''The Violin Player'' is the first

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

album by classical and pop musician

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

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

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

label. The album was mostly produced by

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director, and conductor. He served as the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Batt created the novelty pop band T ...

Content

''The Violin Player'' features a varied blend of music – covers of classical music ( J.S. Bach's '' Toccata and Fugue in D minor''), 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 P ...

"), 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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, "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 the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

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 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 cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

Musicians

– violin *

– keyboards (tracks 1–9) *Gareth Cousins – synthesisers (tracks 1–9) *Martin Bliss – guitars (track 10) * Clem Clempson – guitars (tracks 1–9) *Dick Morgan – oboe (track 1) * Maurice Murphy – trumpet (track 1) *

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

– 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 engineered 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 Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

and Whitfield Street Recording Studios,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra albums