Customer Reviews

The Orchestral Tubular Bells

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I actually tried to arrange this piece as a project in high school, and even if you don't have an appreciation for orchestral music, this recording is so true to the original composition, and I think it's a great version of the electrified original. Really uses all of the voices of the orchestra well, and as a classically trained bassoon player, I've always loved this performance.

This album is of marginal interest to hard-core Mike Oldfield fans (who already have TB in it's multidious other incarnations), and of no interest whatsoever to anyone else. If you loved the original TB, then this will be of interest to you, in it's expansion and contrast to the original, as it offers a somewhat different shade of perception on the music. However, I must say, this album is nowhere near as good as it could have been. It's a very intriguing idea-TB is one of my favorite pieces of music, ever-and orchestras can always, if applied correctly, make the music just that much better. It doesn't come across perfectly here, though, unfortunately. There were two ideal approaches for the arrangement on this album: re-writing and re-arranging the whole TB piece, with the orchestra in mind; and more or less re-playing the original with orchestral backing. Neither of these approaches were taken. Instead, the music is merely transferred from the original instruments to orchestration. This makes for a predictable, somewhat tedious affair that offers few surprises. Also, the album is poorly produced. The noise dynamics are off, and it's too quiet at times. Perhaps remastering would help. In synthesis: get this if you are a total Mike-addict who loves TB, and just has to hear this slant on it... otherwise get his better albums and forget about this one.

I agree to a certain extent on the comments about the performance of the orchestra. The performance itself sounds kind of amateurish; but it's sort of like listening to a mediocre orchestra performing an outstanding piece -- you can still enjoy the music itself even though its performance isn't top-notch.

Despite the poor performance, this is my favorite Oldfield record.

Ce disque n'est pas un arrangement de Tubular Bells par un musicien classique : David Bedford mais LA version gigantesque de cette oeuvre pop majeure. L'orchestre lui donne une puissance qui renouvelle entierement le morceau d'Oldfield. un grand moment.

this is an Orchestral version of Tubular bells.simply nothing new is not going on in here,orchestra sounds nice - but what for buying something that can't beat the original version?
as is said,it is only for die-hard fans,the rest can be sure that they are not missing anything...
ps.if you want to buy it,check out the HDCD remastered edition,it sounds much better...

I was amazed when I read the positive reviews of this CD; it is by far the worst in my collection. For some reason, orchestral arrangements of rock and pop music do not work, perhaps because they lack the intimacy of a small group without using the full possibilities (e.g. tonal colour, dynamics) of the symphony orchestra. If anyone reading this is unfamiliar with modern (20th century) orchestral music, could I suggest the following as an introduction:

Stravinsky (The Firebird/Petrushka/The Rite of Spring)

Rachmaninov (2nd Piano Concerto)

Debussy (Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune)

Mussorgsky (Night on a Bare Mountain <-- play it loud!)

Or even orchestral scores from films:

Jerry Goldsmith (The Omen, Legend, Alien, etc.)

Danny Elfman (Batman)

John Williams (Star Wars)

The list could go on...

Short of being a collector, there's no reason to own this CD. Listening to it, one gets the feeling one should be on a very long ride in a very small elevator.

Allright...It has moments of greatness which can compare with the original version, but in overall it is soulless compared to the original Tubular Bells... It sounds as if the instruments are too afraid of sounding too loud...

this is as far the most boring TB version ever recorded...while origonal recrding is simply amazing,and all hte other Bells parts are exciting, this one is simply sleepy and simple...the orchestration has no soul,all the parts originally played on guitar are sounding bad...if you like Orchestral music you will like this,if you do not like dont buy it - even if you are a MIke Oldfield fan!

This CD is indeed poor quality, part poor orchestration, part poor performance by the orchestra. It seems like the musicians didn't like the play the music, hence, lots of mistakes, out of tune and lack of 'spirit'. I would be ashamed putting a CD like that on the market...