In essense, a second volume of Splendor Solis, featuring music recorded whilst resident in Durham City during the spring & early summer of 1994, offered here by way of enrichment & augmentation, so as not to detract from the main feature, though no less significant; thus, whilst this only comes as part of the deluxe package, exceptions are possible for those curious enough to enquire
i) Splendor Solis - Version 1 / 6.24
(rainstick / birds / khun / rattles / bells / kalimba / gardon / melodica)
The first piece from Maia; recorded immediately after sunrise on the merry morning of May; a weary glimpse of the heavenly gates resplendent.
ii) Ikhthus 1 / 7.23
(whistle flutes / rattles / birds / plant pots / melodica)
Recorded early March with the sun in Pisces in acknowledgment of pertinent philosophical continuity rather than the current astrological condition per se; like the Ancient Egyptian pomegrantes in the Oriental Museum however, the ciphers endure.
iii) Psalm 104 (Grail 103) Verse 3 / 4.56
(bells / crwth / rattles / birds / melodica / rainstick / cymbals)
Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: and maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind
iv) Shepherd Dance / 5.13
(crwth / koboz/ bells / goat / bird)
This theme occured whilst busking on Framelgate Bridge in Durham, thus I returned to my chambers & made this recording before it slipped my mind; spring shone bright & warm, joyfully empowering the merry throng. Note: the compositional process is essentially mediumistic, improvisation speaking in gladder tongues than mere mimicry would ever allow...
v) Psalm 22 Verses 14 & 15 (Grail Psalm 21 Verses 13 - 17/16c) / 11.54
(ocarina / crwth / melodica / bell)
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint : my heart also in the midst of my body is even like melting wax / My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my gums : and thou shalt bring me to the dust of death
(As accurate a description of the early stages of Post Viral Fatigue syndrome as any; at the time I was just emerging having been layed low the previous winter. For the record, this is a 'live' real-time recording wherein the hapless musician plays the various instruments simultaneously - as with the Shepherd Dance, the theme occured whilst busking; snatched out of nowhere & recorded here so as to preserve the moment, so any similarity to Joseph Jarman's Blues for Zen on the 1987 Art Ensemble of Chicago album Ancient to the Future is purely coincidental...)
vi) Et in Arcadia Ego / 5.37
(gardon / koboz / bird / plant pots / crwth)
A hearthcharm in essence; specifically a genre of crwth improvisation derived from a diversity of Indo-European sources with an awareness of such practices in the Middle-Ages, at the Court of Alfonso X 'El Sabio' of Castille for example, whose famous manuscript for the Cantigas De Santa Maria depicts Christian, Sephardic & Islamic musician working alongside one another as equals.
vii) Ikhnos / 2.03
(two end-blown bamboo flutes)
take nothing but footsteps; leave nothing but photographs
viii) Maia Version 1 / 4.52
(rattles / bells / rainstick / berimbau / birds / flute / dholak / koboz / melodica)
Maia derives partly from the rhythms of Sun Ra's The Lady with the Golden Stockings from The Nubians of Plutonia; in the second version, this influence is emphasised by the cow-bell, which is absent here, though the impetus remains; an acknowledgement therefore to the splendid one whose legacy continues to astonish; anyone doubting this should check out the recordings lately unearthed & released as Spaceship Lullaby...
ix) Paean / 3.49
(plant pot / rattle / melodica / rainstick)
Live take, no dubs, using the plant pot as a drone for the melodica piobaireachd.
x) Shepherd Dance / 2.24
(crwth / koboz / rattles / bells / birds / goat)
As for the above Shepherd Dance, only this one was forgotten, alas...
xi) Psalm 104 Verse 6 / 7.40
(birds / flutes / plant pots / bells / rattles / crwth / melodica )
Thou coverest it with the deep like as with a garment : the waters stand in the hills
xii) Ikhthus 2 / 2.33
(whistle flutes / plant pots / melodica)
See Ikthus 1 (above) - this being a more 'accurate' rendering of the theme
xiii) The Pattern Under the Plough / 9.19
(crwth drones / rain stick / 3-hole pipe / melodica)
Originally composed in 1984 whilst playing the 3-hole pipe & hurdy-gurdy simultaneously; no longer in possession of a hurdy-gurdy, this features crwth drones instead. Proximal time unfurls in parallel, thus much of what happens here is purely coincidental. This process might be described as spontaneous synchronicity, which is to say the morphology of any given piece emerges regardless, thus evidencing the innate nature of structural syntax; the pedant rules by force, whereas the pragmatist sees no rules at all...