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Eternity (1973)
For large choir, brass sextet, organ and percussion
Ross Edwards
Eternity has been identified by Paul Stanhope as the earliest indication
of Ross Edwards' interest in ritual as an artistic intention and it can
be seen today as a model for such monumental works as his Symphony No. 1
(Da Pacem Domine) and his 4th Symphony, Star Chant. It was composed in 1973,
a crucial year for Edwards in which he also produced the evanescent orchestral
work Mountain Village in a Clearing Mist, and both new pieces were premiered
at the 1974 Adelaide Festival. Each, in its own way explores an incipient
new language which marks a clear break with that of Edwards' earlier music,
which he rejected as being 'neurotic and self-indulgent'. His stated aim,
in composing the new pieces was, 'to get back to something essential.'
This intention is also manifested by the choice of text: "Except a
man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God", from the Gospel
of St. John, which Edwards interprets as communicating a universal need
for spiritual renewal. It is broken down into cellular formations which
are repeatedly intoned by the singers in long breaths over a cumulative
texture of brass canon and organ drone, punctuated at regular intervals
by two tam-tams. Stanhope observes that "the element of repetitious
chant has an obvious ritual association, perhaps more with the Buddhist
idea of a mantra than with Christian chant. The tam-tams ('gongs') are symbols
of Eastern religion, whilst the organ is the instrument of the Christian
church." Edwards' intention that the singers should process holding
candles, another ceremonial gesture, was quashed by the Fire Department
at the first performance.
Whereas Mountain Village in a Clearing Mist surprised its composer by winning
immediate acceptance at its first performance, the response to Eternity
was dramatic, its vociferous audience roughly divided between enthusiasm
and derision. Radical for its time, and more of a musical contemplation
object than a concert work, the score also contains impracticalities concerning
the spatial arrangement of the forces which have thwarted attempts to revive
it for thirty years. Recently, however, a solution has been found and the
work has been splendidly recorded by Cantillation for ABC Classics.\\ |