Adagio For Strings is one of the most famous cases of classical music turned into trance, with Ferry Corsten's remix gaining wide acclaim back in 1999. 2005 sees DJ Tiesto release his version commercially, with remixes from Fred Baker, Danjo & Styles & Phynn.
Radio Edit
Radio Edit is pretty much what it says on the tin, a shortened Edit of the Original Tiesto mix, designed for Radio & not club play.
Original Tiesto Mix
A Pretty well known variation on Samuel Barbers’ Adagio, this has been played intensely in the last 12 months and it did take a long time to grow on me. Lots of Hi-End frequencies in the Melody make home listening a bit of an effort until you’ve adjusted your ears accordingly! A harder, techier mix than Ferry Corsten’s, I’m still sure that it’s not my favourite trance remix of Adagio, yet it strangely grows on you after a while. Definitely not the best Tiesto work, those being a long time ago with his “Magikal” remixes and the “in search of sunrise” ones for artists such as Abnea, Jan Johnston, Yahel etc, this is still decent enough. 7/10
Fred Baker Remix
Belgian producer extraordinaire Fred Baker has a go at the first of the new remixes. Trying a hard-techy feeling, similar to his involvement in projects such as Dark Alliance (w/ Terry Bones & Greg Nash) I’m honestly unsure about this remix. Production wise it’s solid enough, but Adagio has always been a soft graceful tune for me, and even though we have the string section, I think the wrong Fred Baker turned up here, with his Active Sight work (w/M.I.K.E.) and the likes probably being a better direction to take on this classic. Overall, it’s a love or hate it remix, I have to stand purely on the side of the latter unfortunately, 4/10
Danjo & Styles Remix
Danjo & Styles are probably two of the most consistent of the new-wave of producers, having put out a steady stream of reasonable quality trance over the last couple of years. Their remix includes a softer but still good take on Tijs’ remix to begin with, but much more percussive, something I believe the Original lacks. Slowly building up, it’s nice that it takes a good 3 minutes to get going, and when the percussion leaves & the melody/kick is upon us, all I can say is - Wow. This is much more how I prefer the Adagio for Strings Section, with a classy lead, and as a side salad a beautiful string, slowly plodding along the notes with a fair amount of release added to make the note transitions silky smooth. Gracefully building up, I really can feel this remix, and in a huge way too. After a longish breakdown, the kick rejoins and the high part of the track is upon us, but after such a great buildup, it contrasts it nicely. Definitely my favourite of this new package, coming in at 9.5/10
Phynn Remix
Dutch prodigy Finne Jager gives us his take on the final track on the cd. Finne opts to use a different build up melody, which adds something new for sure to the usual, which can be tiring if used in every case, indeed it takes over 3 minutes for the familiar string to join us, unfortunately from there it kicks off way too quick, lacking the pure quality in a long build that Danjo & Styles gave us. Finne however later uses a side chained melody to try & give us something new, and while it does that for sure, it’s one of those love or hate sounds. Overall giving a decent remix, it’s not his finest work, which I consider to be his own productions. 6/10
Conclusion:
Overall not a bad release, but it would be nice to hear more original material than remakes. Danjo & Styles' version is by far my personal favourite of the new lot, and well worth picking the cd up for!
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