PROGRAMME AND PERFORMANCE NOTES - "ALCHEMY"

The music is inspired by and is called “Alchemy”. All the musical ideas are first put into a sealed vessel, stirred and heated until a reaction takes place and the music begins to emerge. I understand alchemy as a psychological and spiritual process, rather than physical, one of growing, learning, distilling and becoming at peace with oneself and the world.

The music is a combination of opposites, on the one hand, meditative and mystical. On the other, it is rhythmic and physical. The electrified instruments of a classical string quartet combine with percussion which consists of Tibetan singing bowls, gongs, bells, rattles and shakers, as well as drums and cymbals. A further instrument, an electric bass, is added to give the music depth, in contrast with the high overtones of the singing bowls.

The two opposites are presented independently and are combined in a way that puts them in balance or equilibrium with one another. From this comes a third “movement”, which contains the alchemical gold.

Some of the percussion sections are improvised and the strings join in, following the rhythms and sounds. Other sections are scored for the quartet and the percussion has to reverse its role and then follow the strings. The scoring is minimal.

Everything that has gone into the music is prefaced by the explorations written about in this book. Everything that I described is now embedded in the music, which, alchemically, integrates it all and makes whole. Book and music are both “stand alone” but each owes its life to the other.


Performance Guide
There is plenty of scope for experimenting with different combinations of instruments. The string players can double up on some percussion, but an additional two percussionists would be ideal (or more if anyone else wants to join in and have a go). Sections 3, 5 and 7 are scored. The rest are ad lib according to the guidelines given, including length, which can be varied to suit the circumstances.

One, Temenos. Begins with shakers alone, with simple rhythms building as more percussion instruments are added ad lib. This section is rhythmic, shamanic, roots in the earth. Creates the temenos, the protected sacred ground within which the alchemy takes place. Length about 5 mins.

Two, Blacker Than Black. Strings join in ad lib, tapping, plucking, with the bow wood, etc. Fades to pianissimo then builds to a cacophony, then subito silence. Nigredo; Wasteland. Singing bowl accompaniment to voice: the musicians chant the text following and distilled from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus. Length about 5 mins.

Here is the text to be whispered, spoken or chanted, illustrated with interspersed percussion. It can, for example, be read as a canon, the parts keeping one line apart:

            "These are the emerald words of Hermes Trismegistus, Thrice Born.           
            All things have their birth in the womb of darkness.
            Their father is the Sun; their mother, the Moon.
            Arising in the world they are made from earth, air, fire and water.
            Awareness of greatness comes through the separatio of fire from earth, the subtle from the gross.
            Sometimes the moving spirit sleeps, sometimes it is awake to the glory of the whole world.
            Its nature defies the laws of physics.
            The process begins here."

Three, Waiting. This section scored. It is introduced by singing bowl then duetting with violin and large gong. Other quartet instruments add layers. Improvised sparse percussion adds spatial, atmospheric effect: random rainstick, shaker, rattle. Regular bass drum beat. In alchemy there is a lot of patience required, waiting for circumstances to be just right for a successful outcome.

Four, Music of the Ellipses. This is for meditative percussion, with pinpoints of percussion representing creation of energy out of nothing. Silences suggest empty space. Quantum reality. Strings can join in using their bows to explore other ways of making sound, for example bowing a gong or bowl rim. Also, glissando strings moving in and out of harmony according to planetary harmonies (for example, sliding between C and G, the instruments seek out a harmony then finally come to rest on it). The original idea of "the music of the spheres" is superseded by Kepler's musical laws of planetary motion. Ambient music; should be peaceful in essence. Length, about 5 mins.

Five, The Peacock's Tail. Bass guitar introduces rhythm pattern (scored). Strings add layers to this (electronic, minimalist). Percussion joins in ad lib, following the scored parts. This is in three sections, making a complete string quartet, lasting about 18 minutes altogether. This part of the process is characterised by the emergence of new possibilities.

Six, White Heat. Strings fade leaving percussion alone, building and repeating the energy of the first section, ad lib. About 5 mins.

Seven, Red Earth. Scored for all instruments (percussion ad lib). Strong and rhythmic throughout. Length, 8 mins.

Eight, Transmutation Happens. Percussion again becomes meditative. The music of "Temenos" reappears. Ends with singing bowl and violin, then the spoken or whispered axiom of Maria Prophetissa which runs through the alchemical process as a leitmotif (this version by M. L. von Franz, with my additional final phrase):

        “Out of the One comes Two;
        Out of Two comes Three;
        From the Third comes the One as the Fourth,
        Whole and at peace.”

(Carl Jung used the axiom as a metaphor for the process of "individuation", the development of psychological maturity. One is unconscious wholeness; two is the conflict of opposites; three points to a potential resolution. This is the transcendent function, described as a "psychic function that arises from the tension between consciousness and the unconscious and supports their union"; and the one as the fourth is a transformed state of consciousness, relatively whole and at peace. To achieve this is a long and arduous personal journey.)

Out of unconscious wholeness comes the conflict of opposites. Out of this comes potential resolution and from resolution arises a transformed consciousness, at peace with the world.

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