The Queen Symphony
Tolga Kashif is a London-based composer, and for this CD he has orchestrated some of the rock groupQueen's songs into a six-section symphony. The effect is definitely more classical than popular. Kashif sometimes uses almost entire songs as the basis for a section, while at other times he takes a piece of a song here, a piece of a song there. He builds on these melodies in his own symphonic voice, which is closer to the Romanticism of the Russian composers than to anyone else. Queen relied on a certain  outrageousness, and merely by doing what he's done here, Kashif is sure to continue in that tradition. It's hard to tell for whom this CD is meant: Queen fans will be either delighted or horrified by "Who wants to live forever?" without either a guitar or Freddie Mercury's seductive whine; newcomers won't care much. If lush orchestral writing (and interjections, equally lush, by a chorus) is something that fascinates you, this might just work. There's nothing of "greatness" here, but it's not a bauble to be thrown away either.--Robert Levine