Mirabile Mysterium – a operatic electronica performance by mael & Elena Doytcheva-Dragomir.

via maelmusician:

Music by: mael. Soprano: Elena Doytcheva-Dragomir (Bulgaria).

All orchestral parts are synth sounds played by: mael.

Recorded at Christmas concert 2008 in Elisabetin Church, Timisoara.

Mr. Wuorinen said, “Ever since encountering Annie Proulx’s extraordinary story I have wanted to make an opera on it, and it gives me great joy that Gerard Mortier and New York City Opera have given me the opportunity to do so.”

Mr. Wuorinen, who celebrates his 70th birthday today, June 9, won a Pulitzer Prize for his electronic work Time’s Encomium in 1970. He became the youngest composer ever to receive this award.

Mr. Wuorinen’s compositions encompass every form and medium, including works for orchestra, band, chamber ensemble, chorus, keyboard, percussion, and electronics, as well as ballets and operas.

Mr. Wuorinen has been described as a “maximalist,” writing music luxuriant with events, lyrical and expressive, strikingly dramatic.

Currently slated to premiere during City Opera’s 2013 spring season, Brokeback Mountain will mark Mr. Wuorinen’s second world premiere at City Opera; his Haroun and the Sea of Stories, an adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s colorful novel, had its world premiere at New York City Opera on October 4, 2004.

Brokeback Mountain is the story of ranch hand Ennis del Mar and rodeo cowboy Jack Twist, two young men who meet and fall in love on the fictional Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming in 1963. The 2005 film, of the same name, documents their complex relationship over the next twenty years.

By using market research with hundreds of people, Soldier determined that:

The most unwanted music is over 25 minutes long, veers wildly between loud and quiet sections, between fast and slow tempos, and features timbres of extremely high and low pitch, with each dichotomy presented in abrupt transition.

The most unwanted orchestra was determined to be large, and features the accordion and bagpipe (which tie at 13% as the most unwanted instrument), banjo, flute, tuba, harp, organ, synthesizer (the only instrument that appears in both the most wanted and most unwanted ensembles).

An operatic soprano raps and sings atonal music, advertising jingles, political slogans, and “elevator” music, and a children’s choir sings jingles and holiday songs.

The most unwanted subjects for lyrics are cowboys and holidays, and the most unwanted listening circumstances are involuntary exposure to commercials and elevator music.

Therefore, it can be shown that if there is no covariance—someone who dislikes bagpipes is as likely to hate elevator music as someone who despises the organ, for example—fewer than 200 individuals of the world’s total population would enjoy this piece.

Sprechstimme & kids rapping about Wal-Mart? What’s not to like?

Are you one of the 200?

Give it a listen, below, and let me know what you think!

via Dial “M” for Musicology; Image: miketheactuary

Neodrone is Magnus Tak, the composer/producer; Johanna E Martell, vocalist; and Brent Swarthout, lyricist. The three make music with a neoclassical symphonic electronica feel. Martell is classically trained and brings an operatic style to her vocals; Tak seems to be as comfortable exploring the Vangelis-style world of orchestral electronica as he is making techno grooves; even Swarthout’s lyrics have a classical quality about them.

Opera and electronica have a long history, ranging from the music of Philip Glass to Operatica to Malcolm McLaren’s take on Madam Butterfly to Eric Serra’s score for The Fifth Element. When done well, the mix can work stunningly, but locking an opera singer to a rigid beat can also deprive a vocalist of one of opera’s most important expressive elements – a fluid, rubato approach to rhythm.

Fortunately, Neodrone largely avoids the potential pitfalls of the combination and creates some attractive, expressive music on Extended Horizon. At its best, the electronic orchestrations and classical vocals play off each other perfectly, creating a blend that seems to extend the worlds of electronica and classical music both.

The music on the CD is a mix of classical pieces arranged for synth orchestra and orginals. The CD gets off to a mixed start. Solar Storm features some lovely arranging, but strays a bit too far into lite new age territory.

Neodrone seems to hit its stride, though, with Aurora Borealis. The track features an attractive neo-classical melody, gorgeous symphonic electronica arrangement, and ethereal wordless vocals. It also doesn’t shy away from mixing more traditional-sounding imitative synthesis with some more bizarre electronica sounds, which gives the track an expanded orchestral feel.

The highlight of the CD is Lascia Ch’io Pianga, a classical aria by G.F. Händel. Tak’s arrangement is fairly traditional, but he doesn’t shy away from introducing some unexpected elements. Tak also makes great use of dynamics, dropping from full synth orchestration to simple accompaniment in a beat. Martell seems most comfortable with the more classical pieces, and this arrangement very effectively showcases her vocal performance.

Another highlight is I’ll Find You, a fairly straight-ahead trance track that sounds huge because of Tak’s combination of symphonic electronic orchestration with trance beats. Enjoy The Ride is a solid minimal techno/trance track, and Vengence Aria answers the question of what Mozart might have done if he’d had a TB303.

Overall, Extended Horizon is an interesting mix of electronica and classical vocals. Martell’s vocals throughout are throughout and the arrangements are often gorgeous.

You can preview the music at the Neodrone site.

Tracklist

• Solar Storm
• Chasing Shadows
• Extended Horizon
• Aurora Borealis
• Lascia Ch´io Pianga
• Used To Be
• I´ll Find You
• Vengeance Aria
• Enjoy The Ride
• What They Want