Breath of the Compassionate
Bill Alves
About this work:
Breath of the Compassionate is a work for Javanese gamelan with abstract computer video. The music and visual images were composed in tandem. It is named for a type of pattern in Islamic geometric abstraction in which adjacent tiles alternately expand and contract into one another. This sense of visual inhalation and exhalation is known as the “breath of the compassionate” (al-nafas al-rahmânî) after the teachings of Ibn al‘Arabi, who named this universal principle of creation, joining the elements of fire, air, water, and earth.
Year composed: 2009
Duration: 00:09:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 10+ players
Instrumentation:
Instrumentation notes: For Javanese gamelan and electronics.