<< -- 3 -- Rex Harley ILLUMINATIONS OF THE BEYOND
Not for several minutes do we hear from the percussive forces gathered
around us; not until the voice informs us : 'Vast lighthouses of the sky,
the two pulsars will be guiding our musical voyage. Listen closely to the
ticking of these cosmic clocks. We have a rendezvous with the keepers of
eternal time. Open the window and wait.'
There are, in fact, four designated 'windows' in the piece, which intersperse
the recorded emanations of the pulsars and the interventions of the percussionists.
Their contribution begins in a soft, seemingly random and disjointed way,
with two of the players sharing a kind of aleatoric antiphon. Gradually,
the others join in. Instruments are scraped, bowed (in the case of the cymbals),
and hit -- sometimes with a force bordering on violence: during the second
'window', for example, one section is headed 'Interruption
brutale par les percussionistes'. There are moments when the audience
is caught in a cosmic storm of noise which sweeps round them like an aural
equivalent of the Mexican wave!
Then there are moments of calm; and out of the silence comes the hypnotic
rhythm of the pulsars. The first is the Vela pulsar, the residue of a supernova
that primitive man probably saw in broad daylight some 12,000 years ago.
The second is known as 0329+54. The supernova that generated it exploded
five million years ago and its radio pulsations take 7,500 years to reach
the Earth. The sounds they make, heard within the context of the piece,
and in a virtually dark space, inspire genuine awe. They are, in the words
of another French composer: 'Éclairs sur l'Au-Dela'
-- Illuminations of the Beyond.
For myself, I wonder if that sense of awe comes from our consciousness
of difference and distance, in space and time; or rather from a deeply buried
awareness of connection. As the Quaker metaphysician John R Yungblut has
it : 'There is a direct line of continuity from subatomic particles and
stardust to our present sophisticated selves ... Matter, the original matter,
is still present in our structure. We have endured many transformations.
For this reason we are as old as the universe. There is that in us which
can claim immortality till now.'
'Hot White Light' concert flyer
Hot White Light was not merely a concert, but an event; an experience
which fused the cerebral, the emotional and the spiritual in one unforgettable
evening. It was my good fortune to be there, and I can only hope that, despite
its formidable challenges, to performers and organisers alike, Gérard
Grisey's chef d'oeuvre will, in time, be heard by others
the world over.
Copyright © 2 February 2003
Rex Harley, Cardiff, UK
GÉRARD GRISEY AT IRCAM
VANCOUVER NEW MUSIC