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Baker's Dozen

An Ommadawn Chorus: Mike Oldfield's Favourite Albums
Gary Kaill , January 23rd, 2017 10:59

As Mike Oldfield releases new album Return To Ommadawn he guides Gary Kaill through 13 albums that he listened to before he began making music - after which he never listened to much music at all

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Ravel - Piano Concerto in G
Why choose this? Well, it's beautiful. The way it arpeggiates and tumbles around while there is another, slower melody happening: quite remarkable. I tried to use that methodology in some of my music, with varying results. It’s not easy. At the start of Tubular Bells, there's an arpeggio that develops and builds, and this melody starts to work its way around another slower melody. It's a complex technique and it’s one I tried to learn and tried to use to benefit my own music.