Tetsuo_Shima
In Cryo Sleep
For those of you who do not know, Jean Michel Jarre is a French composer and one of the pioneers of progressive ambient trance, making his mark with his flowing electronic sound and lavish open-air concerts with breathtaking pyrotechnics and lighting. In 2004 he held a concert in Beijing's Forbidden City, not only being the first of its kind as a merge between ambient trance and traditional Chinese music, but also being the first concert to be filmed in high-definition.
I bought the DVD off of Play.com (plug!) for around 18 pounds; the dvd contains a main disc, with his Forbidden City and Tian'amen Square performances in HD, as well as a bonus disc and an audio CD version of his Forbidden City concert. All in all a very nice package, and the cover artwork is very pleasing to the eye.
At the moment, Ive only had a chance to look at the Forbidden City concert so Ill give you a rundown. It opens up in a traditional Japanese courtyard, with an orchestra playing a short piece to welcome Jean Michel to the stage. The stage consists of a keyboard 'command center', along with additional keyboards at the side for his support. Behind the stage there are 5 geometric shapes, each lit up internally, sometimes with a soft glowing colour, sometimes with images and movies projected onto them. Very impressive stuff.
Moving on to the actual music, Jean Michel opens up with a beautiful piece called, aptly, Forbidden City, which merges flowing electronica sounds with a pulsing beat, backed up with some sensual traditional Chinese woodwind. Next up is Aero, which begins with Jean Michel playing a synthetic woodwind instrument, accompanied by a Chinese woman playing a slow mournful tune on a single-stringed violin of sorts (Im not sure of the names of these instruments) which was very nice, before he moved up to his control center and gave us some keyboard-sourced blip-sequencing.
Continuing with the ambient keyboard strokes, he moves swiftly on to the legendary Oxygene 2, with possibly the best ambient piano melody ever recorded. Oxygene 4 up next, with its unforgettable and captivating melodic electronica chorus (doo, doo-doo doo doooooo
). Of course, this is all squared off with lovely pieces of woodwind and orchestral music provided by the Chinese back-up. Its all very relaxing and moody. In a strange way, Id describe it as the only type of music youd be just as comfortable hearing at a trance session as well as at a ballroom dance.
Since I'd rather not bore you with endless repetition of 'melodic' 'trance' and 'sequencing' Ill just reassure you that the rest of the tracks are just as captivating, main features being the staccato rhythm of Equinoxe 4, the timeless Chronologie 6, as well as classics such as Aerozone and Aerology.
The presentation itself is excellent, with the crisp HD visuals looking amazing on a suitable TV, and the mesmerising soft glowing lights and picture shows. Also, for best results, listen with headphones or a decent surround system. Jean makes good use of multi-channel audio, most notably with the thunder and lightning in Small Band in the Rain, and the swooshing, rotating wind in Aero.
One other thing Id like to point out is how much work Jean does on stage! If you thought, like I did, that all this bleep sequencing and electronica is just simple pushing a button over and over again, think again. Well, it is, but a lot more complicated than you would expect. The melodies are not pre recorded - Jean plays them on keyboard himself, whilst simultaneously sequencing the countless beats and rhythms and serving up synth-pad vocals. Do not underestimate.
So all in all, an excellent purchase if you are into a bit of ambient, or for a bit of relaxation. I wouldnt have got to sleep last night if it wasnt for old Jean putting my mind at rest
I bought the DVD off of Play.com (plug!) for around 18 pounds; the dvd contains a main disc, with his Forbidden City and Tian'amen Square performances in HD, as well as a bonus disc and an audio CD version of his Forbidden City concert. All in all a very nice package, and the cover artwork is very pleasing to the eye.
At the moment, Ive only had a chance to look at the Forbidden City concert so Ill give you a rundown. It opens up in a traditional Japanese courtyard, with an orchestra playing a short piece to welcome Jean Michel to the stage. The stage consists of a keyboard 'command center', along with additional keyboards at the side for his support. Behind the stage there are 5 geometric shapes, each lit up internally, sometimes with a soft glowing colour, sometimes with images and movies projected onto them. Very impressive stuff.
Moving on to the actual music, Jean Michel opens up with a beautiful piece called, aptly, Forbidden City, which merges flowing electronica sounds with a pulsing beat, backed up with some sensual traditional Chinese woodwind. Next up is Aero, which begins with Jean Michel playing a synthetic woodwind instrument, accompanied by a Chinese woman playing a slow mournful tune on a single-stringed violin of sorts (Im not sure of the names of these instruments) which was very nice, before he moved up to his control center and gave us some keyboard-sourced blip-sequencing.
Continuing with the ambient keyboard strokes, he moves swiftly on to the legendary Oxygene 2, with possibly the best ambient piano melody ever recorded. Oxygene 4 up next, with its unforgettable and captivating melodic electronica chorus (doo, doo-doo doo doooooo
). Of course, this is all squared off with lovely pieces of woodwind and orchestral music provided by the Chinese back-up. Its all very relaxing and moody. In a strange way, Id describe it as the only type of music youd be just as comfortable hearing at a trance session as well as at a ballroom dance.Since I'd rather not bore you with endless repetition of 'melodic' 'trance' and 'sequencing' Ill just reassure you that the rest of the tracks are just as captivating, main features being the staccato rhythm of Equinoxe 4, the timeless Chronologie 6, as well as classics such as Aerozone and Aerology.
The presentation itself is excellent, with the crisp HD visuals looking amazing on a suitable TV, and the mesmerising soft glowing lights and picture shows. Also, for best results, listen with headphones or a decent surround system. Jean makes good use of multi-channel audio, most notably with the thunder and lightning in Small Band in the Rain, and the swooshing, rotating wind in Aero.
One other thing Id like to point out is how much work Jean does on stage! If you thought, like I did, that all this bleep sequencing and electronica is just simple pushing a button over and over again, think again. Well, it is
, but a lot more complicated than you would expect. The melodies are not pre recorded - Jean plays them on keyboard himself, whilst simultaneously sequencing the countless beats and rhythms and serving up synth-pad vocals. Do not underestimate.So all in all, an excellent purchase if you are into a bit of ambient, or for a bit of relaxation. I wouldnt have got to sleep last night if it wasnt for old Jean putting my mind at rest