Music, Spirit and the Space Between
Instrumentation: flute/alto flute/piccolo; clarinet/bass clarinet; violin;
violoncello; vibraphone/marimba; harp; piano.
date: 2005/2023
duration: approx. 35 minutes
Music, Spirit and the Space Between consists of 12 interludes with each interlude's title referring to various states or poetic representations of the human experience. These musical interludes have been taken from a much larger work composed for choir and chamber ensemble titled: The A to Z of Music and Spirit: a user's guide.
Each interlude is accompanied by a meditation (commentary) which is fundamentally humanist in conception and informed by hermeneutics. (See A to Z of Music and Spirit... for more information.)
The texts (definition and meditation) can be printed in a program with the option of projecting only the title of each movement onto a screen or wall using the Herculanum font. For example:
Resonance
Epiphany
Joy
Lingering
Interpreting music with words, especially anything to do with notions of the spiritual is arguably not definitive and personal. In their attempt to negotiate that slippery space (as referenced in the title), the meditations try to make connections between various experiences, the human spirit and music. The meditations refer to:
i) phenomena and metaphors that we interpret to having a spiritual quality; and
ii) the techniques used by musicians to evoke that spiritual phenomenon or metaphor.
Void
Enthusiasm
Mourning
Score and parts to Music, Spirit and the Space Between can be obtained by contacting the composer - https://www.richardvella.net/contact
ABC Classic Recordings of Music, Spirit and the Spaces Between are available from the Australian Music Centre (originally titled The A to Z of Spiritual Music). Recorded and performed by the Sonic Art Ensemble: Marshall McGuire (harp); Christine Draeger (flutes); Margery Smith (clarinets); Alex D’Elia (violin); Adrian Wallis (violoncello); Daryl Pratt (vibraphone/marimba); Bernadette Balkus (piano); Edward Primrose (conductor); Stephen Adams (producer).
Grace
Soaring
Peace
Flight