Dance musician William Orbit has rocketed into the album charts at number two, scoring one of the biggest classical hits for years.

 

Pieces In A Modern Style was held off the top spot only narrowly by The Man Who by Travis, one of the biggest chart successes of the past 12 months.

 

Yet the album, a reinterpretation of the works of great composers, is not eligible for the classical charts.

 

A spokesman for chart compilers CIN said: "Although he's covered well-known classical pieces, he's not a classical artist, he's essentially a dance and pop artist.

 

"And the pieces aren't in a recognised classical style - although we don't have rigid rules which say that it has to be a chamber orchestra."

 

The album features works by Vivaldi and Beethoven, as well as more modern works by Satie and Cage, given what critics describe as a "mild tinkering" by Orbit.

 

Some of the tracks first appeared on a 1995 version of the album released under the name The Electric Chamber.

 

That had to be withdrawn from sale as one of the publishers was unhappy about the use of the track.

 

Orbit - who has also worked under the names Strange Cargo and Bass-O-Matic - produced Madonna's massively successful Ray Of Light album.

 

 

But this is his biggest success in his own right.

 

He also worked with Blur on their last release 13 and has produced All Saints' next single Pure Shores, a soundtrack to the forthcoming Leonardo Di Caprio film The Beach.

 

 

The first single from the album, Barber's Adagio For Strings, was a number four hit for Orbit and remains in the top 10.

 

 

In Sunday's singles chart teenage US singer Britney Spears notched up her second UK number one with the song Born To Make You Happy.

 

She had the biggest selling single of last year with Baby One More Time.

 

Source: The Offical UK Charts Company & BBC News

Edited January 28, 201213 yr by Griff

Bump.

Edited January 28, 201213 yr by Griff

I heard William Orbit might have produced songs on both Christina Aguilera and Madonna's new albums, so we might have him back in the charts this year. :wub:

The Ferry Corsten remix of Adagio for Strings is one of my favourite dance tracks of all time. :D Seems unfair that it often gets credited to William Orbit alone, as Ferry's the one who turned it into an epic trance anthem.

 

To be honest, late 1999/early 2000 was an amazing time for dance - the second disc of 'Now 45' shows that! This was the singles top 10:

 

1. Britney Spears - Born To Make You Happy

2. Donell Jones - U Know What's Up

3. Scanty Sandwich - Because Of You

4. Manic Street Preachers - The Masses Against The Classes

5. Des Mitchell - (Welcome) To The Dance

6. Hi-Gate - Pitchin' (In Every Direction)

7. Artful Dodger - Re-Rewind The Crowd Say Bo Selecta ft Craig David

8. Nu Generation - In Your Arms (Rescue Me)

9. DJ Luck And MC Neat - A Little Bit Of Luck

10. Westlife - I Have A Dream/Seasons In The Sun

 

Six out of ten were dance tracks!! Is that a record?