Nature-Symphony 20
— Monolith — The unknowable

Opus 52 (2023) — Timing: 44'

derived from a field recording of a metal wind chime with a pair of bamboo chimes, and another of a solo medium bamboo chime

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Nature-symphonies — a transformational discovery (background notes)…

It was in 2012 that I tentatively started recording natural soundscapes, and within a few months got the idea of purchasing some high-grade precision-tuned wind chimes to record out in the wilds, hung up on tree branches. …

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… I quickly found that not only was the sound of each set of chimes individually beautiful and to some extent inspiring in quality when recorded out in the wild like that (mostly high-up in the Teign Gorge, Devon, UK), but also, almost all of the combinations of different chimes worked out beautifully musically, though naturally some combinations made a more 'challenging' listen than others.

Much more recently I tried making a half-speed version of part of each of the most appealing or otherwise 'promising' chimes ensemble recordings. They were each a revelation — immensely beautiful, with quite dramatic transformation of the original sound. That is, not just a matter of being slower and an octave lower, but the whole musical and emotional effect changed.

But then, in late August 2023 I got this little urge to do something really stupid (all the world's 'sheep' know I'm stupid anyway, so I thought I might as well do it anyway!), and try putting a particularly evocative chimes ensemble recording in a virtual cathedral, of all things, just to see how crazy it might sound.

I tried that with a particularly usable and effective reverb VST plugin called Orilriver, and was bowled over by the results. Shivers up spine, and plenty of goose-bumps for good measure! I then did listening spot tests using Orilriver in preview mode on a wide selection of my half-speed chimes recordings, and every one was incredibly, amazingly, transformed.

It was clear that I'd sort-of unwittingly stumbled into producing powerfully beautiful stochastic / probability-driven music works that have a lot in common with the ethos and methods of Iannis Xenakis, but with a big practical difference. Whereas typically he worked out probabilistic structures and processes to shape many of his works, this lunatic composer instead left that task to 'Mother Nature', then transforming those sounds in a way that Xenakis did in most of his electroacoustic works, to enhance their ability to excite the listener's own inner creativity and to generate profound and powerful experiences in the process.

It can be no surprise, then, that in these new works of mine there would be passing (albeit partial) resemblances to certain Xenakis works — Bohor comes particularly to mind, and even, in a funny way, some aspects of Terretektorh.

It was then a real no-brainer to recognise each such piece of mine as one of my numbered public music compositions. For the purpose of a liberating simplicity I chose to classify ALL of this type of work that I produce as what I'm calling nature-symphonies. That hyphen is important, because they are not just symphonies about nature, but are a very specific type of composition — nature-generated symphonies.

The term 'symphony', although closely guarded with a very restricted meaning by small-minded traditionalists, actually just means 'sounding together', which apparently was its original meaning. For me to want to use that term, there need to be at least two contrasting elements that are in some way combined or worked together in some way that is much more effective and deeply inspiring than the sum of those elements.

Although, in terms of my own nature-symphonies, that would mean ensembles rather than solo chimes sets, I've found that certain of my recordings using just one chimes set still produce effective and powerful nature-symphonies because of some element of the natural soundscape within which the chimes were sounding. A weir or waterfall, for example, or the wind itself, or a liberal amount of bird sound (much of which latter sounds remarkably musical at half-speed).

As for title for each work, they won't all necessarily have a title beyond Nature-Symphony [nn]. I'll add an imaginative title only where the finished piece suggests one to me. — Well, er, except that I do have one title earnestly looking for a work for it to be applied to, but currently I don't see how it could fit any extant or future transformed wind chimes works of mine! Not telling why!

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Basic details

*Original recording for Layer 1 taking place*

Recording for Layers 2+3 taking place — *The original bamboo chime recording for Layers 2 and 3 taking place. Recorder is off to bottom mid-right, close to the ground, steeply pointing up to the chime.*

Instrumentation — Metal wind chime (Davis Blanchard Pluto) with a pair of bamboo chimes (large + small), plus a much more recent bamboo chime solo (in 2 layers) to produce final mix.
Original field recording locations / dates — Metal chimes recording: on 16 February 2017, on steep ground just below the Hunter's Path, by Hunting Gate, which latter marks the highest point of that path on north side of Teign Gorge, Drewsteignton, Devon, UK. The solo bamboo chime recording made on 22 November 2023 in edge of open copse on Piddledown, a little above the Hunter's Path a little north-east of Sharp Tor.
Listen to the original metal chime plus bamboo chimes recording to appreciate the subsequent transformation.
Processing — Three layers were used: one for the metal + bamboo chimes recording (half-speed), and two for the solo bamboo chime recording. In this case layer 1 was at half-speed and thus an octave lower than the original, while layers 3 and 4 were respectively an octave+fifth and two octaves below original. I give some more specifics about the chimes used, and the subsequent processing on my Freesound page for the work.
Primary distinguishing features — The stern sound of the Davis Blanchard Pluto chime, with its bright steely timbre and tuning with an evocative 'modal minor' note sequence gives a powerful elemental visionary experience. Its note sequence incorporates straight minor chord, minor triad, minor-major seventh chord, and augmented triad. The layer 3 and 4 bamboo chimes add in other notes that reinforce rather than contradict or dilute the Pluto chime's 'message' — indeed, by that means adding-in the very potent half-diminished seventh chord and its fairly dissonant containing interval, the minor seventh. This is a great recipe for visionary potency.

Particularly the presence of the minor major seventh chord, but also the whole scale suggests a distinct echo of Neptune from Gustav Holst's The Planets, while the half-diminished seventh chord brings to mind my Symphony 4 (Highland Wilderness), which is haunted by that chord (and indeed by some other things too!).

Nature-Symphony 20— Monolith — The unknowable

Basic details

Nature-Symphony 20
— Monolith — The unknowable