Peter Gabriel

The Book of Love

In 1999, American singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt released his song The Book of Love on the CD '69 Love Songs'. In the almost spartan original version, Merritt's unpolished vocal performance is accompanied only by a guitar. The English singer Peter Gabriel became familiar with the song through a joint performance with Merritt's band in London and subsequently adopted it for the soundtrack to the film Shall We Dance? (May I please?). Gabriel's version is clearly more opulent and orchestral; in this guise the song gained greater popularity, not least through a new CD release by Gabriel in 2010.

Martin Scharnagl's arrangement congenially transfers this well-known version to the modern wind orchestra. The fact that the original key of A-flat major, with its affinity for wind instruments, could be retained had a favorable effect. The romantic intimacy of the string-dominated orchestral sound of the Gabriel version is by no means lost, but on the contrary enriched by further facets.