By Alan Sculley
Correspondent

For the past five years or so, fans of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra have been hearing about the impending arrival of the rock band/symphony’s newest work, “Night Castle.” They’ve even been teased on the past couple of holiday tours as TSO played a few of the songs that were to be featured on the CD.

Finally, on Oct. 27, just a few days before the Trans-Siberian Orchestra began this year’s edition of its extensive holiday tour, the long-awaited “Night Castle” arrived in stores. And it appears that the group’s founder and chief songwriter, Paul O’Neill, was determined to make it worth the wait – on a couple of different fronts.

On a musical level, “Night Castle” has grown from rather modest beginnings into a work of truly epic proportions.

“It was supposed to be out in July 2005, and obviously we slightly missed that date,” O’Neill joked during a mid-October phone interview.

“‘Night Castle’ was originally going to be 10 songs and our first regular album,” he added. “But then (TSO songwriting collaborator and singer for the progressive rock group Savatage) Jon Oliva said to me, ‘Paul, Tran-Siberian’s not like another band. It’s not like Savatage. The fans expect the stories.’ So it kind of spun out of control.”

By the time they finished, the recording ran well over two hours.

In sheer size and scope, O’Neill and his songwriting collaborators, Oliva and Robert Kinkel, have outdone themselves. “Night Castle” is the first double CD by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It features 26 songs, 21 of which are the “Night Castle” rock opera. The CD comes with a 68-page booklet that includes lyrics, the story on which the rock opera is based and illustrations by Greg Hildebrandt (of “The Lord of the Rings” fame).

The music is as wide-ranging and epic as a 26-song work would suggest, ranging from the edgy rock of “Sparks” to the classically tinged rock of“Toccata – Carpimus Noctem” and “Moonlight and Madness.” In other words it embodies the blend of progressive hard rock and classical that has always been the TSO signature.

O’Neill also negotiated a surprisingly low retail price for “Night Castle,” which should be another nice reward for those that have been waiting years for the CD to arrive. The physical CD package is available for $10.99 – an unusually low price for a double CD – while a download is $7.99.

It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who has followed Trans-Siberian Orchestra that “Night Castle” turned into such a massive work. Everything O’Neill touches with TSO tends grow into something on a grand scale.

“Night Castle” follows a tradition established by TSO’s trilogy of Christmas rock operas — 1996’s “Christmas Eve and Other Stories,” 1998’s “The Christmas Attic” and 2004’s “The Lost Christmas Eve” — as well as the 2000 non-holiday rock opera, “Beethoven’s Last Night,” by being jammed packed with songs and accompanied by elaborate packaging.

And then, of course, there is the TSO live show, which O’Neill has cheerfully come to describe as being like Pink Floyd on massive steroids.

Two separate editions of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra criss-cross the country every holiday season — the only way to accommodate the 80-plus cities on the schedule over the two-month period of the tour. Each edition of TSO includes a full orchestra and rock band and multiple vocalists, which allows the group to replicate the complex music on the albums.

The live show has come to encompass a main stage in the front of arenas and a second stage at the back, the largest lighting rig of any touring act (it now spans the length of arenas) and an array of special effects – lasers, smoke, pyrotechnics and more – that make a TSO performance as dazzling visually as it is ambitious on a musical level.

This year’s performance will combine the familiar with the new. As with the last several years, the first half of the performance will feature the first of TSO’s three holiday rock operas, “Christmas Eve and Other Stories.” The second half of the show is a full-on progressive rock concert, with a number of  “Night Castle” songs making their live debut.

O’Neill initially had a bit different idea for this year’s live show. He noted that he was talked out of basing the first half of the show around “The Lost Christmas Eve” CD. But he was talked into once again featuring “Christmas Eve and Other Stories” as the rock opera.

“We decided because of what’s going on in the economy, we definitely want to give people the comfort of the familiar,” he said. “For so many people, this (“Christmas Eve and Other Stories”) has become a part of their holiday. Then in the second half is where we cut loose with all the brand new stuff.”

If you go:
What: Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
When: 3 p.m and 7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 15 .
Where: Verizon Wireless Arena, 555 Elm St., Manchester
How: Tickets are $66.50, $56.50, $40.50, $26. Call 603-868-7300 (Ticketmaster) or visit www.verizonwirelessarena.com.
And
When: 7:30  p.m., Thursday, Nov. 19.
Where: DCU Center, 50 Foster St., Worcester.
How: Tickets are $62.50, $52.50, $40.50. Call 508-755-6800 or visit www.dcucenter.com.