Pet Shop Boys have collaborated with Alan Turing biographer, Andrew Hodges, on a musical composition including songs, spoken word and electronic and orchestral music. Called A man from the future, the work explores eight significant chapters in the life and death of Alan Turing and will be released as an album on 9th October and is available to pre-order now.
Alongside music and lyrics by Pet Shop Boys is a narration, spoken by actress Juliet Stevenson, taken from Andrew Hodges’ book Alan Turing: the Enigma, which has been edited and extended by Neil Tennant and Andrew Hodges. The music is a combination of electronics and strings with string arrangements by Sven Helbig performed by the Manchester Camerata Octet. Boys from Manchester Grammar School choir also sing on four tracks. The album was produced by Pet Shop Boys and Sven Helbig.
The eight tracks explore the life, death and influence of the pioneering British mathematician and cryptanalyst who laid the foundations of modern computing. Turing’s story unfolds chronologically from his school days, with his initial interest in mathematics and science and his realisation of his sexuality, to his university days at Cambridge, his leading role working for the British Government unlocking the German Enigma machine’s encrypted messages during World War II, his place in the invention of the digital computer, his prediction of Artificial Intelligence, his trial and conviction for a homosexual relationship, and then his suicide in 1954.
The last track features a passage recorded by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown from his 2009 statement acknowledging Turing’s ground-breaking work in helping the UK win the war and apologising for the inhumane treatment he received when he was convicted under homophobic laws, which is followed by the posthumous royal pardon granted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013. The final words evoke the significance of his work for today’s digital world, and leave the listener with questions for the future.
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe originally wrote the work with Andrew Hodges in 2012-13 and performed it with the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers at a late-night BBC Prom in July 2014 at the Royal Albert Hall. Over a decade later they decided to revise the piece to give it more of an electronic emphasis and Sven Helbig suggested reworking his orchestrations in a more intimate arrangement for eight string players. Andrew Hodges suggested updates to the spoken text.
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