Conservatory New Music Ensemble: Landscapes at Esplanade Recital Studio

Programme List

Arvo Pärt An den Wassern Zu Babel Saßen Wir Und Weinten
Chen Yi Wu Yu
Bright Sheng Deep Red
Eric Watson Inner Landscapes

The underlying theme of Landscapes is illumination and changes of perception. Arvo Pärt’s An den Wassern Zu Babel Saßen Wir Und Weinten (By The Rivers Of Babylon, Psalm 137) was written over a period of several years and exists in different versions; Wu Yu by Chen Yi also exists in an alternative version and is modelled on a Chinese ritual dance but employs western instrumentation; and Deep Red composed by Bright Sheng is written to explore the timbres of the marimba, an instrument which at first sight seems limited in its range of colour and timbre.

In Inner Landscapes, from which this concert title is derived, Eric Watson deals with the perception of the same musical material from different viewpoints. Inner Landscapes is also an attempt in musical terms to present the non linear process of much of our inner thoughts, the stream of consciousness that James Joyce illustrated in his novel Ulysses.