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Music of the Spheres | 
 enlarge | Artist: Mike Oldfield
Label: Decca
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $6.46
You Save: $10.52 (62%)
New (43) Used (15) from $5.45
Rating:  29 reviews
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 001092502
UPC: 602517636330
EAN: 0602517636330
Release Date: March 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Harbinger | | • | Animus | | • | Silhouette | | • | Shabda | | • | The Tempest | | • | Harbinger Reprise | | • | On My Heart (feat. Hayley Westenra) | | • | Aurora | | • | Prophecy | | • | On My Heart Reprise (feat. Hayley Westenra) | | • | Harmonia Mundi | | • | The Other Side | | • | Empyrean | | • | Musica Universalis |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
Mike Oldfield has always been famed for his unconventional approach to music. Throughout his career he has consistently broken musical boundaries, and with Music of the Spheres he continues to do so. Taking influences from Holst and Rachmaninov as much as Steve Reich or William Orbit, this piece is classical in nature, but yet is also immediately identifiable as classic Mike Oldfield. Using a full concert orchestra and choir, and with solo parts from Mike himself on guitar, legendary soprano Hayley Westenra and renowned pianist Lang Lang, this is a work with huge emotional and musical scope. The title of the piece is a reference to something that Mike feels strongly: that all music should aim to represent the spriritual, or otherworldly elements of life: something beyond the mundane and everyday. In this he has clearly succeeded. Music of the Spheres is by turns epic, tender, mournful and triumphant. It is the work of a composer who above all can make beautiful and substantial music, regardless of genre or instrumentation.
Album Description
2008 reissue UK 'Special Edition' 2-CD album set - Collaborating, for this release, with the highly respected Karl Jenkins, Oldfield returned to his ubiquitous 'Tubular Bells' and used a theme from it AS the theme for his first attempt at a truly 'classical' album; with a guest appearances by the divine Hayley Westenra on the vocal piece 'On My Heart' and acclaimed pianist Lang Lang who appears throughout, Oldfield has drawn upon the best the Classical world has to offer for this premier outing. This deluxe reissue comes expanded with a Bonus 14-track CD featuring the previously unavailable 'Live at the Guggenheim' performance that occured on 7th March 2008 in Bilbao.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...
 Mike Oldfield - 'Spheres" November 11, 2008
D. M. Payne (Granite Bay, CA United States)
Heard this CD while traveling on tour in the UK. I was very taken with it, and bought it when I got home.
I can't believe how well it went with the English countryside as we traveled. Now it causes me to harken back to that trip!
The music, in my opinion, is very beautiful with lots of different instrumentation and voices. There has to something everyone would love on the album.
Music of Spheres July 12, 2008
Theodore F. Canty (palm coast ,fl.32137)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
One of the best cd's i now own. This is an Orchestral venture that is a timeless piece of music that takes you on a journey of so many emotions. I feel it is the best creation Mike has composed. I write this so that Mike Oldfield receives more of the credit he so rightfully deserves. This cd has brought us much enjoyment and
 Tubular Bells (Again). May 31, 2008
Jason Stein (Chula Vista, CA United States)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
I like Oldfield, I have all of his albums including this one, but "Music Of The Spheres" is just more of the same. Oldfield has been spinning his creative wheels for over a decade now. I'd say the last Oldfield album I really enjoyed was 1994's "The Songs Of Distant Earth". Since then, Oldfield has been doing variations on the same themes with "Music Of The Spheres" being pleasant, but as another reviewer said, not innovative.
Yes, Oldfield utilizes real instruments and an orchestra and opera singer, but when it's all said and done it's not memorable. Some tracks standout more than others, and for me that moment comes in the middle of the album with "On My Heart" and "Aurora". I know I'm going to be lambasted for what I'm going to say next, but I'd really like to hear Oldfield utilize singers again and make more pop albums like "Five Miles Out", "Crises", "Discovery", "Islands" and "Earth Moving" as much as many fans would gasp in horror. It's been almost 20 years since he tried his hand at making a pop album, and I still think Oldfield excels at making good pop songs.
So, "Music Of The Spheres" is merely a rote exercise. Pleasant, inoffensive, average Oldfield. It did not excite me as some of his past work has. Good, but not above average or great.
 nice addition May 30, 2008
Kathryn L. Asta (Texas)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The latest of Mike Oldfield's work is a nice addition to his collection of music, definitely would recommend buying this cd!
A Heaven Sent Opus May 29, 2008
Mark D. Peterson (Mascoutah, IL USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Within the first 5 seconds of the first song on the first listen - I was hooked - Didn't matter what was to come - I KNEW I'd love it. I've always admired Mike Oldfield's works. Sometimes they are great and sometimes they are outstanding. This falls in the later. Absolutely an exceptional piece of music. You cannot possibly go wrong with this one.
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