In early 2004, The Gathering released a live CD called "Sleepy Buildings, a Semi Acoustic Evening". This was more a concept album than a usual live recording because every song was arranged in a smooth and subtle way, putting aside the electric and electronic sounds for a beautiful organic feeling magnified by Annekes angelical voice. Some experiments were made for this special recording: i.e. the drums sounded like Timpani, the bass was sometimes played with a bow... I was really curious to know how these new songs would sound with a symphonic orchestra.
Many rock bands already played with symphonic orchestras such as Deep Purple, Metallica or Scorpions. Each time it brought a new dimension to the songs and emphasized the original climax. The Gathering songs are multi layered and often written with arrangements in a very orchestral way, playing with the alternation between quiet parts and polyphonic parts. This is why the chemistry should work perfectly.Being an avid cello player for 20 years and an old The Gathering fan, I used my knowledges in classical music to write in late 2004 orchestral arrangements for 3 songs: "Saturnine", "The Mirror Waters" and "My Electricity". After spending 5 months composing hardly the strings, woodwinds and choirs parts during my free time when I got back from work, I finally had my 3 remixes done. Each time I listened to my orchestrations, I found something new to add but at some point, youve got to know when you must stop. I also had some difficulties to mix the whole orchestra to the Sleepy Buildings songs, especially with the keyboards parts I often had to cover up. Im convinced that The Gathering should definitely compose a couple of new songs with an orchestra because the result works so fine!I sent the CD to the band and received the congratulations from Hans & Ren.. Rutten for the work I did on this and the atmospheres it added to the original songs. I asked if I could share some of those tracks with you, so here they are for your personal pleasure. I hope you will like them as much as I enjoyed making them! Just close your eyes and let your imagination go. Thanks!Greg Guillaume Songs submitted with permission from The Gathering. NOTE: Please don't post comments such as "thanks for the add" or anything not related to music. And please keep your spam for yourself!
