When Rock goes Barock (Concerto Suite For Electric Guitar And Orchestra In E Flat Minor Op. 1 - Yngwie Malmsteen)

Name: berlioz II

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Product:	Concerto Suite For Electric Guitar And Orchestra In E Flat Minor Op. 1 - Yngwie Malmsteen
Date:	22/03/08 (76 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A hugely enjoyable electric guitar concerto with plenty of drama and lyricism

Disadvantages: A bit repetitive towards the end

It is interesting to note how the electric guitar has not really managed to get to the position of it being used very progressively in the world of modern classical music. Maybe it is the fairly recent invention of the instrument or the general connotations of it being an instrument for use in pop and rock music that has made it less than appealing for serious classical concert composers, therefore it seems that any such melding of classical music with the electric guitar have been rather left to those who have backgrounds in playing the instrument. One of those people is Yngwie Johann Malmsteen, the Swedish guitarist who from very early on got interested in baroque music in particular. Combining his first interest of rock music that he felt was getting too entrenched in run-of-the-mill ideas and basic movements of its attitudes, the virtuoso fireworks of violinist Niccolo Paganini's soloistic acrobatics from the 19th century, and the formality of baroque music, he started molding the different styles into a form of neo-classical baroque rock, making the first such recording for an album in 1983 at the age of 19. With those ambitions, he always had the desire to write a full-fledged classical piece that combined the styles he was known for, but he never had the opportunity to do so until he, along with Mats Olausson, began writing such a piece in 1996. The evolvement of the work was pretty standard of many others that followed in writing such pieces, notably the composition process was through trial and error of trying things and themes out, and all of it was then recorded with Malmsteen playing the guitar while Olausson performed the "orchestral" parts on a keyboard for the demo tapes, the whole composing process taking around three months to accomplish.

It was then, after Oulausson was unavailable for a while, that Malmsteen met David Rosenthal who immediately agreed to score the work for full orchestral parts. This was further winged when conductor Yoel Levi had a chance to hear the demo tapes and was impressed enough that he was willing to conduct the finished work. Thus in 1997 the orchestrated work was taken to Prague for the recording of the orchestral music and which was then later mixed together with the separate guitar overlay recorded in Miami that became one of the very few electric guitar concertos with a real orchestra, not just a synth mock up. The title of the work as being a "Concerto Suite" stems from it being very much in the form of a baroque suite with an separate soloist for a concerto-like whole. The concerto is arranged in twelve parts with a few of them running into each other without break, mixing in basic baroque stylistics ran through the language of 19th and 20th century orchestral effects and then further complemented by the unusual E flat minor tonality totally alien for baroque music that gives the work a distinctly modern feel instead of being a simple pastiche. The movements have largely been named after proper tempo markings, while a few have been afforded with either stylistic names like "Sarabande" and "Toccata", while some others have more pompous names like "Icarus Dream Fanfare" and "Prelude to April". The music as such has largely no huge structural arcs in it, rather than it tends to play with a few themes within each movement without really ever developing the material to any great extent, even when some themes recur in later movements. Likewise the tone of the work tends not to stray too far from the crunchingly dramatic powerhouse treatment, making the concerto become slightly repetitive in style near the conclusion, though to not any great detriment.

The opening "Icarus Dream Fanfare" is a great opening that presents the work's credentials with no uncertain terms with its epic orchestral sweeps, the darkly storming takes on basic baroque chord progressions and the unrelenting virtuoso guitar work that works very well as a soloistic instrument over a full symphony orchestra. The same mood continues for most of the rest of the work with little deviation, but there are several moments that offer some more varied details. In "Cavalino Rampante" the music gets a decidedly more martial air to it thanks to the march like rhythms and furious snare drums at the beginning and end of the movement; in "Fugue" we get a very nice sweeping theme that is accentuated by the heavenly soaring voices of a female chorus (a tribute since Malmsteen's mother was in a church choir); the duo of "Prelude to April" that is connected to the following "Toccata" without pause take a break from the furiously shredding guitar styles of the previous movements to provide an almost Spanish element to the music and has the guitar played more accoustically that in the "Prelude to April" in particular gives a wonderfully haunting and lamenting sound to which the gently hovering chorus in the background adds another level of airiness; the "Sarabande" is the first movement to get properly away to the minor tonality into the major for a pleasant airy dance; the second last movement "Presto Vivace" brings in the more celebratory feelings of a finale that once more incorporate the chorus for some whooping good humour though it again dives back into the general dark tones after while; and the brief "Finale" stomps to a powerful conclusion in a short burst of robust energy, summing up the work with smashing insistence.

On the whole, Malmsteen's Concerto Suite Op.1 is a very nice work and goes some way in showing that an electric guitar can make a very good soloistic instrument when coupled with an orchestra just as a violin can. It kind of makes me want to hear more such works being produced, but unfortunately not many are made, and even those who attempt it are often guitarists themselves with limited means of getting anywhere near a real orchestra and have to resort to the cheap synth sound, never a good thing as far as I'm concerned if one wants to take the music seriously. And even as Malmsteen's opus tends to overstay its welcome towards the end, it really is a minor criticism of such an enjoyable work. The albums have always been rather pricey and as such it may deter many people from purchasing a recording of this, but I can fully ensure that if ever one feels the desire to plunge down to try it out, it is well worth the money. The recording I have is the first performance of it to appear on CD and was recorded with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with Yoel Levi conducting and is available from Dream Catcher Classics. There apparently is also another CD release of this work and a DVD recorded of a performance in Japan.


Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in E flat minor, Op.1 "Millennium"

1. Icarus Dream Fanfare (5:22)
2. Cavalino Rampante (3:54)
3. Fugue (3:35)
4. Prelude to April (2:42)
5. Toccata (3:54)
6. Andante (4:17)
7. Sarabande (3:19)
8. Allegro (1:29)
9. Adagio (3:07)
10. Vivace (4:47)
11. Presto Vivace (3:39)
12. Finale (1:49)

Yngwie Johann Malmsteen, electric guitar
The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Yoel Levi, conductor
Recorded at Rudolfinum Dvorakova sin (House of Artists), Prague (Orchestra)
& Studio 308, Miami (Electric guitar)
Transcription: David Rosenthal
1999 Dream Catcher Classics (Cride 16C)

© berlioz, 2008

Summary: Cool, Man!!!