Music of the Spheres

Music of the Spheres
Studio album by Mike Oldfield
Released	14 March 2008 (2008-03-14) 17 March 2008 25 March 2008 24 November 2008 (2CD)
Recorded	Abbey Road Studios, Studio 1, June 2007
Genre	Classical
Length	45:30
Label	Universal Classics and Jazz Mercury Records
Producer	Mike Oldfield Karl Jenkins
Professional reviews
Allmusic link IM link (Polish)
Mike Oldfield chronology
Light + Shade (2005) Music of the Spheres (2008)
Singles from Music of the Spheres
"Spheres" Released: 3 March 2008
iTunes Live at Bilbao cover
2 CD package cover

Music of the Spheres is the first classical album by English musician Mike Oldfield released in the UK on 17 March 2008. New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra is featured vocalist on "On My Heart" and the album also features Chinese pianist Lang Lang on piano and six tracks.

The album is based on the celestial concept, Musica universalis (Music of the Spheres) and is Oldfield's second album with Mercury Records, from his current three album deal. A 2 CD Limited Edition version including both the studio and live recordings was released on 24 November 2008. It was nominated for a Classical Brit Award in 2009.

History

In an interview on BBC Radio 2's Steve Wright show, broadcast 23 February, 2006, Oldfield elaborated on his next project saying he was working on a long instrumental — probably in three parts and without any drum loops. He also mentioned the possibility of a tour. In an interview for the March 2007 issue of Resolution Magazine, Oldfield added that it would be a classical album "going to be based around the festival of Hallowe’en, rather than the Hollywood horror film", in which he would only play "classical guitar and grand piano".^[1] In an interview with This is London, Oldfield revealed the name of the new album as Music of the Spheres.^[2]

Recording

Initially the album was written with electronic elements, like his last album, Light & Shade, but as the album developed it became an orchestral piece. The single "Spheres" is from the early stages of the album. Oldfield wrote much of the music in the music notation software Sibelius on Apple Macintoshes. Oldfield noted in the computing magazine MacFormat that creating the orchestral score for the album was time consuming, as the MIDI timing and velocities varied too much.^[3]

On the ITV This Morning show, while promoting his autobiography, Changeling, Oldfield stated that he would be recording the album with Karl Jenkins and a full orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in early June 2007; 9 months before the final release date. In an interview with Classic FM on 10 August, 2007, Oldfield noted that Lang Lang had recorded his piano pieces over a webcam from Legacy Recording Studios, New York, using iChat and a Steinway piano.

Release

The album had been delayed a number of times, for many various reasons. The original release date for the album would have been to aim for a Halloween release;^{[citation needed]} this was later pushed back to November 2007. In September 2007, Oldfield and Universal decided to delay the release of the album until January 2008, for personal reasons. However in November the release date was again put back until March 2008, around this time Oldfield also moved out of the UK to Europe. It was also going to be the first classical recording released on a USB flash drive, but ultimately it was only made available on CD and Online. On iTunes the album has bonus material and there was also a promotion at hmv.co.uk; a competition with a prize of the full annotated orchestral score used during the recordings. 200 randomly selected copies from play.com were also signed by Mike Oldfield. A 2 CD Limited Edition version including both the studio and live recordings was released on 24 November 2008.

On 18 September 2007, Universal, the record label, held a presentation event, hosted by Yellow Lounge at the Tape club in Berlin; Oldfield was not scheduled to be present, but he appeared for 5 minutes to answer questions. There was no orchestra present, thus the album was played by DJ. There was also a promotional release, packaged in a tin. It includes a heat sensitive mug mat, shaped insert brochure, and an EPK disc featuring 2 video clips.

In November 2007 Universal included "On My Heart" (featuring Hayley Westenra) on their No 1 Classical Album 2008 compilation album. Westenra and Oldfield performed "On My Heart" live on the ITV daytime program The Alan Titchmarsh Show on 18 March 2008. During the week beginning the 10 March, Music of the Spheres was the featured album on the Classic FM radio station.^[4]

Live at Bilbao

A second press event was scheduled at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao on 7 March 2008; as part of the launch event Oldfield performed music from Music of the Spheres live with the Euskadiko Orkestra Sinfonikoa, the Bilbao Choral Society and Hayley Westenra.^[5] The concert was recorded and was originally released exclusively on Apple's iTunes on the same day as the album, with modified artwork, EPK videos and a PDF booklet. A 2 CD version of the album was released on 24 November 2008.

According to an interview with BBC Wiltshire there are currently no plans to tour the album.^[6]

The Classical BRIT Awards nomination

Music of the Spheres was nominated for a Classical BRIT award, the NS&I Best Album of 2009, but failed to win.^[7] It lost to Royal Scots Dragoon Guards' Spirit of the Glen–Journey.^[8]

Chart performance

Music of the Spheres entered the UK Classical charts at number 1, as published by Music Week. It also entered the UK Albums Chart at number 9,^[9] making it the most successful Oldfield album of the 2000s. Also, according to Music Week, as of October, Music of the Spheres is the 2nd best selling classical album of 2008.

Charts

Track listing

Standard studio version

All songs written and composed by Mike Oldfield. 

Live from Bilbao

All songs written and composed by Mike Oldfield. 

iTunes-only version

The iTunes-only version includes Music of the Spheres, Music of the Spheres - Live from Bilbao and Interviews.

"Spheres"

"Spheres" is a digital-only single which was released on 3 March 2008. It is a piece from the conception stages of the album and contains parts of "Harbinger" and "Shabda".

Track meanings

One of the album's tracks is entitled "Musica Universalis", which when translated into English is music of the spheres, an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies as a form of music; the concept of which the album is based upon. It is also, when roughly translated, the name of Oldfield's current record label, Universal Music. This record company name trick is a repeat of a track title on his previous album, Light & Shade; "Quicksilver" which is another name for the metal mercury.

Personnel

• Mike Oldfield – Classical guitar, producer and mixer
• Hayley Westenra – vocals
• Lang Lang – piano on tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9.
• Karl Jenkins – orchestrations, conductor and producer
• Sinfonia Sfera Orchestra

Orchestra

The Sinfonia Sfera Orchestra are:

Additional personnel

• Miles Showell – Mastering at Metropolis Mastering, London
• Simon Rhodes – Engineer
• Rupert Christie – Assistant Producer
• Richard King – Engineer

Uses in the media

Australia's Seven Network television station used sections from the album ("Prophecy" and "On My Heart" (Reprise)) as backing music for a salute to Michael Phelps' 8 medals in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. They also played "Harbinger" behind the salute to a Japanese equestrian participant, who competed in the Olympic Games 44 years previously.

The album was used as background music in BBC2's Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness programme in 2009.

References

External links

• Mike Oldfield - Featured artist - Music of the Spheres at Universal Classics and Jazz
• Mike Oldfield Discography - Music of the Spheres at Tubular.net
• MikeOldfield.com