Pat Metheny’s Orchestrion refers to a 19th century hybrid musical instrument of the same name that contained (usually) a wind orchestra, various percussion instruments, and sometimes a piano played by a pinned cylinder or a music roll -- like a player piano.
Metheny designed and plays one here thanks to a commissioned group of inventors, advanced solenoid switch technology, and pneumatics.
This invention includes pianos, marimbas, bells, basses, “guitarbots,” percussion, cymbals, drums, loads of tuned bottles, and synth and fabricated acoustic instruments, played by Metheny triggering everything with his guitar.
While it may have been simpler using a laptop with the latest sampling and MIDI technology, he explains in the booklet that the “acoustoelectric” sound and the “human element” he sought would have been impossible to achieve.
Here, his extensively written compositions are a complete engagement with his trademark harmonic and lyric investigations and improvisations.
Despite mechanics, everything here sounds and feels organic.
Drums and percussion instruments swing, basslines flow in concert with and counterpoint to his guitar and piano lines.
These five cuts showcase different sides of Metheny’s compositional acumen and poetic sense of detail without losing his euphoric, spacious sense of complex harmonic engagement or songlike melodic sensibilities.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ExpansionPat Metheny | Pat Metheny | Play | 08:43 | 19 MB | 64 MB |
| 2 | Soul SearchPat Metheny | Pat Metheny | Play | 09:54 | 22 MB | 63 MB |
| 3 | Spirit of the AirPat Metheny | Pat Metheny | Play | 08:38 | 19 MB | 63 MB |
| 27 mins | 62 MB | |||||
| 27 mins | 191 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carolyn Chrzan | Guitar Technician, Tuning |
| 2 | Joe Ferla | Engineer, Mixing |
| 3 | Robert Hurwitz | Executive Producer |
| 4 | Hyomin Kang | Assistant Engineer |
| 5 | Pete Karam | Technical Assistance |
| 6 | Henry Leutwyler | Photography |
| 7 | Pat Metheny | Arranger, Bass, Bottle, Composer, Cymbals, Drums, Guitar, Instrumentation, Keyboards, Liner Notes, Marimba, Orchestra Bells, Percussion, Piano, Primary Artist, Producer, Vibraphone |
| 8 | Mike Miccio | Piano Tuner |
| 9 | David Oakes | Technical Director |
| 10 | Steve Rodby | Associate Producer |
| 11 | David Sholemson | Project Coordinator |
| 12 | Barbara de Wilde | Design |
| 13 | Mark Wilder | Mastering |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |