“You don't often hear viola and cello in old-timey-style music, unless it's really old-timey, like Mozart and Beethoven.  But Mark O'Connor has recruited two superb young players to join him in his new Appalachia Waltz Trio.  This CD is an effort to keep alive, in the absence of disc mates Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer, the music he wrote for their hugely popular Appalachia Waltz and Appalachian Journey albums.  O'Connor's arrangements for this new ensemble sound entirely natural, giving everybody something interesting to do nearly all the time; the cello, for example, is almost never relegated to a simple backup role. Yet the music never sounds over-arranged, either.

These are spirited three-voice conversations, and the textures and interweaving melodic lines fit together perfectly.  O'Connor's performance style is well known, and he does after all own these pieces.”

– Strings Magazine

“Dear Mark,

On behalf of The Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival, thank you for your magical performance on August 17th at The Farmers' Museum. The positive comments from The Farmer' Museum audience make it clear they were delighted with your commanding and charismatic performance and your wonderful musicianship.

Thank you, again, for your part in making our ninth season memorable and successful.”

– Caroline Dern Johnston, executive director
Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival

“In exciting new works for violin, viola, and cello, as well as a number of new arrangements of his Appalachian series (first recorded with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer), The triumph, in casting traditional fiddle music in an entirely new light, may be compared to Glenn Gould's epic re-examination of The Well-Tempered Clavier.”

– Musician Magazine

"The fresh approach (to the music) breaths new life into some of O'Connor's most profound compositions, at the same time it gets them closer to the mountains."

– The Billings Gazette

“Violin champion O'Connor returns here to chamber-inspired Americana music but with a slight modification of his trio format (viola subbing for double-bass). The adjustments make the music even lighter and more open to the playful folkish stride that is an O'Connor signature.
3 stars”

– The Lexington Herald Leader

“Mark is a supreme master at what he does. Between thought and execution there are no impediments, zero. But what really interests me is that this is a person in constant development, hungry to develop. The intriguing question is, "Where is Mark O'Connor going?"”

– Yo-Yo Ma