Metropole Orkest presents CIANI/ORKEST, a remarkable live album created in collaboration with electronic music pioneer and five-time Grammy nominee Suzanne Ciani. Conducted by Simon Dobson, the project features entirely new work composed specifically for this unique partnership.
The recordings took place during Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), where the orchestra and Ciani delivered an immersive performance. CIANI/ORKEST is not a retrospective, but a bold and forward-looking encounter between Ciani’s distinctive Buchla synthesizer and the rich, layered sound of the 50-piece Metropole Orkest. The result is a sonic landscape that is both expansive and intimate.
In this project, the orchestra’s qualities are fully brought to life: shimmering strings, powerful brass, and expressive woodwinds blend seamlessly with Ciani’s fluid and organic sound world. “This project feels like a homecoming,” says Ciani. “The Buchla was always orchestral to me. Hearing those colors unfold through the Metropole Orkest is deeply moving.”
At the heart of the album lies Ciani’s ongoing exploration of quadraphonic sound. Since her early experiments in the 1960s, spatiality has been an essential element in her work. For CIANI/ORKEST, she collaborated with immersive producer KamranV, who draws on decades of experience in spatial audio to let sound move through space as naturally as possible. “For us, quad is a musical starting point,” KamranV explains. “It’s not about the technology, but about the intent behind the sound.”
With CIANI/ORKEST, the Metropole Orkest once again affirms its role as a pioneer in innovative musical projects. The album captures the energy of live performance: the immediate interaction between soloist and orchestra, the real-time interplay, and the shared experience of an audience immersed in a spatial, enveloping sound world.
You can listen to the album on Spotify, among other platforms.
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