More than any of Mike Oldfield’s
twenty plus albums, Music of the Spheres succeeds
in expressing the artist’s deep felt belief that music should bring to
expression the spiritual and transcendent elements of human experience.
Gone are the wailing electric
guitars and prog- influenced sounds of such albums as Ommadawn, Hergest Ridge & Tubular Bells. Music of
the Spheres is piano driven and is backed up with a full orchestral compliment, recorded at London’s
Abbey Road Studios.
Oldfield is ably assisted by
vocal assistance from renowned soprano Hayley Westernra on the track On My Heart. Chinese pianist Lang Lang; who more recently
played at the opening of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and was featured artist at
this year’s “Last Night of the Proms”, contributes his remarkable skills
throughout the album. The subtle arrangement skills of Karl Jenkins (who once
played oboe on the 1975 orchestral production of Tubular Bells) are also utilised to full effect in adding a further
transcendent element to the recording. Jenkin’s influence is most notable in
some of the choral pieces, such as Aurora.
At the same time, Music of the Spheres is pure Oldfield,
and will be familiar to any fan of his music.
The hypnotic piano riffs of Harbinger
are reminiscent of the opening movements of Tubular
Bells used in The Exorcist. Oldfield’s
characteristic use of classical guitar maintains a folky feel throughout the
album and creates a link with his previous work.
The dramatic vistas of sound
Oldfield evokes in this album will be particularly appealing to lovers of Elgar,
Holst and Howard Shore as well as folk, prog-rock and Jazz – a testament to the
enduring eclectic creativity of the great English composer.
Music of the Spheres lives up to its name and is deeply moving in parts, grabbing the listener by the soul
from the very first track. There is a
hypnotic power and tranquillity hidden in tracks such Silhouette which uplifts and leaves one refreshed and
optimistic.
I find that much of today’s music
has so absorbed the darkness and nihilism of the age that listening to it
increases your enthralment to the world, rather than giving a new
perspective. Historically however, one
of the primary roles of music was to help lift up the heart to a higher level
of being – and truly attentive listening could be a highly spiritual
experience.
Music of the Spheres comes as close to this ideal as any modern
composition I have heard for a long time, and as such is well worth a listen.
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