Home / Artists / Efterklang & The Danish National Chamber Orchestra / Performing Parades

The inimitable Danish outfit Efterklang announce the release of Performing Parades, their most ambitious project yet. A limited edition deluxe gatefold CD+DVD and LP+DVD package, it features Efterklang performing their acclaimed 2007 album Parades in full, accompanied by The Danish National Chamber Orchestra, in their hometown of Copenhagen. A sweepingly majestic affair, the performance takes Efterklang’s sumptuous, otherworldly pop songs to new heights of heart-bursting joy and wonder.

Shortly after the release of Parades, Karl Bjerre Skibsted from DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) approached Efterklang with a proposal to work with The Danish National Chamber Orchestra. Efterklang leapt at the opportunity. From the off, the intention was to unite the two groups as a single musical unit: 50 musicians on stage in full Efterklang regalia. Composer and arranger Karsten Fundal was invited to write orchestral arrangements for the songs, and after ten months of preparation, the first performance took place on September 26 2008 at DR´s brand new Koncerthuset in Copenhagen in front of a capacity audience. The show was recorded for posterity in sound and on film.

The original Parades album recording involved more than 30 guest musicians, including a string quartet, a brass quintet and three separate choirs. On Performing Parades the music is brought to life in new arrangements in a way that is both dazzling and profoundly moving. Or, as Mojo described the performance in their live review: “uplifting, celebratory and gloriously ridiculous, like an alternate national anthem for a new northern utopia of untrammelled happiness.”

“In many ways this release marks the pinnacle of what we have been trying to achieve with our two albums, Tripper and Parades,” says the band’s Casper Clausen. “It also closes a chapter as we work on taking our music in a new direction.”

The live recording is packaged with an intimate 55-minute concert film directed by Benjamin Hesselholdt. The DVD also includes a behind the scenes documentary (with English and Danish subtitles) of the preparations for the event, as well as all six video clips made for songs from Parades, including lead single ‘Mirador’, which now has racked up over a million (1,000,000!) views on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSKIl-NeZeE. An acoustic performance of the same song is also featured on the DVD.

The artwork for the project is by the acclaimed design duo Hvass&Hannibal, who also produced the artwork for Under Giant Trees and Parades, as well as the costumes, production and stage design for the Copenhagen show.

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