Christchurch enjoys its rock and metal, so it’s perhaps no surprise Serj Tankian was greeted to a huge round of applause when he took to the stage at the CBS Arena. One of the most recognisable and respected voices in rock, we don’t see Tankian perform often here. Tonight was special.
Exactly a week earlier, many of this crowd had attended the double-billed show of Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age. But tonight was different. The Black Sabbath and Tool tees remained, but this crowd is largely seated. And on stage are the many varied faces of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. They sit and warm up their instruments. Then it’s a stare-off between orchestra and audience.
At 7:30pm (an early start for many in this crowd) guitarist Jeff Mallow quietly take a seat on stage, followed by pianist Erwin Khachikian. Then it’s Tankian’s turn.
Dressed in pastel shirt and suit jacket, he takes to the stage, beaming. Cheers erupt, and he humbly introduces himself. Tankian’s here to present his first symphony, Orca, a project born in Piha, west Auckland. Since then, it’s been around Europe and finally landed here in Christchurch. He hands things over to conductor Hamish McKeich, and we’re straight into 'Orca Act 1 - Victorious Orcinus'.
It’s a rousing start, and apart from the odd cry and whoop from an obviously excited crowd, those in the CBS Arena seem mesmerised.
If anyone was worried they weren’t going to hear Tankian’s voice, they needn’t have. 'Act 1' complete, he returns and launches straight into ‘Feed Us’ and ‘Sky is Over’ from 2007’s Elect the Dead.
His voice soars through the arena. Some have heard these songs before, when he debuted his orchestral concept with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in 2009.
Here in Christchurch, this performance is tighter and more precise, as the CSO rallies around Tankian’s vocals. Combined with McKeich’s conducting they’re unstoppable. It’s a cool thing to witness, and you get the feeling System of a Down fans in the audience sense power in the absence of an electric guitar.
And so over the next hour-and-a-half, we’re treated to a combination of Tankian’s vocal antics from his debut solo album, and the rest of his symphony.
He explains the philosophy behind it: The somewhat ying-yang nature of the orca (a peaceful member of the dolphin family, but also a killer), before letting us take it all in. Tankian feels extremely accessible during this entire show. It’s not a case of star-and-audience. He’s here to hold our hand and take us on the journey.
His symphony concludes with ‘Act IV – Lamentation of the Beached’, and it’s here we’re treated to the duduk, a traditional woodwind instrument from Armenia. Tankian has brought expert player Vardan Grigoryan to New Zealand for this moment, and we’re all pleased he has. Tankian tells us because the instrument is created from the dead wood of the apricot tree, it’s inherently sad.
It’s a moving piece, a counterbalance to the alternating playful and aggressive nature of Elect the Dead. With this material, Serj is having fun, often beaming or contorting his face into various warped expressions.
It all comes to a head with ‘Lie Lie Lie’, Tankian eyeballing the front row while singing, “She broke her little bones on the boulders below…”
At one stage he tells us he’s lost his setlist, before turning to McKeich and asking what’s next. There’s a brief pause, before McKeich – one of New Zealand’s most respected conductors – answers, “Beethhoven’s C**t”. I see a few elderly members of the orchestra break into a laugh. Everyone’s having fun here tonight.
Like with the humour, darkness and aggression, it wouldn’t be a Tankian show without politics, and during a break in a song he launches into a spoken-word poem about the ridiculous nature of man-made boundaries: “Borders are the ultimate man-made walls separating and differentiating us beyond our cultures, beyond our beliefs.”
His voice increases in speed until he’s spitting words out, “Borders represent the foundation of civilization, expansionism, abusive capitalism, and presumptuous occupation!” He ends with the intensely satisfying refrain of: “F**king borders!”
The energy in the room is huge, only rivalled when he invites people to their feet for the final number, ‘Empty Walls’. It’s a chance for those Tool and Black Sabbath tees to swarm to the front and rock out. And rock they do.
Tankian leaves – band and orchestra in tow, with screams for an encore. “The whole orchestra isn’t going to come back on, you idiot!” says one fan to another. He’s right. Serj returns with just his band, and plays ‘Gate 21’. It’s a rare thing to hear, and this crowd knows it.
They leave, happy. You get the feeling some rock fans have had their first taste of a symphony. And conversely, plenty of classical fans may be starting on their journey to discovering rock.
There’s a word Tankian used throughout the show to thank the orchestra and the crowd, and I think it applies to the entire show: “Beautiful."
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From Ultimate-Guitar
Sound: Tick this off the list of things you thought you'd never see. If you've been following the career of Serj Tankiansince the initial demise of his band System of a Down, you're probably familiar with the greatly underappreciated "Elect the Dead Symphony," a colourful orchestration of his debut solo album and proof of his diverse musical endeavours, which reach well beyond that of your average rock frontman. His pedigree is proven in rock and in classically-influenced experimental metal. This, however, is something else entirely; this is pinch-yourself-to-see-if-you're-dreaming stuff. The man behind "Chop Suey," "Toxicity" and "banana terracotta terracotta pie" has composed an entire classical symphony in four acts. Let's get to it, shall we? The first act, "Victorious Orcinus," is unpresumptuous and relatively low-key to begin with. Serj tinkers around with a few of his new instruments and lays down some markers for the mood of the symphony. It takes a few minutes to find its feet, but once the brass is booming and the chord movements start to follow the piano's confident lead, you start to get an idea of the intended style. This is a cinematic piece, trading the technical rigour and tonal complexity of a pre-1800 symphony for something more emotive. The melodies are big and clearly signposted, and although Tankian utilises every part of the Das Karussell Orchestra, his arrangements are not magnificently intricate. He takes us down a darker route in Act Two, plucking at the heartstrings with expressive minor chords, and strings which move sombrely downwards towards the lower reaches of the instruments. The influence of 20th century composers is evident in the brass, which is a) prominent and b) versatile, as it merges filmic soundscape with the more robust approach found in contemporary performance music. Act Three is inspired by Ludovico Eindaudi and Mike Oldfield, using the former's simple and emotive piano style to rouse the orchestra before fiddling with looping motifs and time signatures in the vein of Oldfield's "Tubular Bells." Much like Einaudi, the melody in the first half is thoughtful and effortlessly listenable without leaving you fully satisfied, but the unconventional second more than compensates. The fourth and final act is by far the most dramatic, using playful flourishes of percussion and oboe to punctuate an ever-changing roulette of moods. The orchestra copes wonderfully well with some rather off-the-wall clashes of atmosphere. As the melody grows more romantic however, Tankian seems set to end on a mournful, slow-burning march, which is melancholy and quite beautiful. But seconds from the end he erupts once again with horns and thundering timpani, radically changing the taste that the piece leaves in your mouth. It is the sort of eccentricity we haven't been used to in the previous three acts, but we should expect no less, I suppose, from a member of System of a Down. // 8
Lyrics: The strange thing about this symphony, with all its narrative qualities, is that it doesn't have anything to narrate. The ORCA Symphony is a standalone work, designed to be sat and listened to as a piece and not a soundtrack, but the way that it's written absolutely screams cinema. Act One's overture is crying out for a protagonist to champion, Act Two's lyricism a tale to tell; a plot and a cast of characters is perhaps what it is missing. Without them, for all its merits, it feels like John Williams without Indiana Jones, Koji Kondo without Link or Nobuo Uematsu without a battle between Cloud and Sephiroth. // 7
Overall Impression: Nonetheless, this is an interesting and professionally executed work, and far more than just a vanity project for a wealthy and indulgent rockstar. Its style is simple and unpretentious, not groundbreaking by any stretch but certainly the best piece of classical music anyone can remember a rockstar ever writing. The name Serj Tankianmay forever be associated with nu-metal but the man has the ability to work in many different fields of music, and anyone who thinks otherwise ought to give this a really good listen.
]]>Dear Friends,
The ORCA recording and concert this past weekend was a tremendous success! It was an extremely special night for me, being able to see the premiere of my first true classical symphony performed by a great orchestra with an amazing response.
From start to finish, it was an incredible experience and there are many people to thank: everyone who supported the Kickstarter campaign (including those I was able to meet in person), the great audience for their contagious energy (rivaling our rock shows!), the talented musicians in the Das Karussell Orchestra, especially conductor Werner Steinmetz and concert master Marcus Wall, Vincent Pedulla, Dan Monti and Erwin Khachikian.
I wanted to share a few photos from the concert taken by photographer Christian Herzenberger (In the photos section), and some cool video clips of Act 1 + Act 4 that we found online:
Next, we will be working on getting the recordings of ORCA edited, mixed and mastered, as well as starting to fulfill the rewards from your pledges. Please keep an eye out for more updates soon.
Thank you,
Serj
]]>From Nachrichten.at - (Translated from German)
A rock star of classical music in a candy store
On Sunday celebrated the first classical symphony of "System Of A Down" singer Serj Tankian and it's world premiere in Linz
By Luke Luger
"I feel like a kid in a candy store." Visibly moved Serj Tankian appeared to thunderous applause before the audience in the Brucknerhaus. On Sunday evening celebrated "Orca", the first symphony and world premiere from the"System Of A Down" front man. Under the direction of Werner Steinmetz, the members of the Bruckner Orchestra composite "Das Karussell Orchestra" opened up the first classic work of the Armenian-American rock stars performance.
And it was a remarkable debut. "Orca" turned out to be sublime, opulent, ostentatious, kitschy - again minimalist and compelling piece of music. Already in the first set tied: Spaghetti Western sounds eerily met "Jaws"-string arrangements. Skillfully transformed the 45-year-old, known for his rock songs Quiet / Loud scheme on the orchestra level. Time offered to the undecided Durchschnaufen dahinplätschernde second set, saved the beautiful solo passages of the first violinist Marcus Wallenberg.
Sun elated as majestically presented itself after the third "Orca" set. This was borrowed from John Williams' iconic "Imperial March" from "Star Wars" films and convinced with blissful melodies and quiet, accurate set of nuances.
Homage to it's roots.
To conclude Tankian homage to his musical roots. At the heart of the brilliant fourth set were the soft, spherical sounds of the duduk, the Armenian National Instrument. The sounds of the woodwind instrument related to the oboe embodied the "melancholy of my people," says Tankian.
The ominous duduk sounds reminiscent in places of a mystical evocation, in which the neck hairs invariably reported to the standing ovation. A fitting end to a truly successful symphonic debut.
As an encore Tankian, who was between the "Orca" sets tasting his "Elect The Dead" album the best, nor the rumbling "Empty Walls" and the touching ballad "Gate 21". A classic rock-good package in a class.
Symphony "Orca": From Serj Tankian, The Carousel Orchestra, 28 10th , Brucknerhaus
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