scapp70's Full Review: The Queen Symphony by Tolga Kashif
I am a huge Queen fan. So big a fan am I, that I buy everything that comes out. If I do not buy it, I cannot sleep. So strictly for peace of mind do I make my purchases. I am saying this to let you know that I have bought all of the Queen symphonic related releases. I have six I think. All of them except for the Any Way The Wind Blows and some of the more recent Another Kind Of Magic (which is not symphonic at all but a musical style concert) are terrible non-symphonic muzak compilations of the same Queen songs over and over that you have to listen carefully to make sure you didn't just purchase the same CD with new artwork and a slightly different title.
This CD, The Queen Symphony is as good as the Italian release that is now out of print and hard to find. The jewel on that Any Way The Wind Blows CD is The Prophet's Song. This CD is real symphony music, or at the very least film score sounding music, which is sometimes very, close anyway. When I listed in the PROS section above authentic, I meant that unlike the others it is true classical music, not rock music done with an orchestra. This CD has a choir as some of the others do, but this choir is more in the classic sense.
The first movement (aptly placed at Track One) is Adagio Misterioso - Allegro Brio - Maestoso - Misterioso - Allegro It incorporates the Queen songs Radio Ga Ga, The Show Must Go On, One Vision and the Freddie Mercury solo song I Was Born To Love You. Actually since Queen rerecorded the music for this track and rearranged it, maybe it is considered a Queen track after all. It starts off very soft and slow like a leviathan lurking just below the surface of the water. About two and a half minutes go by before we hear any Queen related melodies, but they do appear creeping in very sneakily with The Show Must Go On and then the big booming choir singing "One World, One Vision". That is about all that is taken from the Queen song, just that lyric. Although Who Wants To Live Forever is not credited to be included in the movement, it does make an appearance to segue beautifully I Was Born To Love You into the 11 minute track.
Il Allegretto - Allegro Scherzando - Tranquillo is the second movement. Again starting off very quiet, but almost immediately do we hear the beautifully arranged, yet true to the original Love Of My Life. Killer Queen comes into the movement very distinctively. Before it does though, the very small part that Another One Bites The Dust plays here is limited pretty much to the first three notes of the bass riff. Then back into Love of My Life.
The third movement is Il Adagio. This song is incorporating Who Wants To Live Forever and Save Me. This Queen song, (Who Wants To Live Forever), is one of my least favorites to start off with. This movement depends on the melody to the verse a lot, and a bit of the chorus. Save Me is a Queen song that I love, I don't hear it here in the movement, just the melodies to Who Wants To Live Forever.
The fourth movement is Allegro Vivo - Moderato Cantabile - Cadenza - A Tempo Primo, and is said to incorporate Bicycle Race and Save Me. The piano is very prominent in this section, which I love. Also, Bicycle Race is very obvious here, but I still cannot locate Save Me as I couldn't in the previous movement. Some of the section reminds me of the film score to West Side Story. Also, most of the CD reminds me a lot of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
5. V. Andante Doloroso - Allegretto - Alla Marcia - Moderato Risoluto - Pastorale - Maestoso is the next movement. This starts off with an almost religious choir singing lyrics I do not understand, but it sounds great. This leads right into the familiar melody of Mama, just killed a man... from Bohemian Rhapsody. The arrangement is so hypnotic and ritualistic that I lost track and forgot that I was listening to the CD because I was lost in some weird daydream, so I hit rewind and listened again. When Bohemian Rhapsody comes into the heavy part, it doesn't. Instead it emits a heavy tympani that brings forth a We Will Rock You beat. Ultimately the strings of We Are The Champions can be heard and it is so reminiscent to me of John 19:41 from Jesus Christ Superstar. Of course now Who Wants To Live Forever is back again.
The last movement is called Andante Sonsenuto. This incorporates Bo Rhap, We Are The Champs and you guessed it Who Wants To Live Forever, but is mostly the latter. As I listen to this again, it sounds more and more like film score music and Andrew Lloyd Webber. It's good and compared to others of its genre, it's great.
I welcome this addition to my sacred Queen Collection with a smile and open ears. It is very melodious and grand just as Queen were and are.
Tolga Kashif The Queen Symphony Record Label: EMI Classics Tracks
1. Adagio Misterioso: / Radio Ga Ga / The Show Must Go On / One Vision / I Was Born To Love You 2. Allegretto: / Love Of My Life / Another One Bites The Dust / Killer Queen 3. Adagio: / Who Wants To Live Forever? / Save Me 4. Allegro Vivo: / Bicycle Race / Save Me 5. Andante Doloroso: / Bohemian Rhapsody / We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions / Who Wants To Live Forever 6. Andante Sostenuto: / We Are The Champions / Bohemian Rhapsody / Who Wants To Live Forever
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