Temples

The music of "Temples" evolved out of different sources of inspiration. The most impor-tant of them were four temples belonging to Angkor, a group of temple ruins in Cambo-dia. These temples represent several centuries of Khmer history, one of themost im-portant ancient cultures of South East Asia, and are characterised by both Buddhist and Hindu influences. Furthermore, four biblical text fragments from the Book of Eccle-siastes, chapter 3, became more and more important during thecomposition process. Hence, each of the four episodes of the work is related to a biblical text and an Angkor temple. Besides this architectural and spiritual imagery, a purely musical structure underlies the whole piece, namely a sequence ofintervals which has an architectural analogy in the height proportions of the main towers of Angkor Wat. My aim was to combine an ab-stract fabric of musical relationships with the sensual and emotional impact these tem-ples and their history made onme while visiting them.PHNOM BAKHENG"… there is a time to be born and a time to die..."The music at the beginning is inspired by the old temple "Phnom Bakheng“ erected in the 9th century A.D., also referred to as "first Angkor". It is conceived as atemple-mountain, corresponding to the mythical mountain "Meru", home of the Gods according to Hindu belief. The music describes the awakening of life, the variety of living beings, the birth of human civilisation. Low, seemingly undefined chords formthe soil out of which long melodic lines begin to emerge. After a gradual increase in speed, a transi-tion leads to a lively episode characterised by bright colours and flourish-like gestures. Later on, the music becomes overshadowed by darkercolours, as if the sun was dis-appearing.BAYON"... a time for war and a time for peace..."Mysterious chords build up the scene for the entry of the trumpets and trombones, placed off-stage near the audience and playing menacing signals withincreasing inten-sity. This dramatic episode depicts the war, a consequence of the diversity between different people and cultures. The temple "Bayon" with its rugged skyline, an architec-tural masterpiece dating from Angkors flowering period,contains many war descrip-tions on sandstone reliefs, leaving no doubts that the Khmer civilisation, like many oth-ers, was built upon a great deal of warfare.PREAH KHAN"... a time to mourn and a time to dance..."A sequence of huge chords marks theentry into the temple "Preah Khan", the "Sacred Sword". This temple, mysterious and partly overgrown by virgin forest, was erected as a sanctuary in the 12th century A.D. on a battlefield. After the dramatic conflict of the second episode, a dirgefollows, some kind of procession. This ritual has a mournful nature at first, but becomes more and more hopeful after a sudden shift of tonality and a calm, solemn statement of the tenor horns. Later on, reminiscences of the first epi-sode appear andlead to an increasingly joyful music.ANGKOR WAT"... a time to tear down and a time to build ..."It is now, after both an outward and an inward conflict, that the re-building of something new becomes possible. This renewal is symbolised by thefascinating central temple "Angkor Wat" with its accomplished architecture. The motivic material of earlier epi-sodes finds itself transformed and reappears in broad and luminous sound fields which bring the work to a close.