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Music written and remixed by Kristjan Järvi and recorded by Baltic Sea Philharmonic in September 2020 featuring solos by Estonian bagpipe player Mari Meentalo
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BMG/Modern Recordings to release ‘Midnight Sun’ audio track as single
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Music video directed by longtime Baltic Sea Philharmonic collaborator Raban Ruddigkeit, with animations by Jonas Rose
Berlin 20 August 2021. The Baltic Sea Philharmonic today releases a striking new music video, ‘Midnight Sun’ as part of its digital ‘Musical Chain’ series – an innovative online experience. The music for the new production was written and remixed by Kristjan Järvi and recorded by the Baltic Sea Philharmonic during its ‘Nordic Pulse’ tour in September 2020. With a rock-like drive and sustained build-up of texture and emotional intensity, the music features unique improvisations by Estonian bagpipe player Mari Meentalo. Also today, BMG/Modern Recordings is releasing the audio track of ‘Midnight Sun’ as single in both a radio edit and a long version.
The story of ‘Midnight Sun’ – design, concept and creation
The new video shares its title with one of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic’s signature tour programmes, which is inspired by the phenomenon of the never-setting sun that occurs above the Arctic Circle around midsummer. The ‘Midnight Sun’ video captures the magical light and wonder of the North, with monochrome images of nature and landscapes combining with an eyecatching graphical design comprising constantly moving and changing lines, points and shapes.
The video was directed by Berlin-based designer, editor and illustrator Raban Ruddigkeit, who has collaborated with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic since 2016 and is responsible for the graphic design of the orchestra’s entire media output. He worked with Jonas Rose, a young German designer from Münster, on the design concept and animation for the video. Ruddigkeit says: ‘Based on the Baltic Sea Philharmonic’s corporate design – five staves in a fixed 360-degree system – and the beauty of the Baltic nature, we have created this music video that unites opposites. Day and night, sun and snow, cold and warmth, closeness and vastness are in constant exchange with each other and only together create an energy that makes life possible in the first place.’
Second release on BMG/Modern Recordings
‘Midnight Sun’ is also being released today as a single by BMG/Modern Recordings. Kristjan Järvi has produced two audio versions – a three-minute radio edit, which is also the basis for the accompanying music video, and a longer version of five minutes. This latest release is the second for the Baltic Sea Philharmonic on the label, with the orchestra also featuring on Kristjan Järvi’s debut album for BMG/Modern Recordings, Nordic Escapes.
A new direction for orchestra’s ‘Musical Chain’
The ‘Midnight Sun’ video is the latest release in the Baltic Sea Philharmonic’s series of innovative music videos, ‘Musical Chain’, which launched in July 2020. Bringing musicians from the orchestra together with other artists and creative collaborators, ‘Musical Chain’ is a symbol of unity and solidarity in the face of the pandemic, and it also showcases how the Baltic Sea Philharmonic is evolving to become more and more like a band, with Kristjan Järvi as much producer as conductor.
The four previous videos released in the ‘Musical Chain’ series all reimagine iconic classical pieces: ‘Midnight Mood’ is based on Grieg’s ‘Morning Mood’ from Peer Gynt; ‘Beethoven’s Twilight’ is inspired by Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony; ‘Ascending Swans’ is based on Sibelius’s ‘Song of Praise’ from the Swanwhite Suite; and ‘Nutty Christmas’ is a fun seasonal take on Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. These four videos, which have so far reached more than 100,000 people worldwide through the orchestra’s social media channels, all feature footage of Baltic Sea Philharmonic players, alongside colourful visions of nature, cities and people. With its strong graphic-led design and monochromatic landscape images, ‘Midnight Sun’ takes ‘Musical Chain’ in a new creative direction while retaining the orchestra’s essential Nordic identity.
‘Musical Chain’ will continue with more international collaborators in the creative process, and with the musicians of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic becoming producers of their own audio and video productions. Further audio tracks from the ‘Musical Chain’ videos will be released soon on the Estonian label nEscapes.
Baltic Sea Philharmonic – a revolution in music and culture
The Baltic Sea Philharmonic takes the orchestral concert experience to a new dimension. Every performance is a voyage of musical discovery, as the musicians perform the entire programme from memory, creating a one-of-a-kind artistic journey. Each concert is a unique spectacle of sound, light, visual art and technology, and under the electrifying baton of Music Director and Founding Conductor Kristjan Järvi every performance has a special energy that’s absolutely infectious. But even more than this, as a community of musicians from ten Nordic countries, the Baltic Sea Philharmonic transcends boundaries and has become a movement for bringing people together. Embodying all that is innovative and progressive about the Nordic region, this visionary ensemble is taking the traditional orchestral model further than ever before. ‘It is a living breathing creature, with boundless energy and enthusiasm for the new – an adventure in itself,’ says Kristjan Järvi.
To download press release, click here.
