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North Sea Radio Orchestra (generally abbreviated to NSRO) is an English contemporary music ensemble and cross-disciplinary chamber orchestra (plus chorus). The NSRO was set up mainly as a vehicle for the compositions of its musical director, Craig Fortnam, but has also performed works by William D. Drake and James Larcombe. The ensemble is notable for its post-modern fusion of Romantic music and later twentieth century forms, and for its bridging of the worlds of contemporary classical music, British folk music, London art rock and poetry (setting music to poems by W.B. Yeats, Thomas Hardy, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Daniel Dundas Maitland). ==Sound and presentation== The North Sea Radio Orchestra is an ensemble of varying size, drawing on a pool of up to twenty members. It performs compositions which range from single-instrument solos and voice-and-guitar duos up to full chamber-orchestra-and-choir pieces (and all points in between, including assorted trios, quartets, quintets etc.). The instrumentation within the ensemble features woodwind, strings, orchestral and electronic percussion, nylon-string guitar, chamber organ, piano and the human voice. Between six and ten members sing as "the North Sea Chorus". Compositionally, the NSRO favours original material with elements of the following – tonal/melodic classical composition, English choral and festival music, modern and ancient folk music, and minimalism. Some improvisation is also encouraged. The NSRO themselves cite influences including Benjamin Britten, television composer Vernon Elliott, The Incredible String Band, Vaughan Williams, and more metaphysical influences such as “London clay, water from the Thames and shingle from Bankside”.〔(Band biography on Oof! Records homepage ), retrieved September 20, 2008〕 Various critics have also made comparisons to the music of rock/classical/crossover musicians such as Simon Jeffes’ Penguin Café Orchestra, Sean O’Hagan’s High Llamas, Frank Zappa, Clogs, Sufjan Stevens, Max Richter, Nick Drake, Virginia Astley, Kate St John and Peter Warlock. Since 2010, the band has displayed a stronger influence of Krautrock. Another frequently-cited compositional influence on the NSRO is Tim Smith, leader of the British psychedelic rock group Cardiacs (which incorporates influences including Early and baroque music). The NSRO is generally regarded as being part of the collection of varied musical groups connected with Cardiacs: it includes in its lineup one former and one current member of Cardiacs, plus at least five other musicians associated with the band. For much of its existence, the NSRO was nostalgic in presentation and themes. Between 2002 and 2010, the poetry chosen for musical settings tended to be classic 18th /19th/ early 20th century pre-modernist material, chosen for "its natural song-like meter and rhyme".〔(Feature on NSRO in The Octagonal blog )〕 Craig Fortnam has also set modern texts written in the same nostalgic vein. The ensemble's subtler post-modern elements are generally restricted to the musical content. Since 2010, the band's work has focussed on setting Craig Fortnam's original lyrics. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「North Sea Radio Orchestra」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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