The Mellotron Group group photo

Yahoo Groups archive

The Mellotron Group

Index last updated: 2026-04-28 23:38 UTC

Thread

mellotronworks II - Ride of the Valkyries

mellotronworks II - Ride of the Valkyries

2012-09-01 by Mike Dickson

Another taster for mellotronworks II

Ride of the Valkyries

I am reliably informed that a Valkyrie is a figment of the fecund imagination of those Norse people, being a female who decides who gets to live and who gets to die in battle, taking their chosen dead off to Valhalla for a festival of sex and beer, get to eat Sæhrímnir every night of their lives and generally prepare for the biggest battle the world has ever seen. It all must have sounded terribly attractive to your average Norse warrior for whom most of the above was probably a part of their daily lives anyway.

Richard Wagner - that racist old animal lover - took part of this story up with his interminable Der Ring des Nibelungen the second opera of which opens in act three with the Valkyrie-In-Chief Brünnhilde with her immortality removed for going against Odin and causing him a great huff. And no, I cannot hear the name 'Brünnhilde9; without thinking of Bugs Bunny either...

Anyone who has ever sat through Der Ring des Nibelungen deserves some sort of an award for persevering in the fact of adversity. I have sat through a condensed version, though. The full thing lasts for about fifteen hours, but the version I saw lasted a minute and (supposedly) lost none of the plot. I take that under advisement. If you can sit through it, there are some fantastic moments and this thumping tune is one of them. It's mostly arranged for brass and percussion with twittering strings and harps throughout. That's pretty much what I've done with it here. The range of the instruments is enormous - the last ten seconds of this piece took me as long to record as the rest of it (well...almost) as the notes start above the range of the Mellotron and drop well below the bottom end of it.

Instrumentation: Mellotrons M400 and Mk V playing

  • String section
  • Louise Davis cello
  • Solo cello
  • Mk II strings
  • Mk II brass
  • Muted brass
  • GC3 brass (treated and plain)
  • French horns
  • Woodwind II
  • Chamber woodwinds
  • Mk II flute

also sound effects and percussion instruments

Mike

Re: [newmellotrongroup] mellotronworks II - Ride of the Valkyries

2012-09-01 by Vance Pomeroy

Mike -
Masterful! Get the Wabbit!!

On 9/1/2012 9:24 AM, Mike Dickson wrote:
Show quoted textHide quoted text

Another taster for mellotronworks II

Ride of the Valkyries

I am reliably informed that a Valkyrie is a figment of the fecund imagination of those Norse people, being a female who decides who gets to live and who gets to die in battle, taking their chosen dead off to Valhalla for a festival of sex and beer, get to eat Sæhrímnir every night of their lives and generally prepare for the biggest battle the world has ever seen. It all must have sounded terribly attractive to your average Norse warrior for whom most of the above was probably a part of their daily lives anyway.

Richard Wagner - that racist old animal lover - took part of this story up with his interminable Der Ring des Nibelungen the second opera of which opens in act three with the Valkyrie-In-Chief Brünnhilde with her immortality removed for going against Odin and causing him a great huff. And no, I cannot hear the name 'Brünnhilde' without thinking of Bugs Bunny either...

Anyone who has ever sat through Der Ring des Nibelungen deserves some sort of an award for persevering in the fact of adversity. I have sat through a condensed version, though. The full thing lasts for about fifteen hours, but the version I saw lasted a minute and (supposedly) lost none of the plot. I take that under advisement. If you can sit through it, there are some fantastic moments and this thumping tune is one of them. It's mostly arranged for brass and percussion with twittering strings and harps throughout. That's pretty much what I've done with it here. The range of the instruments is enormous - the last ten seconds of this piece took me as long to record as the rest of it (well...almost) as the notes start above the range of the Mellotron and drop well below the bottom end of it.

Instrumentation: Mellotrons M400 and Mk V playing

  • String section
  • Louise Davis cello
  • Solo cello
  • Mk II strings
  • Mk II brass
  • Muted brass
  • GC3 brass (treated and plain)
  • French horns
  • Woodwind II
  • Chamber woodwinds
  • Mk II flute

also sound effects and percussion instruments

Mike

Re: [newmellotrongroup] mellotronworks II - Ride of the Valkyries

2012-09-01 by Mark Pring

Amazing work, Mike.

In my younger days I liked Wagner's music a lot and was fortunate enough to see the Reginald Goodall English National production at Manchester. Rita Hunter was an amazing Brunnhilde she sang with such  intensity that I soon forgot that she must have weighed 20 stone.

 I would point out that they don't make you sit through all 15 hours at once!  I saw it with my girlfriend ( now wife ) over 4 nights during the summer of 75? there were intervals of up to an hour between acts, time to nip out round the corner for a pint of Hyde's bitter, oh happy days.

My wife is still a fan and we are off to Australia next year to see the Melbourne Ring. 

I saw the aborted Scottish National Ring at Newcastle with Willard White as Wotan in the 80's or was it 90's? The thing which sticks in my mind was the Ride of the Valkyries who were dressed in purple cloaks with purple witch's hats and danced around on stilts, one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

Mark

________________________________
Show quoted textHide quoted text
 From: Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@gmail.com>
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Sunday, 2 September 2012 4:24 AM
Subject: [newmellotrongroup] mellotronworks II - Ride of the Valkyries
 

  
Another taster for mellotronworks II

Ride of the Valkyries


I am reliably informed that a Valkyrie is a figment of the fecund imagination of those Norse people, being a 
female who decides who gets to live and who gets to die in battle, 
taking their chosen dead off to Valhalla for a festival of sex and beer, get to eat Sæhrímnir every night of their lives and generally prepare 
for the biggest battle the world has ever seen. It all must have sounded terribly attractive to your average Norse warrior for whom most of the 
above was probably a part of their daily lives anyway.
Richard Wagner - that racist old animal lover - took part of this story up with his interminable Der Ring des Nibelungen the second opera of which opens in act three with the Valkyrie-In-Chief Brünnhilde with her immortality removed for going against Odin and 
causing him a great huff. And no, I cannot hear the name 'Brünnhilde' 
without thinking of Bugs Bunny either...
Anyone who has ever sat through Der Ring des Nibelungen deserves some sort of an award for persevering in the fact of 
adversity. I have sat through a condensed version, though. The full 
thing lasts for about fifteen hours, but the version I saw lasted a 
minute and (supposedly) lost none of the plot. I take that under 
advisement. If you can sit through it, there are some fantastic moments 
and this thumping tune is one of them. It's mostly arranged for brass 
and percussion with twittering strings and harps throughout. That's 
pretty much what I've done with it here. The range of the instruments is enormous - the last ten seconds of this piece took me as long to record as the rest of it (well...almost) as the notes start above the range of the Mellotron and drop well below the bottom end of it. 
Instrumentation: Mellotrons M400 and Mk V playing
	* String section
	* Louise Davis cello
	* Solo cello
	* Mk II strings
	* Mk II brass
	* Muted brass
	* GC3 brass (treated and plain)
	* French horns
	* Woodwind II
	* Chamber woodwinds
	* Mk II flute
also sound effects and percussion instruments 
Mike

Tangerine Dream Birotron

2012-09-22 by Andy Thompson

Dear all

There was a thread on this subject a couple of moths ago – does anyone have any thoughts/new info? Are those Birotron choirs on Tangram? What about their early ‘80s albums?

Andy T.

Re: [newmellotrongroup] Tangerine Dream Birotron

2012-09-22 by Mark Pring

Sorry Andy the moths flew to close to the flame.


________________________________
Show quoted textHide quoted text
 From: Andy Thompson <andy.thompson@virgin.net>
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Saturday, 22 September 2012 11:47 PM
Subject: [newmellotrongroup] Tangerine Dream Birotron
 

  
Dear all
 
There was a thread on this subject a couple of moths ago – does anyone have 
any thoughts/new info? Are those Birotron choirs on Tangram? What about their 
early ‘80s albums?
 
Andy T.

Tangerine Dream Birotron & CD Box Sets

2012-09-22 by Robert

I don't have their album Tangram and if I did that information probably would not be in the liner notes, so I am sorry that I can't help you.


BTW - I love your website and refer to it all the time.  I like reading the reviews and your sense of humor.  You have put an incredible amount of work into it and should be commended.

While we are on the topic - I have some of the early Virgin recordings on CD issued in the early 90's (Virgin Blueplate specials) I think.  There are 2 box sets that have supposedly been remastered + there is another box set by Edgar Froese.  Have any of you guys heard these sets ?  Is the sound quality better than the earlier CD releases.  Are they faithful to the original recordings ?

Thanks for your comments...

http://www.amazon.com/Virgin-Years-1974-1978-Tangerine-Dream/dp/B004D5H2M2/ref=ntt_mus_dp_dpt_1

http://www.amazon.com/Virgin-Years-1977-83-Tangerine-Dream/dp/B007DKNEI0/ref=ntt_mus_dp_dpt_4

http://www.amazon.com/Solo-1974-1983-Virgin-Years/dp/B007JU5HSO/ref=sr_1_30?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1348356236&sr=1-30


________________________________
Show quoted textHide quoted text
From: Andy Thompson <andy.thompson@virgin.net>
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2012 7:47 AM
Subject: [newmellotrongroup] Tangerine Dream Birotron



Dear all

There was a thread on this subject a couple of moths ago – does anyone have 
any thoughts/new info? Are those Birotron choirs on Tangram? What about their 
early ‘80s albums?

Andy T.

Move to quarantaine

This moves the raw source file on disk only. The archive index is not changed automatically, so you still need to run a manual refresh afterward.