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Music is a canvas for film composer David Arkenstone
By John Benson
The genre classification “new age” is often used in a pejorative sense to describe the music created by instrumental artists. For decades, that’s been the label bestowed upon David Arkenstone; however, today the multi-instrumentalist finally feels as though he’s right at home.
“I call it cinematic new age rock,” said Arkenstone, calling from Los Angeles. “I really started as a rock performer. When new age came around, and I realized all of a sudden I had a record deal, I thought, ‘OK I’m going to take this road.’ And off I went.
“I love to paint pictures. When I create music, it’s a lot like painting. And when we bring that to a live setting, that communicates with people, that’s pretty exciting.”
What Arkenstone is bringing on his current tour are selections of yuletide standards along with his own original Christmas and holiday songs from albums such as “Christmas Spirit,” “Celtic Christmas” and “Christmas Lounge.”
While Arkenstone plans on taping a Cleveland performance for a possible PBS special in the future, he’s also playing a Wednesday show at the DeYor Performing Arts Center’s Ford Family Recital Hall in Youngstown.
“I haven’t been to Youngstown before, but that show is on the solstice, so we always have fun,” Arkenstone said.
The Windham Hill and three-time Grammy Award-nominated artist, who is known for television, film and game scores, is looking forward to playing music from his recently released seasonal effort “Winter Fantasy.”
The album includes classics such as “The First Noel,” “What Child Is This” and “Deck the Halls/God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,” but we are talking about Arkenstone. That means included on “Winter Fantasy” are a few left turns.
“I looked for songs that I hadn’t done before,” Arkenstone said. “Holiday songs that were more obscure. Thank goodness for the Internet – I didn’t have to go to a library.”
Or a museum is more like it, considering Arkenstone landed on the 16th-century “Gaudete.”
“To be able to even hear a song or play a song from the 1500s was amazing,” Arkenstone said. “So I put my own spin on it. We had a choir come in. It’s a little bit more of an up-tempo version than probably it was ever done.
“We make it more rock when we play it live, but the legacy of being able to play a song from the 1500s and having it still be relevant is amazing to me.”
There’s also the French song “Noel Nouvelet,” which he said fits into his penchant for recording fantasy-themed music.
For decades, Arkenstone has rested his hat creating music with a flair for the fantastical. After all, he scored computer game soundtracks such as “World of Warcraft,” “Lands of Lore 2 and 3,” “Earth and Beyond” and “Emperor: Battle for Dune.”
Considering nowadays we all live in a “Game of Thrones” world, it feels as though pop culture has finally caught up to Arkenstone’s mythical inspiration.
“Yes, I would say so because I was definitely influenced by Tolkien and things like that,” Arkenstone said. “And that was part of what drew people to my music. I illustrated things like that ,and now that has become popular. So, yes, I feel right at home.”