Timelapse
Orchestra of the Swan’s new album,
Timelapse, features a number of my arrangements. Some of them are simple - straightforward transfers from keyboard to ensemble in the case of
Gnossienne 1 by Erik Satie and
Les Barricades Mystérieuses by François Couperin - and others combine original composition with existing works. Yet more are what I call ‘reimaginings’ of well-known songs, a few of which are almost unrecognisable in comparison with the source material.
There are many ideas about what constitutes a ‘good’ arrangement and there are talented practitioners who approach the task in an impressive and virtuosic fashion. Complexity and compositional dexterity can be dazzling, as is the case with Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s