Book IV – Perseus and Andromeda. When Perseus arrives in the kingdom of the god Atlas he  reacts with hostility because an ancient prophecy has told that Perseus will plunder his riches. Perseus’s cannot match the strength of Atlas’s, but using the head of Medusa, Perseus turns Atlas to stone. Perseus sees Andromeda chained to a rock as an offering to a sea monster but using Medusa’s head he petrifies the monster and saves Andromeda. By early Spring 2021 many parts of the world had begun to hunker down.  Like the hero Perseus, people of all nations, with great self-sacrifice, isolated in an effort to turn the virus to stone. House music is locked down and fills the air.

4 Perseus & Andromeda

6 Spiders and Peasants

Book III – The Dance of Bacchus. The bloody founding of Thebes. While hunting, Actaeon, stumbles upon Diana bathing in her sacred grove. So offended by this, Diana transforms Actaeon into a deer, only for him to be killed by his own hunting dogs. Semele makes Jupiter to promise her the he will make love to her with all his godly power. He fulfils his promise but Semele cannot withstand it, and she dies. Jupiter brings their son, Bacchus, to full term in his thigh. Ovid draws our attention to the fatal clumsiness of self-destruction, and over estimating the fragile resilience of Mother Earth. Bacchus is the god of excess, and as the World Health Organisation declares a pandemic, there are many who want to continue of the dance of disease. An exotic pulse speaks to the dark allure of Bacchus and all of his devotees.

3 Dance of Bacchus

7 Jason and Medea

10 Pygmalion

12 Requiem for Achilles

9 The Deification of Hercules, Spring Eulogy v2

13 Ulysses, Ajax & the War of Words

19 Where Do We Go From Here - final

1 Creation & the Flood v2

12 Requiem for Achilles final

11 Troy - When Cities Fall Silent

2 Phaeton and the Scorched Earth Xenon Loud It Up

Composed during lockdown 1 these sound signatures draw on Ovid’s epic ‘Metamorphoses’.  Bearing reflective witness to an unprecedented Modern turmoil, the shadow of COVID19 is mapped to Ovid’s 15 tales Metamorphoses, and licence is taken to add four more tales for our time.  From the heat of the scorched earth, to the turn of nature in silencing cities, the folly of authority, and finally the work of apothecaries, we see in Metamorphoses what it is that challenges humanity today.  In these sound signatures we present the sounds of fear, the beating drums for our heroes, and requiems for the memory of those who died during the pandemic. For further information visit www.mac-win.uk.

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