Just bought Michael Oldfield’s ‘Music of the Sphere’s’ album. Liking it :)

(Though I have to admit, this final piece off it is a little unoriginal…or is nobody else hearing ‘Tubular Bells’ in that?)

Oldfield was originally a progressive rock artist, though his work was often classically influenced or incorporated classical elements. In this, his most recent work, he completely drops the rock to produce what I think is a great composition of modern classical music. Though I love that he keeps a lot of progressive rock’s themes with the spaciness of it, or at least of the philosophy and feel behind it.

In his words in the album sleeve:

In this world,everything has a pulse or a vibration. This sound is unique to each living or non-living thing and in itself creates a music that no-one can hear. I believe that this has a very powerful resonance with, and a deep effect on, our lives. What would happen if we took this further and applied it to bigger things, more powerful things; like an entire solar system or galaxy say, what would that sound like?

Musica Universalis is the ancient theory that every celestial body, the sun, the moon and the stars, has an inner music. This is a harmonic and mathematical concept derived from the movements of the planets in the solar system. The music created is inaudible to the human ear.

Music of the Spheres is my interpretation of this theory. Every planet and every star; the whole universe has music within it that no-one can hear. This is what it would sound like if it was set free. This is Music of the Spheres.