Orphée is a solo studio album by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. It was released on 16 September 2016, through Deutsche Grammophon. It received generally favorable reviews from critics.
Contents
Background
The music of Orphée is inspired by Jean Cocteau's film of the same name, Ovid's interpretation of the Orpheus myth, and Jóhann Jóhannsson's own life changes, specifically his relocation from Copenhagen to Berlin. The album includes contributions from Jóhannsson (on piano, electronics, pipe organ, and electric organ), Hildur Guðnadóttir (on cello), the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, the London Recording Orchestra (conducted by Anthony Weeden), and the Theatre of Voices (conducted by Paul Hillier). Recordings of numbers stations are also used in the album.
Critical reception
According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Orphée received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 from 7 critic scores.
Kate Molleson of The Guardian commented that Jóhann Jóhannsson "does lush, spacious things with piano, organ, solo cello, string quartet, string orchestra, voices and crackling electronics, and the arrangements are sensitively done, though I can't say I found much compelling drama in it." Heather Phares of AllMusic stated, "Like And in the Endless Pause There Came the Sound of Bees, Orphée is both more intimate than some of his larger works, and immediately recognizable as Jóhannsson's." She added, "On Orphée, Jóhannsson expresses the need to let some things and people go to let new ones in with remarkable nuance, as well as the affecting beauty fans have come to know and love." Mark Mobley of NPR stated, "If you're into Philip Glass and Michael Nyman and Arvo Pärt and movie soundtracks in general, this could be for you."
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.
Musicians
Jóhann Jóhannsson – piano, electronics, pipe organ, electric organ, arrangement, orchestration, production, recording
Hildur Guðnadóttir – cello
American Contemporary Music Ensemble
Yuki Numata Resnick – violin
Caleb Burhans – violin
Ben Russell – viola
Clarice Jensen – cello
The London Recording Orchestra
Anthony Weeden – conducting, additional orchestration
Hilary Skewes - musician contractor
Jonathan Morton - orchestral leader
Theatre of Voices
Paul Hillier – conducting
Else Torp – soprano vocals
Signe Asmussen – mezzo-soprano vocals
Ellen Marie Brink Christensen – mezzo-soprano vocals
Elenor Wiman – mezzo-soprano vocals
Kristin Mulders – mezzo-soprano vocals
Chris Watson – tenor vocals
Paul Bentley-Angell – tenor vocals