Reproduced by kind permission of the Roerich Museum New York.

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TREASURE OF THE MOUNTAIN (8 mins) – An invocation to the beings of sound to join us, the title for this piece is taken from the painting of the same name by Professor Nicholas Roerich (see above) and is envisaged as a representation in sound of the journey taken by the eye as it encounters this beautiful painting depicting the Mahatmas in their mountain retreat engulfed in the golden flames of pure Fire from the sacred Chalice of the Heart - portrayed through sound using some huge gongs at the start of the piece, Tibetan Ting-shag (small cymbals) and mostly through the wonderfully magical sounds of the Singing Bowls. Although a comparatively short piece, we are quickly transported into the magical realm of the singing bowls where time is transcended and we begin to catch a glimpse of the Voice of the Silence.

This painting is said to derive its inspiration from the mountain Kanchenjunga. In the foreground of the painting are huge crystals. We are right inside the mountain. At the far top left we see in the distance a cavern lit in a golden light and within this sacred space are a group of ‘Mahatmas’ or spiritual masters. Although the painting is undeniably both dynamic and dramatic, an overall sense of stillness pervades it, so that Time seems transcended. Accordingly the musical structure of events reflects the journey of the eye / ‘I’ around a pivotal point of relative silence. The predominant colour tone (key) to the painting is a rich deep Blue. Consequently, the primary feeling of the music is derived from contemplating and representing these several factors: Blue; Gold; Cave; Light; Mountain; Stillness; Mythical Time; Initiate consciousness; Masters and Ceremony / Ritual. The Mahatma presiding is seen holding a Flaming Cup in some timeless ancient ritual of the Great White Brotherhood / Shambhala.

I am therefore, looking for sounds from the Tibetan singing Bowls that produce one or other of these colours (e.g. Blue), or a sense of stillness or inner attunement, and to be played in a manner that might lead us into and out of this stillness and silence (also reflecting something of the world of the Crystals). One bowl stands alone around about the centre of the piece symbolising this inner stillness and the music changes quality at this point too. That bowl is a rare bowl attuned to a great Initiation and is used to reflect something of the energy of those Mahatmas at the heart of the painting. The Sun Gong links with the golden light and sacred Fire in the chamber of the mahatmas. Gongs are more radiant and outgoing in their energy - reflecting the initial dramatic quality of the painting - whilst Bowls and Bells carry more of the quality of inner stillness.

However, whilst colour is used as part of the structure it is also an integral part of the structure and not simply a side issue - describing texture - or icing on the cake. When colour is used, it's as a determining factor in the structure of the music as only specific instruments (which ‘create’ any one colour) can be used. The graphic score delineates the ordering of the basic blocks of sound-energies i.e. a skeletal structure, which is to be abandoned if necessary should the inspiration of the moment demand it.

This particular piece not unusually combines spontaneous composition with predetermined structures. This is often the case when the source of inspiration is a painting. The piece begins with a large PAISTE Sound Creation Gong No.3B (said to link with Earth energy) and a PAISTE Sun Gong followed by struck Tibetan Singing Bowls leading to a short silence (reflecting the stillness always present within the painting) from out of which emerges a passage for a pair of Tibetan Singing Bowls (played in a manner exploiting certain psycho-acoustic phenomena experienced as a slow deep pulsation and this symbolises this Fire within the Heart) and ending with an aleatory passage for Tibetan Singing ‘Water’ Bowls above the Sun Gong. Aleatory music simply means that it is beyond the control of the ego (it is not determined and specific intentions are impossible) and chance operations enter in. Each such bowl has an amount of water placed within it, which bends the notes, and this is spontaneously improvised and is recorded alone with no reference to any other bowl and then they are simply put together forming a kind of 'organised chaos'.

© Copyright by Frank Perry 2003.

© Frank Perry, 2003. 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.  

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