The Strad: "I don’t feel at all guilty about tinkering with the "classical canon" – David LePage" (Smiths cover - January 12, 2021)

I don’t feel at all guilty about tinkering with the "classical canon" – David LePage

"Violinist David Le Page explains how he found the connections between Rameau and Radiohead, Schubert and The Smiths through arrangements for Orchestra of the Swan’s new album Timelapse."


Salient part:

"On Timelapse I have ‘reimagined’ well-known songs by David Bowie/Brian Eno and The Smiths. The process I have used is different from working out a carbon copy arrangement or a cover version. The Bowie/Eno song Heroes, in its original form, is a driven, yearning and almost uncomfortably layered slice of pop/rock; euphoric and poetic in equal measures. I wanted to preserve the ‘feel’ of course but in my version I have substantially slowed everything down so that aspects of the music can be examined in an entirely different way. Heroes becomes a gently rotating and beautifully constructed mobile in which the musical cells can be viewed up close, as if through a microscope.

The Smiths song ‘There is a Light that Never Goes Out’ is possessed by an ironic, urban, English melancholy which I felt would be fascinating to translate to the orchestral realm. I love the lyrics: ‘And in the darkened underpass I thought, ”Oh God, my chance has come at last” But then a strange fear gripped me And I just couldn’t ask’. Morrisey’s voice has been replaced by the oboe and the band have been transformed into a lush and interwoven string section. The effect is equally English but closer to Vaughan-Williams than 1980s Manchester."



The cover version in question:




A bit slow on the uptake with this cover version - apologies.
It's not often I can say thanks to Alexander Armstrong & Classic FM, but his mention of Le Page's album which included various covers lead me to the above information.
The album, as a whole, is very relaxing and worth a listen for classical fans.
Regards,
FWD.
 
The oboe put me in mind a little of 'The Draughtsman's Contract' soundtrack by Michael Nyman, especially during the coda. I'm generally not a fan of 'classicising' pop music like this. The lack of drums and voice often just emphasises the fact that pop songs are generally harmonically very basic and repetitive and there's only so much an orchestra can do before the repetition starts to become dull. I liked the little dissonances here and there in the melody which gave it a slightly Arabic hint. I think it will be worth listening to this again in the context of the whole album, which has a very intriguing track list.
 
The oboe put me in mind a little of 'The Draughtsman's Contract' soundtrack by Michael Nyman, especially during the coda. I'm generally not a fan of 'classicising' pop music like this. The lack of drums and voice often just emphasises the fact that pop songs are generally harmonically very basic and repetitive and there's only so much an orchestra can do before the repetition starts to become dull. I liked the little dissonances here and there in the melody which gave it a slightly Arabic hint. I think it will be worth listening to this again in the context of the whole album, which has a very intriguing track list.

Well stated. That oboe does nudge it into the realm of the Bedouin. But after a while, I drew sleepy, and thought I had fallen into some soprano saxophone fantasy/nightmare a-la Kenny G.
 
nice and soothing,quite like it,saying that it drags a bit towards the end.
 
I absolutely adore this orchestra and the version of The Smiths is wonderful!! I wish they did an entire album with The Smiths and Morrissey songs.
conductor.jpg
 
nice and soothing,quite like it,saying that it drags a bit towards the end.
I have, like many others , always wondered what it would sound like to hear Morrissey singing with a live orchestra, here we have a mere snippet of our imagination ...
it could sound oh so wonderful,

Only dead Morrissey fans would know about this on their way up to see the big man 😔😔😔
 
I have, like many others , always wondered what it would sound like to hear Morrissey singing with a live orchestra, here we have a mere snippet of our imagination ...
it could sound oh so wonderful,

Only dead Morrissey fans would know about this on their way up to see the big man 😔😔😔
Jesus f***, TB - literally NOBODY has EVER wanted to hear chubby Melvis warble over a string section. Not a soul. You want bagpipes and pan-flutes, as well?
 
Jesus f***, TB - literally NOBODY has EVER wanted to hear chubby Melvis warble over a string section. Not a soul. You want bagpipes and pan-flutes, as well?
Many people, over the years, have mentioned how great it would be to hear a faithful live version of Dear God Please Help Me. And literally everyone of note has noted how Come Back to Camden would be spectacular, live, with an orchestra: you (obviously) weren’t at those conversations.
 
Many people, over the years, have mentioned how great it would be to hear a faithful live version of Dear God Please Help Me. And literally everyone of note has noted how Come Back to Camden would be spectacular, live, with an orchestra: you (obviously) weren’t at those conversations.
The original version of 'Angel...', a live string version of 'Never-Played Symphonies'...I'd pay my £85 for that, no problem. I'd nip to the bar during 'Asian Rut' 😱
 
The original version of 'Angel...', a live string version of 'Never-Played Symphonies'...I'd pay my £85 for that, no problem. I'd nip to the bar during 'Asian Rut' 😱

There would be a queue.
 
I have, like many others , always wondered what it would sound like to hear Morrissey singing with a live orchestra, here we have a mere snippet of our imagination ...
it could sound oh so wonderful,

Only dead Morrissey fans would know about this on their way up to see the big man 😔😔😔
“dead Morrissey fan” describes you perfectly.
 

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