Kanye West’s ‘Blood on the Leaves’ & ‘New Slaves’ Get Orchestral Mashup by Yeethoven Orchestra
Kanye West's songs are epic masterpieces already, but a group of young musicians have turn Yeezy's music into orchestral movements.
On Saturday night (April 16), the Young Musicians Foundation hosted their Yeethoven recital, harnessing the combined schooling of 70-plus members of the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra (aka the Yeethovan Orchestra), with conductor Yuga Cohler and arranger Stephen Feigenbaum behind the event.
The concept was simple enough -- mash classic Beethoven songs with 'Ye's most popular tunes. In this case, the orchestra digs into the 38-year-old producer's polarizing 2013 album, Yeezus. The orchestra chose two bombastic songs from the collection: "Blood on the Leaves" and "New Slaves."
The end results of their cross-genre efforts are...interesting. Basically, they tried.
On some levels, it works. The idea of merging Beethoven, who was considered a mercurial genius, with the music of another eccentric genius, like West, can potentially introduce the similarities of their music to a new audience.
While it was ambitious of them to simultaneously celebrate unique elements of both musicians, the performance was a bit scattered in the end.
Don't take our word for it, check out the orchestra's performance for yourself.