Barber's "Adagio" in Techno Beats

I have long been a fan of multigenre musical creations, like Barber's Adagio, which first received an updated orchestral treatment by William Orbit, and most recently the techno version created by Ferry Corsten in 1999 as a remix. This is a superb creation, marrying elements of upbeat dance tools with the original mellow, classical base.

Of course, I am a teenager of the 1970s with the iconic pieces, "Rock-a-la-Bach," "A Fifth of Beethoven," and "Flight 76." The last two are renderings by the Walter Murphy Band of Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony's First Movement," and "The Flight of the Bumblebee" in that order. (Sadly, I could not find any info on the first piece, which leads me to believe it was created for marching band, only. That's where I found it when I was in high school in the marching and concert bands. Maybe no video renderings exist.)

However, classical and rock crossover songs seemed to be a plethora back then...at least to my ears, and I liked that.

The 1970s, also, saw the rise of Mannheim Steamroller, which mixed classical, rock, and new age. In the 1980s Mannheim Steamroller became known almost exclusively for their Christmas albums, which are, indeed, some of the best on the market.

"Sonata" from Fresh Aire I gives you a taste of their stylings from 1975.

As I said there are many renderings of classical music mixed with rock beats from my younger days. As yet, I haven't mentioned the Hooked on Classics series, which is a classic in its own right.

I've displayed two videos in this piece, but the main focus should be the first one, Barber's "Adagio" as rendered by Ferry Corsten.

I, also, like Christian hymns rendered in a techno beat. This would be a whole new entry, but I'll mention a few right now. Nitro Praise has a series of 7-8 albums, including a Christmas album, Disco Saints, The World-Wide Message Tribe, and Hypersonic were four bands and/or series I became familiar with in the early 2000s.

The ability to mix and remix styles and genres is pretty special in my book. I hope somebody reading this enjoys this type of creativity as much as I do.

Enjoy.

by Jay O’Toole
on July 20th, 2022