Back in 2003 the Metropol Orkest performed a concert of soundscapes - orchestrated versions of Robert Fripp's guitar improvisations.
On the face of it this doesn't sound like a very enticing proposition as much of the power of Fripp's original pieces comes from the element of chance or hazard that surrounds the music. Much of Fripp's soundscaping is unutterably beautiful and deeply emotional at a spiritual level and I wasn't sure how an orchestra could recreate such personal music. But they did.
Andrew Keeling and Bert Lams painstakingly transcribed and orchestrated a number of original improv pieces. The original performance was broadcast on Dutch radio back in the day and has existed 'out there' in trading circles for the past nine years. And it was wonderful. Mixed with the lengthy soundscapes the Orkest played three King Crimson numbers, which perhaps didn't fit with the prevailing mood terribly well, but did nonetheless illustrate how cinematic and orchestral in scope much of Crimson's music actually was.
Over the past couple of years long time Fripp associate and producer David Singleton has been working with the 2003 recordings. The recently released result is The Wine Of Silence, an album of such breathtaking beauty that it's very to hard to describe. With the Crimson pieces now absent the album seems more complete, a suite of sometimes hazy, sometimes crystal clear beauty. Touchstones might be Gorecki, or Tavener or Arvo Part, but although there is a reverent, almost religious aspect to The Wine Of Silence there's a calming, stunning stillness at the heart of the soundscapes, one which absolutely transfixes me and prevents me from doing virtually anything else. In Fripp speak - Music leans over and take me under it's wing. It envelops the listener so completely that the outside world becomes as nothing. It is quite simply a totally transcendent experience.
Ok, so this may all sound way over the top, but I've quite simply never heard music like it. Singleton has taken the raw tapes and mixed, folded, overlapped and expanded the sound so it sounds like a thousand orchestras are playing with a hundred different choirs. Whilst the two versions of "Pie Jesu" and "Midnight Blue" are stunning enough in their unadorned orchestral beauty, it's perhaps the two pieces augmented by a choir that are at the heart of this suite. The sheer emotional power of “Requiescat” and “Miserere Mei” is almost overwhelming. “Midnight Blue” reminds me in many ways of the three tracks on side two of Eno's Discreet Music. The hazy dreamlike qualities of that record's “Fullness Of Wind” et al are echoed here, but magnified into something that is so enveloping and entrancing that it’s hard to believe.
Much as I would love to hear / see / experience Fripp continue his guitar soundscaping, I would, even more, love to hear / see / experience a full orchestra playing this stuff.
But in the meantime I can’t recommend this recording highly enough. It is nothing short of perfection. If you don't have The Wine Of Silence then I suggest you get hold of it immediately. Your life will be immeasurably richer for it. Really.
Only ten pounds at the Burning Shed... what are you waiting for??
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