Artículos de Mike Oldfield

How have you addapted Tubular Bells to this event?
I listened very carefully to the original recording and tried to capture all the important lines, textures and layers of that version. I first played all the voices into a sequencer, using only electronic instruments- but did also do a lot of listening & writing some lines & motives down directly at the piano (with the help of a discman & the original CD). The sequencer and the sound module I deciced to use for the live premiere provided a good opportunity to experiment with and try out various sounds before making the definite decisions about the ones I would ultimately use to complement the two acoustic pianos.
My "original" version was for 2 pianos and two synthesizers/keyboards,which was premiered at the Lek Art festival in Culemborg/The Netherlands in September 2005. It turned out that- totally unforeseen- the day after the premiere, we had the opportunity to record the whole day in that location, a beautiful old church with great acoustics. What's more, we did have 4 Fazioli grand pianos available as well -so we decided to record my adaptation in two different settings...the additional one on the 4 pianos, for which I did make some minor changes and alterations on the fly.
A new adaptation of such a work for a completely different instrumental ensemble/setting provides an opportunity to add some extra textures in addition to the existing material, especially in the lower registers of the pianos. Contrary to the original version, towards the end of Part One, I am building the repeated theme to a big climax. Since on the 4 pianos, one obviously can't reproduce the various instruments that Oldfield used in the repeats of that final theme, using the overdub technique (Mandolin, various guitars, Tubular Bells etc.), I compensated that lack of possibility with an increase in textures and dynamics. So the character and atmosphere of that last section changes from the original. -However, I also listen to Oldfield's own live version of the piece quite a bit, which he toured in the late 70's...and there, he already set the precedent for building up the last section and finishing Part One off with that very effective climax.
As for the whole harmonic and melodic content though, I stayed very faithful to that and didn't alter those basic parameters.

Why Tubular Bells?
Since my teenage years, I have been a big fan of Oldfield's music, particularly of the albums during the decade from Tubular Bells (1973) up to Crises (1983). Because of the wealth of different ideas and musical styles utilized and combined in the original Tubular Bells version from 1973, this work seemed particularly well suited to an adaptation for multiple keyboard instruments. Especially in this work, Oldfield took advantage of the possibilities of the multitrack recording technology (still being in its infant stage at that time), thus creating many different layers with various superimposed themes and motives. So I saw an opportunity to contribute an arrangement of a seminal pop piece of the 70's to the multiple piano repertoire, especially conceived and adapted for our own 4 piano ensemble. In this context, I would like to also mention that already a year after the release of the original recording, a friend and colleague of Oldfield composer and arranger, David Bedford made an orchestral version of the work that came out in 1975. That interpretation made obviously a strong case for the overall adaptability of this piece.

It will be the whole Tubular Bells piece of music or only the first side?
So far, I've only arranged Part One, but I am planning to do Part Two as well. Unfortunately, I won't have much time to work on it during the first couple of months of this year, but hope to get a good start and a fair bit done as of the beginning of March.

Will it be recorded?
CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) is planning on recording one of our live performances.
The label "Brilliant Classics" will release a CD (with the two versions mentioned above) sometime soon. It then should be available throughout Europe & possibly internationally as well...