Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells (Vinyl)

Part 1 of a prog rock-minimalist classic, in two contemporary transcriptions, on an audiophile-grade LP transfer.
At the age of 19, the guitarist/composer Mike Oldfield could hardly have anticipated the enduring legacy of his debut album. Tubular Bells fused the instrumental rock style of Cream and Rick Wakeman with the experimental minimalism of Terry Riley. It also established the new label of Virgin Records as a home for innovative British artists in many genres. More than half a century on, the album has influenced countless musicians as one of the best-selling ever albums by a UK musician, selling 15m copies worldwide.
Side A of the original album had a life of its own from the beginning, designated by Oldfield as ‘Opus One’. Marcel Bergmann traces influences of South American & Latin, Balinese, Irish, Celtic, rock and minimalist sources in the work. A conversation with Jeroen van Veen in 2005 was the catalyst for him to put his long-time love of the album at the service of a transcription for four pianos. This work branched into a separate version for pairs of pianos and synthesizers, which seemed to present more practical prospects for performance.
As well as immersing himself within Oldfield’s original album, Bergmann went back to a live-recorded version of the album and the orchestral version scored by one of the musicians on the original, David Bedford. Bergmann’s arrangement thus retains all the multi-layered rhythmic and textural richness of the original Tubular Bells, while orienting the feel of the piece in the direction of the classical minimalism for which van Veen has become known as an authoritative exponent. This new LP transfer on high-grade vinyl is designed to take advantage of the special immediacy and richness available on high-end analogue equipment to bring Tubular Bells to life as never before.

- The LP version of a highly successful CD issue of the arrangement for 4 pianos of the iconic Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield.
- Tubular Bells, released in 1973, is the groundbreaking debut album by British multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield. Blending progressive rock, classical, and folk music, the album became famous for its experimental structure, with its two parts spanning nearly an hour in total. The music is entirely instrumental.
- What makes Tubular Bells unique is its layered composition, with Oldfield playing all the instruments himself -over 20 in total- including guitars, keyboards, percussion, and, of course, tubular bells. The opening piano motif, featured prominently in the 1973 film The Exorcist, became iconic and contributed to the album's commercial success.
- The arrangement for 4 pianos recorded here is by Marcel Bergmann, who is joined by Elizabeth Bergmann, Jeroen van Veen and Sandra van Veen.