Isles of Wonder - Music For The Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games now available to download
Story by Jack Foley
A STIRRING selection of the music created and curated for the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony is available digitally now.
From the moment the specially-commissioned 23-ton bell, the largest harmonically tuned bell in the world, chimed, the Olympic Stadium came to life with music.
The emotional punch and strength of two new compositions from music directors Underworld provided two of the most stirring moments of the night.
From the majestic beauty of the LSO’s On Track Orchestra’s performing Elgar’s Nimrod to performances from Mike Oldfield, Frank Turner, Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal, Emeli Sandé and Sir Paul McCartney, the entire Opening Ceremony celebrated the global impact of British music.
The music for Danny Boyle’s Opening Ceremony was overseen by Music Director Rick Smith, of the electronic duo Underworld.
Smith composed two original pieces of music for the Ceremony as well as producing all the music elements of the three-hour extravaganza.
The two new Underworld compositions were And I Will Kiss, which accompanied the sequence Pandemonium celebrating the industrial revolution, lasting 15 minutes, and Caliban’s Dream, which announced the arrival of the Olympic Torch in the stadium, and the subsequent lighting of the cauldron.
Rick Smith said: “Music is Britain’s cultural heartbeat; it’s a perpetual act of revolutionary thought.
“From William Blake to the Beatles via The Clash and The Chemical brothers, the soundtrack to our lives fizzes and hums all around us like a stray signal from a radio dial that your internal antenna just can’t help but tune into.”
The Opening Ceremony also featured performances from Emeli Sandé with Abide With Me, Dizzee Rascal performing Bonkers, Arctic Monkeys with I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor and a cover of The Beatles Come Together and Sir Paul McCartney with The End, plus an inspired accompaniment to the army of NHS nurses and children from Great Ormond Street Hospital by Mike Oldfield.
His live reworking of the classic Tubular Bells and In Dulci Jubilo was yet another uniquely British showstopper.
Danny Boyle, Artistic Director of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, revealed in January that the Ceremony theme had been inspired by The Tempest’s Isles of Wonder speech – from which the title of the album has been taken, and starred cast of more than 10,000 performers.
Isles of Wonder – Music For The Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games is available digitally now (from July 28) and will be released on all other formats from August 2, 2012.
Full Tracklisting:
CD1 Isles of Wonder
CD2 Welcome
- Chemical Brothers – Galvanize
- High Contrast – Moon Watcher
- Underworld – Always Loved A Film – Instrumental
- Underworld – Dark & Long (Dark Train) (Remix)
- Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls
- Underworld – Minneapolis (High Contrast Remix)
- High Contrast – Reach
- High Contrast – Ghost Dance
- Underworld – Confusion The Waitress (Darren Price & High Contrast Remix)
- Wretch 32 feat. L – Traktor
- F Buttons – Olympians (High Contrast Remix)
- High Contrast – Can’t Stop This Fire
- Underworld – Moon In Water (Instrumental Remix)
- Underworld – Crocodile (High Contrast Remix)
- U2 – Where the Streets Have No Name (High Contrast Remix)
- High Contrast – For Years
- Underworld – Dirty Epic (Darren Price & High Contrast Remix)
- High Contrast – The Long Way Home
- Underworld – Dark & Long (Darren Price & High Contrast Remix)
- Underworld – Rez (High Contrast Remix)
- David Bowie – Heroes
- Chemical Brothers – Galvanize