Okay so I was checking out this recording session at Abbey Road for Grace, composed by Austin Wintory, when I came across this picture which had me watering at the mouth.
Four bass clarinets plus four contrabass clarinets – OH YES. What a combination. I wish I could hear a little of what they were recording. Awesome!!
Gruppetto String Quartet
Galina Bratuska (violin I), Marouso Kydonieos (violin II), Lilia Giousoupovac (viola), Eygeni Bratuska (bass) – all members of major Greek orchestras
Ryan Youens (New Zealand) – In Their Light (world premiere)
C. Carsavassilis (Canada) – Baroque Revisited (European premiere)
Alexey Kurtijian (Brazil) – La Componessa
Also music by Filip Tsalaxuris (Greece), G. Matzafleris (Greece), Alex Pappas (Greece), Franz Schubert, Dass Dreimeadelhaus.
Artistic Director – Alex Pappas, Administrative Director – Dimitris Tsoutsos
6 Gravias Street, Agia Paraskeyh Pierce Theatre, 8:30pm, 10 November 2008, $18Euro
Well there’s one thing that always gets me going. Gets me so excited that I want to start a project such as that myself. It is orchestral collaborations with bands etc. Just love it. Some “purists” hate it, but they are just boring. To me, they are something that the players love, because they are at long last doing something new and fresh, and the audiences love it because of too many reasons to note. Of course also, it brings a whole new audience to an “orchestra” concert.
These were popularised firstly I guess by the legendary Michael Kamen. He orchestrated and conducted so many concerts, including ones with Pink Floyd, Queen, Eric Clapton, Aerosmith, David Bowie, Bryan Adams, Sting and Metallica. The latter, I think, is absolutely amazing. See a track from it here. It is so wonderfully orchestrated and put together. Of course the huge full size orchestra makes it all the more better.
MANY of these happen each every year and I wish there was some place where I could keep track of them all. Another one I found was a recent one from the UK. This orchestra is much smaller in size, but still, it’s an orchestra. This one is The Bays, who are an improvisation kinda band, who teamed up with The Heritage Orchestra in Liverpool. They also do some amazing stuff with how the orchestra players get their music … check it out.
Finally, I can’t leave without mentioning a little homegrown talent. John Psathas recently arranged all the music for a Little Bushmen / Auckland Philharmonia gig. I couldn’t make it to the concert, but have watched the documentary, and it’s fantastic. It’s a three part doco which starts here, but if you want to go straight to the final concert, see that here.
Well I’ve only briefly mentioned three, so do let me know if you have any favourites.
Ryan now has five works listed at SOUNZ, the Centre for New Zealand Music. Works are available for hire or purchase and more will be added soon. To visit Ryan’s profile and works there, visit here.
