SYMPHONY X


for Redux Orchestra
2009




[image: SYM X 1]
[image: SYM X 2]
[image: SyM X 3]


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Composed by Ari Benjamin Meyers
Performed by Redux Orchestra
CD Produced by Ari Benjamin Meyers and Max Loderbauer


“With Symphony X, Ari Benjamin Meyers has constructed a vividly evolving, involving minimalist meditation that is propelled by a rock backbeat. It pummels thru a dizzyingly unrelenting series of progressions, existing somewhere at an intersection of Branca, Glass, and Love Of Life Orchestra.”
JG Thirwell (Foetus)





SYMPHONY X is a work of symphonic scale that combines elements of hardcore, experimental, and minimal music into an entirely original musical texture.
Ari Benjamin Meyers has written this 70 minute through-composed piece specifically for his unique 17 member Redux Orchestra which includes saxophones, brass, strings, electric guitar, electric bass, drums, and electronics.

This physically demanding work combines complex repetitive instrumental arrangements with electro-noise, martial percussion rhythms, and intense guitar melodies. At a constant tempo of 120bpm it escalates into a veritable tour de force.

The intensity of SYMPHONY X rests on its extremes: static, pounding repetition layered against an almost unnoticeably slow variation of melodic and harmonic patterns – a compositional style that Steve Reich characterized as “gradual process“. By uniting the formalistic structures of classical and minimal music with the sonic palette of rock, hardcore, and electronic music, Meyers has further developed his musical language and with SYMPHONY X has taken it to a new level.

Meyers builds upon experiences gained from collaborations with Philip Glass, Einstürzende Neubauten, The Residents, Morton Subotnik, The Orb, and Sun Electric among others, as well as his work for classical institutions including the Semper Opera Dresden and the Berlin State Opera. Nevertheless, SYMPHONY X is not a crossover work but a musical hybrid that will get the attention of audiences both at the classical symphony hall and at rock music festivals: two arenas that are very familiar to Ari Benjamin Meyers and his Redux Orchestra.

With SYMPHONY X Ari Benjamin Meyers has created a work that demands we reconsider what we think we know about “new music”.

The SYMPHONY X album artwork is by the internationally known video and installation artist Anri Sala and is taken from his video “Three Minutes”. Ari Benjamin Meyers and Anri Sala have been collaborators on a number of projects since 2007.
-Potomak press release
“...Presumably the first club orchestra in the world. Redux Orchestra has gained a reputation for combining music from the most differing genres. Somewhere between high and popular culture...“
Berliner Zeitung

"This work by the young music futurologist eludes all attempts at categorization. Symphony X certainly has nothing to do with conventional music in any pop, jazz, or classical sense."
sound&image.de

MUSIC - 10 out of 10
SOUND - 10 out of 10
KEYS Magazine

"In its best moments - and there are many - this genre-defying force just carries you along."
Stereoplay Magazine

"A completely new music that doesn't even have a name yet."
Die Zeit

"...a masterpiece somewhere between experimental, classical, minimal, and noise."
Titel Magazine

"Meyers searches for a reconciliation between very dissimilar elements and creates out of that a unique genre."
Die Tageszeitung