11 June 2011
Symphonic Pink Floyd in Berlin: true cross-over
When first offered the opportunity to direct Symphonic Pink Floyd with the fabulous Brandenburgishes Staatsorchester , I was just a little disappointed. Like many others, I know the music of Queen very well and was actually hoping to instead perform the Queen Symphony, which had originally been commissioned for the Royal Philharmonic in London.
How wrong could I be? As I really got to know the "Jazz" Coleman symphonic orchestrations of the original Waters/Gilmore Pink Floyd pieces, I became very close to the work. It is a long - it takes more than an hour to perform. The 9 movements offer a wide variety of large orchestral sound and colour. Mr Coleman has really brought out the beautiful melodies and mixed them up with wonderful rhythms - in this case, allowing me to take full advantage of a first-class BSO percussion section. I wasn't surprised by the wonderful audience reaction in Berlin. The clapping between the movements showed that there were many in the audience who were not necessarily regular orchestral concert-goers. That's the great thing about true cross-over - it is attractive to those who might otherwise not be interested in orchestral music. There is nothing better than to hear the audience clapping, stomping and cheering.
I still look forward to the opportunity to perform the Queen Symphony - but I also now look forward very much to my next opportunity with Symphonic Pink Floyd.
Back