John Marks Shares And Remembers: Reviews And Recording

Includes free streaming of 200-plus recordings. All readers welcome. Merry Christmas, you filthy animals!

TL;DR: Steinway & Sons offers FREE streaming, not only of my three string-quartet Christmas albums; but also more than 200 other recordings. Most of which involve pianos, for some reason or other. Highest recommendation.

At the beginning of January 1995, I received a handwritten letter from a woman in Ohio. She told me that she was bedridden and almost totally blind (from surgery to arrest the spread of brain cancer). She said that she was receiving disability payments, and was living in a trailer.

She also confided that, by Thanksgiving 1994, she had pretty much given up all hope. (Obviously, by that point, her letter had gotten all my attention.)

She went on to write that, the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving, while her husband was watching the NBC Today Show, her attention was suddenly drawn to the sound of a live string quartet playing Christmas carols. Upon hearing a host say that the performance was of music from a new Christmas CD, she asked her husband to go out immediately and to buy that recording for her.

It took her husband three tries. However, at the third store he visited, he bought one of the last copies that store had left in stock. He took that CD home to his wife. She then listened to Arturo Delmoni & Friends’ Rejoice! A String Quartet Christmas, Volume One, over and over. My address was on the CD’s tray card. She later wrote me a letter, to tell me what a difference that music had made in her life… .

I began making sound recordings in 1967. The first professional project I worked on that saw commercial release was violinist Arturo Delmoni’s Songs My Mother Taught Me, which was recorded in 1982. My JMR releases racked up extraordinary reviews, starred reviews, “recording of special merit” and “recording of the month” designations, and even some honorable mentions for a few major awards. They even sent me an engraved invitation to attend the Grammy awards ceremony. (So I could sit there and clap, as somebody else got the Grammy.)

However, the only “review” any of my recordings got that ever made me cry, came from a woman who was living in a trailer in Ohio.

So, here are some other reviews, reviews that did not quite make me cry.

An especially welcome holiday album is the new “Rejoice: A String Quartet Christmas” from John Marks Records. … “Rejoice” contains 24 carols arranged lovingly for strings.

Billboard

“Lovingly.” From Billboard. I like that!

A first-class string quartet plays tasteful arrangements … in refreshingly ungimmicky style. Warmly recommended for those who like the tunes better than the words.

The Washington Post

“Ungimmicky.” I bet it sounds even better in German!

A simple string quartet breathes new life into Christmas classics … brings out the natural beauty in the songs of Christmas. This album will substitute nicely if you won’t be having a live string quartet at this year’s Christmas party.

The Christian Science Monitor

It might as well have said “For those poor souls who do not have Court Musicians. Or even a Court Astrologer!”

These carols arranged for string quartet are done straight, not tongue-in-cheek as in the “What If Mozart Wrote...” series. The instrumentalists are top flight, including star cellist Nathaniel Rosen. This may be the ideal background CD for Christmas Day… .

Dallas Morning News

“Straight.” Thanks!

Yuletide listening doesn’t come any mellower than this.

The San Francisco Examiner

“Mellow.” Thanks!

Classical elegance … .

The Denver Post

“Elegant.” I will take that any day!

Note, to state the obvious: Because Steinway’s streaming is free, I am not getting paid in any way, shape, or form, no matter how many people listen in. Furthermore, I sold the master tapes to Steinway & Sons on the basis that I would not receive Producer’s Over-rides or any other payments in respect of future sales of physical media or of downloads.

And a Merry Christmas to all.

(Seconded — jb)