The company that brought you "The Elements" has launched "The Orchestra," an iPad app that brings together video of the London-based Philharmonia Orchestra playing 8 classical compositions, scrolling musical scores, commentary from conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and his musicians and an interactive guide to every instrument in the orchestra. More in Shane Richmond's enthusiastically positive Telegraph review.
And on the company's blog, Touchpress design chief Theodore Gray waxes poetic about his latest labor of love.
The Orchestra is quite simply the most beautiful thing my company has ever made. Beautiful in every sense of the word. It’s filled with beautiful music. It’s filled with beautiful images. And it communicates its subject more beautifully than anything I’ve ever seen before. Anything? Yes, anything.
Sure, there may be more beautiful paintings, more beautiful poems, or more beautiful sunsets. But I’m talking about things whose purpose is to communicate a sizable body of knowledge, to teach me something interesting about the world, to expand my horizons and deepen my understanding. I cannot think of anything, anywhere, in any medium, ever, that has done this as beautifully as the interactive experience we call The Orchestra.
Check out the screengrabs below. The app is $13.99, and for iPad only.
