Sensenta

In warm weather the sound of cool metal bells may bring some relief. We start at the piano, with De Klokken van Tintigny, written for Laurens de Boer’s Percussive Piano project. Satie’s four Ogives, among his most beautiful piano works, fit in well with this piece. What Satie puts into music here is not so much the sound of bells, but the arcs of a gothic cathedral. The large difference between quiet and loud is related to Gregorian chant. According to Mary Davis’ biography, Satie was inspired by antiphonal singing, by cantor and choir, call and answer. It creates a wonderfully meditative atmosphere.

Key piece in this episode is one we’ve heard before: Requiem, by live coding collective Benoît and the Mandelbrots. Their FM synthesized bells fade into Brian Eno’s bell studies, a very similarly coloured work.

At the end of this episode we leave the bells for the quiet of midnight, with Kraftwerk’s Mitternacht, B-side to their LP Autobahn. We end with an alternative version of their Kometenmelodie: Kohoutek-Kometenmelodie 2.

00:00 Sensenta intro #10
00:45 Tom Dicke – De klokken van Tintigny (uitv. Laurens de Boer)
06:35 Erik Satie – Première Ogive (uit. Reinbert de Leeuw)
09:27 Erik Satie – Deuxième Ogive (uit. Reinbert de Leeuw)
13:33 Erik Satie – Troisième Ogive (uit. Reinbert de Leeuw)
16:15 Erik Satie – Quatrième Ogive (uit. Reinbert de Leeuw)
19:46 Benoît and the Mandelbrots – Requiem
29:32 Brian Eno – Reverse Harmonic Bells
32:08 Ruiter en Tillman – Chakra’s in klankkleur 1 /
Brian Eno – 2 Harmonic Studies /
Brian Eno – 1st-14th January 07003, Hard Bells, Hills Algorhitm /
Brian Eno – Virtual Dream Bells, Thick Glass /
Brian Eno – Fixed Ratio Harmonic Bells /
Brian Eno – Emphasizing Enharmonic Partials
Harrold Roeland – Christchurch Cathedral, New Zealand, January 2008
52:01 Kraftwerk – Mitternacht
55:30 Kraftwerk – Kohoutek-Kometenmelodie 2

Sources:
Soundcloud: jwlaurensf
The Early Piano Works, Philips/Harlekijn
Benoît and the Mandelbrots, 2016, Syff
Chakra’s in klankkleur, 2007
January 07003 Bell studies…, 2003, Opal Recordings
The Long Way Round, Rocókon, 2009
Autobahn, Philips, 1974
Kohoutek-Kometenmelodie, Philips, 1973

Sensenta is a programme about long attention spans. Every episode slowly changes hue, and every next episode picks up where the last one left off. This a creates a musical serial, a chain of episodes, touching on different genres at it goes. You’re welcome to join in and give us your opinion. Where should this chain go next? Send us an e-mail at harrold@concertzender.nl, or follow Sensenta on social media.