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When you get the likes of Detroit’s Carl Craig and Basic Channel’s Moritz Von Oswald (aka Mauritzio) working together, you don’t immediately think of reworking classical music; or at all. Could these guys make classical music popular?

Well it’s been tried before of course with Emerson Lake & Palmer and their predecessor band The Nice. Specifically ELP did their Mussorgsky tribute with their album Pictures At An Exhibition (1971) and Tomita also did it 1975 as an electronic ambient project. And who can forget David Shire’s version of ‘Night On A Bare Mountain’ (as ‘Night On Disco Mountain’) that was on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. And then there’s Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ as done to death everywhere (particularly the Torvill and Dean “nightmare”).

So you might not think this is too promising but you’d be wrong as these guys know a remix whether it be techno, jazz (remember Craig’s Detroit Experiment and his Tribe connections) or orchestrated classical music. Also worth noting, even if Gilles Peterson hasn’t any Deutsche Gramaphon albums in his collection, this is the the label for classical recordings.

Very much like you’d expect, this is like Tangerine Dream working on a classical album mostly in a dark foreboding minimal area. So hypnotic it is, you can’t help yourself listening to it again and again. I can even stand the ‘Bolero’ theme build up that would normally irritate the “1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo” out of me. If you’re more impatient, go direct to ‘Movement 4’ for some techno dub echo stuff from the basement.

‘Movement 5’ gets to the point much quicker and are more dance orientated classical techno (what!) whilst ‘Movement 6’ is a dark percussive exploration. I think this going to start a trend as there already seems to be some sort of meeting of minds where Steve Reich is connected to Hebden/Reid’s NYC, Africa and modern electronic music of Florian Meindl/Radio Slave’s ‘8 Bit Romance’.

A huge weekend if you’re a fan of Craig (and Peterson for that matter - see links below) if you can get to see him at East Village but if not, get ReComposed as its the compelling album of the moment. Or appreciation of classical music, is it a sign of getting old?

Note: And what about that Henrik Scharz remix of The Detroit Experiment’s ‘Think Twice’ GP played last week!

Reviewed: Carl Craig & Moritz von Oswald - ReComposed (Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music Classics & Jazz) Cat. No. 476 6912 Release date: 10th October 2008.
Original Music by Maurice Ravel: Bolero, Rapsodie espagnole & Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition recorded by Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan (original recordings).
Berlin, Philharmonie, 12/1985 (Bolero); 2/1986 (Pictures); 2/1987 (Rapsodie)
Tracklisting:
1 Intro (6:23)
2 Movement 1 (2:26)
3 Movement 2 (7:30)
4 Movement 3 (8:34)
5 Movement 4 (8:06)
6 Interlude (4:09)
7 Movement 5 (12:56)
8 Movement 6 (14:12)

Links
www.myspace.com/carlcraig
22nd November 2008: East Village & Afronaut present CARL CRAIG @ East Village - It doesn’t get much nicer than this. A relatively small venue and a respectably huge name! Carl Craig, the legendary techno producer from detroit joins Afronaut, Andy Bird and Stu Patterson for what will be a massive and memorable night at the Village! www.eastvillageclub.com
23rd November 2008: Sunday Afternoon At DINGWALS! w.GILLES PETERSON &PATRICK FORGE @ Dingwalls - Here’s another chance to catch a fresh glimpse of the original Sunday afternoon gatherings at Dingwals.. A celebration of the legendary ‘Talkin’ Loud’ and ‘Saying Something’ sessions.
This is where the jazz dance community turn out in force and all the other heads too! All together at a session that packs a huge punch now, just like it used to!
www.soundsoftheuniverse.com
1984: British ice couple score Olympic gold
Gilles Peterson :: 20 November 2008 :: Talks to Raphael Saadiq
Carl Craig & Moritz Von Oswald - Movement 6 (Deutsche Grammophon)
Gilles Peterson :: 13 November 2008 :: GP Soul Inspired Mix
The Detroit Experiment - ‘Think Twice’ (Henrik Schwarz Remix) (CDR)