FEATURE:
Strings, Please
The Crossover Between the Mainstream and Classical
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THEY still seem like different worlds…
IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 17th October, 2024/PHOTO CREDIT: Lloyd Wakefield
I am referring to genres like Pop and Rock and Classical. Maybe it is quite hard to mesh and combine the two naturally. I do think that there has always been a relationship between these worlds. Classical music is still seen as quite niche and specialist. We have a wave of incredible young composers and fantastic players that are making the genre fresh and contemporary. That perception the genre is dusty and elitist. Once seen as a novelty, the meeting of musical worlds like Electronic and Dance together with strings and the Classical is becoming more common. D.J. sets or classic albums being scored by orchestras. Pete Tong, Jules Buckley and The Heritage Orchestra performed Ibiza Classics a few years ago. They performed a big show at the O2. The Ibiza Proms is an intriguing mash-up that is actually quite natural rather than awkward. More and more, Classical music and orchestration is being paired and integrated with a range of different sounds. It always heightens them and adds something classy and dramatic. That may sound stereotypical or lazy. Going back to the elitist tag. However, it is true that strings, brass and woodwind offers a magic and emotional resonance that is hard to deny. I am writing this feature because there have been recent examples of popular contemporary artists with huge followings being backed by orchestras. Dua Lipa recently performed with the Heritage Orchestra. In a one-off (debut) show at the Royal Albert Hall, this was a Pop artist defined by energy, bombast and these huge anthems reimagined. The beautiful melding of the orchestra and Lipa. Rolling Stone provided their take:
“The last time Dua Lipa played in the UK, it was to headline Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, and her next performances in her home country will be two sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium next June. Sandwiched in between these two career-defining moments is tonight’s show at the Royal Albert Hall, which is being filmed for a TV special and sees her joined by a full orchestra, promising a transformation of her discography.
The entire pit of the venue is turned into one huge stage, with a snaking walkway cutting between a 53-person Heritage Orchestra, 14-person choir and Lipa’s seven-person band. In between songs, Lipa tells the audience how new album Radical Optimism was about searching for something tangible, and how the idea of this special show allowed her to “go into the bare bones” of her songs and reimagine them.
IN THIS PHOTO: Elton John joins Dua Lipa on stage at the Royal Albert Hall/PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Gibson
The idea is an interesting one, but in reality not much changes here from her studio material, and it’s probably for the better. Hers are some of the best pop songs of the decade so far, and to radically transform their shape and structure could serve to dilute their power. Instead, the sweeping string section and stirring horns add a new layer of paint while not being transformative. It adds an extra dramatic heft to Radical Optimism highlights ‘Houdini’ and ‘Training Season’, while the brilliant groove that drives both tracks is still firmly in tact.
The idea of an orchestral reimagining of an artist’s catalogue – especially one as fun and danceable as Lipa’s – can end up feeling like code for making it a little more boring, but it’s the changes of energy and tone that make the show succeed. There are beautifully tender moments when she covers Cleo Sol’s ‘Sunshine’ and sings at the piano for a devastating rendition of ‘Anything For Love’, but moments later she’s thrashing about on top of that very piano during a raucous performance of breakout hit ‘Be the One’.
For the encore, it’s truly heartwarming when the troupe of singers part like the red sea to reveal a beaming Elton John, who reveals a genuine chemistry with Lipa as the pair tear through a jubilant version of ‘Cold Heart’. The gap between this show and her soon-to-be-stadium tour is then cut by the introduction of her dancers, who add a much-needed dynamism to a live debut of Barbie track ‘Dance the Night’ and the closing ‘Don’t Start Now’.
This was a show that hinted at revolution for Lipa’s catalogue, and though it stops short of delivering that, it doesn’t diminish the power of these potent pop songs and confirms her as a true entertainer”.
Offering a new dynamic to her music, I don’t think it should be treated as a novelty. It is not the first occasion of a massive Pop artist taking things down and being accompanied by an orchestra. It does open the door for future possibilities. Artists such as Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé would sound wonderful with orchestral support! The way we think about particular songs and albums. An Evening with Dua Lipa will air on ITV later this year. Recently, Florence + The Machine performed their phenomenal debut album, Lungs, in a dramatic reimagining for the BBC Proms. It is available on iPlayer to watch now:
“Huge hits Dog Days Are Over and You've Got the Love feature in this dramatic reimagining of the international star’s groundbreaking first album. Fans flocked from all over the world to this unique concert titled Symphony of Lungs, celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Florence + The Machine's Brit award-winning debut.
Captivating everyone in her path, Florence teams up with conductor and arranger Jules Buckley, the London Contemporary Voices choir and an 80-plus-piece orchestra complete with lute, flute and harpsichord to create a remarkable new soundscape in her only concert of the year”.
It seems like more and more artists will be reframing and remoulding their albums by pairing with orchestras. The fact that Dua Lipa and Florence + The Machine garnered such huge reviews shows that there is this alchemy that should be mined more. I am excited to see how that notion evolves. This is what The Guardian wrote when reviewing Florence + The Machine: Symphony of Lungs:
“Will it surprise you to learn that Florence Welch’s orchestra features not one, but two harps? That there is a lute and a rainstick, and a violin solo so furious that it feels like a devil is being conjured? As the grand high witch of maximalism, the Proms is the ideal way for Welch to revisit the pained howl of Lungs, her 2009 debut album that wears its heartbreak like a scar. “When I first heard Jules’s orchestration, I cried,” she tells the audience in her whisper-soft speaking voice. “This album is about feeling and I never thought anyone could add more feeling. But Jules did.”
She walks out in a red Rodarte gown that is 90% sleeve, evoking the bruised and bloody heart of 15 years ago. Each of Jules Buckley’s orchestral reworkings teases something new from the occasionally patchy collection of songs. Girl With One Eye becomes a campy musical theatre number as Welch vamps around the stage and the bassoon channels You’re a Mean One Mr Grinch; the fluttering woodland flutes heighten the emotional warfare of My Boy Builds Coffins; the tidal wave of feeling crashing around during Rabbit Heart ratchets the crowd to their feet.
And anchoring it all is that voice, wide-mouthed and guttural but not gravelly, dredging up long-buried emotions and recasting them with tenderness and a kind of joy. Welch claims that her range has shrunk in the intervening years but you can rarely tell; the huge notes hit like a cannon firing, her head voice peaking with all the softness of a flurry of snow.
“Everything’s a big crescendo,” she said of her songwriting in 2011 – and so it is here, heightened by the power of tens of musicians. The breaking waves engulf the audience every time: by the time we reach Dog Days Are Over (with an operatic verse chucked in, because why not), the atmosphere hits a kind of ecstasy that you rarely get to feel without chemical intervention. Spirits are channelled and danced with, as Buckley and Welch give an unforgettable performance”.
I don’t think it is an easy go-to for artists to perform with orchestras to give their albums this new sense of grandeur and brilliance. It is a way of helping break down barriers. I still think we undervalue orchestra and Classic music. How many wonderful conductors there are coming through. There is still a long way to go. There is still sexism and misogyny in this world. Very little diversity, especially when it comes to conductors. However, things are improving. I think that one cannot fault the quality and psychological, emotional impact orchestras have. Dua Lipa and Florence + The Machine are a couple of examples of what happens when mainstream artists collaborate with orchestras. It is not a new thing, as I say, but it is getting more attention. I do hope that we see more artists reimagine their work. Maybe Kylie Minogue. Anyway. It is exciting and fascinating how we perceive and consider certain albums when they are stripped back and rebuilt. It is a celebrated artist and an orchestra working together…
IN perfect harmony.