Pink Floyd for Orchestra ’Wish You Were Here’ The London Symphonia. Conducted by James Gambold

“Wish You Were Here“ is an orchestral arrangement of the title track from the album ’Wish You Were Here’ , the ninth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd. ’Wish You Were Here’ was released on 12 September 1975 through Harvest Records and Columbia Records. The album was based on material Pink Floyd composed while performing in Europe. ’ Wish You Were Here ’ was recorded over numerous sessions throughout 1975 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London. The themes include alienation and criticism of the music business. The bulk of the album is taken up by “Shine On You Crazy Diamond“, a nine-part tribute to founding member Syd Barrett, who left the band seven years earlier due to his deteriorating mental health. Barrett coincidentally visited during the album’s production in 1975. Like their previous record, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Pink Floyd used studio effects and synthesisers. Guest singers included Roy Harper, who provided the lead vocals on “Have a Cigar“, and Venetta Fields, who added backing vocals to “Shine On You Crazy Diamond“. To promote the album, the band released the double A-side single “Have a Cigar“ / “Welcome to the Machine“. On its release, Wish You Were Here received mixed reviews from critics, who found its music uninspiring and inferior to the band’s previous output. It has retrospectively received critical acclaim, hailed as one of the greatest albums of all time and was cited by keyboardist Richard Wright and guitarist David Gilmour as their favourite Pink Floyd album. Background During 1974, Pink Floyd sketched out three new compositions, “Raving and Drooling“ (which would become “Sheep“), “You Gotta Be Crazy“ (which would become “Dogs“) and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond“. These songs were performed during a series of concerts in France and England, the band’s first tour since 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon. As Pink Floyd had never employed a publicist and kept themselves distant from the press, their relationship with the media began to sour. Mason said later that a critical NME review by Syd Barrett devotee Nick Kent may have had an influence in keeping the band together, as they returned to the studio in the first week of 1975. Concept Wish You Were Here is Floyd’s second album with a conceptual theme, mostly at Roger Waters’ direction. It reflects his feeling that the camaraderie that had served the band was, by then, largely album begins with a long instrumental preamble and segues into the lyrics for “Shine On You Crazy Diamond“, a tribute to Syd Barrett, whose mental breakdown had forced him to leave the group seven years earlier. Barrett is fondly recalled with lines such as “Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun“ and “You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon“. Wish You Were Here is also a critique of the music business. “Shine On“ crosses seamlessly into “Welcome to the Machine“, a song that begins with an opening door (described by Waters as a symbol of musical discovery and progress betrayed by a music industry more interested in greed and success) and ends with a party, the latter epitomising “the lack of contact and real feelings between people“. Similarly, “Have a Cigar“ scorns record industry “fat-cats“ with the lyrics repeating a stream of cliches heard by rising newcomers in the industry, and including the question “by the way, which one’s Pink?“ asked of the band on at least one occasion.[10] The lyrics of the next song, “Wish You Were Here“, relate both to Barrett’s condition and to the dichotomy of Waters’ character, with greed and ambition battling with compassion and idealism. “I had some criticisms of Dark Side of the Moon…“ noted David Gilmour. “One or two of the vehicles carrying the ideas were not as strong as the ideas that they carried. I thought we should try and work harder on marrying the idea and the vehicle that carried it, so that they both had an equal magic… It’s something I was personally pushing when we made Wish You Were Here.“