Pulse Jack Body

$25.95

Best Classical Album, NZ Music Awards, 2002

Jack Body is a composer who has travelled to remote locations to experience his musical sources first hand. Obsessively recording, collecting, and transcribing, he has set out in an instinctive and overt way to recreate his experiences in a new musical context.

Well known for his incorporation of 'world' influences within contemporary forms, composer Jack Body has now released a truly unique album, featuring both his transcriptions, plus a bonus disc featuring the original sources.

Performers on the project include the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the New Zealand String Quartet and Budi Putra (a Javanaese artist playing the gender and kendna) as well as Japanese guitarists Nary Sato and Kei Koh.

"...stunningly imaginative arrangements... Jack Body can fairly claim to be New Zealand’s most important composer after the late Douglas Lilburn..."
- John Button, THE DOMINION

"...fascinating listening."
- Aaron Watson, CAPITAL TIMES

"... the star turn is Rattle Records’ Pulse."
- William Dart, THE LISTENER

"...a pioneer in New Zealand music..."
- Tony Parker, NZ MUSICIAN

RAT-D009 (2001)

Disc One TRANSCRIPTIONS

Melodies for Orchestra  (14.00)
Campur Sari  (14.01)
African Strings:
   Kora: Chedo  (7:18)
   Valiha II: Samy Faly  (4.05)
Three Transcriptions:
   Long-ge  (4.07)
   Ramandriana  (4.40)
   Ratshenitsa  (3.09)
Pulse  (18.00)

Horos Serra  (D.Ionnidis, Greece, 1973)
Singgalang  (Lenggang Gayo, Indonesia, 1976)
Untitled  (Indian Street Band - field recording by Jack Body, 1978)
Long-ge  (Jiha Yueyue, China, no date available)
Ramandriana  (Mororazana, Madagascar, 1982)
Ratschenitsa  (Varna Folk Dance Ensemble, Bulgaria, no date available)
Chedo  (Foday Musa Suso, West Africa, no date available)
Samy Faly  (Rakotozafy, Madagascar, 1982)
Baining Fire Dance  (Baining Fire Dance Bamboo Ensemble, East New Britain - field recording by Jack Body, 1980)

Review of Pulse by Neil Horner of World Web International (2002)

Pulse is named after its most extended piece, and provides an excellent and definitive introduction to the pioneering work of Jack Body, in thoroughly idiomatic performances. It makes explicit Body's debt to the musics of various (not only pacific rim) native cultures and, innovatively, also includes the source materials for the transcriptions on a bonus disc. Imagine the impact of this happy and inspired idea on releases of folk-derived/inspired music by, say, Bartók or Vaughan Williams. Prior to obtaining this disc, I had only encountered Body on the Kronos Quartet's Ancient Music miscellany (Long-ge) and a disc of solo cello compositions by NZ/Australian composers (Aeolian Harp) but my appetite had certainly been whetted. Although the source materials are drawn from as far away as Bulgaria, Greece and Madagascar, it seems reasonable to emphasise the Asia-Pacific influences in particular (Rattle's publicity material credits Body with "practically single-handedly introducing new Zealand audiences to the sound" of that region), while acknowledging that he does have antecedents, however fleeting, in this department (Debussy and Ravel's "orientalist" works are well enough known but there has also been Britten (e.g Prince of the Pagodas), the Canadian Colin McPhee and even Hindemith in his gamelan inspired Sonata for Two Pianos. More recently the brilliant Californian composer Lou Harrison has produced a substantial body of music, e.g. Concerto In Slendro, heavily indebted to the music of south-east Asia (albeit interwoven with medieval and minimalist strands) not forgetting, of course, there his celebrated collaborator John Cage. Anyway, I would say that Body's colourful music is, in general, of a more accessible nature than anything listed above (Debussy, Ravel and Harrison aside).

The Three Melodies for Orchestra link pieces inspired by Greek, Indonesian and Indian folk music. Interestingly, they meld together rather well. The Greek first section, like the third of the Three Transcriptions (of Bulgarian origin) for string quartet, is not a million miles removed from the frantic but very listenable soundworld of, say, Bartók's east European folk derived pieces. Artists like Norway's Jan Garbarek have long since been convincing us of the musical connections between the Indian subcontinent and the music of Asia Minor (as was!) so it is not that surprising to find common elements between the first and third pieces. The central section (based on a West Sumatran flute solo) forms a subtle but telling contrast. Throughout the piece as a whole, Body achieves a high degree of success in his stated intention of using orchestration to "build coherence and continuity" around the source materials which he has transcribed in such a way as to make them "as literal as I could". Whatever the technicalities, the spontaneity of the music makes for an eminently listenable fourteen minutes.

Campur Sari ("mixed essence") attempts, successfully, to blend Western string quartet writing with Indonesian gamelan instrumentation and vocals, resulting in a haunting sequence, initiated by metalaphone, which builds to a more intense climax in which drums, strings and vocals all play a part.

The three pieces that comprise African Strings provide a somewhat gentler listening experience. Only the latter two are included in this version (as the first, Ramandrana, also appears in Three Transcriptions) but they are expertly played by the Japanese guitar duo and represent a centre of relative tranquillity in what is an often intense, if tuneful sequence of works. Anyone especially captivated by the combination of the West African kora (lute harp) and "classical" traditions in Chedo might like to seek out a copy of Tunde Jegede's underrated Lamentation CD which makes similar musical connections.

Long-ge kicks off the Three Transcriptions and the NZ Quartet's version stands up well against that of the celebrated Kronos Quartet, with the Chinese folk music base slightly more apparent in this version. The Madagascan bamboo zither inspired the central movement and an off kilter Balkan dance completes the sequence. Once again, Body makes clear the similarities between apparently unconnected folk cultures while placing them in the context of a more universal musical language.

Pulse itself is based on the Bainang Fire Dance of East New Britain. This piece is a tour de force that not only brings the spectacle of the ceremony that inspired it vividly to life but also manages to involve Beethoven, Berlioz and Stravinsky, as keepers of the rhythmic musical flame at various stages in (relatively) recent "western" musical tradition. By turns primal and highly entertaining, this work demonstrates, beyond doubt, Jack Body's various abilities as orchestrator, melodicist and, I suppose, it has to be said, iconoclast. There is, however, it should be stated, absolutely nothing difficult or unapproachable about any of the music on this disc. Anyone who has any interest in Antipodean/pacific rim music ought to hear it (Body's work is no less important than that of Peter Sculthorpe) and, for that matter, anyone who professes an interest in contemporary music (including those for whom "melody" and "folk music" represent, wrongly in my opinion, outdated notions!). In addition to the composers already mentioned, I would expect admirers of the Kevin Volans of, say, White Man Sleeps and Leo Brouwer's orchestral pieces (especially his marvellously eclectic Concerto di Toronto) to find a great deal to interest them here. Performances and production are of a high standard and the booklet notes are informative without being over-detailed or over-technical. It is useful and indeed illuminating to have the disc of source materials, although personally I am unlikely to listen to it as often as the main disc. Recommended.

Jack Body talks about PULSE

ON MUSIC
Though I feel that my home, “the place where I belong”, can only ever be New Zealand, I am an inveterate traveller, particularly to countries and cultures which are very different from my own. To confront a culture with a contrasted view of man’s place in the world, the nature of time and history, a different set of rules governing human inter-relationships, different ideas about the place and function of the arts in society - this for me is the stimulus of travel. I learn that all values are relative, and there are no absolutes. Of course, the true meaning of much of what I see and hear and experience remains inpenetrable. But through these encounters my own ideas and perceptions are shaken up, transformed and enriched.

ON TRANSCRIPTION
I believe musical composition should be the exploration of new worlds of aural sensibility. This is why I “travel” a great deal, musically speaking, even when at home, by listening obsessively to recordings of the musics of other cultures. Sometimes I try to notate what I hear simply to try to grasp in some familiar way the details of what I think I am hearing. Further to this I sometimes try to “recreate” the music in another form. The original music is inevitably transformed, distorted and metamorphosed by my individual and undoubtedly naive perception of the original, the new instrumentation, the character and limitations of the notation, and the performance practices of the new players. I am conscious that such dealings with the music of other cultures lays me open to a charge of exploitation and “cultural imperialism”. But my real motivation is instinctive rather than rational. Much of what I hear of the music from outside of the Western tradition fascinates me, so I feel compelled to explore it further. The process of transcription is part of that exploration, a striving to learn and better understand my own perceptions about my music, and about the many other musics of the world.

MELODIES FOR ORCHESTRA (1983)
The first work in which I explored the process of cross-cultural transcription. The three sections of the single movement work are based on three totally unrelated folk musics. The first is a lyre (Greek fiddle) tune Horos Serra, the second is a fragment for solo saluang (flute) from West Sumatra, Indonesia, and the third is a Hindi film theme as played by a street band in Pune, India. Around these three transcriptions (which are as literal as I could make them), I have woven an orchestral cocoon whose purpose is to build coherence and continuity.

Commissioned for a concert celebrating the 1983 centenary of Auckland University
Performed by New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Young
Recorded by Keith Warren at Symphony House, Wellington, 1998

THREE TRANSCRIPTIONS for string quartet
This work uses as a source three completely unrelated pieces of music. The first movement is from a Chinese recording a friend sent me, and features the long-ge, a multiple jews harp of the Yi nationality in South West China. The instrument is tiny, comprising three or more blades beaten out from old bullet casings. The second movement uses a valiha, one of the most characteristic instruments of Madagascar: its original form was a bamboo tube zither, the ‘strings’ longitudinal incisions cut into bamboo’s skin. The third movement is a Bulgarian ratschenita, a wild dance in 7/8 time.

Commissioned and premiered by the Kronos Quartet at the 1988 NZ Festival of Arts, Wellington
Performed by New Zealand String Quartet
Recorded by Roy Carr at the Adam Room, Victoria University, Wellington, 1994

AFRICAN STRINGS for guitar duo (1994)
This work uses as a source recordings of the West African kora harp (movement 2) and the Madagascan valiha tube zither (movement 3). The 21 stringed kora harp is played by the griots (praise singers and chroniclers) of Gambia, Senegal, Mali and Guinea Bissau to accompany their singing. In this transcription the vocal line has been integrated into the instrumental texture. The three movements are titled RAMANDIANA, CHEDO, and SAMY FALI. Because the first appears in another form in Three Transcriptions, only the second and third movements are included here.

Performed by Norio Sato and Kei Kuh (guitars)
Recorded by Yukio Kojima at the Makioka Arts Hall, Jappan, 1999

Dhedhep tidhem prabawaning ratri   (Profound stillness, night’s potency)
Sasadara wus manjer kawuryan   (The moon brightens)
Tan kuciwa mamanise   (What delight!)
Menggep srinateng dalu   (The supreme ruler of the night)
Siniwaka sanggya pra dasih   (surrounded by his subject)
Aglar ing cakrawala   (which carpet the heavens)
Ingulat ngelangut   (proud, sombre and thoughtful)
Prandene pakso kabegan   (a multiplicity of emotions)
Saking kehing taranggana kang sumiwi   (surveying the innumerable stars spread)
Warata tanpa sela   (evenly around, without imperfection)
  - translation by Yono Sukarno

PULSE for orchestra (1995)
Central to Pulse is a transcription I made of the Fire Dance of the Baining people from East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The spectacle of this dance was breathtaking - numerous dancers with extraordinary, giant spirit masks, some of which remind one of a praying mantis, stomped about, unscathed, in a fire. Their near-naked bodies glistened with oil, coloured in brilliant designs of white and black and red. It was only afterwards, when I listened to the recording I had made, that I realised that the music was as equally remarkable. A group of maybe a dozen men sang while pounding on a plank of wood with bamboo tubes. The regular pulses periodically broke into grouped patterns of whole beats and half beats. Simple enough......until I tried to decipher what these patterns were! They did not fall into any predictable duple or triple groupings, but changed constantly. Likewise the singing seemed not to be synchronised with the pulses in any simple way. The music, for all the apparent simplicity of its elements, had an astonishing complexity and richness which I have tried to unravel through my transcription.
Commissioned by the Auckland Philharmonia

SOURCES

1    "Horos Serra" (D. Ionnidis, V. Kazandjidis, D. Psomiadis)
      From Greece is....FOLKLORE. EMIAL (1973)
      By permission of EMI and Lambropoulos Brothers Ltd

2    "Singgalang" (traditional). Saluang played by Lenggang Gayo
      Recorded by Jack Body, Padang Panjang 1976
      By permission of Radio Republic Indonesia

3    Traditional. Street band
      Performed in Pune, Maharashtra, India
      Recorded by Jack Body, 1978

4    Traditional. Long-ge soloist Jiha Yueyue (Yi Nationality)
      Recording unsourcable

5    "Ramandriana" (Marorazana) from Valiha
      By permission of Ocora, Radio France (1982)

6    "Ratshenitsa" from the Shops (orchestra of the folk dance group Varna)
      from Folkmusic From Bulgaria (no date)
      By permission of Avan-Guard Australia

7    "Chedo" (Foday Musa Suso)
      From Sounds of West Africa: The Kora and the Xylophone
      By permission of Lyrachord Discs, Inc

8    "Samy Faly" (Rakotozafy) from Valiha
      By permission of Ocora, Radio France (1982)

9    "Baining Fire Dance" East New Britain, Papua New Guinea
      Performed at South Pacific Arts Festival, Port Moresby, PNG
      Recorded by Jack Body, 1980

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