STAR
PEACE
Recorded in 1986. Duration 72’ 29”
BEL CD 005. £12 / Cassette £8
STAR
PEACE
TEMPLE OF THE ANCIENT MAGICAL PRESENCE
Based upon the Cycle of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac STAR PEACE (51:54) plays continuously throughout its long duration, seamlessly unfolding through 12 very distinctly different meditative sound-scapes utilising all of Frank's 500 + instruments also featuring the home-made Boo Flute and his Overtone Singing. Originally an audio-visual featuring 12 paintings selected by Frank of the Russian artist Nicholas Roerich intended to link with these 12 signs of the Zodiac. Here the 12 paintings are described in the accompanying booklet alongside descriptions of their musical accompaniment for those wishing to follow this aspect. Should you wish to view the paintings, then please visit ‘Soul Emanations of a Great One’. Suitable for those who are happy with a more constantly varied or changing range of beautiful sound-colours whilst they listen - yet that inner core of deep peace is never lost. Like a river snaking its way through many different countries and landscapes on its way to the great Ocean - so the music gently moves ever-onwards, ever-changing around a changeless spirit of peace and wholeness; or, like a journey through a garden composed of 12 smaller unique gardens with it unfolding the joys of many colours, flowers, and scents in varying combinations; or, again, similar to lying beneath the night sky contemplating the garden of the Stars!
The entire piece opens and closes with the gentle sounds of many tinkling bells. Listeners often comment with great astonishment at the huge range of widely differing sounds that appear on this long piece. From the Brucknerian Gong section of Scorpio, emerging like some mysterious mountain chain, to the harmonic richness and sparkle of the rising scale of Petalumines leading into a rare and ancient Tibetan whistling bowl accompanied by Mongolian-style overtone singing on Gemini to the rhythmic dance of ancient Chinese and Japanese resting bells and bell trees that appear for Aquarius, we are treated to a huge diversity of style and instrumentation. Recorded with the one ‘sound-field’ microphone so that what you hear is exactly what was played with no mixing or editing possible for this huge dynamic range. For more information regarding how Frank synthesises numerous disciplines (astrology, numerology, colour healing, chakras etc) into his music, check out the article: Temple of the Ancient Magical Presence.
Track
1: STAR PEACE (LEO). Click
HERE
for sound clip. My music features little
repetition and unfolds more like a conversation or poem
. This clip is but part of a larger whole.
Unfortunately, some of my sounds do not faithfully reproduce into MP3's.
To listen to a short extract of each piece whilst also viewing the chosen Roerich painting
please click HERE
Petalumines
are petal-discs invented and hand made by Frank in 1979. Check out
Inventions.
Photo taken at the time of recording in the White Temple of The White Eagle Lodge in January 1986. For more details of this session check out The White Temple Recordings.
This recording was made entirely digitally and utilises UHJ-Ambisonic Surround-Sound techniques. For a full technical account of this recording session read Richard’s article 'New Age' piece on the Ambisonic website.
Recorded by Richard Elen.
TO ORDER (please make all cheques payable to FRANK PERRY): -
Frank Perry,
3 Drake Close,
Ringwood,
Hants, BH24 1UG
United Kingdom.
Telephone: 01425-470168
ZODIAC
Recorded
in 1986. Duration
47’ 49”
Celestial Harmonies CD 13025 £17
The project
ZODIAC, Frank Perry’s third Celestial Harmonies album, showcases twelve compositions for bells and gongs, one piece for each sign of the zodiac. In addition to oriental bells, Tibetan bells, singing bowls, invocation cymbals, and whistling bowls, nearly all of which came from ancient Buddhist temples, Perry also plays a variety of instruments he designed and built himself – bamboo, stone and bell chimes, a four foot bamboo flute, and richly vibrating harmonic sound-discs called Petalumines, ranging from four to sixteen inches in diameter.
Most Western musical compositions are linear, designed for aesthetic entertainment, and based upon equally tempered scales. By contrast, Perry’s music is expansively non-linear, based upon revolving patterns of pulsating, intertwining harmonic overtones, designed to awaken one’s deepest and highest universal consciousness.
The artist
British composer and percussionist, Frank Perry, is a meditator, astrologer, numerologist, psychic medium, symbolist, and mystic. He once played dissonant, nearly chaotic free jazz with pianist Keith Tippett; however, as he became more involved with meditation and Eastern philosophy, he began acquiring his present collection of nearly four hundred bells and gongs. The changes in his music reflect the changes in his evolving inner life.
Taken from the
pages of the Celestial Harmonies website.
ZODIAC is the alternative, first take, version originally released on KPM (EMI’s Library label) wherein each of the 12 parts are recorded separately as individual units – as in traditional (not holistic) astrology. STAR PEACE features the second take where there are no gaps between the signs of the Zodiac but they each flow seamlessly into one another. Also, the ZODIAC CD does not include Temple of the Ancient Magical Presence.
©
Copyright by Frank Perry 1986. All rights reserved.
© Frank Perry, 1986. All of these articles are copyright. They may individually be copied and shared with others in a spirit of knowledge-sharing and fair play, but they may not be sold, printed or reproduced in quantity or changed in form without the permission of the copyright holder. None of this material may be reproduced in workshops or lectures of any kind unless quotes are credited or properly attributed.
Magazine and other editors may e-mail me for permission to reprint. E-mail:
