released January 12, 2018

I started my musical life trying to work out Led Zeppelin riffs in the 60's on an old nylon string guitar and ultimately morphing into a blues rock guitarist. In the early 80's, I enrolled at the Conservatorium of Music at WAAPA ( the nationally regarded performing arts training college based in Perth Western Australia) to study classical guitar and this is where my appreciation of classical music was born.
Whilst I was producing Allemande, I was thinking about what my next project might be and it occurred to me that there were some fantastic opportunities amongst the wealth of pieces within the classical music world that should work really well remixed in the EDM genre. I have chosen pieces that are favourites of mine and others that I felt would work well. There are also a couple of interesting mashups!
I could not have completed this album without the assistance of The Petrucci Music Library and all the amazing people who have contributed their great arrangements that I have used in some cases. These tracks are released under the same Creative Commons license terms. Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
So I hope you enjoy this music and that maybe it opens up your ears and heart to a genre of music you may never have thought you might ever listen too!
If you did enjoy what you have heard, then you might be interested to know which pieces of classical music they are based on and maybe even have a listen to the original?

Track 1: Summer - The presto 3rd movement from the Violin Concerto in G minor, RV 315 'L'estate' ("Summer") by Antonio Vivaldi.

Track 2: Odyssey - The opening of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" Op 30 by Richard Strauss mashed up with the andante maestoso section in C minor of the 4th movement "Jupiter" from the seven-movement orchestral suite Op 32 by Gustav Holst called "The Planets". The full name of the track is "Odyssey to a Planet and Back" which is why you hear the opening repeat after the middle section featuring Jupiter.

Track 3: Mysteries - "Les Barricades Misterieuses" One of my favourite pieces originally written in B-flat major for the harpsichord by Francois Couperin. It is the fifth piece in "Ordre 6ème de clavecin" from his second book of collected harpsichord pieces (Pièces de Clavecin).

Track 4: Maidens - Just in case you were getting too comfortable here is another mash up featuring the opening section of the second movement "Augurs of Spring - Dance of the Young Maidens" from Part 1 of Igor Stravinsky's own arrangement for two pianos of the famously controversial ballet score the Rite of Spring. It then morphs in to a piece by one of my all-time favourite guitar composers, Augustin Barrios, named "Una Limosnita por Amos de Dios" (Alms for the Love of God) before the Stravinsky returns.

Track 5: Cannon - In somewhat of an apology for hitting you with the Stravinsky, Johann Pachabel's famous Canon in D (yes the one you have more than likely heard at a wedding) makes an appearance.

Track 6: Belinda - This is the achingly beautiful recitative and aria Dido's Lament from the opera Dido and Aeneas by English composer Henry Purcell. I have always particularly loved that descending bass line also. Here is what you would hear her sing if you were at the opera.
Recitative
Thy hand, Belinda, darkness shades me,
On thy bosom let me rest,
More I would, but Death invades me;
Death is now a welcome guest.

Aria
When I am laid, am laid in earth, May my wrongs create
No trouble, no trouble in thy breast;
Remember me, remember me, but ah! forget my fate.
Remember me, but ah! forget my fate.

Track 7: Presto - Had to feature some Beethoven, another of my favourite composers, so here is the final movement presto agitato in C# minor from the famous piano sonata by Ludwig known as the "Moonlight".

Track 8: Shacon - Saved for last is possibly one of the greatest pieces of music ever written and one that I have always loved. This is the final movement from the Partita in D Minor for solo violin by the extraordinary J S Bach. It has been arranged/transcribed for many other instruments so I felt no hindrance in creating this version for your first crash course in classical.