Independent record label Heartcore Records issued a video and recording of its unprecedented new collaborative project- a full-scale orchestral rendering of guitarist and composer Kurt Rosenwinkel’s masterful song “Under It All”. The orchestra features contributions from sixty eight musicians across three different continents. Arrangement and orchestration duties were undertaken by Paris-based composer Philippe Maniez, and the track also features special guest appearances from modern jazz heavyweights Seamus Blake, Chris Speed, Andrew D’Angelo and Pedro Martins. The project contains one hundred thirteen separate layers, mixed by master recording engineer Charis Karantzas. Video was compiled and edited by Vojta Drnek and Michaela Bóková, artwork was created by Riccardo Vecchio. Completed entirely by remote recording technologies amidst the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, Heartcore Orchestra is a testament to the Heartcore Records ethos of illuminating darkness through the power of musical expression.
About this singular and deeply evocative composition, Kurt remarked, “Under It All is a song inspired by my father’s architectural drawings. As I began to contemplate the idea that everything we see has such a huge world underneath it, I found incredible dimensions of ingenuity in commonplace items I was familiar and interactive with. This idea also applies to our human lives; we see the person and the expression of the person, but under it all are the experiences and all the emotions and the thought and the work the person has done on themselves in their life.”
Aptly, this orchestral rendering of the song seems to be imbued with the same structural genius that Rosenwinkel describes feeling from his father’s blueprints. The lush interwoven string textures give way to majestic soaring solo flights in a breathtaking and organic sonic ebb and flow. Undulating grooves and expansive forays of brass and woodwinds emanate from the ensemble while Rosenwinkel unleashes rapid torrents of intense melody. The guitarist all at once invokes the passionate and fiery virtuoso qualities of great classical maestros, while presenting an entirely contemporary and individual aesthetic vision. “I definitely see this arrangement as the first in a larger project that we can tour when things get back to normal,” says Kurt, expressing his interest in this new direction. “Under it All is an exciting beginning to a whole new musical frontier.”
Heartcore Orchestra “Under it All” is available for digital download through Heartcore Records website www.heartcore-records.com. All proceeds from digital sales support Heartcore for the World, projects that benefit children in need with access to essential music education equipment and services.
