The Rest

Commissioned by SOLI Chamber Ensemble with Meet the Composer/Mid-America Arts Alliance

Live Recording - 5.08.98
SOLI Chamber Ensemble
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX

For program notes and additional information, visit: https://www.alexandragardner.net/works/crows/

Crows - clarinet, violin, cello, piano

Frere Jacques

On the 24 November 2003, Martyn Bennett supported Peter Gabriel at a one-off concert at the Brighton Centre. His eclectic, innovative and powerful DJ set that night was sadly Martyn's final live performance before his untimely death in 2005. You can hear that extraordinary performance here now.

For more information in the re-release of Martyn's album GRIT and the forthcoming theatrical production about his life and work go to:  http://realworldrecords.com/grit

Martyn Bennett DJ Set (Brighton 2003)

'Europa Hymn' is the first track off of ‘MG’ - Martin Gore's new 16-track electronic instrumental album - out now on Mute. #MGxMG

BUY MG:
Digital- http://po.st/MGiTunes

MG ONLINE: 
http://www.martingore.com
http://www.facebook.com/MartinGore

‘MG’ TRACKLISTING
Pinking
Swanning
Exalt
Elk
Brink
Europa Hymn
Creeper
Spiral
Stealth
Hum
Islet
Crowly
Trysting 
Southerly
Featherlight
Blade

MG - Europa Hymn (Official Audio)

“I Am The Blaze on Every Hill” is taken from Spiro’s forthcoming new album “Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow” which will be released on 13 April 2015 on Real World Records.

Available for pre order now:
Real World: http://bit.ly/1NDwfOi
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/Spiro-WJWS
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/Spiro-WJWS-AMZ

This music of many-layered depth is produced with just four instruments at any given moment. Jane Harbour (violin/viola), Jon Hunt (acoustic guitar/cello), Alex Vann (mandolin) and Jason Sparkes (piano accordion/piano) break through the boundaries of their instruments and play them in unconventional ways to create music that has variously been called “dazzling", "magnificent", "intense and minimal", "soulful", “passionate" and "breathtakingly moving”.

The title of this particular track is a line from The Song of Amergin, from the Robert Graves work The White Goddess. 

"Amergin was the bard of an early race of Gauls called the Milesians. It's an invocation they offered when they were about to invade Ireland and were hit by a massive storm, following which the sea became calm."

Spiro - I Am The Blaze On Every Hill

Clarinet in Bb, violin, cello, piano
Live Recording - 5.08.98
SOLI Chamber Ensemble

 Crows is dedicated to the SOLI Chamber Ensemble. Inspired by the writings of poet Joy Harjo, each movement is based upon a short excerpt that describes some aspect of life in the desert southwest. These excerpts serve as a starting point for the creation of five musical landscapes:

red earth
My house is the red earth; it could be the center of the world. I’ve heard New York, Paris or Tokyo called the center of the world, but I say it is magnificently humble. You could drive by and miss it. Radio waves can obscure it. Words cannot construct it, for there are some sounds left to sacred wordless form…

clusters
We fly into the body and we fly out, changed by the sun, by crows who manipulate the borders of reason…

silver breaths
I see the flash of silver breaths on the wing of the sky, and hear the explosion of a thousand horses running…

invocation
I think of the lush stillness of the end of a world, sung into place by singers and the rattle of turtles in the dark morning…

drying stone
Invisible fish swim this ghost ocean now described by waves of sound, by water-worn rock. Soon the fish will learn to walk. Then humans will come ashore and paint dreams on the drying stone. Then later, much later, the ocean floor will be punctuated by Chevy trucks, carrying the dreamers' descendants, who are going to the store.

Poetry by Joy Harjo, from Secrets from the Center of the World (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1989) and The Woman Who Fell from the Sky (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1994).

In Native American tradition, the crow represents the gateway to the supernatural, possessing the ability to see simultaneously past, present and future. While writing this piece I often wondered how these birds (which appear often in Harjo's poetry) might experience the journey through these musical expanses from their special perspective. 

For additional information, visit: https://www.alexandragardner.net/works/crows/

Crows - 5. drying stone

Clarinet in Bb, violin, cello, piano
Live Recording - 5.08.98
SOLI Chamber Ensemble

Crows is dedicated to the SOLI Chamber Ensemble. Inspired by the writings of poet Joy Harjo, each movement is based upon a short excerpt that describes some aspect of life in the desert southwest. These excerpts serve as a starting point for the creation of five musical landscapes:

red earth
My house is the red earth; it could be the center of the world. I’ve heard New York, Paris or Tokyo called the center of the world, but I say it is magnificently humble. You could drive by and miss it. Radio waves can obscure it. Words cannot construct it, for there are some sounds left to sacred wordless form…

clusters
We fly into the body and we fly out, changed by the sun, by crows who manipulate the borders of reason…

silver breaths
I see the flash of silver breaths on the wing of the sky, and hear the explosion of a thousand horses running…

invocation
I think of the lush stillness of the end of a world, sung into place by singers and the rattle of turtles in the dark morning…

drying stone
Invisible fish swim this ghost ocean now described by waves of sound, by water-worn rock. Soon the fish will learn to walk. Then humans will come ashore and paint dreams on the drying stone. Then later, much later, the ocean floor will be punctuated by Chevy trucks, carrying the dreamers' descendants, who are going to the store.

Poetry by Joy Harjo, from Secrets from the Center of the World (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1989) and The Woman Who Fell from the Sky (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1994).

In Native American tradition, the crow represents the gateway to the supernatural, possessing the ability to see simultaneously past, present and future. While writing this piece I often wondered how these birds (which appear often in Harjo's poetry) might experience the journey through these musical expanses from their special perspective. 

For additional information, visit: https://www.alexandragardner.net/works/crows/

Crows - 4. invocation

Crows - 3. silver breaths

Clarinet in Bb, violin, cello, piano
Live Recording - 5.08.98
SOLI Chamber Ensemble

 Crows is dedicated to the SOLI Chamber Ensemble. Inspired by the writings of poet Joy Harjo, each movement is based upon a short excerpt that describes some aspect of life in the desert southwest. These excerpts serve as a starting point for the creation of five musical landscapes:

red earth
My house is the red earth; it could be the center of the world. I’ve heard New York, Paris or Tokyo called the center of the world, but I say it is magnificently humble. You could drive by and miss it. Radio waves can obscure it. Words cannot construct it, for there are some sounds left to sacred wordless form…

clusters
We fly into the body and we fly out, changed by the sun, by crows who manipulate the borders of reason…

silver breaths
I see the flash of silver breaths on the wing of the sky, and hear the explosion of a thousand horses running…

invocation
I think of the lush stillness of the end of a world, sung into place by singers and the rattle of turtles in the dark morning…

drying stone
Invisible fish swim this ghost ocean now described by waves of sound, by water-worn rock. Soon the fish will learn to walk. Then humans will come ashore and paint dreams on the drying stone. Then later, much later, the ocean floor will be punctuated by Chevy trucks, carrying the dreamers' descendants, who are going to the store.

Poetry by Joy Harjo, from Secrets from the Center of the World (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1989) and The Woman Who Fell from the Sky (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1994).

In Native American tradition, the crow represents the gateway to the supernatural, possessing the ability to see simultaneously past, present and future. While writing this piece I often wondered how these birds (which appear often in Harjo's poetry) might experience the journey through these musical expanses from their special perspective.

For additional information, visit: https://www.alexandragardner.net/works/crows/

Crows - 2. clusters

Clarinet in Bb, violin, cello, piano
Live Recording - 5.08.98
SOLI Chamber Ensemble

Crows is dedicated to the SOLI Chamber Ensemble. Inspired by the writings of poet Joy Harjo, each movement is based upon a short excerpt that describes some aspect of life in the desert southwest. These excerpts serve as a starting point for the creation of five musical landscapes:

red earth
My house is the red earth; it could be the center of the world. I’ve heard New York, Paris or Tokyo called the center of the world, but I say it is magnificently humble. You could drive by and miss it. Radio waves can obscure it. Words cannot construct it, for there are some sounds left to sacred wordless form…

clusters
We fly into the body and we fly out, changed by the sun, by crows who manipulate the borders of reason…

silver breaths
I see the flash of silver breaths on the wing of the sky, and hear the explosion of a thousand horses running…

invocation
I think of the lush stillness of the end of a world, sung into place by singers and the rattle of turtles in the dark morning…

drying stone
Invisible fish swim this ghost ocean now described by waves of sound, by water-worn rock. Soon the fish will learn to walk. Then humans will come ashore and paint dreams on the drying stone. Then later, much later, the ocean floor will be punctuated by Chevy trucks, carrying the dreamers' descendants, who are going to the store.

Poetry by Joy Harjo, from Secrets from the Center of the World (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1989) and The Woman Who Fell from the Sky (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1994).

In Native American tradition, the crow represents the gateway to the supernatural, possessing the ability to see simultaneously past, present and future. While writing this piece I often wondered how these birds (which appear often in Harjo's poetry) might experience the journey through these musical expanses from their special perspective.

For program notes and additional information, visit: https://www.alexandragardner.net/works/crows/

Crows - 1. red earth

Composer & Sound Artist
Find out more at https://alexandragardner.net/

Crows - 4. invocation

Alexandra Gardner