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From Japan to Blake: the poetry of sound

waka, “...as it flies...”, nowhere
John Palmer & Ensemble Omega

For his new CD John Palmer has collaborated with the versatile and innovative Ensemble Omega in Germany. The three new compositions presented here go from the purely acoustic waka to the purely electronic “...as it flies...” and are all concerned with metric and perceptive correlation between musical and literary forms. John Palmer asks: “Can music be perceived as poetry? Can sounds, as doors of perception, emulate, equal, or even surpass the evocative imagery of verbal description?”

Waka explores Japanese literary metric forms and applies them to the musical structures. By contrast, “...as it flies...” which is dedicated to composer Luc Ferrari who died last year, uses as its only sound source the words of William Blake's 'Eternity' poem. Finally, Nowhere is inspired by a poem written by Palmer himself.

John Palmer has been gaining considerable international popularity in the last few years. His works are regularly played by some of the most prestigious ensembles and performers worldwide. Jonathan Harvey says of him: “I am ever more amazed at the development of John Palmer's writing... The pieces are very strong and the command of sound - inner manipulation of acoustic structure - gets ever more magical! It is very powerful music that will demand as intense listening as it rewards with extreme emotional experience... Very admirable!"

As always, Palmer's strength lies in his seamless blending of acoustic and electronic sounds to create subtle psycho-acoustic effects, blurring the listener's senses. Also, his on-going methodical quest for the mystical 'truth' of sound itself makes him one of the few serious spiritual composers of our time.

TRACK LIST:

1. waka (1999) 21'16
for percussion and ensemble

2. “…as it flies…” (2001) 13'20
for 8-channel tape

3. nowhere (1993, rev. 2005) 14'31
for clarinet, piano and electronics