‘Symphonic Suites’ Album Out Now: New Orchestrations Of Andrew’s Hit Musicals
Today, Andrew Lloyd Webber has released Symphonic Suites – an album packed with exciting new orchestrations of The Phantom of the Opera, Evita and Sunset Boulevard.
Arranged for the 81-piece Andrew Lloyd Webber Orchestra and captured in a stunning recording at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, this album reimagines classic songs from these hit musicals. Symphonic Suites was produced by veteran producers Peter Cobbin and Kirsty Whalley, the former Abbey Road team whose credits include Prince, Kanye West, U2, Ed Sheeran, The London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It was the first live performance on the stage of Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the largest in London, following Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 2-year total restoration of this iconic landmark.
The music is arranged for orchestra by Andrew Cottee, who has composed and arranged for the likes of Paul McCartney, Quincy Jones, Seth McFarlane, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta. Conducted by Simon Lee, the recording of Symphonic Suites was many of the musician’s first live recording since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here’s what Andrew had to say:
Speaking at the time of the recording, Andrew Lloyd Webber said: “It is wonderful and very moving for me to see brilliant musicians back where they belong. “I hope that this album might now take on a new meaning: the music which represents the triumphant and hopeful return of live music, theatre and entertainment across the world.”
Peter Cobbin and Kirsty Whalley said: “Mirroring the unique heritage and legacy of this exceptional renovation, our ambition was for these recordings to marry the character of time-honoured vintage analog with the latest state-of-art pristine technologies. In our collective 70-year experience of recording in venues the world over, we have never heard such a majestic sound stage.”
