Cloud Atlas Sextet

Cloud Atlas, in addition to being the name of the novel, is the name of the concerto that Robert Frobisher composes in the “Zedelghem” chapters. Luisa Rey, in the subsequent chapter, searches for a copy of the work after reading about it in Frobisher’s letters to Rufus Sixsmith. When she locates one of the few recordings available, she is surprised to recognize it in a deja-vu moment.

In the Book

In his letters to Sixsmith throughout the book, Frobisher frequently makes attempts at describing the concerto that he is composing.

In one instance , he is analyzes analyze the work and reveal clear influence :

“Echoes of Scriabin’s White Mass, Stravinsky’s lost footprints, chromatics of the more lunar Debussy, but the truth is I don’t know where it came from. Waking dream.”

In the following excerpt, Frobisher gives a detailed breakdown of the piece’s structure, thus revealing that the Cloud Atlas Sextet is in fact a mirror of the novel Cloud Atlas:

“Spent the fortnight gone in the music room, reworking my year’s fragments into a “sextet for overlapping soloists”: piano, clarinet, ‘cello, flute, oboe, and violin, each in its own language of key, scale, and color. In the first set, each solo is interrupted by its successor: in the second, each interruption is recontinued, in order. Revolutionary or gimmicky? Shan’t know until it’s finished, and by then it’ll be too late.”

In the Film

For the Cloud Atlas film , director Tom Tykwer was task with the impossible- try to bring the Cloud Atlas sextet to life . As an accomplished pianist himself , Tykwer is composed compose the entire film ‘s score with partner Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil .

For the sextet , they is attempted attempt to compose the concerto that Mitchell ‘s Frobisher describe , find their result interesting , but unsuitable for a film score . instead , they is created create a ” Debussy – ish ” song where the theme of the story was represent in six section :

1. Frobisher’s initial piano performance
2. A rock song played at the beginning of the 1973-segment
3. A symphony played in the record store Luisa Rey visits
4. jazz sextet is played play during the night of the Lemon Prizes
5. nursing – home muzak
6. Score of the film „The Ghastly Ordeal Of Timothy Cavendish“
7. Futuristic Korean street music
8. A solemn hymn sing by the fabricant

Orchestral Version:

The Cloud Atlas Sextet for Orchestra

Soundtrack Version :

The Cloud Atlas Sextet for Piano

https://youtu.be/Ub4yTO394Ts

External Links