in New York City, also searched for and located some of the music. Next, I made friends with Eberhard Ramm, who has been doing Edgar's copy work for many years.

Eberhard put the music into a computer program, from which we could transpose into keys that fit the banjo range. Amazingly there was a feature that turned the music into tablature, and we made a custom banjo tab. Then the program put all of the notes on the banjo fingerboard. Unfortunately, nearly all of the notes were on the wrong strings, impossible to play, with huge leaps, and unalterable in the computer. But I could read this much quicker than conventional notation. Then I used 'white out' to replace the unplayable computer fingerings on my copies, penciling in the optimum ones.

Now I just needed to create fingerings that made sense, a job that started during the Flecktones tour of Europe in July 2000 and continued right down to the recording date for each tune. I had about six months to do all this, and also learn the music. In some cases, Edgar allowed me to change a few notes to make it playable, or more sensible considering the instruments that would actually play the piece. None of these pieces are played on the instruments they were written for, so all the musicians had similar challenges making the music fit.

Midway through the process, I was able to run through some of these pieces with musicians in Nashville, and on the road, which gave me some confidence that this could work, but also showed me that I needed to be practicing, much harder than I had done in many years. Since the Flecktones were now on tour, I practiced a lot before soundchecks, before the shows, and late at night, after we were done. I tried to have the banjo in my hands constantly.

As some of the pieces were physically very taxing, there were times when I had to back off to keep from hurting myself permanently! A massage therapist friend of mine worked on my arms a couple of times, especially around the practicing and recording of Paganini's Moto Perpetuo, which was the greatest strain.

As the recording dates approached I felt very confident that I had my part together. Wrong! To my dismay, I found that playing these pieces with real live classical musicians is much different than practicing by myself. One major difference is in the approach to time. In most of the music I play, people tend to play pretty metronomically or speed up slightly, while maintaining a groove or good feel. With classical players, the challenge was that the tempo could speed up or slow down in various places, either by developing a plan, or simply reacting spontaneously to each other. So there was a lot of adjusting on the spot, and in each case, lots of last minute decisions and choices. Amazingly each piece came together, some with a battle, some with a whimper! This is due to the generous contributions of all my collaborators, who also helped me to avoid some of the pitfalls of playing much of this music on the banjo for the first time.

So that's the story of Perpetual Motion. I had a wonderful time learning and playing this music with these fantastic musicians. I also loved the chance to become more intimate with the music of these composers, which continues to live on.

All the best,
Bela Fleck




Joshua Bell, violin

Bell has been in the spotlight for almost 20 years, during which time he has seamlessly evolved from child prodigy to inspired and mature artist. " At the fiendishly difficult task of mastering the violin, Joshua Bell is that most mysterious of creatures - a natural," wrote New York magazine.

Debussy: Children's Corner, 1st Movement - Fleck, Hoffman
Bach: 3 Part Invention #7 - Fleck, Thile
Bach: 3 Part Invention #15 - Fleck, Glennie
Chopin: Muzurka, Op. 6 No. 1 - Fleck


Evelyn Glennie, marimba

Bach: 2 Part Invention #11 - Fleck
Bach: 3 Part Invention #15 - Fleck, Bell
Bach (arr. Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Presto - Fleck
Bach: 2 Part Invention #13 - Fleck


Gary Hoffman, cello

Debussy: Children's Corner, 1st Movement - Fleck, Bell
Bach: 2 Part Invention #12 - Fleck
Beethoven: "Moonlight Sonata" - Fleck
Chopin: etude in C# Minor, Op. 10, No. 4 - Fleck


Edgar Meyer, bass & piano

A master instrumentalist and a chameleon of styles, Edgar Meyer has established himself as a vibrant performer and an innovative composer in a variety of arenas from classical to bluegrass. His virtuosity and musicianship inspired one critic to call him, "quite simply, the best bassist alive."

Bach: 3 Part Invention #10 - Fleck, Thile
Tchaikovsky: Melody in E-Flat - Fleck
Paganini: Moto Perpetuo - Fleck
Bach: 2 Part Invention #6 - Fleck



Chris Thile, mandolin

Bach: 3 Part Invention #7 - Fleck, Bell
Bach: 3 Part Invention #10 - Fleck, Meyer
Scarlatti: Sonata in C, K. 159 - Fleck
Scarlatti: Sonata No. 65, K. 213 - Fleck



James Bryan Sutton, steel string guitar

Paganini: Moto Perpetuo (Bluegrass) - Fleck


John Williams, guitar
One of the most versatile and respected guitarists in the world, John Williams has explored, expanded and personally inspired a modern renaissance for the classical guitar through his international concert appearances and best-selling recordings.

Chopin: Muzurka, Op. 59/3, No. 38 - Fleck
Beethoven: 7 Variations on "God Save the King" - Fleck