Pieces in a Modern Style

Pieces in a Modern Style is the sixth album by electronic instrumentalist William Orbit. He is credited as arranger, programmer, producer, and performer of the album. Released in 2000 by WEA and Warner Music UK in Europe and Maverick Records in the United States, it was responsible for introducing the piece Adagio for Strings to a new generation. This was the first single from the album, however the version played on radio and television was a remix by Ferry Corsten which led to people buying the album thinking it was dance music. . The album is in fact a fusion of classical music, electronica, ambient music and chill out music and contains no vocals. The Adagio single reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1999.

The second single was Pavane pour une Infant Défunte. This again had a different arrangement to the album version, but this time was done by Orbit himself. The single reached #31 in the UK Singles Chart in May 2000.

The album was originally released in May 1995 on Orbit’s N-Gram Recordings label, credited to Orbit alias The Electric Chamber. This version is not widely available, as it was withdrawn from sale almost immediately when Arvo Pärt objected to its inclusion of his compositions Fratres and Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten. The version issued in 2000 replaced these pieces with works by Beethoven, Vivaldi, Handel and Mascagni, and reached #2 in the UK Album Charts.
In 2010 a follow-up, entitled simply Pieces In A Modern Style 2, was released.