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Charles Camilleri CD Notes: Celestial Harmonies
For Piano
Charles Camilleri,(b.1931) is Malta's leading composer, an artist
with an international reputation who has had his work performed
by many of the world's leading artists on all five continents
from the 1950s to the present day. Since his earliest years Camilleri
has had many 'phases', periods and styles. One could mention the
sizeable amount of juvenilia that exists, as well as music from
his so called 'nationalistic' period,(1950s), his cosmopolitan
phase, (1960s up to the mid 70s) and his more spiritual pieces,(late
seventies to the present). It is music from this last period which
is featured on this recording.
Virtually all of Camilleri's work seems at least in part to be
influenced by the folk music of Malta and the Mediterranean basin.
Make no mistake, this is a composer who has always been aware
of the music from his own ethnic background: "Paradoxically,
we find our way out of historic cul-de-sacs onto the open roads
of the future by rediscovering our roots. We can contemplate the
prospect of a music universally accessible all over the planet
by probing deeper into local well-springs". Camilleri went
on to justify this remark in his book " Mediterranean Music"
by listing some of the peculiar stylistic features of folk music
from this part of the world: heterophony, clusters, polyrhythm,
quarter tones, improvisation, non-tonal harmony, open forms etc.
It is extraordinary to note that this extensive catalogue,(which
runs to 32 points in Camilleri's book), could well stand unaltered
as a roll-call for many of the salient characteristics in so called
'western contemporary music' itself!
Camilleri's initial breakthrough towards individuality and artistic
maturity came quite early on in his development,(early 1950s),
largely because he discovered an accurate means of notating the
complexities inherent in Maltese folk music, particularly with
regard to its wayward, almost improvisatory rhythms. He referred
to this notation technique as the 'atomisation of the beat'. Put
simply, Camilleri's solution to notating complex rhythmic groupings
such as those used by local Maltese musicians was to break away
from time signatures, forget barlines, and subdivide each individual
beat into self-contained units,( frequently starting off with
sextuplet and quintuplet groupings) which then became quite complex
and almost improvisatory by way of added rests and subdivisions.
The writing is such that although a regular pulse/ beat/ tactus
is maintained, variety from performance to performance will always
arise.
Naturally Camilleri was quick to incorporate his new technique
for notation into his compositions, and though at first he adopted
the technique for use with tonal compositons, he soon began to
use it with an atonal pitch hierarchy as the norm. The resulting
idiom is strikingly individual, though the composer does still
enjoy writing simpler and more conventional compositions purely
for pleasure. Such a work is the recently completed and published
Paganiana for piano duet, a witty and short set of colourfully
contrasted variations played without a break on Paganini's celebrated
24th Caprice. It opens this disc with plenty of energy and fire,
qualities which are certainly needed in super-abundance if space
travel is desired...
With the four movement suite Astralis our extra-terrestrial journey
has really began. Gravite is a wistfully poetic atonal ternary
structure in which two part textures in the outer flanks contrast
with a central chordal section. As is so often the case with Camilleri
piano miniatures, the writing is at once both lean and masterfully
idiomatic. Comet is entirely in two parts throughout, but its
complete lack of chords does not prevent it from being both extremely
exciting and strikingly colourful. Constellations is possibly
more significant for its profound silences than for its actual
notes,(mainly exquisitely balanced chords and arpeggio patterns),
though it does adopt interesting pedalling after the initial phrases.
Explose-Fixe manages to create dynamic momentum from the skillful
juxtaposition of contrasted motifs in a static, mosaic structure.
It closes the suite with a poignant trill, under which the opening
of Gravite returns, bringing the work to a suitably balanced conclusion.
Cosmologies is the title given for an on-going series of big-boned
movements which the composer will continue to add to. In this
sense the movements will not be unlike the Etudes for piano of
Ligetti, in the sense that the older Hungarian master continues
to add to and edit his celebrated studies. At present there are
three Cosmologies. The first two were composed in 1999 and the
third was completed in the 1980s and has stood therefore as a
separate piece for sometime. Listeners may note the connecting
thread between the movements completed so far in that material
from Cosmologies One appears in the second movement, Colours of
Time. It, in turn, presents material which is used in Xnobis,(the
third movement). So will it continue!
Cosmologies One immediately establishes an extraordinary sound-world
with its static, free chords and use of polyrhythms and bare,
open fifths. The sense of forward movement it has is very evident,
however, and this is accompanied by a gradual and dramatic increase
in dynamics. The Veloce section of the movement seems to evoke
shooting stars and brilliant displays of fire/inter-galactic fury
as sonorities paste the keyboard from top to bottom and back again.
The open fifth chords remain, and the dramatic thrust of the piece
leads to a wave-like pseudo-repetition of the 'shooting star'
motif and its subsidiary development section. The opening chords
are referred to at the conclusion in truncated form .
Colours of Time begins with gongs and a hypnotic rhythmic ostinato
before the dour determination disperses in favour of a very sweet
and endearingly Messiaenic melodic figure. Much of the structural
energy of the piece centres around the alternation and juxtaposition
of these two completely different ideas, though there is a central
section in free, 'atomised' rhythms which is completely contrasted
from the rest of the work,(even if it is motifically related to
it).
Xnobis contains in its outer sections perhaps the most stridently
direct and angular music of the whole disc, but it is no less
approachable for that. This is music depicting a kind of 'organised
chaos' such as might have been in evidence at the creation of
the universe. Atonal chords and fantastically striking scallic
runs are thrown around the keyboard with enthusiasm by the composer,
but what is the aim? Gradually the inherent logic of the piece
becomes, or rather feels, undeniably strong and inevitable,whilst
the remarkable sense of peace and calm in the pianissimo sections
at the work's mid-point are deeply affecting. Ultimately Xnobis
is a work which makes its impact through its exhilaration and
energy, and in this sense it can be considered just as approachable
as pieces such as 'Paganiana'.
Celestial Harmonies was published in 1998 and uses the minimum
amount of notes to express a great deal indeed. Technically the
pieces in this suite are well within the grasp of Grade 5 pianists,
but artistically they explore so much in terms of musical spaciousness
and colour. Vision-Prayer exploits the pentatonic scale firstly
for right hand alone with no barlines. It then develops as an
intimate two part canon between the hands, concluding as a four
part chorale. Rolling Stars recalls Comet from Astralis, but remains
rather more civilised and stable than the earlier piece. With
Night-Sky the third movement of Astralis is nearly quoted from
exactly, whilst the concluding movement, Celestial Harmonies functions
rather like a space-age lullaby for inter-planetary infants, as
well as being a most effective 'party piece' for very young and
sensitive aspiring pianists.
Chemins,(Pathways) was published in 1980 and uses a twelve note
row as the basis for all of its movements. Inspace is written
without barlines but the scope for expression via silence is wide.
Machine Music is characterfully angular, like a Prokofiev Sarcasm
with added dissonances. Just a thought contrasts deliciously free
cantabile lines with the effective use of tapping on the wood
of the instrument, whilst Rhythmic Kit presents the performer
with nine scraps of material derived from the Suite's note row.
The music suggests that "the performer may begin with any
combination,(any repetition and combination is possible). Tempo,
dynamics, timbre and mode of attack are left to the discretion
of the performer. Silence may be integrated according to the form
and mode of the piece". Finally, Shadows of Silence creates
interesting textures and sonorities by the use of sound clusters
in the bass register: the pianist is instructed to "Depress
silently with left forearm" a group of semitones, holding
them down continuously for 80% of the entire piece. The end result
is spell-binding.
Murray McLachlan, (1999)
Noospheres for Piano
Commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Noospheres
appeared in 1977-8. Its inspiration is drawn from the mystic philosophy
of the Jesuit priest-scientist, Teilhard de Chardin,(1881-1955),
and from that concept of the 'Noosphere' first proposed by him
in 1925.
The Noopshere was for Teihard the sphere of mind that 'encloses'
human thought and love, 'the Threshold of the Terrestial planet',
a collective memory and intelligence, a millieu in which 'individual
men and all men think, love, create and feel together as integral
members of one organism, Humanity'.
Conceived on a large scale and both recollecting and developing
aspects of keyboard technique and compositional method found in
such works as 'African Dreams' and the 'Four Ragamats', Noospheres
divides into five movements. Sharing common material at the beginning
and end, these durationally accelerate towards an imploding central
point. Noosphere One falls into a quasi-palindromic five part
form that in many ways seems to anticipate and distil the perpetually
creating, converging essence of the cycle as a whole, whilst A
Gentle Spirit is an aurally simpler but structurally more terraced
movement in which repetition and silence function as significant
parameters in the overall scheme. Cosmic Dance is a ternary movement
based on a passacaglia-like repetition of a twelve note melodic
row which not only pervades the outer sections but also the middle
episode,(a black and white tactile confrontation on the keyboard).
A Free Spirit represents a mature development of a stratified
idea-bass pedal points, a chorale idea in the middle, continuous
semiquaver elaborations of irregular grouping in the treble-found
in earlier works, notably the chorale prelude from Book 2 of the
Etudes, and the Lontano section from Mantra. Noosphere 2is the
cyclotron of Teilhard's memory: "I could not help feeling
and perceiving, beyond and around this electromagnetic whirlwind..."
Its structure is made up of a series of progressively more urgent
overlapping, interlocking and spanning girders of self-containment,
the totality underlined by six basic tempi. In the climax of the
18th and last main section, the movement's energy is suddenly
spent. Silence descends. The quiet, dark opening of Noosphere
One returns, and the music comes full cycle.
Notes on Noospheres abridged from an essay by Ates Orga,(1980)
Murray McLachlan
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