Back
in the '60s, the illustrious, original Decca Records label from England
was responsible for so many of the great classic rock albums from
the Rolling Stones and Moody Blues to say nothing of their amazing
classical repertoire which is world renowned. The label is handled
Stateside here in America by Decca Records US who are owned by multi-national
conglomerate Universal Music. In late 2010, Decca worldwide have a
great new CD from remix / producer genius William Orbit entitled
Pieces In A Modern Style 2. Released as a follow
up to William’s 1999 volume one of Pieces, this second
installment features more newly worked-up,
switched on electronic adaptations of Orbit’s influential classical
music favorites including electronic symphonic covers of music we
all know and love from the pens of classical music heroes with famous
last names like J.S. Bach, Pucccini, Faure, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Saint-Saens
and more. As astute music fans will remember going back to the early
‘80s, William Orbit earned his stripes as a recording artist
back the heyday of the mid ‘80s, just when CD was first coming
out, while producing very appealing dance pop and instrumental no-speak
electronica for Miles Copeland’s now historic IRS label back
in the ‘80s and for much of the ‘90s. As a side project
to his continuing success as a producer and remix artist, Orbit sounds
right at home on this magical foray into the world of classical electronica.
Commenting on his instrumental classical New Age mix Orbit adds, ‘My
parents loved classical music. So those sounds come naturally to me.
Classical was the only music that was played in our house. That’s
why I keep returning to classical pieces for inspiration.’ Fans
of Wendy Carlos, Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre will get a buzz off
of Orbit's modern approach to classical music. Fans should note that
there’s also a companion CD to Pieces—entitled Pieces
In A Modern Style 2 - Remixes, that reworks the CD release
and adds in even more electronic and percussive effects—but (so
far) it’s only available as a download, while there is yet another
companion CD available on Decca entitled Pieces In The Original
Style, compiling the original classical works that
inspired William Orbit. Back around the time when this writer first
started in the music business back in 1983, I sent William Orbit my
first Lp release on Breakthru' Records of the Pekka Pohjola album
Urban Tango. I don’t know if William remembers this but
I recall he said some nice things to me about the Lp and I was very
grateful somebody of his enormous musical intellect would say something
cool about the late Pekka Pohjola—who
will surely be viewed as being one of the greatest, if not the greatest
classical jazz-rock composers and recording artists in the centuries
to come—so,
that said it’s more than gratifying for this long time fan to
see William Orbit still winning over whole new generations of pop,
classical and electronic music fans with Pieces In A Modern Style
2. www.WilliamOrbit.com
