It was only last night that I was tweeting about how much that I REALLY wanted someone to pull together a classical live performance / concept album of Michael Jackson songs that had been re-worked to be performed by a symphony orchestra or similar.

Yes, I am thinking rather like Metallica’s S&M album/performances, and I reckon that this is a very good example of how a reworking and addition of an orchestra can really make songs mind-blowingly awesome (whilst still retaining the greatness of the original)!

Since then, I’ve hit YouTube and seen many great classical versions of MJ songs, however German-American violinist David Garrett‘s Smooth Criminal really stood out for me!

Being the genius that he is… he already has a Michael Jackson medley too, which I reckon really shows off how well his songs lend themselves to this genre and that they would suit a concept enhancement with a larger group of instruments.

David Garrett’s official webpage can be found by clicking here. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of Smooth Criminal, it can be found on his 2008 album ‘Encore‘.

PS – you remember that I said at the top of the page that the S&M concept album was amazing for Metallica and was my thinking behind wanting something similar for MJ?… turns out Garrett has already covered one of my favourite Metallica songs too!

(here’s the version from the S&M performance… just so you get comparison of how good it sounds with a full symphony)