When an artist from the pop world attempts classical concert music, what makes it work sometimes and sometimes not? Composers like
Danny Elfman have written enduring and even beloved music, while the classical pieces of as talented a composer as
Billy Joel is hardly heard. There seem to be several factors. First is that there should be some connection between the artist's pop language and the new classical style. Here,
Thomas Bangalter, one-half of the French electronica duo
Daft Punk, succeeds notably. The repetition and the textural shades of
Bangalter's electronic music are still here, but he stretches them somewhat in new expressive directions. His
Mythologies are short portraits of mythological figures, and one might do pretty well if forced to guess their identities; sample "Aphrodite" or "Icare" ("Icarus"). Second, the music should not be simply an orchestral setting of the composer's earlier music. These are not electronica portraits played by strings but fresh musical conceptions that use
Bangalter's earlier music as one influence. Finally, these composers do best when they know their limitations, and here again,
Bangalter succeeds. If his
Mythologies are limited in terms of orchestration, they nevertheless remain both clear and distinctive. With straightforward readings from the
Bordeaux Aquitaine National Orchestra under
Romain Dumas, this is highly listenable stuff and one of the stronger entries in the pop-to-classical crossover canon; it made classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2023. ~ James Manheim
