A ‘Waltz’ Made for Three

I don’t follow country music, and I tend to look the other way when Yo-Yo Ma gets in his crossover mode. But there is no escaping the collaboration between Mark O’Connor, Nashville’s favorite fiddler, and Ma, the world’s most popular cellist. The disc they made with bassist Edgar Meyer, “Appalachia Waltz,” has been hogging the top spot on the classical charts since the moment of its release six weeks ago. And the original single date for the trio’s UCLA appearance--tonight at Veterans Wadsworth Theater--sold out so quickly that an earlier second show was added Thursday.

It is easy to become cynical about seemingly manufactured collaborations, given the feeding frenzy at the record companies after the Three Tenors gold mine. For instance, “Appalachia Waltz’s” competition at the moment includes lame Mozart concerto recordings from jazz pianists Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett, decent Rodgers and Hammerstein from opera star Bryn Terfel, and terrific Rodgers and Hart from Dawn Upshaw.

But O’Connor, Ma and Meyer are up to something quite different. O’Connor, especially. O’Connor is one of those exceedingly rare and inventive artists who transcends genre. He is said to be the finest exponent of American fiddle music today. He is, without question, a riveting virtuoso and a resourceful improviser. But he has another quality, one that’s hard to put a finger on, that makes this collaboration remarkable.

Ma tried to describe it in a chummy pre-concert talk between the three players when he noted that O’Connor never puts his fiddle down; he is always noodling on it. And his performance has that sense of opening a window into an ongoing, irrepressible involvement with his art. It is similar to the way Robin Williams never seems to be off, or the way the visionary theater artist Robert Wilson is always sketching, his designs evolving through a never-stopping process.

Although O’Connor is clearly the inspiration for the project (and the expert in this music), all three musicians are stunning players. There is, no doubt, some friendly competition between virtuosos going on, which always makes for good theater. But there is also a kind of blending of musical traditions that makes for even better theater, as when Ma plays a stern Baroque riff and O’Connor answers it in a homey country way.

Fiddle music turns out to be just right for that sort of thing. Its roots are in British folk music, especially Celtic traditional tunes, and in Baroque violin playing, all evolved over generations into a native Texan style. And it is this hybrid nature that seems to have suddenly liberated Ma, whose improvisatory style now makes exciting leaps from Bach to bluegrass to contemporary classical.

O’Connor, who has already shown the style to be a wondrous sponge in his orchestral “Fiddle Concerto” of two years ago, has a further talent. He writes lovely songs, tunes that are just an inch short of cliche-ridden but that always have a subtle turn of phrase that makes them original and memorable. Mozart, too, could be like that. One day O’Connor’s haunting title tune, “Appalachia Waltz,” may become a standard.

Meyer, who lives a double musical life as a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and a Nashville studio musician, had, in some ways, the most difficult task. Three string instruments don’t blend well, and the bass player was responsible for many of the flashy arrangements as well as some original numbers himself. But Meyer jumped through hoops, providing solid foundation that liberated the cello from its traditional bass role, while also contributing some flamboyant work of his own, especially when bowing.

In some ways that made the interaction of Ma and Meyer, who know each other from chamber music, the most interesting, as they constantly reinvented the role of the bass instruments. But then they had the example and inspiration of a fiddler who appears to be one of the most talented and imaginative reinventors working in music--any music--today.