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Tony Banks: Seven (A Suite for Orchestra)

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s

Artist: Tony Banks
Title: Seven (A Suite for Orchestra)
Released: 2004.04.20
Label: Naxos
Time: 57:39
Producer(s): Nick Davis, Tony Banks
Appears with: Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Ray Wilson
Category: Classical
Rating: ***....... (3/10)
Media type: CD
Purchase date:  2004.05.06
Price in €: 6,99
Web address: www.genesis-music.com

 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Spring Tide (T.Banks) - 10:14
[2] Black Down (T.Banks) - 9:46
[3] The Gateway (T.Banks) - 7:29
[4] The Ram (T.Banks) - 8:52
[5] Earthlight (T.Banks) - 4:43
[6] Neap Tide (T.Banks) - 4:57
[7] The Spirit of (T.Banks) - 11:33

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


TONY BANKS - Composer, Grand Piano, Liner Notes, Arrangements

MIKE DIXON - Conductor
LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA - Orchestra

SIMON HALE - Orchestration

RUPERT COULSON - Engineer
NICK WOLLAGE - Engineer

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2004 CD Naxos 8.557466



Tony Banks

Tony Banks is a founder member of the rock group Genesis, having been keyboard player and composer through all of its various incarnations. The group was originally a five-piece, (including Peter Gabriel and Mike Rutherford) which was formed at Charterhouse School in Surrey. Later, after one or two comings and goings, they were joined by drummer Phil Collins and guitarist Steve Hackett, and became one of the major exponents of progressive rock music in the early 1970s with such albums as Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. With Phil Collins taking over as lead singer after the departure of Peter Gabriel in 1975, and the later departure of Steve Hackett in 1977, the band, as a three-piece, became one of the most commercially successful bands in the world with a string of number one albums including Invisible Touch and We Can't Dance. The final incarnation came after Phil Collins left in the mid-1990s and resulted in the release of Calling All Stations in 1997. Throughout its existence Genesis has been just as well known for its live shows that have combined the music with elaborate visuals, first playing small clubs and theatres in the 1970s, and then arenas and stadiums in the 1980s and 1990s. During this time Tony Banks has also recorded five solo albums, A Curious Feeling (1979), The Fugitive (1983), Bankstatement (1989), Still (1991) and Strictly Inc (1995). In addition he has also composed the soundtracks for the films The Shout (with Mike Rutherford), The Wicked Lady, Lorca and the Outlaws, and Quicksilver. An album combining the music from these last two films called Soundtracks was released in 1986, and the music from The Wicked Lady was issued as a record in 1983.


London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has long established a high reputation for its versatility and artistic excellence. These are evident from its performances in the concert hall and opera house, its many award-winning recordings, its trailblazing international tours and its pioneering education work. Kurt Masur has been the orchestra's Principal Conductor since September 2000, extending the line of distinguished conductors who have held positions with the orchestra since its foundation in 1932 by Sir Thomas Beecham. These have included Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Pritchard, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Franz Welser-Most. Vladimir Jurowski was appointed the orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor in March 2003. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been resident symphony orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall since 1992, presenting there its main series of concerts between September and May each year, with varied programmes that include commissions from contemporary composers. In summer, the orchestra moves to Sussex where it has been the resident symphony orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera for the past forty years. In addition to performances in various parts of the United Kingdom, the orchestra has also made numerous tours abroad to America, Europe and Japan, and visited India, Hong Kong, Australia and South Africa, in addition to earlier ground-breaking tours to Soviet Russia and to China. The quality of the recording work undertaken by the London Philharmonic Orchestra is reflected in the awards conferred on it for its recordings with Bernard Haitink, Simon Rattle, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Klaus Tennstedt and Franz Welser-Most.



Tony Banks (b. 1950)
Seven: A Suite for Orchestra

The idea of writing for an orchestra had been in my mind since the recording of the music soundtrack for the film The Wicked Lady, back in the early eighties. At that time I had an existing piano piece which became the main theme, that took on a whole new character when it was orchestrated. This inspired me to want to create more music this way using only an orchestra, with the only addition being possibly a piano. With the film score, I had written the music on the piano, which was then orchestrated, and although most of the pieces worked well, some sections ended up further from the original concept than I would have liked. This time I wanted to make sure that the pieces ended up being a true representation of what I had originally written, even though I knew I was going to need the help of an orchestrator. I therefore recorded fairly detailed demos of the pieces, which I then gave to Simon Hale, the orchestrator of this suite, with the brief to make the music intelligible to orchestral players. The idea was to keep faithfully to the structure, and not to change any melodies, chords or other elements, but to have some freedom with instrumentation, and the use of additional arrangement ideas, to make the result convincing. There were obviously some ideas that worked better than others and it was not until we were actually recording with the orchestra that this became apparent. Having worked for over thirty years in the studio recording with Genesis and others, I was unprepared for the method of working in this situation. In the time the group would take to have perhaps got their instruments working, the orchestra is expected to have done a finished recording of maybe twenty minutes of music of which they previously had no knowledge. At the same time we were making frantic changes to the score, both to correct typographical errors and more importantly to improve parts. Then there were also decisions to be made in terms of tempo and expression, which had to be communicated to the conductor and then to the players. This proved too much to do in the time available, so after recording four pieces and listening to them many times afterwards I realised I would have to start again. I went in much better prepared the next time, enlisting the help of Nick Davis, who has been involved in my last few studio projects, as co-producer. I tried to make sure that everything from our end was as finished as possible, and that the conductor had a clear idea what was intended, and although it was still very intense work, everything seemed to come together more easily. Also, having been through the process once, I knew more what to expect and was therefore able to enjoy the recording and be much happier with the result.

Of the seven pieces in this suite, five were written specifically for this project, the other two being ideas from the past that I had always thought would work well with an orchestra. The Gateway was in fact written some twenty years ago as a possible idea for a film theme that was never used. The other older piece, Neap Tide, I originally recorded a version of at the time of the album Strictly Inc. The suite opens with Spring Tide, one of three pieces to feature the piano, and the one in which it is most prominent, although even here it is still very much part of the orchestra. The second piece here, Black Down, the name of a local hill, is the one that really started this project; I just wanted to hear how it would sound using real strings as opposed to a synthesizer. After that the rest came fairly quickly, and the final piece to be written was The Ram. I wanted something more rhythmic and up-tempo, with a more optimistic conclusion. Earthlight is really a theme with simple variations. The original theme written actually appears here as the first variation, the major key version although coming later, seemed the better one to start and end with. Simon added the semi-quaver violas accompanying the middle part, which looked very doubtful on paper, but which in the end sound very effective and natural. The suite closes with The Spirit of Gravity, which travels through a number of different musical ideas only to end up finally just where it began.

Tony Banks



Tony Banks(b. 1950)
Seven: Eine Suite für Orchester

Die Idee, Musik für Orchester zu schreiben, kam mir schon in den frühen achtziger Jahren, als wir den Soundtrack zu dem Film The Wicked Lady aufnahmen. Damals wurde ein bereits existierendes Klavierstück zum Hauptthema der Filmmusik, und nachdem es orchestriert worden war, hatte es sich charakterlich völlig verändert. So entstand der Wunsch, mehr für Orchester zu komponieren und gelegentlich höchstens ein Klavier hinzuzunehmen.

Die Filmmusik hatte ich ursprünglich für Klavier geschrieben, und sie wurde nachträglich instrumentiert. Das funktionierte auch im Falle der meisten Stücke, doch einige Abschnitte landeten weiter vom eigentlichen Konzept entfernt als mir lieb war. Dieses Mal wollte ich gewährleistet wissen, dass die Stücke wirklich das darstellten, was ich ursprünglich geschrieben hatte. Ich wusste freilich, dass ich die Hilfe eines Orchestrators benötigen würde, und so nahm ich recht detail getreue Demos der Stücke auf. Diese erhielt dann Simon Haie, der Orchestrator dieser Suite, mit dem Hinweis, dass er die Musik für Orchestermusiker verständlich machen sollte.

Die Idee war, die gesamte Originalstruktur zu bewahren und weder Melodien oder Akkorde noch andere Elemente zu verändern, zugleich aber so viele instrumentatorische Freiheiten und Möglichkeiten des Arrangements einzuräumen, dass ein überzeugendes Resultat entstand. Einige Ideen erwiesen sich funktionsfähiger als andere, und das stellte sich tatsächlich erst bei den Orchesteraufnahmen heraus. Trotz meiner dreißigjährigen Studio-Erfahrungen mit Genesis und anderen war ich auf diese Situation und diese Arbeitsmethoden nicht vorbereitet. In derselben Zeit, die eine Gruppe braucht, um vielleicht gerade einmal ihre Instrumente herzurichten, erwartet man von einem Orchester die Einspielung einer 20minütigen Komposition, die keiner der Musiker zuvor gesehen hatte.

Zugleich waren wir wie verrückt dabei, die Partitur umzugestalten - um Schreibfehler auszumerzen und, was noch wichtiger war, die Stimmen zu verbessern. Dann galt es, Entscheidungen hinsichtlich des Tempos und des Ausdrucks zu treffen und diese dem Dirigenten sowie den Musikern mitzuteilen. Dafür reichte dann, wie sich zeigte, die Zeit nicht aus. Nachdem ich vier Stücke aufgenommen und diese mehrfach abgehört hatte, wurde mir klar, dass ich noch einmal von vorn würde anfangen müssen. Beim nächsten Mal war ich weit besser vorbereitet. Ich versicherte mich des Koproduzenten Nick Davis, der schon an meinen vorherigen Studio-Projekten mitgearbeitet hatte. Ich bemühte mich, von unserer Seite alles so gut wie möglich vorzubereiten und dem Dirigenten eine klare Vorstellung von der Musik zu geben. Das war zwar immer noch eine sehr intensive Arbeit, doch schien jetzt alles leichter zusammenzugehen. Vor allem wusste ich ja, was mir bevorstand, nachdem ich den gesamten Prozess schon einmal erlebt hatte, und so hatte ich viel mehr Freude an den Aufnahmen, und ich war auch mit dem Ergebnis weit glücklicher als zuvor.

Von den sieben Stücken dieser Suite habe ich fünf eigens für dieses Projekt geschrieben. Zwei Titel basieren auf älteren Ideen, deren orchestrale Möglichkeiten ich seit jeher gesehen hatte. The Gateway entstand vor rund 20 Jahren und war der Gedanke zu einem Filmthema, das aber nie zum Einsatz kam. Das zweite der beiden älteren Stücke, Neap Tide, habe ich seinerzeit in einer anderen Fassung für das Album Strictly Ine aufgenommen. Die Suite beginnt mit Spring Tide, einem von drei Stücken, an denen das Klavier beteiligt ist. Hier spielt es sogar seine besonders prominente Rolle, obwohl es zugleich auch ein integrales Element des Orchesters ist. Das nächste Stück markierte den eigentlichen Anfang des gesamten Vorhabens: Black Down, so genannt nach einem Berg der Gegend, wollte ich einfach einmal mit echten Streichern und nicht mit einem Synthesizer hören. Alles andere ging dann recht schnell. Als letztes Stück entstand The Ram. Ich wollte schlicht etwas Rhythmischeres und Flotteres mit einem optimistischeren Schluss schreiben. Earthlighr ist ein Thema mit einfachen Variationen. Das ursprüngliche Thema ist hier als erste Variation zu hören, weil sich die später entstandene Dur-Fassung besser für den Anfang und das Ende des Satzes eignete. Simon schrieb für den Mittelteil die Sechzehntelbegleitung der Bratschen, die auf dem Papier sehr fragwürdig aussah, sich dann aber als sehr wirkungsvoll und natürlich erwies. Die Suite endet mit The Spirit of Gravity, das eine Reihe verschiedener musikalischer Ideen durchwandert, bevor es dort endet, wo es begann.

Tony Banks
(Deutsche Fassung: Cris Posslac)



Seven: A Suite for Orchestra marks both a departure and a homecoming for Tony Banks, best known as the keyboard player with Genesis. Since a brief sojourn in film music, notably with The Wicked Lady (1983), Banks has produced here his first orchestral work in 20 years. It may be his debut classical recording, but it also marks a return to the ambition behind the progressive rock of Genesis, where his classically inspired piano solos and intricate melodies elevated the band far above regular rock & roll. Now Banks has crafted a seven-movement symphonic suite, his lyrical piano entwined with the orchestra rather than showcased concerto-style.

The piece lies firmly within the pastoral English tradition of Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Gerald Finzi, the lush orchestration (by Simon Hale) often infused with melancholy and soaring with a haunted intensity. Classical purists may dismiss Seven as pseudo-film music--indeed, the suite's third movement, "The Gateway", was written as a potential film theme and is gorgeously bittersweet and uplifting somewhat in the manner of John Williams's finale to ET (1982)--but those who just enjoy melodic orchestral music will find much to savour. The road from prog rock to symphonic score is littered with pretentious disasters, but Banks has wisely learnt from his predecessors' mistakes to make perhaps the most convincing transition so far.

Gary S Dalkin, Amazon.co.uk Review


Famous for his role as keyboard player in the progressive rock band Genesis, Tony Banks has always been fascinated by the idea of writing orchestral music. Five of the seven pieces in this orchestral suite were written specifically for the Seven project; the remaining two were older pieces. Throughout the seven movements Banks creates intense orchestral sound pictures. The calm serenity which characterizes the main themes of the separate movements is often contrasted with uncomfortable stormy turbulence, the overall result being a scenic overview of orchestral colours and timbres.

Amazon.com



Mit Genesis gelangen dem Keyboarder Tony Banks bis 1976 einige der komplexesten Werke im Rahmen des Rock-Idioms. Nun legt der 54-jährige Grauschopf eine klassische Suite vor, die das London Philharmonic Orchestra unter Mike Dixon für ihn einspielte. Man muss Banks zugute halten, dass er "Seven" nicht als modischen Crossover angelegt hat, sondern durchweg klassisch. Das Orchester schwelgt in Wohlklang, Bläser blähen sich, Streicher fluten hinweg übers Klavier, selbst der Paukist hat viel zu tun. Aber wo ist bloß der Film dazu? Denn "Seven" wäre nur als Soundtrack zu "Jenseits von Afrika - Die Rückkehr" ernstzunehmen, als Klassik nicht. Die melodischen Ideen sind alle bekannt, und die kompositorische Stilistik ist so altbacken, als hätte es die Neue Musik nie gegeben. Das alles klingt natürlich makellos, und Leute, die keinen Dunst von Klassik haben, aber gern hätten, werden sich ein Loch in den Bauch freuen, dass sie mit dem Kauf dieser CD stolz sagen können, "Klassik zu mögen".

(mw)
Kulturnews

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