Whenever I get into the history of Techno music, I’m hit by this bitter-sweet feeling of nostalgia for something I have not experienced. Reading Mark Butler’s 2014 monograph Playing With Something That Runs: Technology, Improvisation, and Composition in DJ and Laptop Performance, I learned about two fantastic events that I would give an arm to have been been part of. Coincidentally (or not?) both included the Orchestre National de Montpellier: the first in 2000, the second in 2005. Luckily, both have been available on Youtube for the last 13 years; unbelievably, both have view counts in the lower 5 digit range only.
Manu le Malin & Torgull – Hier, Aujourd’hui, Demain
I have to admit I wasn’t familiar with Manu le Malin until yesterday and, judging by his Wikipedia article (and the absence of an English one), they seem to be an absolute luminary of French (Intelligent?) Hardcore Techno – to the point where they are said to cater to their own genre. In any case, their collaboration with their bosom buddy Torgull and said national orchestra is quite something. Composed by René Koering and recorded at the Opéra de Montpellier on August 4, 2000, it presents an idiosyncratic mix of orchestral sounds and elements of EDM/IDM. Apart from the two electronic artists on their turntables, synths & computers, the composition features a MIDI-ready (i.e., self-playing) grand piano + pianist, an e-guitar, and a sopranist as protagonists. For my taste, it constitutes a very palatable marriage of a virtuosically composed orchestra part – at times reminiscent of minimal music, film music, or post-tonal music – with the protagonists for which the level of improvisation vs. composition is sometimes hard to determine. The fact that the piece is, for the largest part, tonally and/or rhythmically rooted (on a drone and/or repeating rhythmic-motivic patterns) makes it enjoyable – I would imagine – even to ears less accustomed to amorphic sound masses, elements of noise, or even EDM.
The only problem (apart from not being able to listen to it live) is the sound quality of the recording available on Youtube: Definitely a reason to go buy the DVD!
Jeff Mills – Blue Potential
The second coup by the Orchestre National de Montpellier was landed on July 2nd, 2005, this time with the Godfather of Detroit/Berlin Techno, Jeff Mills. This one follows a different approach which boils down to arranging Jeff’s most beloved tracks for an orchestra – a feat achieved by the composer Thomas Roussel who may have initiated this project in the first place. The rest is history. By the way, this happened 10 years after the legendary 1995 Live at the Liquid Room set recorded in Shinjuku, Tokyo: since last year, he’s touring for its 30th anniversary!
And believe it or not, it might very well be that some of these orchestra arrangements sound even better than the original tracks. Consider, for example, The March from his 2002 album At First Sight [discogs]. There’s no denying that after hearing the orchestra’s string section, it is kind of hard to go back to the synthesised string sounds of the original. The orchestration adds timbral richness that makes it easy to re-appreciate the elements and layers of the composition, but what I find most charming here is the depth and spatiality of the real-word recording: Comparing the two versions nearly gives me an impression of listening to 3D versus 2D (if I exaggerate). On the flipside, the comparison also reveals the love and detail that has been put into producing the original.
So yeah, yet another event that it would have been great to be there for. On a final note, this concert was organised for the 20th anniversary of the iconic Pont du Gard‘s designation as UNESCO world heritage; the fact that Berlin’s Techno culture, to which Jeff Mills and other Detroit artists have been foundational, has been included in the German UNESCO list of intangible heritage in 2024 gives me a beautiful sense of closure.
