Mike Oldfield has always been famed for his unconventional approach
to music. Throughout his career he has consistently broken musical boundaries,
and with Music of the Spheres he continues to do so. Taking influences
from Holst and Rachmaninov as much as Steve Reich or William Orbit,
this piece is classical in nature, but yet is also immediately identifiable
as classic Mike Oldfield.
Using a full concert orchestra and choir, and with solo parts from
Mike himself on guitar, legendary soprano Hayley Westenra and renowned
pianist Lang Lang, this is a work with huge emotional and musical scope.
And whilst the piece was entirely conceived, produced and written by
Mike, in order to translate his ideas into traditional classical notation
arranged for musicians to play, he turned to popular modern classical
composer Karl Jenkins.
The title of the piece is a reference to something that Mike feels
strongly: that all music should aim to represent the spriritual, or
otherworldly elements of life: something beyond the mundane and everyday.
In this he has clearly succeeded. Music of the Spheres is by turns
epic, tender, mournful and triumphant. It is the work of a composer
who above all can make beautiful and substantial music, regardless of
genre or instrumentation.
Tracklisting:
1. Harbinger
2. Animus
3. Silhouette
4. Shabda
5. The Tempest
6. Harbinger Reprise
7. On My Heart (feat. Hayley Westenra)
8. Aurora
9. Prophecy
10. On My Heart Reprise (feat. Hayley Westenra)
11. Harmonia Mundi
12. The Other Side
13. Empyrean
14. Musica Universalis
www.classicsandjazz.co.uk
We have FIVE FREE COPIES
of Mike's 'Music of the Spheres'
To be won HERE