SKU: HL.48180968

Twenty Lessons in Harmony by Olivier Messiaen is a book in which the author describes his perceptions of colours in music and the importance of the fusion of sound and sight. Often depicting chords as precise colours and shades, he explains how he perceived harmony through a visual prism. This description is completed by these twenty lessons for SATB to help controlling the harmonies. Twenty Lessons in Harmony has shown itself very helpful for a better understanding and interpretation of Messiaen's music. Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) was a French organist and composer passionate about ornithology and one of the most important composers of his century. Inspired by Japanese music, he had a very special way of composing and his work can be identified by its complexity, its diatonic aspect, its harmony with limited transposition, its colour and its additive rhythms. He composed many works related to ornithology and birdsong, including the Bird Catalogue in 7 volumes and the Treatise on Rhythm, Colour and Ornithology in 7 volumes.

SKU: BT.MUSM570367863

Meadow  is an installation for any performers – singers, instrumentalists of any type – and requires large numbers (minimum 20). It should be performed without musical score, although the text to be spoken may be printed on a piece of card that can be held in the hand by performers. In addition, each performer will require a coloured tissue paper ‘butterfly’, as detailed in the score. The performers populate a sonic wildflower meadow, constantly varied in detail but unchanging in overall texture. They collectively produce a highly variegated, quiet ‘hum’ – a dense but delicate weave of sound that may rise only a little above theambient sound of the performance space, revealing its intricacies only to those listening close-up. Meadow  was designed to work as a pop-up performance within a large, multipurpose public space, though a relatively quiet environment is necessary. Performers work independently from each other. The whole group should be quite densely clustered, close together, but one or more paths through the performer ‘meadow’ should be left. The audience should be able to walk among, around and through the performance as much as possible.