Customer Reviews

Seven: a Suite for Orchestra

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It grows on you after every listen and this is required if it is to be appreciated. A nice blend of classic rock into classical music if you will.

I've followed Tony Banks' music for a long time now - except for the dismal 80's Genesis - and I wasn't prepared to give Seven more than a cursory listen and say "very nice." And to be honest, that's how I approached this music. The last Tony Banks music I honestly liked was on his first solo album back in 1979. But, as I listened to Seven, I heard more than I anticipated, and eventually, this music grew on me. I have to say now, that despite the long and rather spotty - to be charitable - record of English rock musicians writing for orchestras (Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Jon Lord, Yes, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, etc) that Banks transcends his past and with his suite creates mature music in the vein of Ralph Vaughn Williams and Edward Elgar.

In his notes, Banks says that he didn't want to create a typical piece with a rock plays soloing over an orchestral backing. Rather, he wants to write integrated orchestral works with their own structure and internal logic. This Banks does with more elan than I thought possible. The energy, melodies, and orchestration of this music is impressive and irrespressible.

The first piece, Spring Tide, gushes forward, a torrent of music that sets the tone for the rest of the suite, a series of pastoral mediations which have always been at the heart of his music.

The more I listened to this music, the more I liked it, until now, when I play this album, I find myself hearing all the things I loved about Banks's work with Genesis, but now, thoughtfully recast into the tradition of English orchestral composers and not King Crimson.

I can heartily recommend this music to any long-time Genesis fan, or even to classical music lovers. I hope that Tony Banks will continue writing more orchestral work.

Como siempre que un músico de rock se decide a "hacer sus pinitos" en el mundo de la música clásica, hay opiniones encendidas. Los "rockeros", con su sempiterno sentimiento de inferioridad ante la clásica, lo alaban y lo reciben como si se tratara de la octava maravilla. Los "clásicos" lo critican sin piedad o, sencillamente, pasan de él. Yo creo que ni una cosa ni otra. Hay que alabar el buen hacer de Tony Banks y el esfuerzo que ha supuesto la composición de este Seven. Las piezas están bien construidas, aunque lastradas por una orquestación de Simon Hale que es tópica entre las tópicas, tiene momentos emotivos y otros un tanto insustanciales. De cualquier forma, es curioso que la mayor parte de los músicos de rock (salvo quizás Zappa) que se han adentrado por el mundo clásico, lo hacen como si no hubieran existido los últimos 100 años. Ahora resulta que el no va más es Vaughan Williams. Bien por el esfuerzo, pero, hombre, no estaría de más un poquito más de riesgo. Al final todos estos intentos suenan un poco a lo mismo. Una mezcla entre el tardo-romanticismo inglés y la música de películas.

Why care from what band this man formerly wrote for and was the driving force behind. If you're a classical music afficionado, then you'll love these suites from a contemporary and "young" composer.

From a strings for orchestra standpoint, he's begun to out perform Samuel Barber and Vaughan Williams.

Unfortunately, Mr. Banks is trying to out perform the 80's to present film composers.

Fortunately, these suites do out perform those composers for one reason: The music is for people who can apply it to their own dramas in their lives and develop their own stories and end their stories the way they want to. Profoundly different from a movie/film score. These 7 give listeners their own score to decide on how to see and live out their own dramas: this thing called life.

Now that Anthony George Banks is done with this great work, he can move on to the next logical step: the piano concerto. Every great work he composed for Genesis and his Great solo works was nothing more than a great piano concerto composition and drama, with some outstanding, histrionic and, sometimes, meaningful lyrics. But who needs lyrics, when we can write our own stories in our own minds.

So keep up the hard work Mr. Banks and get to those piano concertos!!! It seems as though you were born to out perform every piano concerto ever written. Only you will ever know.

In the mean time classical music buffs, get to know this man and his music! Start with this one and move backwards, you won't be disappointed! He's been just a throwback all along.

Tony Banks is best known as the keyboardist and founding member of the legendary rock band Genesis. With the Genesis members now pursing their own projects full-time, Banks has ventured away from into a musical genre that he had been longing to tackle for quite sometime but never got around to until recently - orchestral music. The release of "Seven" offers the first fruits of Tony Banks compositional style for orchestra and is quite an extraordinary effort from beginning to finish.
The work is divided into seven movements (hence the title "Seven") and runs close to an hour in length. Besides Banks' own musical voice (which is evident throughout the entire work), there are hints of the great Classical composers which have preceeded him heard as well. Elements of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Berlioz and latter-day Beethoven are all apparent alongside Banks' brilliant compositional style. There are also influences of the great film composers John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith heard throughout this music (Tony Banks himself has also scored the occasional film).
Without a doubt, Tony Banks has released a fine orchestral debut. His talents as a composer are shown at their fullest and greatest. While this is his first symphonic offering, I hope it won't be the last.
Highly recommended for fans of Romantic-era classical music and orchestral film scores!!

Once again Tony Banks has demonstrated complete brilliance and extraordinary talent in his musical efforts. Along with guiding the rock group Genesis for well over 3 decades, Banks has proven that his musisical instincts have not diminshed in the last few years sine the rock group has been dormant.

Seven is a wonderful musical expression that is both dramatic and inspiring. One cannot help but think how incredibly appropriate parts of this music would be to accompany film. Most of all the music, like all of the previous Bank's efforts takes you away on an adventure of beuatiful sounds and melodies.
well done and I strongly encourage all readers to pick-up this CD.

Tony Banks' "Seven: A Suite for Orchestra" is one of the best Romantic orchestral efforts by a formerly popular/rock music composer I have heard. It has interesting, pleasant melodies, at times a spirit of grandeur and striving ("Gateway" and "Neap Tide" segments), and at times a spirit of hope and delight ("Spirit of Gravity" and "Spring Tide" segments), that conveys pure love of life to me. It is most reminiscent of dramatic movie scores of the 1940s, or of adventure film scores by John Williams in recent years ("The Ram" segment). However, it is not at the high level of classical music by Brahms, Rachmaninoff or Tchaikovsky, of course.

"Seven: A Suite For Orchestra" is the debut classical album by the one-and-only Tony Banks, the keyboard player for Genesis, and it consists of five pieces that Tony wrote specifically for the album, plus two older pieces Tony had lying around that hadn't found a home yet. It's performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Mike Dixon, with Tony chipping in here & there on piano. And it is absolutely gorgeous music. It's impossible for me to single out a single track. All I can tell you is that this music is breathtakingly beautiful. And if you're familiar with Tony's work in Genesis---and bonus points are awarded to you if you know his solo material as well---you will *instantly* recognize the powerful melodies, moods, and musical nuances that couldn't be written by anyone else but Tony Banks. And, being released on the Naxos budget label, the price of this CD is practically a steal, so you're definitely getting a GREAT deal in purchasing it. I know that Tony had this classical album in the pipeline for many years, and, as a longtime fan, I wondered if it would *ever* be released. But here it is at last, and I can happily say to you that it was so worth the wait. With "Seven: A Suite For Orchestra," Tony Banks takes a brilliant first step as a classical composer, and I'd love to hear more. It's a beautiful classical album, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Congratulations, Tony!

What a delight. Still listening to it regularly and finding plenty to enjoy. Played it to my sister who was never interested in Genesis without telling her who it was. Her favourite composers are Chopin and Mozart; she loves it. Her first word was 'Atmospheric' which is probably how the many Genesis fans would describe their rock music. The pieces are quite distinctive with the final 'The spirit of gravity' truly emotional. I'd love to hear more of this from Tony/the LPO.

As far as classical music, im not a expert.But for first try it sounds very good to me.Would like to here more of tonys piano playing in the music.