Where to find (and listen to before purchasing) popular songs redone on violins?

October 24, 2005 7:11 AM

Where to find (and listen to before purchasing) popular songs redone on violins?

We're trying to decide our ceremony music for our upcoming wedding. We will most likely have a violin duet or a string quartet.

I do not want the traditional "Here comes the bride" type marches. I want to use familiar songs with a classical spin--like this version of "Here comes the sun" by the Beatles (scroll to the contemporary section.) I've been trying to find a version of "And I love her," but I've had a hard time finding anything else.

Any other suggestions are welcome, as well.

posted by saucy to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

There are about 50 "String Quartet Tribute to Band X" CD's out there at your local mall record shop. Pick your favorite band and go nuts.

There's even a Beatles one, but it doesn't have "And I Love Her".
posted by smackfu at 7:46 AM on October 24, 2005

If you have a live quartet or duo, why not ask them what they have? I play violin myself, and I have string arrangements of some popular things, and I'd expect any string quartet to have their own repertoire of whatever they want to or can play. Just let them know that you're looking for something non-traditional, and have them play for you beforehand.
posted by easternblot at 8:13 AM on October 24, 2005

Oh, and additionally, some musicians are also able to write their own arrangements for quartet. The Beatles are easy to arrange, so if you have one song that you really want to hear, and you still need to find musicians anyway, you can ask them about arranging. (It will no doubt cost more, but two violinists is also cheaper than a quartet, so you could perhaps go with two musicians in that case.)
posted by easternblot at 8:15 AM on October 24, 2005

The Balanescu Quartet might be worth checking out: they did a wonderful album of Kraftwerk covers, called Posessed, which you can preview on the last page linked.
posted by jack_mo at 8:27 AM on October 24, 2005

There are about 50 "String Quartet Tribute to Band X" CD's out there at your local mall record shop. Pick your favorite band and go nuts.

They can be found here. I have the tribute to Pearl Jam and it's pretty good. Although I don't think you want to have "Betterman" playing during the ceremony. heh.
posted by inviolable at 9:05 AM on October 24, 2005

My wife and I walked down the aisle (well, path, really - it was an outdoor wedding) to the string tribute to Nirvana's "All Apologies" from inviolable's link. (Married / Burried - Get it?)

We looked around iTunes for covers but without much luck. We ended up just loacting a friend that owned the album and ripped it from her.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 10:42 AM on October 24, 2005

Thirding the String Quartet Tributes, individual albums of which you can find at Vitamin Records (9-page catalog) and TMRPRO (arranged by band name's first letter). Check out The Section Quartet, too.
posted by Lush at 11:50 AM on October 24, 2005

"Purple Haze" as performed by the Kronos Quartet. Scroll down; it's the last song on the album.
posted by Clay201 at 12:04 PM on October 24, 2005

I'm not sure I understand. You say you're going to have live musicians, so is it a recording you're looking for, or an arrangement?
posted by ludwig_van at 3:42 PM on October 24, 2005

Response by poster: We are going to have live musicians. I just wanted to listen to recordings to get an idea of what would sound good, and to kind of plan out what we would want.

Would I be better off finding my musicians first, and then asking them what they can play? I am not a musician, and I've never hired one before either, so I don't really know how to go about it. :-)
posted by saucy at 5:24 PM on October 24, 2005