Voyage

by John Morris Russell, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

Overview

The "pops" orchestra doesn't have quite the role in the American cultural landscape that it did in the days of Arthur Fiedler and John Williams, but the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, under current director John Morris Russell, has a consistently strong record. Consider Voyage, a 2019 recording on the theme of space travel, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon shot. You wouldn't expect space travel to make up enough of a repertory for a whole album, given the traditional nature of the orchestral medium, but Russell manages it by looking both forward and backward in time: forward to the present, with new music by composer Michael Giacchino specially composed for the project, and back to several selections from The Planets of Gustav Holst. In between come John Williams cuts, both famous (some Star Wars music) and obscure (sample the totally delightful one-minute clip from the Lost in Space television series), as well as works by other composers. A cynic might say that the program just shows how much better Williams is at this stuff than other composers; the tonal and rhythmic boldness of his big themes remains unmatched. However, the entire program flows in a satisfying way; it's beautifully recorded in Cincinnati's old wooden music hall, and you get Kate Mulgrew narrating John Gillespie Magee's poem High Flight ("slip the surly bonds of earth") over Holst at the end. A testimony to the continuing vitality of the pops orchestra tradition, relevant beyond the Apollo anniversary. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	07/05/2019
Label:	Fanfare Cincinnati
UPC:	0870362000150
Rank:	111310

Tracks

1. The Planets~Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
2. Star Trek
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens~The Jedi Steps and Finale
4. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story~Jyn Erso & Hope Suite
5. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story~The Imperial Suite
6. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story~Guardians of the Whills Suite
7. Galaxy Quest~Theme
8. Lost in Space (1965)~Season 1, 2: Theme
9. Battlestar Galactica~Theme
10. Dr. Who: Theme
11. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Theme
12. Space 1999~Theme
13. Lost in Space (1967)~Season 3: Theme
14. Voyage
15. First Man Theme for Harp, Strings and Theremin
16. The Planets~Mars, the Bringer of War
17. High Flight (set to Venus, the Bringer of Peace)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

John Morris Russell   Primary Artist,Conductor
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra   Primary Artist,Orchestra
Darryl Kubian   Theremin
Gillian Benet Sella   Harp
Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati   Vocal Ensemble

Technical Credits

Kate Mulgrew   Narrator
Sam Strater   Producer
Justin Hurwitz   Composer
Gene Chang   Production Assistant
Ashley Shepherd   Engineer
Steve Kinney   Art Direction,Booklet Design
Gustav Holst   Composer,Original Material
Barry Gray   Composer
John Williams   Composer
Ron Grainer   Composer
Michael Bishop   Mixing,Engineer,Mastering
Stu Phillips   Composer
David Newman   Composer
Elaine Martone   Recording Producer
Michael Giacchino   Composer
Rebecca Pellett   Arranger
Richard Hill   Engineer
John Morris Russell   Liner Notes
John Gillespie McGee, Jr.   Composer
Thomas C. Moore   Editing
Ian Dobie   Assistant Engineer