Can music be perceived as poetry? Can sounds, as doors of perception, emulate, equal, or even surpass the evocative imagery of verbal description? On this album John Palmer attempts to answer these questions. These three compositions are all concerned by metric and perceptive correlation between musical and literary forms. Waka explores Japanese literary metric forms and applies them to the musical structures. By contrast, …As It Flies…, which is dedicated to composer Luc Ferrari who died last year, uses as its only sound source the words of William Blake‘s ‘Eternity’ poem. Finally, Nowhere is inspired by a poem written by Palmer himself. As always, Palmer’s strength lies in his seamless blending of acoustic and electronic sounds to create subtle psycho-acoustic effects, blurring the listener’s senses. Also, his on-going methodical quest for the mystical ‘truth’ of sound itself makes him one of the few serious spiritual composers of our time.
Credits:
John Palmer (electronics), Ensemble Omega, Youngcher Park (percussion), Alejo Perez (conductor), Moira Muschalla (piano), Zoltan Kovacs (clarinet).
Recorded and produced at the ZKM, Karlsruhe – The Vision Studio, London and Stuttgart.
TRACK LIST:
1. WAKA (21:16)
for percussion and ensemble
2. …AS IT FLIES… (13:20)
for 8-channel tape
2. NOWHERE (14:31)
for clarinet, piano and electronics
Also available as downloads:
