Seasonal Rock: Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Hard Rock meets Classical Music with a Christmas Theme
Sep 7, 2008
Paul O’Neill started the Trans Siberian Orchestra with Robert Kinkel and Jon Oliva. Of the group, Paul says on the band’s website, “It's about creating great art." When asked to define what great art was, O’Neill said, “The purpose of art is to create an emotional response in the person that is exposed to that art. And there are three categories of art; bad art, good art and great art. Bad art will elicit no emotional response in the person that is exposed to it, i.e. a song you hear in an elevator and it does nothing to you…"
He goes on to say, "...good art will make you feel an emotion that you have felt before; you see a picture of a forest and you remember the last time you went fishing with your dad…great art will make you feel an emotion you have never felt before; seeing the pieta, the world famous sculpture by Michelangelo, can cause someone to feel the pain of losing a child even if they've never had one… anyone can do it. Go into the street, throw a rock at someone, you will make them angry. The emotions of love, empathy and laughter are much harder to trigger, but since they operate on a deeper level, they bring a much greater reward.”
The Beginnings of Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Trans-Siberian Orchestra's first CD was Christmas Eve And Other Stories. Released in 1996, it has maintained large sales around the winter holidays. The band combines heavy guitar licks with rich orchestral padding and a sensitive rock opera storyline. Recently, the group has released another disc of Christmas-oriented music The Lost Christmas Eve.
It is stylistically similar to the others, but offers a fresh story, or at least another twist on an old tale. The CD comes with a nice little booklet that covers the long-form narrative while the musical pieces follow the same line on the CD in proper rock opera style. The disc features hearty, often heavy interpretations of Christmas classics as well as original musical pieces.
TSO Live Performances
During live performances the group is, as it is on the CD’s, a fusion. Trans-Siberian Orchestra is made up of members of a Chicago-based heavy metal band called Savatage along with several singers who often appear as characters from the CD stories, and a small orchestra. On Stage, the combination puts the experience over the top.
Visuals are just as ostentatious; it’s a full-fledged arena rock tour with rock-star lighting, explosions, and high volume, but all with a tender Christmas theme. The whole point, it seems, is to give the average hard rock fan an opportunity to bring his or her family to a Christmas show (even mom and dad, but bring earplugs) and receive a good dose of heavy metal while celebrating the holidays.
Some find it pretentious, but others revel in the synthesis of rock and Christianity.
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