On tour – coming to The Hexagon, Reading on 14 June
Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory and a stellar line-up stretch the possibilities of the Moog
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As one half of the electronic music sensation Goldfrapp, Will Gregory is passionate about creating new sounds and reinventing old ones. Through The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble, he realises the full potential of the Moog synthesiser through newly composed music, transcriptions of classical works, and the ensemble’s own versions of music from popular culture and film. Featuring Portishead’s Adrian Utley and composer Graham Fitkin, a stellar line-up of 10 musicians perform works by J S Bach, John Carpenter, Burt Bacharach, Oliver Messiaen, plus a new commission by Will Gregory, on an array of vintage instruments. The programme also features a new clocking device specially built for the ensemble; enabling all synths to be synced to produce music previously impossible to perform live.
The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble is the first to revisit what Wendy Carlos achieved in the late 60s through her iconic Moog recordings, and explore what happens if delivered as a live performance in the 21st century. The Ensemble does this by bringing together 10 of the finest synths from the 60s to 80s – Moogs but also synthesizers by Korg, Roland, Macbeth and Doepfer – to produce new sounds from repertoire across the musical spectrum.
This new musical dimension is brilliantly revealed through the tour programme. The 8 parts of Gabriele‚Äôs Canzona Pian’e Forte are given greater clarity and character when played on Moogs rather than brass instruments whereas the single expressive line of Messiaen‚Äôs Quartet for the End of Time reveals new textures through electronic sound. Other pieces in the programme celebrate Moog classics such as John Carpenter‚Äôs Escape from New York and Bach‚Äôs Brandenburg Concerto No 3 performed live in concert.¬†
The tour also features a new commission by Will Gregory which explores different aspects of what each synth can do thanks to a special clocking device specially built for the Ensemble. This enables all the synths to be synchronised, creating driving and immediate music previously impossible to perform live. Other contemporary works include Noise Box by Will which uses the clocking device to explore white noise plus works by Graham Fitkin and Eddie Parker written for the Ensemble.
The tour culminates with a special London performance as part of The Moog Concordance; a new partnership with Moog Music Inc, independent event producer Paul Smith and the Barbican celebrating the life and work of Dr Robert Moog in recognition of the 10th anniversary of his passing. The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble will perform as part of a double bill with American composer and performer Charlemagne Palestine. In addition to some of the works listed above the Ensemble will perform a selection of reworked pieces from the iconic score for Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange featuring a rare recorded reading by the book’s author Anthony Burgess.
Portishead film maker John Minton will join the ensemble to create video enabling audiences to enjoy close up details of the instruments being played in Birmingham, Bristol and London dates with more tbc.
 
The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble line up is drawn from:
 
Will Gregory
Vyvian Hope-Scott
Simon Clark
Adrian Utley
Hazel Mills
Dan Moore
Eddie Parker
Simon Haram
Ross Hughes
Graham Fitkin
Ruth Wall
Pete Rosser 
Local Dates
10 June 8.00pm                 OXFORD St John The Evangelist
promoted by OCM
ocmevents.org
14 June 8.00pm                 READING The Hexagon
                                                readingarts.com