{"id":7220,"date":"2021-11-05T18:30:50","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T17:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=160315"},"modified":"2021-11-05T18:49:08","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T17:49:08","slug":"abba-pays-tribute-to-tchaikovskys-swan-lake-in-the-final-track-in-its-new-voyage-album","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/abba-pays-tribute-to-tchaikovskys-swan-lake-in-the-final-track-in-its-new-voyage-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Abba pays tribute to Tchaikovsky\u2019s Swan Lake in the final track in its new Voyage album"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Freya Parr\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 05 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

After a 40-year hiatus, Abba is back with a final studio album. The reviews for the newly released album\u00a0Voyage<\/em>\u00a0might not all be glowing, but there\u2019s one thing that stuck out to us \u2013 and, we\u2019re sure, a lot of other classical music fans.<\/p>\n

Does that opening phrase in Ode to Freedom \u2013 <\/em>the final track of the album \u2013 sound familiar to anyone?<\/p>\n\nEven down to the orchestration and lush string melody, the opening theme is undoubtedly a reference to the waltz from <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/guide-swan-lake\/"\">Tchaikovsky\u2019s ballet <\/strong><\/a><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/guide-swan-lake\/"\">Swan Lake<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Spotify\" embed:=\"\" tchaikovsky:=\"\" swan=\"\" lake=\"\" op.=\"\" act=\"\" waltz=\"\" in=\"\" a-flat=\"\" major=\"\" width=\""100%"\" height=\""80"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\""autoplay;\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" fullscreen=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" src=\""https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/7gwqbiFgNU1VddAK2XO5Wr?si=0a0162941c854521&utm_source=oembed"\"\/>\nThe main theme in Tchaikovsky\u2019s waltz places the theme in the hands of the violas, with the violins playing on the first beat of each bar and the cellos, double basses and horns answering them on the second and third beats. The second time the theme comes around, the violas are joined by the cellos on the main theme, with the flutes and clarinets bringing in a quaver countermelody.<\/p>\nThe orchestra thickens, with the textures becoming more rich and lush, particularly when the percussion comes in to add excitement and drama.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Swan\" lake=\"\" act=\"\" i=\"\" tempo=\"\" di=\"\" valse=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a1xcNGhj838?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\nThe main difference between <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/guide-swan-lake\/"\">Tchaikovsky\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/guide-swan-lake\/"\">Swan Lake<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>waltz and Abba\u2019s new song lie in the time signature.\u00a0Ode to Freedom\u00a0<\/em>has stretched the melody out over a 4\/4 bar, a much more conventional time signature for pop songs. Although the main melody is played by the strings, there is an audible bass guitar offering a dotted rhythm accompaniment.<\/p>\nThe similarities between the new Abba tune and Tchaikovsky\u2019s legendary ballet are being discussed on forums and chatrooms across the internet. Some listeners have also referenced the similarities shared with Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor\u2019s 1990 song Three Babies.<\/em><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Spotify\" embed:=\"\" three=\"\" babies=\"\" width=\""100%"\" height=\""80"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\""autoplay;\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" fullscreen=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" src=\""https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/6jvyDKYrcocdYZlqjYgvu1?si=319dd49f588f4692&utm_source=oembed"\"\/>\nWe recently named Tchaikovsky\u2019s\u00a0Swan Lake\u00a0<\/em>as one of the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/the-best-christmas-ballets\/"\">best Christmas ballets of all time<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Freya Parr Published: Friday, 05 November 2021 at 12:00 am After a 40-year hiatus, Abba is back with a final studio album. The reviews for the newly released album\u00a0Voyage\u00a0might not all be glowing, but there\u2019s one thing that stuck out to us \u2013 and, we\u2019re sure, a lot of other classical music fans. Does […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":7221,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/11\/abba-pays-tribute-to-tchaikovskys-swan-lake-in-the-final-track-in-its-new-voyage-album.jpg",1280,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/11\/abba-pays-tribute-to-tchaikovskys-swan-lake-in-the-final-track-in-its-new-voyage-album-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/11\/abba-pays-tribute-to-tchaikovskys-swan-lake-in-the-final-track-in-its-new-voyage-album-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/11\/abba-pays-tribute-to-tchaikovskys-swan-lake-in-the-final-track-in-its-new-voyage-album-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/11\/abba-pays-tribute-to-tchaikovskys-swan-lake-in-the-final-track-in-its-new-voyage-album-1024x576.jpg",800,450,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/11\/abba-pays-tribute-to-tchaikovskys-swan-lake-in-the-final-track-in-its-new-voyage-album.jpg",1280,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/11\/abba-pays-tribute-to-tchaikovskys-swan-lake-in-the-final-track-in-its-new-voyage-album.jpg",1280,720,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Freya Parr Published: Friday, 05 November 2021 at 12:00 am After a 40-year hiatus, Abba is back with a final studio album. The reviews for the newly released album\u00a0Voyage\u00a0might not all be glowing, but there\u2019s one thing that stuck out to us \u2013 and, we\u2019re sure, a lot of other classical music fans. Does…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/7220"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}