Published
Mon, Apr 5, 2010, 11:00
- The UK experimentalist is next in line for Deutsche Grammophon's acclaimed series of electronic remixes of classical music.
Matthew Herbert has been tapped by Deutsche Grammophon's for the next edition of its ReConfigured series.
It will be the fourth entry, following work from Armann Matthias, Jimi Tenor and Carl Craig & Moritz Von Oswald. This time around, though, instead of tackling a finished work of classical composition, Herbert has taken a slightly different tack; the UK experimentalist will recompose Mahler's unfinished 10th Symphony. The work, which was nearly complete at the time of the composer's death in 1911, is largely concerned with the theme of death.
Herbert has taken this idea to its logical extreme, building a car radio in a coffin, and letting one of the finished versions of the composition play on it to use for sampling purposes. The viola solo in the introduction, meanwhile, was reportedly made at Mahler's grave. "My version will not only constitute the fascination of death, but an exaggeration of the awkward balance that Mahler produced between light and dark. It is the joy of conflict between the fear and the glory, " says Herbert.
Deutsche Grammophon will release Recomposed by Matthew Herbert Mahler Symphony X on May 28, 2010.