Thomas Bangalter
Mythologies
ERATO/WARNER CLASSICS
Within the record’s 90-minute timeframe, composer Thomas Bangalter—one half of the silver helmeted, technoid-disco duo Daft Punk—takes almost all that you know of his past work (save for DP’s occasional lapses into icy minimalism, or the industrial sounds of his Irréversible film soundtrack) and throws it out the door for a rare brand of celestial, contempo baroque on this fresh score to choreographer Angelin Preljocaj’s ballet Mythologies.
An eerily symphonic work broken into 23 drearily dreamy and intricately nuanced bite-sized pieces by the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine under the leadership of conductor Romain Dumas, Mythologies saws and soars its way into a nearly nirvana-like state. On moments such as the sorrow-strewn “L’Accouchement,” that state of grace is akin to the second instrumental side of Bowie’s Low with strings rather than ARPs to maintain its still-life mood.
Subtly swelling stillness aside, there’s great drama to Bangalter’s orchestral debut, as heard on the epic, crashing “Le Minotaur” and the intensely acute “L’Arrivée d’Alexandre.” As for anything joyous, danceable, and somewhat steely, there’s “Treize Nuits,” a work whose gently pulsing rhythm is as close as listeners are likely to get to anything daft or punkish.
