New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Cellist, composer and electro-acoustic alchemist
Peter Gregson is a man obsessed with music and sound. "The job of the musician is to be creating stuff that's relevant to his time," he says. "You can get it wrong if all you do is stubbornly stick to your guns. I want to be able to adapt to changing landscapes."
Gregson is the epitome of adaptable. One minute he's writing music, film scores for Hollywood, or music for video games, the next, he's lecturing on the science of sound or picking up his cello to devote himself to chamber music. No passing fancy, his relationship with classical music began on conventional lines. Having started cello lessons at the age of four, he eventually went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music. At some point in between, he discovered electronics, an interest that later resulted in collaborative projects with the MIT Media Lab. In creating Bach Recomposed for Deutsche Grammophon, Gregson has now translated a landmark of the cello repertoire into his own entirely unique musical language. Set for release on October 19, the album is the latest addition to DG's "Recomposed" series that launched in 2005 and encompasses contributions by Matthias Arfmann, Jimi Tenor, Carl Craig/Moritz von Oswald, Matthew Herbert, and the critically acclaimed Vivaldi Recomposed by Max Richter. The live premiere of Gregson's take on Bach will take place at Hamburg's Reeperbahn Festival on
September 19, and the first single from the album, "Prelude 1.1", is released today. Listen to "Prelude 1.1" HERE.
Bach Recomposed marks the start of his new and exclusive partnership with Deutsche Grammophon.
Christian Badzura,
Director New Repertoire, Deutsche Grammophon, has welcomed Gregson to the yellow label: "I am very happy that
Peter Gregson has joined Deutsche Grammophon, being both an exquisite classical performer and a composer,
Peter creates unique and engaging compositions and soundscapes. His passion for and vast knowledge of music production and analogue sounds add further to his mix of talents. On his debut album
Peter shows his true admiration for Bach's lean and timeless music while combining it with his sophisticated yet playful musical language."
As Dr.
Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon, explains, "After a five-year break, we're now adding to Deutsche Grammophon's 'Recomposed' series with this new album from
Peter Gregson. 'Recomposed' has stayed in the collective consciousness and has been a source of inspiration for many reworkings or reimaginings of classical repertoire standards. We're delighted to have begun working with Peter, who is both an accomplished cellist and a versatile composer, equally at home in the genres of classical chamber music, film scoring and electronica."
Peter Gregson was born in Edinburgh in 1987. His breakthrough came when he was still only 23, with the release of his debut solo album Terminal (2010). This was followed by
Lights in the Sky (2014) and Touch (2015).
Music from his most recent albums, Quartets: One and Quartets: Two (2017), has now been used as the score for a ballet. Gregson Richter Jóhannsson, a two-track EP commissioned by Mute Records for their Short Circuit Festival and featuring cello arrangements of existing works by Max Richter and Jóhann Jóhannsson, appeared in 2011. Cello Multitracks (2012) grew from a collaboration with composer, producer and DJ Gabriel Prokofiev. Gregson's first feature-length soundtrack score, for Alan Rickman's A
Little Chaos (2014), was nominated in the Public Choice category at the World
Soundtrack Awards. He has since written music for Arran Shearing's first feature, Forgotten Man (2017), and for Boundless, an openworld game for Playstation and PC. Gregson can be heard as solo cellist on a wide range of TV and film soundtracks, from the BBC's Sherlock (2014-17) to Garth Davis's Mary Magdalene (2018).
