TUBULAR Bells For Two involves old Australian school friends Daniel Holdsworth and Aidan Roberts boldly recreating Mike Oldfield’s multi-tracked magnus opus Tubular Bells live on stage, in real time.

Forty years on from the folk-rock epic’s release on Richard Branson’s Virgin Records label, these musical wizards of Oz are unravelling Oldfield history and mystery at the Grand Opera House, York, on Wednesday night.

Daniel, 32, describes Tubular Bells as the risk-taking work of a young composer, fuelled by naivety that saw no boundaries, whereas an older musician might have been burdened by too much musical knowledge and subsequent caution.

Now guitarist Daniel and pianist Aidan must match that pioneering spirit in their musical marathon by playing 25 instruments between them, usually two at once.

“The show is constantly evolving, so once it starts feeling comfortable again, we go back to the record to see if there’s anything still missing that we could put in,” says Daniel.

“For the audience, it’s not just about listening to the album live but watching this circus unfold on stage, so it has to be a challenge for us, where it can fall off the rails – and sometimes it does.

“You just have to keep going and get to the end, and luckily we know it well enough to do that.”

Daniel and Aidan will not be recording an album version of Tubular Bells For Two. “We don’t see the point in doing that but we have brought a DVD so people can see how we do it.

“The show is not just for those who love the album or grew up with it, but for those who don’t know it yet,” says Daniel.

One question has been asked so many times: which iconic album might you and Aidan tackle next? The answer is always the same: Tubular Bells For Two is a one-off.

“This show came about so organically that if we tried to do the same process again with another album, I don’t think it would be as successful – and we’re also busy with our commitments, working on our own albums,” says Daniel.

Aidan has a record called A coming out at the end of the year, while Daniel is soon to record a set of ten or 12 self-penned songs under the title of The Underground Projects. “They’re songs that have been inspired by all the traveling we’ve been doing,” he says.

Meanwhile, the Bells are calling him once more.

• Tubular Bells For Two, Grand Opera House, York, Wednesday (June 19), 7.30pm; box office, 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york