Pieces in a Modern Style

Pieces in a Modern Style
Studio album by William Orbit
Released

1995 (original release)

22 February 2000 (re-release)
Recorded 1995
Genre Electronic classical, classical crossover, ambient
Length 60:10
Label WEA, Warner Music UK (Europe) Maverick (US)
Producer William Orbit
William Orbit chronology

The Best of Strange Cargos
(1996)		 Pieces in a Modern Style
(2000)		 Hello Waveforms
(2006)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Rolling Stone [2]

Pieces in a Modern Style is the sixth album by electronic instrumentalist William Orbit. He is credited as arranger, programmer, producer, and performer of the album. It was released in 2000 by WEA and Warner Music UK in Europe and Maverick Records in the United States. Barber's Adagio for Strings was the first single from the album, however the version played on radio and television was a remix by Ferry Corsten which led to people buying the album thinking it was dance music.. The album is in fact a fusion of classical music, electronica, ambient music and chill out music and contains no vocals. The Adagio single reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1999.

The second single was Pavane pour une Infante Défunte. This again had a different arrangement to the album version, but this time was done by Orbit himself. The single reached #31 in the UK Singles Chart in May 2000.

The album was originally released in May 1995 on Orbit's N-Gram Recordings label, credited to Orbit alias The Electric Chamber. This version is not widely available, as it was withdrawn from sale almost immediately when Arvo Pärt objected to its inclusion of his compositions Fratres and Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten. The version issued in 2000 replaced these pieces with works by Beethoven, Vivaldi, Handel and Mascagni, and reached #2 in the UK Album Charts.

In 2010 a follow-up, entitled simply Pieces in a Modern Style 2, was released.

Track listing

  1. Samuel Barber - "Adagio for Strings" – 9:34
  2. John Cage - "In a Landscape" – 2:57
  3. Erik Satie - "Ogive Number 1"[3] – 6:44
  4. Pietro Mascagni - "Cavalleria Rusticana" – 3:19
  5. Maurice Ravel - "Pavane pour une Infante Défunte" – 6:11
  6. Antonio Vivaldi - "L'Inverno" – 3:57
  7. Ludwig van Beethoven - "Triple Concerto" – 5:32
  8. Georg Friedrich Händel - "Xerxes" – 4:42
  9. Henryk Górecki - "Piece in the Old Style 1" – 5:06
  10. Henryk Górecki - "Piece in the Old Style 3" – 5:49
  11. Ludwig van Beethoven - "Opus 132" – 6:14

Limited edition EP also contains:

  1. "Adagio for Strings" (Ferry Corsten Mix) - 6:33
  2. "Adagio for Strings" (ATB Mix) - 7:35

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  3. ↑ Although titled "Ogive Number 1", this track is actually an arrangement of the second of Satie's four Ogives. Compare, for example, Orbit's arrangement with either the published sheet music or the midi files linked from Ogive (music).