Music of the Spheres (Mike Oldfield album)
Music of the Spheres | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 14 March 2008 | |||
Recorded | Abbey Road Studios, Studio 1, June 2007 | |||
Genre | Classical | |||
Length | 45:30 | |||
Label | Universal Classics and Jazz Mercury | |||
Producer | Mike Oldfield Karl Jenkins | |||
Mike Oldfield chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Music of the Spheres | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
IM | [2] |
Music of the Spheres is the 24th album by English musician
The album features New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra (on "On My Heart") and Chinese pianist Lang Lang on six tracks.
Music of the Spheres was nominated for a Classical Brit Award in 2009.
History
In an interview on
Recording
Initially the album was written with electronic elements, like his last album,
On the
Release
The album had been delayed a number of times, for various reasons. Originally, the release was aimed for Halloween;[
On 18 September 2007, Universal, the record label, held a presentation event, hosted by Yellow Lounge
In November 2007 Universal included "On My Heart" (featuring Hayley Westenra) on their No 1 Classical Album 2008 compilation album. Westenra and Oldfield performed "On My Heart" live on the ITV daytime program The Alan Titchmarsh Show on 18 March 2008. During the week beginning the 10 March, Music of the Spheres was the featured album on the Classic FM radio station.[7]
Live at Bilbao
A second press event was scheduled at the
Critical reception
Music of the Spheres was nominated for a
Chart performance
Music of the Spheres entered the UK Classical charts at number 1, as published by Music Week. It also entered the UK Albums Chart at number 9,[11] making it the most successful Oldfield album of the 2000s. Also, according to Music Week, as of October, Music of the Spheres is the 2nd best selling classical album of 2008.
Music of the Spheres is certificated Silver in UK.[12]
Charts
Chart (2008) | Peak position |
---|---|
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[13] | 62 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[14] | 96 |
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[15] | 24 |
French Albums ( SNEP)[16]
|
72 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] | 14 |
Greek Album Chart[citation needed] | 23 |
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[18] | 13 |
Irish Albums (IRMA)[19] | 87 |
Irish Classical Album Chart[20] | 2 |
Italian Albums (FIMI)[21] | 49 |
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[22] | 13 |
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[23] | 7 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[24] | 31 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] | 37 |
UK Albums (OCC)[26] | 9 |
UK Classical Chart[27]
|
1 |
US Billboard Top Classical Crossover Albums[28] | 10 |
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Poland (ZPAV)[29] | Gold | 10,000* |
United Kingdom (BPI)[30] | Silver | 60,000* |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Track listing
Standard studio version
All tracks are written by Mike Oldfield
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Harbinger" | 4:08 |
2. | "Animus" | 3:09 |
3. | "Silhouette" | 3:19 |
4. | "Shabda" | 4:00 |
5. | "The Tempest" | 5:48 |
6. | "Harbinger (Reprise)" | 1:30 |
7. | "On My Heart" (Featuring Hayley Westenra) | 2:27 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
8. | "Aurora" | 3:42 |
9. | "Prophecy" | 2:54 |
10. | "On My Heart (Reprise)" (Featuring Hayley Westenra) | 1:16 |
11. | "Harmonia Mundi" | 3:46 |
12. | "The Other Side" | 1:28 |
13. | "Empyrean" | 1:37 |
14. | "Musica Universalis" | 6:24 |
Live from Bilbao
All tracks are written by Mike Oldfield
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Harbinger" | 4:09 |
2. | "Animus" | 3:05 |
3. | "Silhouette" | 3:19 |
4. | "Shabda" | 4:02 |
5. | "The Tempest" | 5:38 |
6. | "Harbinger (reprise)" | 1:27 |
7. | "On My Heart" | 2:26 |
8. | "Aurora" | 3:38 |
9. | "Prophecy" | 2:58 |
10. | "On My Heart (reprise)" | 1:08 |
11. | "Harmonia Mundi" | 3:10 |
12. | "The Other Side" | 1:27 |
13. | "Empyrean" | 1:57 |
14. | "Musica Universalis" | 6:13 |
Total length: | 44:36 |
iTunes-only version
The iTunes-only version includes Music of the Spheres, Music of the Spheres – Live from Bilbao and Interviews.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Mike Oldfield interview" | 3:03 |
2. | "Karl Jenkins interview" | 2:09 |
Total length: | 5:12 |
"Spheres"
"
Track meanings
One of the album's tracks is entitled "Musica Universalis", which when loosely translated into English is
Personnel
- Mike Oldfield – Classical guitar, producer and mixer
- Hayley Westenra – vocals
- Lang Lang – piano on tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9.
- Karl Jenkins – orchestrations, conductor and producer
- Sinfonia Sfera Orchestra
Orchestra
The Sinfonia Sfera Orchestra are:
|
|
|
Additional personnel
- Miles Showell – Mastering at Metropolis Mastering, London
- Simon Rhodes – Engineer
- Rupert Christie – Assistant Producer
- Richard King – Engineer
Uses of the piece
Australia's
The album was used as background music in BBC Two's Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness programme in 2009.
Sections from Music of the Spheres have been used as backing music for Russell Ducker's Epimitheus, a 20-minute ballet piece.
Release history
References
- AllMusic
- ^ "Music of the Spheres review". InfoMusic. Retrieved 19 December 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Craft: Mike Oldfield". Resolution Magazine. March 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
- ^ "Oldfield's Odyssey". This is London. 15 May 2007. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
- ^ "I use my Mac for... Composing music" (JPG). MacFormat. April 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
- ^ "Yellow Lounge".
- ^ "Mike Oldfield – Music of the Spheres". Classic FM. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
- ^ "La presentación mundial a los medios de comunicación tendrá lugar el 7 de marzo" (in Spanish). Euskadiko Orkestra. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
- Classical Brits2009. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
- ^ "Scots soldiers in Brit award win". BBC News. 15 May 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
- ^ "Estelle ends Duffy's grip on singles chart". Reuters. 3 April 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2008.
- ^ "Certified Awards". BPI. Archived from the original on 27 October 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
- ^ "Austriancharts.at – Mike Oldfield – Music of the Spheres" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Mike Oldfield – Music of the Spheres" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Mike Oldfield – Music of the Spheres". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Lescharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Music of the Spheres". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2008. 12. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Mike Oldfield". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ "GFK Chart-Track". Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Italiancharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Music of the Spheres". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- . Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Music of the Spheres". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Music of the Spheres". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Mike Oldfield – Music of the Spheres". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ March 2008/7502/ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Official Classical Artist Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. 23 March 2008. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- AllMusic
- ^ "Wyróżnienia – Złote płyty CD - Archiwum - Przyznane w 2008 roku" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ "British album certifications – Mike Oldfield – Music of the Spheres". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ "Epimetheus. Choreography by Russell Ducker". Corella Ballet. Retrieved 26 February 2010. [dead link]
External links
- Mike Oldfield Discography – Music of the Spheres at Tubular.net