Techno + Classical = JOY

March 21, 2008 6:49 PM

Techno-classical recommendations, please!!!

So I love classical music... and I love techno music... and I love them together!!! I keep hearing these amazing pieces of music playing outside clubs/in stores and used in figure skating routines, but I don't know ANY titles or DJs or where to find this kind of music!

So please, MeFi, help a music geek out!

posted by Planet F to media & arts (36 comments total)

Tomita did a version of Mussorgky's Pictures at an Exhibition as electronic music. Not sure you would call it techno, but I like it.
posted by R343L at 6:56 PM on March 21

I'm sure you've heard of them or seen them before, but just to throw these names out: Vanessa Mae did a mean Toccata and Fugue. Bond is a string quintet that does pop/techno versions of classical pieces.
posted by hellopanda at 7:00 PM on March 21

Rob Dougan's album Furious Angels is mostly electronic music that's backed by a pretty large orchestra and choir. There's a two-disc edition whose second disc is entirely instrumental.
posted by Prospero at 7:07 PM on March 21

Try a search on William Orbit, he did Adagio for strings and string quartet 132 by Beethoven as techno.
posted by clanger at 7:10 PM on March 21

Seconding Vanessa Mae, whose Contradanza and Storm - Techno Vivaldi are all kinds of awesome, among others. Electric violin mostly.
posted by Phire at 7:10 PM on March 21

also:
Robert Miles maybe?
and Dj Visage - The Return (Opera dance-mix-Italian)
posted by clanger at 7:13 PM on March 21

Bond and Vanessa Mae.

If you want, I'll see if I can find my Bond album to loan to you. Hint: ignore the unbelievably cheesy cover photos. It's the only way not to want to destroy the album immediately.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 7:15 PM on March 21

urgh, I should not have italicized Vanessa Mae. She is not an 'it'.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 7:16 PM on March 21

Ok sorry for multi posts...

Links:

William Orbit - Barbers Adagio For Strings
Dj Visage - The Return
William Orbit - Opus 132 - Beethoven
William Orbit - Ravel's Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte
Yeah, Vanessa Mae - The Devil's Trill
Maybe Ralph Fridge - Angel?
Malcolm Mclaren - Madame Butterfly (if you wanna go waay back - techno elements but not exactly techno I guess)
posted by clanger at 7:51 PM on March 21 [3 favorites]

Re: Clanger's suggestion for William Orbit and Barber's Adagio for Strings - he did indeed recreate this, but not as Techno, but on Pieces in a Modern Style in it's original tempo.

Look for Tiesto's remix of Orbit's track. Now that is Techno.

This might help Tiesto+Adagio
posted by Blacksun at 7:53 PM on March 21

apotheosis did an amazing version of Carl Orf's O Fortuna.
posted by neilkod at 7:53 PM on March 21

you'd probably like BT's newest, This Binary Universe.
posted by blastrid at 7:58 PM on March 21

clanger, I think I love you. I hope you don't mind. great advice (I have yet to get to the rest of the suggestions, but so far so good! thanks!!!!)
posted by Planet F at 8:04 PM on March 21

Thanks Blacksun! I like the Tiesto version you posted. (I tend to lump anything into "techno" that sounds remotely electronic :) )
posted by clanger at 8:06 PM on March 21

apotheosis did an amazing version of Carl Orf's O Fortuna.

Oh man. I loved that remix so much, I had to use it as background to a little video pieced together in the pre-web era.
posted by jaimev at 8:32 PM on March 21

Jeff Mills did a collaboration album with the Montpelier Philharmonic Orchestra - Blue Potential
posted by p3t3 at 8:33 PM on March 21

*cough* sent apotheosis O Fortuna mix link via mefi-mail. covered. :)
posted by zengargoyle at 8:50 PM on March 21

heh... there's alwasys that Night On Disco Mountain track from the Grease soundtrack...
posted by Artw at 8:55 PM on March 21

Actually I believe William Orbit (but possibly someone else) re-mixed his version of Adagio for Strings with a techno beat. But, lo, it is an abomination.

Ah, on preview and checking the YouTubes, it was Ferry Corsten who did it. And, ye, it is truly an abomination.
posted by turbodog at 9:06 PM on March 21

And if disco is fair game: A Fifth of Beethoven
posted by turbodog at 9:10 PM on March 21

And OMG, your favorite idea of classical/techno totally sucks. You're into the ambiant/electronica realms. Couldn't finish a single video. If my backup drive wasn't broken, or I was at my work machine... I grew up on classical music, that stuff is horrid, you have to be able to listen and go "ah!, I know that." and then you go "cool!". these so far give me nothing.

If you can't sit back and just listen with eyes closed and wave your hands around and be pleasantly suprised at times... bunk.
posted by zengargoyle at 9:26 PM on March 21

Oh, and YouTube search "Hooked on Classics" for some more of the disco/electronic versions... sorry, before the time of techno. :)
posted by zengargoyle at 9:42 PM on March 21

zengargoyle marked as best answer simply because it cracked me up :D

and I can't wait to hear the stuff you send me... I also grew up on classical music and a giant chunk of my income goes towards cds/concerts, but like the techno beats of what clanger was recomending, even if they didn't have their basis in pure classics
posted by Planet F at 9:49 PM on March 21

The Seduction of Claude Debussy by The Art of Noise is a whole CD of exactly what you want.
posted by kindall at 10:30 PM on March 21

Oh, youtube search "Walter Carlos", "Wendy Carlos". early sex change action going on there, but sill more electronic than techno...
posted by zengargoyle at 10:42 PM on March 21

Hybrid's "Wide Angle", "Morning Sci-Fi" and "I Choose Noise" have a fair bit of this kind of thing on. Here's one of their more string-laden numbers,Finished Symphony.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:09 PM on March 21

Oh, here's a start... (Itube so you don't have to...)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.

Some techno in there, some electronica, some just synth. All pass the eyes closed happy face test.
posted by zengargoyle at 12:52 AM on March 22

OMG! Apotheosis and O Fortuna. I just dug out a C-90 tape with some mad-ass endless speed acid remix of this I was obsessed with way back in 92, complete euphoric, dark joy. Thanks for the reminder!
posted by freya_lamb at 3:17 AM on March 22

Ack, hit post too soon, it's not your standard 'classical' but I was about to recommend Martyn Bennett, techno/celtic musician defining eclectic with pipes and beats. Not very dance-y but definately interesting.
posted by freya_lamb at 4:26 AM on March 22

Daniel Bernard Roumain, "etudes 4 violin & electronix." This isn't dead-guy classical played on a synth, it's new compositions.
posted by adamrice at 6:51 AM on March 22

What about Enigma? I think same style, if not classical per se. I marked with * the two that most people have heard.


1st album:
Sadeness * (also available as a 7 minute full version)
Mea Culpa
Callas went away

2nd album:
The Eyes of Truth
Return to Innocence * (the "famous" Gregorian chants)
I love you, I'll kill you

(I don't really like anything on the 3rd album)

4th album:
Push the limits
Gravity of Love (includes O Fortuna as part of the mixes)
Voyageur

There are also 5th and 6th albums to the project, but I stopped listening as he went more techno and I didn't like it. Perhaps they will be more to your liking as they are more techno, but you're on your own there.
posted by olya at 10:21 AM on March 22

Try this: Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Plays Aphex Twin. It's the reverse of what you're looking for, but so awesome.

Also: Warp Works: Twentieth Century Masters features the London Sinfonietta playing music by artists from Warp Records. Outstanding.

I find combining electronica into the concert music sphere to be a much more creatively interesting endeavor, in terms of possibility especially, than trying to grab bits of concert music and pull them in as ingredients in a mix. YMMV, IMO of course.

Oh, I almost forgot my friend Mason Bates! Incredible composer and electronica artist, he's had works incorporating both aspects into the concert hall commissioned by the L.A. Philharmonic and the National Symphony. Great music.

I made a post on the blue along these lines here, and posted a performance of a piece you might find interesting here.
posted by LooseFilter at 12:40 PM on March 22

If you DO happen to like Tomita...he did a lot of of other stuff other than Pictures At An Exhibitiion (which is good). His version of Holst's "The Planets" is one of the best interpretations I've heard, orchestral or not.
posted by lhauser at 12:41 PM on March 22

I always hear Techno Classica being advertised on di.fm, which sounds exactly like what you're looking for.
posted by jmd82 at 2:28 PM on March 22

Aphex Twin - "Girl/Boy", "Outside", and "On". Three of the absolute most mind-blowing songs ever constructed. Girl/Boy and On you can find on ablums, but Outside was never officially released by him and is only available on p2p that I have ever seen, it may in fact not be officially credited to him but is an absolute must-have. If you have never heard these songs and you like classical/electronic, go now, and quickly.
posted by sophist at 12:41 AM on March 23

Seconding HYBRID
posted by d-programmers at 3:28 PM on March 27