Resonances k: of Asia by Robert Casteels LIBRARYBOARD NATION All Rights Reserved, National Library Board, Singapore - Resonances k Recording locations and year: Track 1 and 12: Parekh Recording Centre, Bangalore, India 2007/ Track 2 and 8: Gopal Raj of recording, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore November 2009/ Track 3: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 2006/ Track 4, 9, 10 and 13: Pavane Recording Studio, Singapore December 2009/ Track 5: Rolton recording, National University of Singapore, University Cultural Hall, Singapore 2002/ Track 6: Manuel Cabrera II recording, Singapore November 2009/ Asia Track 7 and 11: Huy Oestrom Moeller recording, Singapore 2003 Robert Copyright and permission: Track 1 and 12: Ghanavenotham Retnam/ Track 3: Paphutsorn by Casteels Wongratanapitak/ Track 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 13: Robert Casteels/ Track 7 and 11: Huy Oestrom Moeller Mastering: Pavane Recording Studio, Singapore Author of programme notes: Dr Robert Casteels Initiator and coordinator of the CD project: Didier Ballenghien, CIC Singapore Branch Coordination of the CD design: Rose Teo‘ CIC Singapore Branch Photographer: Russel Wong Text editor: Jolie Giouw Graphic Designer: Dunhill Von Gonzales, Creative Studio Xpress Printer: Xpress Print Pte Ltd & ® 2009 All rights reserved C C All Rights Reserved, National Library Board, Singapore Foreword Resonances of Asia by Robert Casteels Music is high on CIC agenda of sponsoring throughout the world. 1 Alaipayyuthe [7:40] Composed by Oothukkadu Vegadasubbaiar for Khuzal and ensemble of South Indian instruments In France, Crédit Industriel et Commercial has been sponsoring the annual classical music awards “Ies Victoires de la Musique" for numerous years and is the privileged 2 Baris [4:02] Balinese warrior dance for Gamelan orchestra sponsor and owner of a famous cello made in 1737 by Francesco Goffriller and played by internationally renowned cellist Ophélie Gaillard, (www.0pheliegaillard.com). 3 Phama Klong Yao and Thoet Thoeng [5:28] Thai festive songs for Thai instrumental ensemble In Luxembourg, in their theatrette, our colleagues from Banque de Luxembourg have been inviting famous musicians and recording their work on compact discs for the pleasure of 4 The Festival of the Torch Festival [3:58] their clients. Same in Lyons, in CIC Lyonnaise de Banque, same in Paris, in Lille... Composed by Wu Junsheng for Pipa 5 Triphony [9:18] In our involvement with music started in 2004 with the sponsoring of the Hong Kong Asia, Composed by Robert Casteels for European, Chinese and Balinese Gamelan orchestras Philharmonic Orchestra, then in Singapore with the sponsoring of two private concerts at Esplanade in 2004 with the Orchestra of the French Republican Guard and in 2009 with 6 Ugoy Ng Duyan ‘Lulling Cradie' [3:55] Ophélie Gaillard and twenty nine musicians under the baton of Michael Cousteau. Composed by Lucio San Pedro for Voice and Guitar It was then time to offer our clients and business partners an Asian token of appreciation 7 Bu6i Séng sang Huang ‘Morning Over the Perfume River’ [5] Composed Xuén Khéi for Dan Béu in line with our sponsoring priority: musicr This has been done with the help of the talent by a leading composer and of Dr Robert Casteels (www.robertcasteels.com), educator, 8 Riclk Rlcik [5:48] conductor who has made Asia his home and Asian music one of his great passions and Javanese dance piece for Gamelan orchestra , sources of inspiration. I am very grateful to Robert for proposing to us a selection of original and excellent “Truly, Uniquely and Incredibly Asian resonances” and I thank you 9 Sakura Sakura Hensookyoku ‘Cherry Blossom Variations’ [6:58] for sharing our curiosity and our enjoyment. Japanese folk song arranged by Sawai Tadao for Kate 10 A Mirror of Sound [8:50] Composed by Robert Casteels for European, Chinese and Indian utes with amplied grand piano, in 2 movements: A Mirror of Lightening Sound/ A Mirror of Lightning Sound Jean-Luc Anglada 11 Qué Me ‘Home’ [3:23] Regional Manager Composed by Khéc Chi for Dén Béu CIC Asia Pacific 12 Madhura Manohara [6:54] Hymn composed by His Holiness Swami Shantanand Saraswathi for Bansuri 13 Tintinabulum, CICS Asian Variations [7:08] Composed by Robert Casteels for piano All Rights Reserved, National Library Board, Singapore 1) Alaipayyuthe Programme notes Only since the 12m c. did Indian civilisation develop two distinct musical traditions: Hindustani in the North and Karnétak in the South. Oothukkadu Vegadasubbaiar was a well known composer from South India. His life span from 1700 to 1765 makes him a contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach. Whereas precisely since Bach’s time, most Dear listener, European music has privileged and developed the vertical aspect of music (that is tunes accompanied by chords or several notes played at the same time), Indian classical music Music per se is not at all a universal language. What is universal are the emotions that has privileged the horizontal aspect of music (that is subtle melodies with micro intervals). The elaborate system of scales from which melodies are is music convey, whatever our race, religion and age group may be. Every time the sun sets derived called Raga. Tala refers to the complex system of rhythmic cycles. Vegadasubbaiar set Alaipayyuthe in the Raga down, somewhere, a species, a language, a of music type becomes extinct. Every time named as Kaanada and in the cycle of 8 beats known as Adi Tala. Alaipayyuthe literally the sun rises, new musical languages are born. We live in a world of sound bites. Listening means ‘ocean flowing’ and is known for the tongue twisting words. Thus is the meaning habits have changed. Few people have been taught how to listen. Appreciation is a learned of this song. response. We find it hard to enjoy what we do not know. Different types of music are “My mind is all af/utter, best approached by accepting differences, by switching off our concept of consonance and Oh Krishna, listening to the joyous, enchanting music of your ute, dissonance. Any time in life that we encounter a new music, emotional associative learning My mind is all autterr In this clear moonlight, I strain in takes place to determine our response. Once this is understood and accepted, any negative my eyebrows hard and look your direction, the mellow tunes of your ute come floating in the breeze... impressions on first hearing can thereafter be transformed into a hedonistic experience. my eyes feel drowsy and a new feeling sweeps my being” Any new discovery can lead to an enriching experience. I invite you on a journey through Asian lands of astounding richness and variety. The selection of music is purely subjective Ghana as he is affectionately known in the Indian music circles plays the kuzhal, the Southern Indian flute. There are no keys to produce sharps and ats (that is, the black and is not meant to be exhaustive. I am greatly indebted to each and every one of the fine keys of a piano), therefore all tones and microtones are produced by special fingering performers featured on this compact disk. techniques. To my western ears listening beyond supercial orientalism, Indian music sounds like perfume. Ghana is accompanied by Govindaswamy on the violin, M.A. Krishna Murthy on the mridangam -the Karnétak drum-, R.A. Rajagopalan on the ghatam -a Karnétak percussion instrument consisting of a pot made out of hardened clay- and Kishan Murthy on the keyboard. 2) Baris Imagine that most of European music is akin to a journey through a mountainous landscape: two ideas are formulated, developed through argumentation and compete Robert Casteels in a succession of peaks leading to a climax. Thereafter follows a positive or negative resolution. Imagine that gamelan music is akin to an innite spiral that circles deeper All Rights Reserved, National Library Board, Singapore and deeper towards a central point. As the gamelan music unfolds, particularly in an piece was written in 1979 by Wu Junsheng, a renowned pipa educator who currently resides outdoors situation, the listener goes into a mental state of suspended animation. Indonesia in the USA. The pipa is a pear-shaped plucked lute with 4 strings. Contrary to European presents three very different tradition of gamelan music: Sundanese in the West, Solonese music, Chinese music is poor in brass instruments but rich in plucked chordophones, that ‘to in Java and Balinese in Bali. The word gamelan means strike with a hammer’. Gamelan is, instruments where the sound is produced by plucking a string. refers to a whole set of Indonesian instruments, mostly metallophones. Baris is a Balinese warrior dance for Gamelan orchestra is the piece used to accompany the Balinese warrior 5) Triphony dance. A 5010 dancer personifies the courageous and triumphant warrior prior to the battle. This massive piece was commissioned in 2002 by the Centre for The Arts, National Literally, bar/s means a line, as in, a line of soldiers. This version is an arrangement for University Singapore. Three stories, three orchestras and three conductors: hence the title Javanese gamelan by renowned gamelan teacher, Pak Poedijono in the 19805 in Melbourne Triphony. Three conductors simultaneously each led an orchestra consisting of European for his spouse who is a Balinese dancer. Joyce Teo leads the following musicians from the wind instruments, Chinese instruments. and Balinese gamelan instruments respectively. LASALLE Gamelan Ensemble: Anne Choo, Edmund Wee, Muhd Rozaidi, Jenny Zhou, ST Each player knew at every given time which conductor to follow. The conductors must Chan, Jeanette Tjoeng, RX Gan, Nigel Ng, Elana Solomon and Abigail Hubbard. keep independent speeds and know at which point in time they had to meet. This modus operandi allowed me to achieve rich superimposition of rhythmic layers.