Rocking with the Symphony

Gave a try to open collaboartion invite https://soundcloud.com/megsmusicjourney/strings-improvisation-open-collab-invite

Original track by Megan McCarthy - strings
Guitar part by Igor M. - (no edit)
A bit of mixing/mastering by Igor M.

Many thanks to Megan for this wonderful lovely music.

For some reason I thought that I had to improvise too, so after one or two runs along the original track I recorded it. 

Hope I'm not much out of original tune, but at least it has culmination  :-)

And probably I will made another, "mature" take.

Here is a playlist of all the participants in this open collaboration:
https://soundcloud.com/megsmusicjourney/sets/strings-improv-open-collab

I haven't listened to them before I made my record.

Fallen tears of μετάνοια (Strings Improvisation by Megan McCarthy, guitar improvisation by Igor M.)

Original composition and absolutely amazing acoustic guitar performance by Larry "Da Blu Room" Hansen. https://soundcloud.com/dabluroom

 Additional orchestration by Igor M. (for a change, no guitars by Igor this time)

Just imaging a guitar player is siting on Alpine grassland surrounded by mountains with a horn player on each one. There is a small church nearby and children given with percussion instruments are running around playing :-)

Recently, Mr.Jamie Rhind kindly provided me with a bagpipes part, which he recorded in a wink. I will integrated it into the mix and release soon :-)

Original Larry's track is here - https://soundcloud.com/dabluroom/chasin-my-own-tail

Chasin' My Own Tail - Alpine Version (guitar by Larry "DaBluRoom" Hansen, orchestration by Igor M.)

Fivos Valachis: original composition, piano performance
Igor M.: Symphonic Rock arrangement, orchestration and lead guitar

Actually, there are stories from that Age much more appealing to me, such as a story about Adrian and Natalia or  about a woman named Wisdom with her daughters Creed, Hope and Love, than the story about Antinoos and Emperor Hadrian. 
 
However, my friend Fivos composed a compelling and inspiring music. So, thank you, Fivos, for this wonderful opportunity to participate in such an international project. 

I would like also to devote my arrangement as a humble tribute to Jon Lord whose works "Concerto For Group and Orchestra", "Sarabande" and "Gemini Suite" are one of my most important musical influences.

Well, imaging a stage with maestro Fivos Valachis on the pianoforte with Project managers band nearby. All of them surrounded by Symphonic Orchestra (basses, celli, horns, tromboons, various percussion) and let's Rock!  

Please also check other works in this open collaboration project - 
https://soundcloud.com/fivosvalachis/sets/antinoos-project-request

Triptych of Love - Pathos (By Fivos Valachis, Symphonic Rock arrangement by Igor M.)

Megan McCarthy https://soundcloud.com/megsmusicjourney - original piano improvisation "Sadness" (Open Collaboration) == Thank you, Megan, for this wonderful melody!

Igor - orchestration, guitars, production, enhancing the piano sound.

In memory of 224 passengers and the crew of Metrojet Flight 9268 heading from Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg and disintegrated by a bomb above the northern Sinai on 31 October 2015. Also in memory of recent Paris events and all the victims of recent "hybrid" wars.

I believe there is an evil power at work in the world deliberately overthrowing stable countries one after another and turning them into bloody chaos. And that chaos spreads over borders further and further. Lives of millions of people means nothing to those who make such schemes.

For a year and a half I have this feeling deep inside. On the surface I can smile, can live normal life, but I feel it. There is no hope for peace. Only grief.

Grief.There is no hope for peace. (Contemplation over Megan McCarthy's piano piece)

Original composition long time ago: 
Andrew (@osteopat): chord progressions, riffs, intro guitar solo, vocal melody, arrangement for guitar
Igor:  Lyrics, arrangement for guitar
 
This track (c) 2017-2019:
Maria Smailova (@insinistra): performed vocals
Andrew (@osteopat):  composed and performed 2nd and 3rd guitar solos;
Igor: arrangement of orchestral, piano, base and drum parts , symphonic intro and outro sections; performed rhythm guitar part and intro guitar solo, mixing and mastering;


  
It started a long time ago when 2 cadets of a military academy were spending all their free time playing cheap acoustic guitars and imagining advanced heavy arrangements. So, we dreamed of starting our hard-n-heavy band. This song was a pure electric guitar piece with Andrew on vocals and guitar "duels" in the middle as in Power Metal style.

A couple of years ago I decided to re-arrange it as a Symphonic Metal piece and, maybe a bit, re-worked vocals part to fit female range following modern fashion. It was not an easy task to find a vocalist, but finally, Maria Smailova - soprano and composer of Insinistra band - contributed her amazing  vocals into this project (Please check their pure and dark Sympho-Metal style tracks with lyrics in English on their SC page @insinistra and their exellent collection of acoustic covers on thier YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwGXJx49UkjujJKygLCLjSg). 

It's also really amazing that Andrew found time and performed 2 freshly composed solos for the middle section. In the style of our old guitar duels. And we haven't played together for almost 2 decades.

So, thanks a lot to both Andrew and Maria for making this song happen in a new form. Another example of our song from that early era is here https://soundcloud.com/project-managers-trio/in-the-shadows-of-things

Verse 1:
With the scarlet signature of dawn,
The world's been crisscrossed.
Over the hills there, in the distance,
Again a purple feast is ongoing

Two waves've come running
They are armor-clad
All the spaces and worlds 
Have been put to fire

Chorus:
Ah! How beautiful is the battle for life
The battle for life bursts into the sky
Like a whirlwind a lightning beam 
Rips it up
Between the torn clouds

Verse 2:
But like a reflection
Between the walls of houses
The battle is ongoing between us
For thousands of centuries
The rivers of blood ruin again 
The shores of life
Everyone sees a new enemy
In a friend

Chorus:
Ah, how terrifying is the battle for life
It's a roar of the battle for life
The eruption of evil has shaken the earth 
As an autocratic judge
Is the Battle for Life

Куплет 1:
Красным росчерком зари
Перечёркнут мир
За холмами там, вдали,
Вновь багряный пир -
Две волны сбегаются
Вжатые в броню
Все пространства и миры
Преданы огню

Припев 1
А-а, как прекрасна битва за жизнь
В небо врывается битва за жизнь
Вихрем её разрывает молнии луч
Среди разорванных туч

Куплет 2:
Но как отражение 
Среди стен домов
Бой идёт меж нами
Тысячи веков
Реки крови снова рушат
Жизни берега
Каждый видит в друге
Нового врага

Припев 2:
А-а, как ужасна битва за жизнь
Это грохочет битва за жизнь
От извержения зла содрогнулась земля
Как самовластный судья
Битва за жизнь

Battle For Life (Битва за Жизнь) ft.Maria Smailova and Andrew Barokho. Lyrics translated

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita........
Je meurs de soif aupres de la fontaine......

Songwriter. Kitchen guitarist with inclination for orchestration and arrangement. Poet in the past.

I occasionally post solo works of "the other manager", my friend, drummer and self-taught keyboard player Maxim K.

My spotlight :-)
https://soundcloud.com/project-managers-trio/when-i-come-home-to-you

Rocking with the Symphony

Igor Maximov