William Orbit - Pieces In A Modern Style (Warner) In this age of eclecticism, pop and classical music are no longer strange bedfellows. Crossovers are aplenty, from genuine innovators (Yngwie Malmsteen's electric guitar concerto with an orchestra) to the bandwagon types (Canto-pop upstarts disguising whimsical numbers with orchestral bombast).
Pieces In A Modern Style is not the first, nor will it be the last, example of these sometimes-peculiar blends.
With this offering, however, Orbit is a pioneer: instead of using strings and brass to reconstruct his usual dance-oriented canon, he utilises technology to re-interpret classical compositions.
Pieces harbours certain inspirational high points. A trippy, quirky, beep-filled reading of Beethoven's Triple Concerto and the floating ambience of Erik Satie's Ogive Number 1 are the sparkling movements in the project, harking back to his excellent Strange Cargo albums.
However, the weaker tracks speak volumes about how synthesiser-driven covers are susceptible to becoming elevator music.
Vivaldi's L'Inverno sounds like somebody testing out a classical piece on a keyboard, while his reading of John Cage's In A Landscape stands too close for comfort to the New Age dirge of Mike Oldfield.