Seven Wonders of The World (The)
Joseph Bertolozzi
About this work:
"The Seven Wonders of The World" is a vast exploration of man's ancient monuments through the world of gongs, cymbals and roto-toms. Ambient washes of sound flow through clear-cut melodies, viscerally producing images of awe and grandeur as translated through sound.
A complete studio recording is planned but for the moment only the first*, fifth** and sixth*** movements are available here:
* "The Great Pyramid of Giza" creates a quiet, timeless atmosphere, using three strokes, one each on the Chau Gong, and two different sizes of Wind (or Feng) Gongs, as the primary musical gesture
** "The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus" achieves a haunted, otherworldly atmosphere in its utilization of many special effects.
*** "The Colossus of Rhodes" is a tour de force played mostly upon an 18' chau gong, and ending with a great crash upon all the cymbals and gongs in a depiction of its destruction in an earthquake.
The movements of the entire suite are as follows:
1. 'The Great Pyramid at Giza'
Man fears Time, but Time fears the Pyramids.
2. 'The Hanging Gardens of Babylon'
Thick trees, fragrant fruits, and aromatic flowers rise above the desert floor.
3. 'The Statue of Zeus at Olympia'
Behold the priestly chants, prayers ascending heavenwards like incense, to Zeus.
4. 'The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus'
The goddess of hunters and the woodlands presides over her forest.
5. 'The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus'
Is it the wind or is it the cries of the spirits within which sound among these pillars?
6. 'The Colossus of Rhodes'
After 56 years, this 110-foot tall bronze statue crashed to the ground in an earthquake.
7. 'The Lighthouse of Alexandria'
Its great fire and mysterious mirror, shining 35 miles out to sea flickered for 1,300 years in our imaginations.
The Bronze Collection is a scintillating exploration of the world of gongs & cymbals containing over 50 gongs and cymbals from Java, China, Burma, Tibet, Thailand, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Turkey, Germany, Switzerland and North America, as well as several chimes and Roto-toms. Redefining earlier concepts of melody, rhythm and texture, this unique, inter-cultural palette of my own design combines sounds rarely heard together or in a unified context. Rhythmic instruments sing, melodic ones pulse, and other combinations exist simply as sonic events. Emotionally, physically, the music inhabits the listener. Using custom mallets, drumsticks, brushes, foot pedals and a bow, Bertolozzi combines a discrete mix of high and low, bright and dark, short and sustained, pitched and unpitched gongs, cymbals and roto-toms into a new sonic world. It's tribal! It's avant-garde! It's ambient! It's world!
Think you know what new music is like? Think again!
Year composed: 2003
Duration: 00:40:00
Ensemble type: Solo instrument, non-keyboard:Percussion (General)
Instrumentation: 1 Percussion (General)
Instrumentation notes: Multiple gongs, cymbals, roto-toms using mallets, drumsticks, brushes, foot pedals and a bow.