Valkyrian Music

Tuomas Holopainen, who is best known for his work as keyboardist and main songwriter of Nightwish, has spent most of the year writing and producing his first solo album. The album is based on a graphic novel titled The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck which was written by Don Rosa. Tuomas comments:

This is my longtime dream come true, 14 years in the making. And a homage to one of the best storytellers of our time. Thank you for sharing this celebration of Life & Adventure!

This 12 chapter book tells the life story of a certain Scrooge, from his early years in the 19th century Scotland to his adventures all around the world till the 1950’s. The story contains such immense depth, detail, wit and emotional power, that after Tuomas read it 20 years ago, it instantly became a story of profound personal interest and love for him. The initial spark of ‘colouring’ this story with music, i.e. to create a soundtrack to the book, came to him in 1999, and has haunted the back of his mind ever since.

The album was written and produced by Tuomas Holopainen and will contain 10 songs, with total duration of approximately 60 minutes. The music will be of soundtrack, classical and folk genres in the vein of Vaughan Williams, Michael Nyman, James Newton Howard and Enya.

Mr. Pip Williams has done the orchestral arrangements, continuing his collaboration with Tuomas after the Nightwish records Once, Dark Passion Play and Imaginaerum.

There will be a number of guest musicians, including the London Orchestra, The Metro Voices (a choir from London) and four lead vocalists: Alan Reid, Johanna Kurkela, Johanna Iivanainen and Tony Kakko. Other guest appearances include Troy Donockley (uilleann pipes, low whistles, bodhran), Mikko Iivanainen (guitars and banjo), Teho Majamäki (Didgeridoo), Jon Burr (Harmonica) and Dermot Crehan in the solo violin.

The recordings took place during August – October 2013, first at Angel Studios, London, then in various locations around Scotland and Finland.
The author of the book, Don Rosa, has done the artwork for the album. There will also be a single release, for the track A Lifetime Of Adventure, accompanied by a music video in early 2014. The album The Life And Times Of Scrooge is scheduled for release in April 2014.

Tuomas Holopainen online:

http://tuomas-holopainen.com

Related articles

• NIGHTWISH Mainman Says FLOOR JANSEN Was Asked To Become Permanent Member In June (blabbermouth.net)
• FLOOR JANSEN Doesn’t Feel Need To Get Involved In Songwriting For Next NIGHTWISH Album (blabbermouth.net)

This entry was posted on 28th November 2013 at 7:21 pm and is filed under News with tags Dark Passion Play, Don Rosa, James Newton Howard, Johanna Kurkela, Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck, Metro Voices, Nightwish, Tuomas Holopainen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.