Harangue I Story has it that the ancient Scots, when they needed some social or political business taken care of would stage a harangue, where a villager would present an idea to a circle of peers seated on stones. When the oratory was done, those in the circle would throw back their responses.
Ghosts sing an ancient Greek hymn to the sun.
His primary training was of a classical bent, with excursions into jazz and popular forms early on. Along with exposure to and study of various Asian and African musics, this suite of influences continue their hold on his musical thought. Astonishing Sense of Being Taken Over by Something Far Greater Than Me is a work based structurally and textually on the process of giving birth. The title is taken from a description by my sister Margaret Bendall of giving birth to one of her sons. Her voice opens and closes the work, and is heard, highly processed, at specific structural points.