Metropolitan Suite

Metropolitan Suite

On this CD: 1. Metropolitan Suite
Composed by Larry Fast
with Larry Fast

2. Into the Abyss
Composed by Larry Fast
with Larry Fast

3. Prairie Light
Composed by Larry Fast
with Larry Fast

4. West Side Nights
Composed by Larry Fast
with Larry Fast

5. Redstone
Composed by Larry Fast
with Larry Fast

6. Metropolitan Suite Metropolitan Theme (magazine giveaway version, 1986)
Composed by Larry Fast
with Larry Fast

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
The man behind Synergy is Larry Fast a native of New Jersey who was to have a far-reaching effect on the use of synthesizers in rock music during the seventies and eighties. Larry Fast first came to prominence with the release of the debut album from Synergy called Electronic Realizations For Rock Orchestra in 1975. Prior to the release of Synergy's debut Larry Fast had been at college. Initially Larry trained as a violinist and pianist before entering college and taking a few computer science courses. It was during this period that Fat became interested in synthesized music and began to build his own synthesizers. At this time he was introduced to Rick Wakeman at a local radio station and both musicians enjoyed an immediate rapport with Larry Fast interesting Rick Wakeman in his home made instruments and his customizing of existing synthesizers. He was invited over to England to assist with the synthesizers on the Yes album Tales From Topographic Oceans. Shortly after this Larry Fast gained a record contract, which saw the beginning of Synergy and the subsequent release of the debut album which received plaudits from no lesser person than Robert Moog himself who at the time claimed the album to be "the most important recording using his Moog synthesizer". Soon after the release of the debut Synergy album Larry Fast was introduced to Peter Gabriel who at the time had just left Genesis to embark on a solo career and Larry was invited by Gabriel to help with the synthesizer work on Peter's series of self titled solo albums. During this time Larry also worked as part of Peter Gabriel's live band and performed on many sessions for diverse artists including Foreigner, Kate Bush, Art Garfunkel, Hall and Oates and The Fugees in addition to recording and releasing albums with Synergy. During the eighties Larry Fast also moved into film work scoring the films About Last Night and Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Product Description
Metropolitan Suite comes from 1987 and is Larry's take on New York. The album is made up of nine tracks of which five are taken up with the Metroplitan Suite itself which offers musical sketches of New York through different periods in it's history. As with all the re issues in this re issue series the album has been re mastered for release and contains sleeve notes by Larry Fast.

Tracks:

Adagio. Moderato (Excerpt From Cello Concerto In E Minor, Op.85) - Jacqueline Du Pre
Sisters - London Metropolitan Orch/Barrington Pheloung
Ov (From Suite No.2 In b Minor, BWV 1067) - David Heath
The Farmhouse - Caroline Dale/Sally Heath
The Holiday Song - Caroline Dale/Sally Heath
The Hospital - London Metropolitan Orch/Barrington Pheloung
A Day On A Beach - Caroline Dale
Con In e Minor, Op.85: I. Adagio. Moderato - Jacqueline Du Pre
Con e Minor, Op.85: II. Lento. Allegro Molto - Jacqueline Du Pre
Con In e Minor, Op.85: III. Adagio - Jacqueline Du Pre
Con In e Minor, Op.85: IV. Allegro. Moderato. Allegro Ma Non Troppo - Jacqueline Du Pre

Amazon.com

As might be expected, the soundtrack to Hilary and Jackie plays a highly prominent role in this film about the emotionally fraught relationship between two gifted sisters, one of whom is the brilliant cellist Jacqueline Du Pré. Certainly composer Barrington Pheloung--whose credits include the Inspector Morse series and the evocative score to Truly, Madly, Deeply--faced a heady challenge in writing music to be heard alongside Du Pré's rhapsodic, signature interpretation of the Edward Elgar Cello Concerto, not to mention other classical selections. Even so, the resonantly autumnal, neo-Romantic flavor of his score aptly mirrors the narrative's flashback-oriented technique. His insistence on the cello's urgent high register (played by soloist Caroline Dale) creates a poignant musical portrait of its tragically stricken protagonist. Most of the CD, however, is given to the entire Elgar concerto--an especially effective choice as against the usual potpourri of classical snippets. This charged, elegiac, and easily accessible work--Elgar's own valedictory composition for orchestra--becomes a sort of musical metaphor for Du Pré's emotional journey and gains from being heard in its full context. While the performance featured here is conducted by husband Daniel Barenboim, you'll probably be inspired to try Du Pré's never-bettered version of the Elgar on EMI with John Barbirolli. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews:

identified the composer of the tune found in "Holiday Song".......2005-12-16

My father really enjoys the music from "Hilary & Jackie." His mother sang him the tune in "Holiday Song" as a child, as she heard it from relatives who were musicians. I found out from Barrington Pheloung's website that the melody was written by a composer named Johannes Fries, though it was originally attributed to Mozart. Just thought that I'd share that with you, since there apparently are others who are searching for the original music, too. The Elgar concerto is a classic recording, a mainstay in any basic classical library.

...masterful.......2004-03-04

Undoubtably the main focus of the c.d is the Elgar "Concerto for Cello and Orchestra which is presented in whole. Prior to Jacquelines performance of the work, it was little known, misunderstood, unloved and infrequently played...she was able to probe it's depths like no other person before her, Elgar's "Cello Concerto" needed her. But this particular recording isn't of her best, Barbirolli conducting the London Symphony Orchestra is highly regarded as the best. No two performances were exactly alike and the recording on this disc being her second performance, but it still paints a superb picture of a artist in full bloom.
Barrington Pheloung's score enhances the intense emotions portrayed in the film whether it's anger, pain, joy, depair or hope. Apart from the Elgar, the cello heard is from Caroline Dale...she is able to capture the spirit and sound of Jacqueline.

Absolutely Inspiring.......2001-05-12

Few orchestral pieces are so moving as Jacqueline DuPre's performances of Sir Edward Elgar's Concerto for Cello. The emotion that Ms. DuPre portrays is enough to make me want to grab a cello and play it (too bad I'm a flutist, ha). This album features the entire concerto, as well as several moving pieces composed for the film by Barrington Pheloung. This CD is an absolute must for any music lover.

Hilary and Jackie- The Music that made the film.......2000-02-03

The soundtrack can only be described as inspirational. Listening to the sountrack, which has been so well compiled, only deepens the feelings of loss felt for the late Cellist extraordinare, Jackie Du Pre.For lovers of the film this soundtrack is a must, the highlight definately being the rendition of Elgar's Concerto, by far Ms Du Pre's most highly acclaimed work.

profoundly romantic and tragic.......1999-09-23

Like many others, I was bewitched by the beauty of this music, let alone the uniqueness of Elgar's concerto and brilliant performance of Ms. Du Pre. My heart goes to the family, for their brave attitude and insightful proceeding of Jackie's story. The tune "Holiday Song", which used to be "their" song, I personally remember it from my childhood as a Mozart's tune, called "Lullaby". Unfortunately, I don't know how to get in touch with Jackie's family, but I wonder if anybody else noticed the same thing. My deepest respect for Jackie's art.

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition No1-10; Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps

Average customer rating:

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition No1-10; Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps
Modest Mussorgsky , Igor Stravinsky , James Levine , Maurice Ravel , and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000001GID
Release Date: 1994-01-18

Average customer rating:

Highlights from Carmen and much more of Bizet

Greatest Hits: Bizet

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
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Rossini: Greatest Hits
Mendelssohn: Greatest Hits
Rimsky-Korsakov: Greatest Hits
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Debussy's Greatest Hits

ASIN: B000002A9G
Release Date: 1995-06-13

Tracks:

Carmen: Prelude: The Toreadors. Allegro giocoso
Carmen: Prelude: Andante moderato
Carmen: Habanera (Act I)
Carmen: Seguidilla (Act I)
Carmen: Entr'acte (Act I - Act II): Les Dragons d'Alcala
Carmen: Bohemian Dance (Act II)
Carmen: Song Of The Toreador (Act II)
Carmen: Flower Song
Carmen: Entr'acte (Act II - Act III): Intermezzo
Carmen: March Of The Smugglers (Act III)
Carmen: Nocturne: Micaela's Aria (Act III)
Carmen: March Of The Toreadors & Chorus (Act IV)
Carmen: Duet & Final Chorus (Act IV) 'C'est toi? 'C'est moi' - 'Masi moi, Carmen, je t'aime encore'
The Pearl Fishers: Je crois entendre encore (I Hear As In A Dream)
The Pearl Fishers: Ouvre ton coeur (Open Your Heart)
L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1: Prelude
L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1: Minuetto
L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1: Adagietto
L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1: Carillon

Customer Reviews:

Highlights from Carmen and much more of Bizet.......2001-08-05

It is hard to believe that when Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen" opened in 1875 audiences received it indifferently. Bizet was innovative in that he replaced artificial plots and acting in operas with more realistic representations of the human condition (comparable to what Gustave Flaubert did in literature with "Madame Bovary"). Bizet's masterpiece is represented by the first thirteen tracks on this album, so you might wonder why not just go pick up the entire opera and leave it at that? Because Bizet actually did go on and write some other works, the best of which are included in this collection. This CD also includes a couple of songs from "The Pearl Fishers," sung by Richard Tucker and Beverly Sills, and the "L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1. If this CD included the Farandole from "L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2," it would be prefect. But one of the impressive things about this Greatest Hits collection is that all those tracks from "Carmen" come from several different productions. So you have Bernstein, Stokowski and Ormandy conducting, and Jose Carreras, Rise Stevens and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing.

Average customer rating:

Nino Rota: La Strada; Concertos

Manufacturer: Atma Classique
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00008SH86
Release Date: 2003-03-27

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Metropolitan Suite
Synergy
Manufacturer: Audion
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Games

ASIN: B00000DPBO
Release Date: 2002-01-01

Tracks:

Metropolitan Suite: North River
Metropolitan Suite: Steam and Steel Towers
Metropolitan Suite: City Goes to War
Metropolitan Suite: Metropolitan Theme (Main Theme)
Metropolitan Suite: The End of an Era
Into the Abyss
Prairie Light
West Side Nights
Redstone

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Semi-Conductor, Release 2

Manufacturer: Voiceprint UK
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Computer Experiments, Vol. 1
Metropolitan Suite
The Jupiter Menace
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Audion

ASIN: B00021TLKC
Release Date: 2005-03-17

Tracks:

Legacy
Slaughter On Tenth Avenue
Classical Gas
Cybersports
Paradox: Largo (New World Symphony)
Paradox: Icarus
Phobos And Deimos Go To Mars: Phobos
Phobos And Deimos Go To Mars: Deimos
Phobos And Deimos Go To Mars: Disruption In World Communications

Tracks:

Delta Two
Delta One (Single Edit)
Delta 3/A
Delta 3/C
The World After April
Orbit 5
Ancestors
Earth In Space
Launch At Dawn
To The Edge And Back
North River
Steam And Steal Towers
Metropolitan Theme (Main Theme)

Product Description

Tracks:

North River
Steam And Steel Towers
City Goes To War
Metropolitan Theme (Main Theme)
The End Of An Era
Into The Abyss
Praire Light
West Side Nights
Redstone
Metropolitan Theme (Magazine Giveaway Version, 1986)

Product Description

1. North River
2. Steam and Steel Towers
3. The City Goes To War
4. Metropolitan Theme
5. The End Of An Era
6. Into The Abyss
7. Prairie Light
8. West Side Nights
9. Redstone
10. Metropolitan Theme (magazine giveaway version 1986)

Format: CD

Customer Reviews:

Electronic music that evokes prehistoric visions feelings of impending doom or ultra modern machinery.......2006-02-25

This gem of an album I happened upon while in a used music store. After really getting more aquianted with these unique synthesizer melodies on cassette, I broke down and orderd the CD. There is alot of rich sounds imagination and ingenuity in these recordings. Primeaval force behind these compilations. An ultra modern factory of the future, or a prehistoric landscape.

Average customer rating:

Larry's Finest Work
A Superb Synthesizer Suite with a B-Side Overly Sweet
Uh... good in spots...WAY lame in spots (in an 80's way)
Just one of many New Age albums of the 80s
Elevator Music of the 1980s

Metropolitan Suite
Synergy
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000DMHS
Release Date: 1998-10-20

Tracks:

North River
Steam And Steel Towers
City Goes To War
Metropolitan Theme (Main Theme)
The End Of An Era
Into The Abyss
Prairie Light
West Side Nights
Redstone

Customer Reviews:

Larry's Finest Work.......2007-03-19

Ah, electronic music! Quite possibly the most misunderstood music form.

That's the problem, isn't it? Today you mention Electronic Music and most everyone assumes that you're talking about techno, trance or any of the other so-called "modern" music forms who's composers employ synthesizers(mostly softwared based) as their main instruments.

The casual music fan hears or reads about Larry Fast being an electronic music pioneer and they probably expect to hear early Tangerine Dream or Jean Michel Jarre(both of whom contributed GREATLY to modern dance music). The reviewer that highlighted the missing "filter sweeps" from Metropolitan Suite proves to me that some listeners have NO CLUE to what Larry was trying to do.

Synergy is NOT dance music, so please don't expect filter sweeps and pleeps, pops and vocoders. Fast's solo Synergy projects have never been about tricks and gimmicks. He's focused, from the very start of his carreer, on creating symphonic simulations using synthesizers. His seminal Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra is one of the most important recordings in the history of electronic music.

To classify MS as "80s New Age music" is an insult to Larry Fast and everything he stands for. Larry is one of THE MOST influential artists in the history of modern music and Metropolitan Suite is his magnum opus.

You will reap the recording's full and intended impact if you live in a large city and have an opportunity to listen to the CD on head phones while walking around and viewing the skyscrapers. The genius of Larry Fast will hit you square between the ears!

A Superb Synthesizer Suite with a B-Side Overly Sweet.......2006-08-23

This is a fine CD of instrumental music on average. The first half (probably corresponding to side one of an LP) is excellent and worth five stars hands down. An integrated synthesizer symphony in five movements, it has an 80's soundtrack feel (one glance at the album cover should give away its decade of origin) and yet evokes in the listener (this one anyway) the rise of industrial metropolitan cities in early twentieth century America--both the energy and power and the loneliness and anomie, and shades of moods inbetween. Skyscrapers rising, streetcars criss-crossing, and crowds swelling all in sped-up time-lapsed visuals. The music is extremely moving and contains about as much darkness and hope as you could've gotten from the electronic instruments of the day, and without getting sentimental or wishy-washy. These latter traits were reserved for the latter half of the CD, I guess, which may have been included because it seems to mildly and quietly utilize some of the same themes as the first half. And it's not all that bad, probably worth three stars, but gets uncomfortably cheesy and melodramatic for stretches of time, and in any case doesn't have the integrated feel of the first half. The last track is pretty much new wave rock music without lyrics, sounding a lot like the Cars performing while Ric Ocasek takes a coffee break--not a bad thing in and of itself by any means, but a somewhat weird and discordant way to end the CD. But enough rambling. Despite a few shaky points, this album is a fine specimen of instrumental proto-electronica with an oddly double nostalgic charm.

Uh... good in spots...WAY lame in spots (in an 80's way).......2005-04-01

Ok... I'll admit I like synths, but the emergence of New Age in the 80's and the lame-o role they played in producing it was a dark period in the history of synthesizers AND music. Vangelis started wimping out by the end of the 80's and it appears Larry Fast (who did amazing things with Peter Gabriel) did as well (Kitaro made a whole CAREER out of it). I bought this CD after hearing a few of the opening cuts and being decently impressed. And those would be the "good spots" I referred to in the title. The "WAY lame spots" would be the new-age-ish dribble that makes up the latter half of the CD. Not looking closely (and not being aware of Larry Fast outside of his Peter Gabriel work), I thought this CD was made in 1998. After hearing it, I thought "MAN this guy is stuck in the 80's", only to discover it WAS recorded in the late 80's. It was just the remastered CD that was made in 1998.

The actual music is decent on the first half of the CD. The synth voices and textures are nothing to write home about, but the arrangement is energetic and at least on par with a decently moving movie score. But then it starts sliding off into Yanni-land by the second half, and it sounds like he just let his computer compose the rest of it (not much counter-point or dynamics). The synth sounds/voicings he used are VERY 80's. Lots of FM/DX7 bells and pads, and very few big filter sweeps, or resonant synthy squeaks and squeals.

So, if you like New Age music of the 80's you'll probably like this disc. The first half of it might be a bit more energetic than you like your New Age, but there's plenty of that put-me-to-sleep follow-through on the rest of the disc.

Just one of many New Age albums of the 80s.......2004-07-18

If you enjoy New Age Synth Music of the 1980s then this may be for you? I find it extremely dated sounding now. Some call Synergy/Larry Fast some sort of "innvator" but in reality this music was dated when it was released back 20 years ago. For those who never heard new-wave/electro/synthpop/etc in the late 70s and early 80s you may actually think this is some sort of ground breaking or vaguely interesting album.

Elevator Music of the 1980s.......2002-06-24

I owned the LP of "Metropolitan Suite" back in the mid '80s and thought it was pretty cool. Not having heard it for many years, I bought the recent CD re-issue. After playing it, I realized that New Age music is dated and best-forgotten sonic wallpaper of a musically beige period. Nothing more than drivel for Yuppies who think John Tesh and Kenny G are jazz musicians.

Average customer rating:

New versions - not a "best of"

Reconstructed Artifacts

Manufacturer: Voiceprint UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Audion

ASIN: B00009YNMH
Release Date: 2005-03-17

Tracks:

Relay Breakdown
Warriors
S-Scape
Orbit
Ancestors
Flight Of The Looking Glass
North River
Steam And Steel Towers
Metropolitan Theme (Main Theme)
Into The Abyss

Product Description

1. Relay Breakdown
2. Warriors
3. S-Scape
4. Orbit 5
5. Ancestors
6. Flight Of The Looking Glass Metropolitan Suite (abridged)
7. North River
8. Steam & Steel Towers
9. Metropolitan Theme (Main Theme)
10. Into The Abyss

Format: CD

Customer Reviews:

New versions - not a "best of".......2004-01-04

Made in UK in 2002, Serial# VP272CD, Playing Time 56:11

It's been years since we've been treated to a new album by synthesizer wizard Larry Fast...

This CD presents new "interpretations" (recorded in early 2002) of older material, except for track 6, "Flight Of The Looking Glass", originally released on "Audion", which on here has been recorded on tour in May 2000.

I must admit that all the tracks sound completely different to me, mostly because the technology has changed drastically over the last decades...

The tracks featured here are presented in their ORIGINAL chronological order: the first 2 originally on "Electronic Realizations...", then track 3 from "Sequencer" (oh, I would have LOVED to hear a new version of "Classical Gas" !!!); tracks 4,5 and 6 were originally performed on "Audion", and the other 4 tracks on "Metropolitan Suite".

The sounds and textures presented here are rich, thick, and somewhat more "jovial" than their original counterparts.

This CD makes a great addition of the SYNERGY catalog, whether you're a long-time fan, or want to get introduced to Larry Fast's genre. This release would have been a PERFECT example to demonstrate the possibilities of Surround Sound, especially compared to mainstream rock.

Tracks:

Concerto in F
Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 11, No. 1
Suite from "The Love for Three Oranges" Op. 33-b
Rhapsody in Blue

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