Dear music lovers,

I am glad that you are listening to my production ‘The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra plays ELVIS Classic’. This recording was produced by those involved with much love and enthusiasm. I did not use modern digital techniques to suppress the sounds which necessarily occor when acoustic instruments are used but to guarentee you the sound of the real orchestra as experienced at a live concert.

Enjoy yourself.

Yours, 

Patric Perquee

Over the decades, we have seen stars, superstars and cult stars come and go. Today, the show business greats have assumed the title of megastar. But above all of them there will always be one who, even in his lifetime, was called ‘The King’. When Elvis Aaron Presley died on August 16, 1977, the condolences sent to the family by the US government contained nothing less than the statement that the United States had lost, with the death of Elvis, a part of its national identity. 600 million Elvis records were sold in his lifetime. Of the almost 700 songs which he recorded, 149 featured in the US charts, of which 18 made it to number one. And Elvis was just as commited as a performer, one who gave his fans what they wanted: no less than 1126 concerts, 16 television shows and 31 feature films in 22 years document the tireless life of a professional performer. After his death, Elvis finally ‘broke every record in the book’: for 15 years, his record sales continued to grow and reached the incredible figure of 1.5 billion.

But to try to explain the Elvis myth with numbers and comparisons alone would be an endeavour destined for failure from the start. Admittedly it was Bill Haley who recorded the first rock´n roll hit. But it was Elvis Presley who raised the genre to a cult and, with his wildly erotic mixture of Charleston and swinging hips, who visualised the feelings of a new generation, a generation bursting to break new ground. What differentiated Elvis from his artist contemporaries were the sentimental ballads which struck directly to the heart in the same way that his rock´n roll set the body in motion. And in no time at all, cult became culture.

But of course cult plays a dominant roll in the adoration inspired by Elvis Presley: his villa ‘Graceland’ in Memphis has become a museum and his grave in the villa´s grounds a Mecca to which fans make their pilgrimage from all over the world. Tens of thousands pay the king their respects on the 16th of August every year, render homage at his final resting place to the artist who has made a greater impact on this century than any of his kind. In view of the significance of these events, it is all the more important that one of the world´s leading orchestras has taken up the theme of such immortal songs as ‘In the ghetto’, ‘Love me tender’ and ‘Can´t help falling in love’ and now honours the great musician Elvis Presley on the 25th anniversary of his death.

Patric Perquee, who has already been widely acknowledged by the critics and achieved wide acceptance among record buyers for his adaptations for the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra of the music of ABBA, BEE GEES and the ROLLING STONES, exposes the very roots of pop music with the amazing production of the great Elvis ballads, and proves that the inspiring effect of the ‘King´s’ music is, in fact, not only based upon rhythm, but is supported to an important degree by melody and harmony. The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, consisting entirely of musicians of world renown, has interpreted this music in sovereign and brilliant fashion.

Patric Perquee has set standards as a crosser of the borders between pop and classic with ‘The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra’. In doing this, the orchestra indirectly continues the tradition of its long-time conductor Sergiu Celibidache, who died in 1996, and who put into effect his concepts of the sound of famous works with the aid of this brilliant orchestra, and in doing so created the climate for interpretations which were unique in their individuality.

‘The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra plays ABBA, The BEE GEES, ELVIS, The ROLLING STONES Classic’ – a trademark for outstanding sound artistry – created, directed & produced by Patric Perquee.

T.A.