Tubular Bells Orchestra

Mike Oldfield’s iconic “Tubular Bells” took the world by storm when it launched in 1973, and nearly 50 years later continues to sell over 100,000 albums per year, with a total of 17.5 million copies sold worldwide and 18 million streams. In honor of the 50th anniversary of this ground-breaking album, Cleopatra Records will be releasing a new studio album entitled Tubular Bells - 50th Anniversary Celebration.

It was inevitable, after the mega-success of Tubular Bells in its original form, that someone would orchestrate the piece - the many and varied instrumental voices of the original virtually begged for this treatment, especially as the original album appeared at the height of the progressive rock boom, when even self-contained rock bands such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer were starting to turn toward orchestral accompaniment in their quest for richer sounds. In this case, it was composer Mike Oldfield himself who oversaw and co-produced the work with orchestrator and collaborator David Bedford, a longtime friend and colleague…

The orchestral works Passacaglia, Ritual and (K)ein sommernachtstraum are all very well-conducted and beautifully recorded on this CD (as usual with BIS-records). The Malmö symphony orchestra specialized in Schnittke during the 80's, and that can be heard here. There is a great understanding to the sometimes very odd music.

The fifth symphony, which I have seen described as enigmatic and the most elusive of this composer's six essays in the medium, is the one that has enabled me to make the breakthrough into his music. It is a remarkable achievement that has absolutely nothing derivative in it that I can hear, so if I mention Gerhard for the convincing juxtaposition of linear ideas and orchestration and Ives for the multilayering of a marvellous orchestral sounds, it is only to underline the stature of this piece.