About Queen

Anyone who's expecting to hear mere orchestral arrangements of Queen songs is in for a big shock!!! - Brian May

Let me start by setting the expectations straight about this CD: It is not just another symphony orchestra playing a bunch of pop/rock songs. This is a brand new piece of serious modern classical music. It is more along the lines of a piece by one of the post-romantic classical composers like Schoenberg, Stravinsky or Richard Strauss.

Various Queen themes are used throughout this work, however, the composer Tolga Kashif manipulates and re-molds this raw material to create a masterpiece that transcends the boundaries of any particular Queen song and delivers a musical painting of the impression Queen's music left on him throughout his life. The composer himself explains what he was trying to achieve the best:

The Queen Symphony is an integrated work for orchestra and choir in which I have hoped to express the original essence of this great music. In seeking to reinvent rather than purely orchestrate it, I have found that Queen's music inherently contains the language of the modern classical genre. - Tolga Kashif

I couldn't agree more. When I heard Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time, I was amazed by the passion and the richness of this song which defied the standards of pop/rock music. The layered vocals reminded me of some of the powerful modern classical choral masterpieces like Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Tolga Kashif has certainly done an excellent job of extracting the soul of Queen's music and translating it to a symphony that will be played by most major orchestras around the world for many years to come.

You have to reserve a block of about 50 minutes of quiet time to really enjoy this CD when you listen to it for the first time. It requires a bit of concentration, especially if you want to be able to identify the Queen themes that are introduced at various points in this work. I found listening to it with a good pair of headphones to be a better choice, at least initially.

This work contains 6 movements:

I.Adagio Misterioso - Allegro Con Brio - Maestoso - Misterioso - Allegro Starts with strings building up the chords as the Radio Gaga motif is introduced by different sets of wind instruments. Then the composer progressively works in the theme from Show Must Go On. An explosive choral entrance with One World One Vision toward the middle of the movement is complemented by a passage from strings that reminiscent of the solos of Brian May. This ties into the finale that is based on I Was Born To Love You and a final repetition of the Radio Gaga theme.

II. Allegretto - Allegro Scherzando - Tranquillo starts with a romantic piano passage based on the theme from Love of My Life accompanied by gentle chords from the strings. Toward the middle of this movement Killer Queen theme is introduced by a dynamic attack from the brass section. The movement reverts back to Love of My Life as the tempo slows down and ends with a flute solo reiterating the main theme.

III. Adagio starts with solo cello introducing Who Wants to Live Forever and shortly thereafter, a solo violin joins and starts a melodic conversation with the cello accompanied by sustained minor chords from the string section. This section reminded me of some of Ravel's trios in terms of being able to create very strong emotions from seemingly simple musical components.

IV. Allegro Vivo - Moderato Cantabile - Cadenza - A Tempo Primo starts with a cheerful interpretation of Bicycle Race on the piano. If you close your eyes, you can imagine the bicycles riding all around you, accompanied by a sense of rush and chaos. Toward the middle of the movement, the sense of chaos is replaced by a sense of calmness as Save Me is introduced by the string section. The string section gradually builds up an exchange with the wind section that is interrupted by a quiet solo piano passage. Bicycle Race theme comes back and grows stronger as the orchestra, driven by the brass section and the timpani, goes through a very dynamic passage that takes us to the finale.

V. Andante Doloroso - Allegretto - Alla Marcia - Moderato Risoluto - Pastorale - Maestoso is arguably the best movement of this symphony. Chorus, accompanied by the glockenspiel, opens the movement with Bohemian Rhapsody. The oboe takes over and plays the "mama I just killed a man..." part, which is followed by a powerful string section that matches the style of Freddie Mercury's layered vocals on the original Bohemian Rhapsody. A sudden interruption by drums and timpanis brings We Will Rock You theme from men's chorus that is answered by We Are The Champions from the women's chorus. After brief re-introduction of the Who Wants to Live Forever theme from the first movement, the brass section repeats We Are The Champions as the orchestra reaches the conclusion that ties into the beginning of the 6th movement.

VI. Andente Sostenuto starts with We Are The Champions theme from the brass section. The string section bring back Who Wants to Live Forever. A violin solo on the same theme is followed by exchanges between the string section and the brass section. The chorus comes back with the Bohemian Rhapsody and builds up to a pseudo-finale. Suddenly, everything is quiet and calm again and the three themes mesh together as we reach the end with the familiar riff from Bohemian Rhapsody.

CD Credits
Composed and conducted by: Tolga Kashif
Orchestrated by: Julian Kershaw
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Leader: Rolf Wilson)
London Voices (Director: Terry Edwards)
London Oratory School Schola (Director: Michael McCarthy)
Piano: John Lenehan
Violin: Nicola Loud (Movement III)
Cello: Francois Rive (Movement III)

Composer Info
Tolga Kashif is a composer, conductor and producer. He has worked with BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, English Chamber and National Symphony Orchestras. He has written soundtracks for many films (First Snow of Winter, Where the Heart Is, The Criminal) and documentaries (QED, Gulf War), as well as many original compositions. A more detailed biography can be found at:

http://www.musicpartnership.co.uk/Pages/Con_Kashif.html