Big Sciota - Sierra Hull and Portland Chamber Orchestra

"Big Sciota" is an American Old Time tune named after a river in Ohio.
Sierra Hull, mandolin
Portland Chamber Orchestra
Yaacov Bergman
artistic director/conductor
portlandchamberorchestra.org/
Performed at Agnes Flanagan Chapel 3/31/2019.
Recorded and produced by Alan Niven.

[@DM-cp4uk]

I love that any musician who was not playing appeared enthralled by the banjo!

[@brunovanhoek96]

And rightfully so. Too bad though that, while the banjo was playing back up to the mandolin it stayed too loud in the mix. Sierra's mandolin breaks were no where near loud enough. This happens when you're letting people, not familiar with Bluegrass, making decisions about amplification and mix. That was applicable in 1960 and it stil is....

[@dlagrua]

Sierra Hull is one of the greatest talents to come out of Nashville in quite a while. She can play all styles and does it perfectly.

[@robertfox499]

She is an American treasure! So is her husband Justin and the whole circle of musicians she is associated with.

[@JustFiddler]

indeed!

[@anthonysalvati5868]

Was lucky enough to see her perform tonight in an acoustically perfect 400 seat(sold out) theater in Connecticut. It was literally a mind blowing performance, what stood out to me is how effortlessly she plays. Just a fantastic night of music.

[@katnisseverdeen-ic7rt]

I agree she is very talented I love how she plays first slow then she gets faster and I can't help but dance.

[@rnv71950]

She’s an absolute gifted artist. Sensational

[@RichardT9]

Everything she touches with those hands or shines upon with her smile becomes magical!

[@jordimacia188]

Nice to see Sierra in other world …

[@stephaneg9591]

Not only Sierra's beautiful mandolin, but the banjo's great tone is pleasant.

[@zymelin21]

the beginning took me to the russian steppes. Then hop, skip, jump to the Sciota river. Super!!!

[@rstarace52]

Reminds me of some of the stuff Mark O'Connor did for Ken Burns PBS specials on the Civil War.

[@TheBabashee]

I made a similar comment before I read yours. Exactly!

[@basilbabaa1628]

Beautiful

[@ricknix6785]

FANTASIC!!!

[@alanmralphsralphs7434]

Magnifique ... unstoppable smiles and dancing feet 🎈🌻🎈

[@hansguenter6263]

Fantastic; !!!

[@arthurj2520]

Bravo! Fortissimo!

[@randywhitebanjo]

Nice stuff! Not usually a fan of orchestra and bluegrass together but they pulled it off.

[@SuperBillstanley]

Big Sciota is not technically a bluegrass piece, but rather from a style of music called Old Time. It was very popular in Appalachia and the midwest back in the 1800s and early 1900s. In time it gave birth to a new genre that was called bluegrass (1940s or so), but this is an Old Time fiddle tune.

[@randywhitebanjo]

@@SuperBillstanley good to know...I guess?

[@timothycollins3829]

Her opening had an interesting flamenco feel at times. Not something usually associated with the mandolin.

[@ResophonicRebop]

Check out Mike Marshall doing Choro tunes

[@adamczech6261]

Oh, that's actually the weirdest intro to Big Sciota ever played

[@TheBabashee]

Spaghetti Western version

[@mattjohnson2526]

I'm okay with this. The beginning didn't seem to match, but it had an Aaron Copeland vibe once they started playing Big Sciota.

[@benyatrock]

I freakin liked that.

[@DavidHaile_profile]

I love it! That venue looks like a church.

[@lonzo61]

Groan.

[@billquailes7882]

WOW

[@martinparmer]

Great example of blending bluegrass with the symphony. I've seen it several times and it's always wonderful. You can hear the differences between classically trained violinist vs the old time fiddle style. They are both wonderful and I love them both. The old boy playing the banjo did a great job, but he did have a bit of the "deer in the headlights" look, LOL.

[@TerryTerryTerry]

He was super cool!

[@keithchilvers7434]

Likewise with classically trained and jazz players, such as when Yehudi Menuhin used to jam with Stefan Grappelli, both brilliant but very different.

[@kennethpack1963]

Now she is a very talented young lady...

[@dbadagna]

Portland, Oregon, USA

[@Lloyd-mo]

Can we tell the banjo players name? Maybe i missed it.

[@JacobHeadMusic]

I just want to know how the mandolin was recorded to get this kind of tone. I thought at first that it was just the SM58, but in another video where she’s singing into the 58, the mandolin tone feels the same. Regardless, it’s about as impressive as I’ve ever heard her mandolin sound.

[@peterwhite7428]

Chances are she got the opening from the great mandolin player Peter Ostroushko

[@magmoreoakblaze1959]

What a wonderful performance. Every musician is totally there in the moment. Sierra Hull is the Jimi Hendrix of mandolin?

[@brunovanhoek96]

No, that would be Chris Thile

[@isaiah95786]

​@brunovanhoek96 agreed, she'd have to be a later guitarist's analog

[@mandojimmy]

Loved the tone of Sierra's mandolin but I echo other comments. The banjo makes it happen for me. Don;t know who he is but brilliant and hat's off to keeping his hat on !!

[@doconc]

Keith Reed. Great guy, used to take lessons from him. He's the director of the bluegrass ensemble at Colorado College in Colorado Springs.

[@robertlord1582]

Perhaps I missed it. Who is the banjo player? He added so much. It would have been nice to see his name in the credits.

[@bricetucker2117]

Keith Reed

[@robertlord1582]

@@bricetucker2117 Thank you! I hoped someone would come up with his name.

[@jimandmarypowell9783]

A wonderful take on bluegrass

[@fretfix1]

Technically this is not a Bluegrass tune. It is a fiddle 'reel' in the Irish style, from a fiddler in West Virginia. But unfortunately there were no fiddlers in the orchestra...just violinists:) Sierra does an excellent rendition on mandolin. Those outside the South would deem this Bluegrass. But in the South we understand the delineations...

[@brunovanhoek96]

@@fretfix1 Technically, you are right, but adding a banjo, 3 finger style makes anything into Bluegrass. No origin of any tune can't take away from that.

[@dumena]

The closest thing to a Gary-Larson-cartoon come to live I've seen so far.

[@Radionut]

Huh? Explain

[@dumena]

@@Radionut Hi there Radionut. A Banjoplayer in a sandcoloured suit with a huge Stetson hat looking like a polar bear surrounded by a classical orchestra, all dressed like penguins. Misplaced Banjoplayers. Polar bears. Penguins. Trademarks of beloved Gary Larson. No disrespect intended at all. I love Big Sciota, Sierra Hull and Gary Larson. The Bluegrassbanjo I love when played by John Hartford RIP, Noam Pikelny or Bela Fleck, the Clawhammerbanjo when played by just about anyone. It's a sour thing to explain a joke, but since you've been asking. Happy now?

[@beatseed8278]

Are there any other recordings of sierra with the orchestra together? I would love to see more!

[@slimpickens8343]

Wondered the same

[@kdubatx1]

Well how cool was that

[@JoeBanjo88]

SIerra always great! Who is the banjoist? He did a real fine job!

[@doconc]

Keith Reed, director of the Bluegrass Ensemble at Colorado College

[@deanapostol3963]

That's some toe tappin chamber music.

[@richardcicciarelli9440]

I sort of feel everyone was using this as a warmup. I think the beat could have been picked up a bit. Cool to see the chamber orchestra playing this though.

[@ldklinux]

This is a wonderful performance. I wonder why the banjo player looked so nervous (maybe just focused?). Great playing though.

[@weaktea4252]

I wanted the harpist to take a solo.

[@cafiend]

Orchestral arrangements of these tunes always sound a bit constipated. Like the massed power just isn’t quite nimble enough. It’s fun, but can’t have the edge of a smaller ensemble steeped in the traditions of the genre.

[@BolioSati]

Adjust the playback speed to 1.25x. It sounds pretty solid.

[@peterreno4203]

I tend to agree. They might’ve changed the arrangement to suit orchestral instrumentation, but they didn't.

[@banjopete]

I agree completely ,sounds constipated but still great.

[@jeffsimard8846]

I love Sierra Hull but I couldn't help hear how out of sync this was, and no sense of drive

[@fractuss]

I cross the mighty Scioto (it's actual spelling) every month or so.

[@hannahmeixner6616]

I used to live on the Scioto!

[@fractuss]

@@hannahmeixner6616 Sounds moist.

[@robertshorthill6836]

After half of this post didn't need to be presented, we finally get to hear this venerable, great old fiddle tune. There could have been a medley of Sandy River Belle, or any other "river" type tune along with Big Sciota, in my opinion. She is a treasure, tho.

[@jimoday2078]

Details, details. I've seen the song spelled "Big Scioty," and now, "Big Sciota." The river is spelled "Scioto." Ain't English great!?

[@WaywardCars]

Yep, it comes in several names...

[@brunovanhoek96]

Probably wasn't an English word to begin with....

[@bustedfender]

Well that swung like a dead man.

[@rstarace52]

My bad the documentary/sound track was on the Revolutionary War

[@keithchilvers7434]

On that soundtrack Mark O'Connor did Flowers of Edinburgh, a tune which has the same chord sequence as Big Sciota, - I seguey the two tunes, they go really well together.

[@rstarace52]

Thanks, I'll be sure to play them both back to back!

[@TheBabashee]

Resembles a movie soundtrack, or music to accompany a Ken Burns documentary. I constantly get the impression that the classical music ensemble is looking down on the bluegrass performers, much as they would off-camera. Prefer Sierra in her own space.

[@brianscott7013]

to get the sound right does not take a genius

[@ProfRybczyk]

Sierra was great, but my god, that was a souless version from the orchestra.

[@Radionut]

On a scale of one to 10 that was a 12

[@bill-465]

Yikes.

[@austenrobinson2747]

Bach would have been a better choice

[@bernieross1241]

Of course, the mandolin and banjo were great, but played against a background that was stifled and un-free. Classical musicians just can't play bluegrass. They read dots on lines. This so missed the slides, the surges, and the expression and feel of a proper bluegrass fiddler.

[@masonwelty8058]

Most exceptional folk players can also read dots on lines ;)

[@lonzo61]

Well, now....I could not help noticing that this orchestra is all WHITE. Isn't that special? Again, whites excluding blacks and LatinX and Asians. Aw f*ck it, this was awesome! I dig some classical and blue grass, but I have not seen a mashup like this. Well done! And for the record, I am not WOKE. I was just acting like one of those @ssholes. It's just a matter of time, I suppose, before some social justice worrier does say something nasty. The WOKEsters are everywhere.

[@stixx3969]

That's a pretty bold statement. Do you have any proof to backup your claim that they have excluded anyone? Or, could it be those were they only folks interested in joining?

[@lonzo61]

@@stixx3969 Well, I had hoped by my comments following my initial comment that I was being ironic--for a chuckle and to poke at the WOKE. As I wrote, I am not WOKE, but what I initially wrote is precisely what the WOKE mob would have written. I'm taking shots at the WOKE everyday. I hate them, and what they are doing to every part of society--here and in other western countries. Go back and read my comments again, and I think I make it clear that I am acting like one of them in the first comment, and then quickly follow up by stating my feelings about them. Personally, I don't give a sh*t about what color an orchestra is. I care whether they are playing competently and what type of music they are performing.

[@stixx3969]

@@lonzo61 wow....you really sound triggered. While we're at it....define "woke." I would add that you sound like a dyed in the wool Trump supporter. Would I be wrong in that assessment?

[@lonzo61]

I am not a Trump supporter. And I don't know why I sound "triggered" by virtue of having simply replied to your comment.

[@stixx3969]

@@lonzo61 Really? You sure sound like one...