Review: Johns Creek Symphony takes on a rock edge with violinist Mark Wood

Violinist Mark Wood has long endeared himself to instrumental music fans with his dazzling solo career of high-octane electric violin recordings. To the public at large, he is most well-known as the original violinist for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Having stepped back from the Christmas-themed progressive metal juggernaut in recent years, Wood divides his time among music education, designing innovative electric violins and composing and performing his own music. All these endeavors came together in Wood’s stunning performance Saturday with the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra at the Newton Park Amphitheater. 

Far from a mere smattering of classical devotees, the concert was attended by a vast, teeming multitude of concert-goers ready to rock. The confluence of classical grandeur and heavy metal arena rock promised to be a bold and thrilling close to the orchestra’s summer concert season. The festivities were led by guest conductor John Morrison, executive director of the Georgia Academy of Music.

The orchestra opened with spirited renditions of “Rock Around the Clock,” “Mack The Knife,” “Georgia On My Mind” and “We Will Rock You.” From the outset, it was nice to see how well the orchestra was balanced with the evening’s added rock band elements. With the hired guitar, bass and drums not drowning out the classical players, it was apparent how much craft and detail work had gone into the arrangements. The result was a jovial but intricate romp that called to mind the pop-goes-lounge stylings of mid-century television orchestras.  

Wood emerged to requisite rock star applause and launched into “Wood’s Bolero,” an original composition off his 2016 album Turbow. His onstage presence is full of the sort of diabolical persona commonly associated with Jimmy Page and Jim Morrison: the slinky, devilish figure that is as hypnotic with his hips as he is graceful with his music. He is, in short, a performer who captures the fundamental essence of rock music as a captivating, ominous and, above all, sensuous art form.

For all of Wood’s onstage grandiosity, he is still a transcendent instrumentalist. The history of the electric violin runs a wide gamut — from the jazz fusion stylings of Jean-Luc Ponty to the industrial soundscapes of Nash the Slash — and Wood has an undeniable awareness of that tonal range. He uses layers of wah pedal and other effects normally reserved for the electric guitar — but never at the cost of melodic clarity. The combination leaves him open to dazzle with flying fingerwork or devastate the senses with walls of distortion while never going off the rails into either extreme. 

Wood’s violin, the Viper, is a signature design from his own company, Wood Violins. Sporting an expanded neck and seven strings (instead of the traditional four), the instrument commands a range that encompasses the lion’s share of an entire string ensemble. That versatility gives Wood an edge as a soloist but also opens him up for self-accompaniment, a feat demonstrated during his stand-alone solo that included an array of familiar classical passages blended with modern bits such as the climax of Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption.”

The set featured a slew of rock classics, including Journey’s “Any Way You Want It” and Kansas’ “Carry on Wayward Son” (with the latter affording Wood the opportunity to develop the familiar melody into his own sprawling composition), a dazzling journey through improvisation and soaring arpeggios that proved the violin can more than satiate an audience thirsty for great hard rock solos. But beneath the captivating virtuosity were wave after wave of auditory treats for the learned ear, the sort of minute forays into harmonic intricacy that appeal to jazz heads and classical aficionados.

Wood closed the first half of the concert with a rendition of Aaron Copland’s “Hoedown” that leaned heavily on the piece’s folk and bluegrass roots. Similarly, the second half featured “Vivaldi Rocks,” a piece from Wood’s 2001 solo album These Are a Few of My Favorite Things, which paid tribute to Antonio Vivaldi with quotes from his compositions interspersed with furious speed metal riffing.

The one drawback to Wood’s performance was his inability at times to draw back when a piece called for subtle touches. His version of the melancholy classic “Eleanor Rigby,” for example, was played uptempo with a militaristic undercurrent from the orchestra, which evoked images of soldiers storming the beaches at Normandy. He fared better in his rendition of “Live and Let Die,” where he employed a gentle, lilting tonality that admirably conveyed Paul McCartney’s original vocal performance.

The evening closed with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s breakout hit “Christmas/Sarajevo 12/24,” a hard rocking take on the Christmas standard “Carol of the Bells,” followed by Led Zepplin’s thundering symphonic-flavored staple “Kashmir.” It was a fitting close to an evening defined by the bombastic. 

Wood’s fiery showmanship and heavy metal panache may endear him more to contemporary rock fans than classical purists, but it’s clear that he couldn’t care less. Forget Carnegie Hall — he’s too busy melting faces off audiences at arena and amphitheater shows all across the world.

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Jordan Owen began writing about music professionally at the age of 16 in Oxford, Mississippi. A 2006 graduate of the Berklee College of Music, he is a professional guitarist, bandleader and composer. He is currently the lead guitarist for the jazz group Other Strangers, the power metal band Axis of Empires and the melodic death/thrash metal band Century Spawn.