‘Heroes’ and ‘Low’ Symphonies draw on the works of Bowie & Eno

Tickets are on sale now for one of the most anticipated concerts of the year as the George Ellis Orchestra interprets the Philip Glass symphonic works inspired by Bowie and Eno’s albums Heroes and Low.

Recorded in Berlin in 1977, the albums came about Bowie relocated from Los Angeles and was attempting to rid himself of a massive cocaine addiction. The sounds explored on Heroes and Low came as a reaction to the growing influence of the experimental krautrock movement that included the bands Neu, Can, Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk.

Employing the services of producer Tony Visconti and ambient musician Brian Eno, Bowie worked at a blistering pace in the shadow of the Berlin Wall at Hansa Studios, producing some of the most influential music of the twentieth century.

Tracks such as ‘Speed of Life’, ‘Sound and Vision’ and the instrumental ‘Warszawa’ would shape the future of music for years to come.

Origins of the symphonies

Across the Atlantic in New York City, the composer and pianist Philip Glass was cementing his reputation as one of the world’s leading musical stylists as he worked across opera, film scores, quartets and symphonies.

Glass would write Symphony No.1 “Low”  in 1992 and premiered it in Munich the same year.

In 1996, Symphony No.4 “Heroes” would be the next work that Glass would write as music commissioned by dancer Twyla Tharp for a performance in NYC and later in 1977 at St Martin in the Fields in London.

Glass said in a statement on his website “The continuing influence of these works has secured their stature as part of the new ‘classics’ of our time”.

“I have seen an interview with Bowie and Glass and Glass said ‘I took one melody of your sand I got a whole movement out of it,’” George Ellis, conductor, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Low’, said.

“As far as I know these works have not been performed in Australia before. They have been performed in the USA, England and Europe.”

Heroes and Low in Sydney

The concert will be performed by 40 musicians making up this version of the George Ellis Orchestra. “These are musicians that I have worked with before and some I have known since they were teenagers,” Ellis said.

“We have performed Bowie’s music a lot, but now to get to perform this treatment of it and to say that we are looking forward to it, is an understatement.”

These seasoned sight readers usually only get to rehearse on the day.

“Virtually all of them have been reading music since they were four or five and they have been playing their instruments for that long as well,” Ellis said.

“My job in a three hour rehearsal is to harness all that talent and shape it the way I want it.

“The great thing about this is we get to rehearse in the space where we are performing, as going from one space to another acoustic can be very difficult.”

The event at the State Theatre on 20th September will be a one off on a scale that will be difficult to replicate.

“It’s going to be a big event and the State Theatre is a great place to put on big events,” Ellis said.

Both works are about 45 minutes in duration.

Heroes and Low Symphonies
20 September, State Theatre
https://www.statetheatre.com.au/show-calendar/heroes-low-symphonies/