MILOŠ releases 'The Moon & The Forest' celebrating 10 years with Universal Music

Celebrating 10 years with Universal Music, superstar and bona fide “Classical Guitar God” (The Times) MILOŠ presents a brand new album, featuring two outstanding original works for guitar and orchestra, both specially-commissioned for the Classical BRIT award-winning musician by composers Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Departed) and Joby Talbot (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Winter’s Tale).

For The Moon & The Forest, out now on Decca Classics, composers Shore and Talbot worked closely with MILOŠ in order to create two distinctive, groundbreaking scores. 

MILOŠ says, “It has long been my wish to challenge composers to write for the classical guitar. For centuries, this instrument has touched many people around the world and yet its repertoire remains very much underrepresented in the classical mainstream. The Moon & the Forest is my personal fairytale come true.”

Best known for his epic scores to the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit series’, Shore’s guitar concerto ‘The Forest’ partially deviates from his works on the screen, drawing instead from the symbiotic relationship between people and the earth. 

Shore adds, “I live in a place where I am encompassed by things that grow and bloom and fade. It is everchanging. It is always striving for equilibrium and harmony. I find this interconnectedness and interdependency inspiring. These are ideas I carry with me and are often the source from which I express my musical ideas.” 

‘Ink Dark Moon’ received its world premiere at the 2018 BBC Proms at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall. Taking its title from a collection of Japanese love poetry, the concerto very much places the guitar – and its soloist – at the very centre of proceedings. Cast in three movements that flow into one another, changes in mood and atmosphere permeate the work, exploring musical landscapes that bring the vivid imagery to life. 

The album also includes new arrangements for solo guitar of Ludovico Einaudi’s ‘Full Moon’ and Robert Schumann’s ‘Träumerei’ – two moving pieces from the Romantic and Modern classical repertoire. Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra feature on the recording, conducted by Alexander Shelley and Ben Gernon respectively. 

To mark a decade of incredible music-making with Universal Music, MILOŠ’s new album cements his position as not only “the hottest guitarist in the world” (Sunday Times), but also a pioneer and innovator of contemporary guitar repertoire for the ages.