Orange Blossom Special like you never imagined! Mark O'Connor & the Boston Pops 

On May 10th in 1984 the Oklahoma State Legislation sent my 79 yr. old daddy an official letter, requesting him to come & play his fiddle (not violin) for them. They were wanting to choose an instrument to be our State Instrument for Oklahoma. He stood before them all & played THIS song. SOLO!!! No orchestra, no accompaniment, just him & his fiddle. He raised the roof!! My daddy was self taught, could NOT read a note of music. For 67 yrs. he played ONLY by ear!! Needless to say.... The "fiddle" to this day, is Our State instrument!! Thank you daddy & thank you Oklahoma!!

I would say this was one of best moments ever on Evening at Pops during its historic run on PBS

Mark is unbelievable. He is a great inspiration to me.

i've heard countless versions of 'orange blossom special'. this one is something else.. the orchid in a sea of buttercups.

Never heard anyone play fiddle like that !!!!!!!!!! I'm surprised it didn't burst into flames !!!! Mark, YOU ARE AMAZIN' !

Marc O'cconer & John Williams! Two masters of musical talent!

This performance is one of the very few I have ever heard where the fiddler actually plays the melody as it is written and even hits all the notes! Mark O'Connor is a masterful player and does an excellent job with this song.

I expect that bow was liquid cooled! INCREDIBLE poor fiddle was smokin at the end!

Stunning !!

This is phenomenal!

This was ASTONISHING. Incredible! Mr. O'Connor, you are a virtuoso. Bravo, a million times!

Phew!!!! I'm knackered after watching this.

Amazing Mark!!!!!!!!!!!

serious good time, love it👍

I love this! Awesome performance!!!

Mark O'Conner one of my favorite fiddlers.

gotta love it, john williams & the boston pops!

I have heard a lot of people and groups perform Orange Blossom Special but none this version is definitely unique. He even threw in a bit of the themes from Bonanza and The Flinstones. :)

Oh My Goodness!! How incredibly original and unexpected! Thank you! I love this!

woah! absolutely amazing..riveting..and wonderful to hear this JOYful song as it was originally intended to be hear.. along with all the fun & beautiful variations . thank you Mark, for sharing your magic with us.

That was awesome playing and an awesome arrangement as well. Thanks for sharing.

Simply a master at work...WOW! WOW! And hes just as good on guitar...

Took away my breath! What a 'fiddler!' 🤠

I love old trains and have had the opportunity to ride some great ones in western North Carolina over the past decade or so. This song is a wonderful tribute to the sounds of these old trains. Great performance.

💜💥He fiddled-faddled that 🎻 Awesome ♡

Mark, every time I listen to your music you bring joy into my day! This piece is absolutely joyous!! Thank you SO much for bringing your wonderful skills and music into our lives!

I wouldn't want to be on that train!

Awesome !!!

I am sure I seen smoke coming from those strings lol, what an awesome medley.

Speechless..............

Fantastic job especially for the full version. Most people are only used to the short version !

Pretty amazing to have John Williams as conductor too..

It Takes my breath away

brilliant 💘

amazing great wonderful

Saw this when it first aired on PBS. Went out and bought all his records.

I heard the cosmic pulse of Bach!

Mr O'Conner, At 48 yrs old I just heard the best version of The Orange Blossom Special ever. Thank you very much for sharing this great work with us all.

Mr. O'Connor... you should be proud! Sure you are.....How wonderful. Went to a performance last night. They finished with this.. the audience was on their feet...

Insane!

I love a good Train Song, and this is my number one favorite next to the Wabash Cannon ball.

Thank you this is Great

Phenominal

Nice train sounds.

the fiddle played right reaches deep.

So cool to see you collaborate with JW!

INSANE...WOWWWW

Orange Blossom Special like you never imagined! Mark O'Connor & the Boston Pops Celebration Saturday - Feelin' It!

Hello !!!!! Happy New Year,Mark !!!!!Thank you very much for wonderful music and performance!!!! Respect !!!!

What I find fasinating is here is a conservative audience probably used to listening to strict classical music giving him a standing ovation at the end!!!

WOW, I MET MARK, BELA, SAM AND THE ONE AND ONLY JERRY DOUGLAS 35 YEARS AGO ! THEY WENT TO DIFFERENT FESTIVALS AND DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IF THEY WOULD MAKE ENOUGH FOR THEIR GASOLINE EXPENSE.. I am so glad for their successes. (Sorry , didn't know I had caps on.)

"Mr. O'Connor, I want you to know that my grandfather, Ervin T. Rouse, wrote the Orange Blossom Special. And of all the people my family has heard, play that song......you are the best. Thank you for doing an awesome job on this song." -Desire' Meyers Orange Blossom Special like you never imagined! Mark O'Connor & the Boston Pops

you are so jenius!

That's a MUSICIAN!

Awsome ty

met the Rouse brothers at Zeke Clements office 1968 they played and were very good and very nice,

Bravo! That’s all

That's simply amazing, marvelous playing. I love to watch Mark - he might not draw the bow ( in classical style) but wow feel he's actually so far ahead of the game!!! with what he can make the fiddle do!

Hahahahahaha.......... I bet Ervin T Rouse and Chubby Wise could never imagine their music being played by the Boston Pops..... The genius of Mark O’Connor. I was 13 yrs old and scratching up Mark’s Soppin the gravy album. I’d go to contests and hear other fiddlers playing his arrangements note for note. Bart Trotter could play Mark’s Tennessee Wagoner note for note. That impressed me greatly. I never got to see mark play in a contest and that was as close to seeing how he did it as I got. Bart played a super hot, I don’t love nobody in C where others played it in A. The year was 1984, I was playing a contest in Muleshoe, Tx.... when we got news that Ricky Turpin, one of our great local fiddlers had finished 2nd at Weiser. Give you one guess who finished #1....... the unbeatable... Mark O’ Connor! I got to help judge the older division at the muleshoe contest......Weldon Turpin (Ricky’s dad), Bartow Riley were some of the greats that played that day.....

8.7.17 .. That was "crazy" .. I'll never be able to move my fingers half the speed just scratching my head, without having to play a tune. I have heard others, all excellent, because I can't play the darn thing.

What a performance! Check out his appearance at Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis.

Maravilhoso 👏👏👏👏🇺🇸🇧🇷😘

Fantastic, amazing, brilliant, Mark you must have some Irish blood in there somewhere, you have an Irish head! Best wishes from Dublin.

I'll never escape the collateral meme damage Silvagunner has implemented into my mind

Excelent

Wow!!! About as good as it gets

You just gotta Love it , to get to where Mark has gotten. It is like his Fiddle is an extension of his hand....Nobody better or even close...

❤️❤️

Just had to comment again- if I played the violin/fiddle (which I don’t), I wouldn’t be able to play the wrong notes that fast, let alone the right ones lol 😂🤩

Honestly, perfect.

Dang!

Più buttato sul jazz, very technical O'Connor

WOW

Excuse me while I catch my breath. And he plays guitar as well.

The guy is sure a very sophisticated violinist - yet - is he a good fiddler ? 42

Wow

You're one bad mamma jamma!

Day-um!

Dude! You ROCK!!! Met you at the Wheeler in Aspen back in around '94 or '95, showed you my invention, the Cellocaster... you picked it up, put it under your chin and said, "boy, this is heavy..." You Sir, ARE CORRECT! But I haven't given up! I have plans to redesign it in a shorter scale, and lighter, hollow-body design. I will keep you posted. Thanks for the inspiration!

A Modern Mozart he will be studied for,many moons to come, ranks with Chubby & Vassar

Yes! The best one "Orange blossom..." ever heard.

Like I heard Michael Martin Murphy once say, "Country meets Culture!"

Yaba daba do!

the title runs true

Wow omg haha, fantastic. Amazing how fast is this possible to play?

He aint purty but he shore can saw that thang. All kidding aside O,connor is one of the greats.

Is this the same song on Music Of The Heart where that fiddle scene came on, I was looking for that song, if its it, I can't hear the violins like I do in that movie, I can't tell if it's the same song.

Want to see an outstanding version of this song....look for Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, you won't be disappointed. Oh, and they don't incorporate other songs with their version.

Don't get no better than that!

Just how a train song is supposed to be played, FAST.

I have never heard a bad version of OBS, because I would never listen to an amateur play it. I have heard some great versions and would not want to rate them. Each player has his unique style.

It doesn’t feel right without the sound of people cheering.

Fiddle sticks !!!!

3:14 HIGH QUALITY RIP

Just skip to 1:40 where it begins

Just get on with it!.

🦇

Didn't the announcer mean to say, "Mark O'Connor on fiddle."

Ooooooo

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