Klythi...Méné...Élektris

Program notes:

Dedicated to Hayk Melikyan

 

Words, from the orphic Hymn to the Moon. Méné (Μήνη, i.e. the Moon in ancient Greek), covers the Earth with a blue electric color (élektris-ηλεκτρίς) in its full phase: it is exactly what the misterioso character of the piece is about. Legend says that all orphic hymns have a therapeutic effect; that the structure of the texts could evoke a kind of transcendence upon the listener, thus initiating him / her into a therapeutic sound vibration, a theory that the Pythagoreans adopted later on for the concept of the ‘music of the spheres’. 

Nowadays, scientific research on brain waves and sound frequencies has proved that there is truth in this belief through proper breathing procedures, which activate the specific sound frequencies required. In this piece, a specific atmosphere of rhythmic breathing is created by the continuous semiquaver ostinato. One picture dominates: that of a full moon with its varying bluish electric colours being reflected upon the earth.

 

Premiered at the Hochschule für Musik Dresden in October 2007 by Michael Jordan. It was subsequently performed by Hayk Melikyan at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in February 2015 in Yerevan, Armenia to whom it is dedicated.