Inside No. 9, Season 3, Episode #32: un lieu pour faire sonner l’éternité
There are moments when the voice is what’s needed to sweep one off of one’s feet and into somewhere new and untouchable. This show came from the incredible recording of the work of Martin Smolka by Marcus Creed and SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart. This piece of music captures so much about what I love about sound and composition. Space, silence and efficiency with beauty and despair. The music almost feels like the choral equivalent to the recent masterwork by Sam Dunscombe where they delivered the sounds of the earth with the hands of a sculptor.
This music delves into my cinematic veins making me think of master manipulators such as Pasolini, Bergman, Fassbinder and Kiarostami. There is a human heart at the core of these pieces but they transcend to both religious and philosophical realms with the lightest of touches. The voices and orchestration depict as much earthly beauty as they do the theological.
This is not an agnostic, atheist or religious experience; it is a deeply human one. The voice is our unique way of expressing the very nature of what it is to be human. For me, this music transcends to a place of reflection rather than introspection. The more intimate passages act as reflective passages of awareness alongside sky-gazing operas to the heavens. I am entwined in my surroundings and not a stranger to the senses. I hope that these nine pieces help you to access the brightest and darkest places.
The music travels through both time and place bringing music from the dead and the living, the near and the far. This is Euro-centric but focussed on a sound that has fused my Christian upbringing and given me a vista beyond the constraints of the Catholic ideal. Post WW2 this certainly is, but I hope you find a series of chapters to reflect upon in times of pre-war hysteria, as we experience right now. We live in a world where the descendants of the holocaust commit genocide, convicted felons gain national support and the very essence of creativity is being handed over to big-tech. This is the darkest of times, but can we find hope through the avant-garde and the depths of human emotion?
This mix doesn’t take us into the heart of summer, but rather searches the sediment bringing up our horrific past and allowing us to salve in the knowledge that we all want a sense of wonder and comfort over cruelty and greed. The narrow paths of our current trajectory only gives space to the stargazers and historians who keenly try to understand what it is to be human. Morality isn’t lost, it’s in transit tugged by greedy cloying hands of hate and fear.
The outer reaches of space are not filled with solace. They are empty and full of death and eternal destruction. Be content in the light of our blessed sphere and stop searching for answers to questions that should remain unanswered until we understand how to be at peace. Yet never stop gazing up; just do so with the knowledge that below things are deeply disturbed. Stop martyring evil and begin to water the seeds of kindness and understanding. Yet I’d rather we all looked skyward and forgot borders and focused on how we came to be. A contradiction of course, but the ability to stare both ways is surely needed past the naval gazing of our current consciousness.
An attempt on the life of a horrid man has kicked sand in the eyes of a blind media unable to see the horror of murder in the streets of Palestine, Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan, Mexico and many more fields of death. If every life is God’s will why are so many so eager to select who to save?
Take a deep breath. Find your place. Find calm. Think about your own peace and wish that upon your neighbour. Think about those struggling across borders, being torn apart by imaginary lines and used as pawns for political gain for the rich and ruling classes. Tell your family you love them and smile at a stranger. Don’t replace hate with love, replace it with calm, kindness and empathy.
This is not a comfortable listen but one that takes one through various states of emotion touching on the uncomfortable as well as the sublime. These recordings are quiet to allow for a greater range of volume required for such music so please bear that in mind. Please find peace and hope in these nine works.
Call to Alms One
Poema De Balcones
Martin Smolka
Marcus Creed: SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
Call to Alms Two
Lux Aeterna
György Ligeti
Boston Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory Chorus, Chor des Norddeutschen Rundfunks, William Steinberg, Helmut Franz
Call to Alms Three
un lieu pour faire sonner l’éternité
Irene Kurka
Irene Kurka
Call to Alms Four
Concerto for Choir: IV. Complete this Work Which I Began in Hope and with Your Name
Alfred Schnittke
Elena Dof-Donskaya, USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir, Valery Polyansky
Call to Alms Five
Snowforms
R. Murray Schafer
Vancouver Chamber Choir
Call to Alms Six
pulse / shade (2014) version for multi-tracked voice
Catherine Lamb
parallaxis forma
Call to Alms Seven
Sanctus
Pärt: Berliner Messe
Tõnu Kaljuste, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir & Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Call to Alms Eight
For Stefan Wolpe
Morton Feldman
Choir of St. Ignatius of Antioch
Call to Alms Nine
Gavin Bryars
The Black River
Sarah Leonard, Christopher Bowers-Broadbent
Inside No. 9 is an attempt to share unique narratives through the mixing of 9 songs. Every episode will showcase a new theme, opening up new tributaries of discovery. Inside No. 9 is presented by Peter Taylor, a former features writer for Foxy Digitalis from back in the late 2000s. Peter is a visual artist and musician and has been creating music as MAbH since 2008.
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