YNGWIE MALMSTEEN - "MILLENIUM SUITE" (PONY CANYON)
YNGWIE MALMSTEEN - "MILLENIUM SUITE" (PONY CANYON)
Actually, this album is entitled "Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in E Flat Minor Opus 1 - Millenium", but I trust none of you will mind if I refer to it as "Millenium" from now on. In fact, Yngwie Malmsteen should have "Johann" put in between, too.
"Millenium Suite" is the incarnation of his life-long wish to do something classical with his guitar and an orchestra. The result is quite a coherent Suite that harkens back to Yngwie's olden days, as well as the days far before that. We get classical rearrangements of various things Yngwie's done before, mixed with what I think is baroque music from a long time ago (forgive my not knowing too much about classical music). Although I have to say the album sometimes makes me think of classical music I've heard before (Bach, Mozart perhaps?), the whole offers a new and interesting angle at a recipe first attempted (as far as I know) back when the sixties changed into the seventies on Deep Purple's "Concerto for Group and Orchestra".
It is a joy to listen to impressive classical compositions with Yngwie's awesome soloing on top of it. I mean, whatever you think of him personally, or of the way he dresses, he's truly God on the guitar. Especially when listening with headphones, this album is a classical corker.
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RK
Written July 1998