It is late 2022 and Atlas is looking for a song to cover in orchestra as a first foray into orchestral production. At this time he doesn't know how to play an instrument properly or how to read sheet music however has been learning piano via Synthesia style tutorials.
It is entirely true that Atlas did not know who the original song was written by when his draft arrangement was finished. The score was first provided by a musician friend in the form of a piano midi file whose sound after first listen begged the question:
"I wonder what that will sound like in an orchestra?"
Knowing nothing about orchestra before this endeavour meant Atlas was solely guided by the sound. The tempo needed to be lower and a new introduction would draw the listener into the piece. Once a solid version was arranged, only then did he find out who the orginal artist was.
Learning it was Coldplay made a lot of sense and this song has some wonderful underlying harmony which Atlas hopes he has brought out. There are so many wonderful things to reflect upon so more bars were added.
It was clear a literal cover was not possible, it needed to be adapted to accommodate all the instruments and it was clear which instruments suited certain parts better than others. This orchestral piece was always going to be joyful, euphoric and big.
The first recording was sent for mastering and on return, he wrote to UMPG for permission to release. They requested sheet music which Atlas did not know how to produce it at that time.
Altas rolled up his sleeves, put on his thinking cap and enrolled on an orchestration course and wrote the score based on the midi he already had. This was a great opportunity to learn more about music it some took time to prepare the score.
The process also revealed a few instruments were playing notes within their register which is to say they are silent. All notation for each instrument was checked and corrected where necessary.
November 2023, Atlas submitted everything UPMG had requested and approval was agreed with the original artist rapidly.
A Sky Full Of Stars (Orchestral) was released worldwide on 03 May 2024, 10 years after the original release 02 May 2014.
Atlas did not plan it this way. It was just that by the time all obstacles were overcome, a suitable release date exorably led to May 2024.
The artwork is an artificial starscape to celebrate the night sky which is full of stars which Atlas likes to photograph. Atlas' had to include his face with a moon surface texture as his family name means the moon in hindi.
BLESSINGS!
