Symphonic Shades

The CD "Symphonic Shades - Hülsbeck in Concert" presents all songs of the concert performed on August 23rd 2008 at the WDR-Funkhaus in Cologne, which was a world-premiere: It was the first time a complete symphonic concert was dedicated to the works of one video game musician exclusively. The name of this person is Chris Huelsbeck, whos regarded as legend among enthusiasts mostly for the music he composed for game classics of the C64- and Amiga-homecomputer era such as "The Great Giana Sisters", "R-Type" and "Turrican".

The musical style could be called the exact opposite of the originals, the change couldn't be more extreme (and interesting!): The minimalist computer sounds of the original songs were rearranged for orchestra and choir by demoscene legend Jonne Valtonen (aka Purple Motion / Future Crew), supported by the japanese video game music veterans Yuzo Koshiro and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi. Tiny 8-bit samples or filtered saw waves and pulse width modulated square waves became violins, contrabass, flutes, clarinettes, horns, trumpets and grand piano. Envelope controlled noise became drums, timpani, cymbals, triangles ... even pottery mugs. And the handful of simultaneously playable voices of the C64 and Amiga computers turned into arangements for 120 musicians of orchestra and choir. The spectrum of the concert ranges from virtuoso pieces for solo piano to complex arrangements using the complete orchestra. The song "Karawane der Elefanten" celebrated its world premiere in Cologne - Chris Hülsbeck composed it for this concert exclusively.

Conducted by Grammy-winning artist Arnold Roth, the 120 musicians of the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne and the FILMharmonic Choir Prague were supported by the highly acclaimed soloists Jari Salmela (Piano) and Rony Barrak (Percussion).

The CD: Concert recordings in highest quality

For the CD production the already excellent live material was complemented by some recordings which were done before and after the concert, in order to achieve the best possible quality for the final CD mixing.

CD Content

(clicking at the song title plays mp3 preview)

"This concert surpasses everything I ever desired musically. Additionally the WDR was very dedicated during the whole production time. We all wanted to offer the best possible concert experience to the listeners. And I think this is what we accomplished." says a beaming Chris Huelsbeck.

Technical Facts