''Classic Diamonds'' is the ninth studio album by the German female
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
singer
Doro Pesch
Dorothee Pesch (born 3 June 1964), known professionally as Doro Pesch or simply Doro, is a German heavy metal singer and the former frontwoman of heavy metal band Warlock. Dubbed the "Metal Queen", Doro's contributions to music and culture mad ...
. It was released worldwide in 2004 by
AFM Records
AFM Records GmbH is a music label based in Schwalmstadt, Germany. They focus on the heavy metal musical genre, signing bands such as U.D.O., Doro, Lordi, Kotipelto, Masterplan, Nostradameus, and Annihilator.
In 2005, Candlelight Records si ...
. The album presents new acoustic and symphonic arrangements for songs from Doro's repertoire, as well as some new compositions. The music is mostly played by the Classic Night Orchestra, an ensemble of young classical musicians that accompanied Doro in the following European tour.
Overview
Doro Pesch had already experienced mixing her powerful hard rock vocals with a symphonic orchestra in 2001 in a concert in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
and later in 2003 for a
benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate hu ...
in
Bochum
Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...
. Excerpts from both shows are contained in the ''
Für Immer'' DVD. The results of the two shows and the reaction of the fans prompted the German singer to plan a more organic approach to the symphonic facets of her songs, scheduling an album and a tour with an orchestra.
The Classic Night Orchestra was recruited looking for young, open-minded, and multi-ethnic classical musicians, reaching the number of 30 elements.
With the help of the classically trained band member
Oliver Palotai
Oliver Palotai (born 17 March 1974) is a classically trained German musician of Hungarian ancestry, husband of Simone Simons from Epica, best known as a member of the power metal band Kamelot and of Doro Pesch's touring band.
Career
He made his n ...
and producer Torsten Sickert, Doro arranged some old and new tracks for the orchestra and recorded them in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
. The album took almost eight months to complete and is the most expensive recording produced by Doro.
Besides the eleven songs played with the orchestra, the album contains two tracks recorded live and acoustically in studio by Doro's band and two other tracks played by Torsten Sickert with an emulator tuned to classical instruments.
The album was published at the same time of the European tour, where many elements of the Classic Night Orchestra played together with Doro's usual live band in most venues. At
Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music, rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and su ...
festival on 6 August 2004, the full Classic Night Orchestra was on stage for the show. Various shows of the ''Classic Diamonds'' tour were filmed and later released on ''
Classic Diamonds – The DVD
''Classic Diamonds – The DVD'' is a DVD video album by hard rock singer Doro (musician), Doro Pesch, released in 2004 by AFM Records. The DVD contains footage from two concerts held during the European tour which followed the release of the stu ...
''.
The album was published in various formats by
AFM Records
AFM Records GmbH is a music label based in Schwalmstadt, Germany. They focus on the heavy metal musical genre, signing bands such as U.D.O., Doro, Lordi, Kotipelto, Masterplan, Nostradameus, and Annihilator.
In 2005, Candlelight Records si ...
, with and without bonus tracks and even as a deluxe 2-CD set, together with the ''
Let Love Rain on Me
''Let Love Rain on Me'' is an EP by German hard rock singer Doro (musician), Doro Pesch, released in 2004 through AFM Records. It is an enhanced CD containing both musical tracks and a live video. The title track is present in three versions sun ...
'' EP.
"
Breaking the Law
"Breaking the Law" is a song by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, originally released on their 1980 album '' British Steel''. The song is one of the band's better known singles, and is readily recognized by its opening guitar riff.
Com ...
" is a cover of the
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...
song, recorded on their 1980 album ''
British Steel''.
The album peaked at position No. 33 in the German Longplay chart.
Track listing
*Limited edition also has "Let Love Rain on Me" music video.
Personnel
*
Doro Pesch
Dorothee Pesch (born 3 June 1964), known professionally as Doro Pesch or simply Doro, is a German heavy metal singer and the former frontwoman of heavy metal band Warlock. Dubbed the "Metal Queen", Doro's contributions to music and culture mad ...
– vocals
The Classic Night Orchestra
* Arnt Böhme – conductor, orchestral arrangements on tracks 1, 2, 5
* Hye-sin Tjo, Ardan Saguner, Nonna Parfenov, Elda Teqja, Marco Stankovic, Ingrid Illguth – first
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
s
* Carolin Kosa, Arhan Saguner, Emma Fridman, Jee-eun Lee, Alexander Schneider – second violins
* Wiebke Corssen, Urs Beckers, Ernst Hesse, Kristina Iczque, Manuela Crespi –
viola
The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...
s
Lev Gordin Martin Henneken, Jens Peter Jandausch, Luise Schroeter –
violoncello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D ...
s
* Milivoj Plavsic –
contrabass
Contrabass (from it, contrabbasso) refers to several musical instruments of very low pitch—generally one octave below bass register instruments. While the term most commonly refers to the double bass (which is the bass instrument in the orchest ...
* Daniel Edelhoff, Jörg Brohm –
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
s
* Wolfgang Mundt, Carsten Gronwald – second trumpets
* Andreas Roth, Peter Schatlo –
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
s
* Jan Böhme –
bass trombone
The bass trombone (german: Bassposaune, it, trombone basso) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to ...
* Klaus 'Major' Heuser – acoustic guitars
* Wolf Simon – drums
* Mario Arrangonda – percussion
Additional musicians
*
Johnny Dee
Johnny Dee (John D.) is a fictional mutant character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He debuted in ''Son of M #1'' (2005).
Fictional character biography
Johnny was one of the few mutants who kept his powers after ...
– drums on tracks 10 and 14
*
Udo Dirkschneider
Udo Dirkschneider (born 6 April 1952) is a German singer and songwriter who rose to fame with German heavy metal band Accept. After leaving the band in 1987, he formed U.D.O., with which he has also enjoyed commercial success.
Biography
Fo ...
– lead vocals on track 3
*
Nick Douglas
Nick Douglas (born Nicholas Charles Douklias; August 31, 1967) is an American musician, best known for being the bass player of Doro Pesch's band since 1990. He released a solo album in 2001 and a second album in late February 2017. He worked wi ...
– bass on tracks 10 and 14
* Claus Fischer– bass on track 4
*
Kai Hansen
Kai Michael Hansen (born 17 January 1963) is a German musician who is the founder, lead guitarist and vocalist of power metal band Gamma Ray. He is also one of the co-founders of metal band Helloween, which he rejoined in 2016. He is a prominent ...
– guitars and bass on track 13, acoustic guitars, backing vocals
*
Oliver Palotai
Oliver Palotai (born 17 March 1974) is a classically trained German musician of Hungarian ancestry, husband of Simone Simons from Epica, best known as a member of the power metal band Kamelot and of Doro Pesch's touring band.
Career
He made his n ...
– piano, orchestral arrangements on tracks 6, 7, 12, 15
* Dirk Schoppen – bass on track 4, backing vocals
* Joe Taylor – acoustic guitar on tracks 10 and 14
* Martin Wagemann – solo trumpet
* Oliver Best, Thomas Nathan, Klaus Vanscheidt – backing vocals
Production
* Torsten Sickert – producer, Midnight Orchestra on tracks 9 and 13, orchestral arrangements on tracks 3, 4, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15
* Chris Lietz – producer
* Mika Jussila – mastering
* Wieland Reißmann – engineer, orchestral arrangements on track 9
* Thorsten Rentsch – engineer, mixing
References
External links
American site*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Classic Diamonds
Doro (musician) albums
2004 albums
AFM Records albums