Decades ago, I went to a concert by Tangerine Dream. Three gents came on stage, sat at their vast Moogs with backs to the audience, and played entrancing but ultimately soulless music for two hours. The guy sitting next to me turned out to be a keyboardist himself; under the trading name of Bilbo Baggins, he created music for the lifts in Tokyo malls. Yes, that's just how it was back in those days.
So I approached this concert with a little trepidation - was this going to be an experience of disembodied electronica which would leave me cold?
I needn't have worried. The ten musicians on stage played with huge enthusiasm for what they were doing, and what they had discovered they could do, on a collection of extraordinary analogue electronic instruments from the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Undoubtedly some of the pieces (ranging from Gabrieli, through Messiaen to recent self-penned pieces) were more successful than others, and spoke more convincingly to the audience - the differential applause demonstrated that rather well. The classic 'Switched on Bach' material was perhaps the finest, and it was brilliantly well handled.
But the very fact that these musicians seemed to be on a rather joyful journey of discovery, that they wanted to tell us about it, and were expressing their enthusiasm for it to the audience meant that their final round of applause was very warm indeed - an appreciative reception for a rare and special kind of concert.
Gently spoken Will Gregory is internationally known as half of the dynamic electronic music duo Goldfrapp, in which he is produces, composes and plays keyboards. He loves old moog synthesizer technology and is keen to take it in new and unpredictable directions.
At this SJE Arts evening Will was joined by nine other experts of the synthesiser including Adrian Utley (Portishead) and composers Eddie Parker and Graham Fitkin. Together they assembled classic moogs and synthesizers by Korg, Roland, Doepfer and Macbeth.
The moog was originally developed by American music pioneer Dr Robert Moog as an analogue synthesizer based on transistors which replaced the previous and more awkward vacuum tubes. It became the first extensively used electronic musical instrument.
The ensemble impressively played Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, regarded by some as one of the best orchestral compositions of the Baroque era and bizarre layers of white noise were heard in Noise Box. A medley from the John Carpenter film soundtrack Escape From New York sounded inventive and minimalist, whilst Burt Bacharach‘s South American Getaway, soundtrack to the 60s American western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, helped recreate the joy, fun and beauty of the original film.
It’s now the 10th anniversary of Robert Moog’s death and a fresh and innovative composition by Will Gregory, possibly to be named Pipe Box, demonstrated a new piece of equipment which enabled all 10 synthesizers to be synchronised. Pulsating rhythms became interlocked in a way that was not previously possible live.
The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble stretches the potential of the classic Moog synthesiser through new compositions, classical transcriptions and their own interpretations of music from film. This was an evening of warm, playful and exciting music and it was rare to see a huge crowd swarming round the stage during the interval. The temptation to catch a glimpse of the huge array of equipment close up became irresistible!