Rolling in the Deep

For this week’s video we decided to challenge ourselves. We picked a pop tune at the top of the charts — one that wouldn’t be an obvious candidate for an instrumental cover. “Rolling in the Deep” jumped out at us. The writers, Paul Epworth and Adele, described it as a “dark blues-y gospel disco tune.” What could be more challenging for a classically-trained cellist and pianist? We locked ourselves in the studio (ok, not literally) and began work on the introduction. It wasn’t working. The end.

Just kidding…

The song came alive when we found a destined matchup in the melody from Gustav Holst’s classical piece “Jupiter”—a deep melody that rang out when layered on top of everything we were creating for this arrangement. To make a long studio-story short, it all came together after that. ALL sounds were created by acoustic & electric cellos (5 different cellos) and piano. By the time we were finished we had used 60 tracks.