Nada Brahma

NADA BRAHMA was composed in 2005 on commission from the Festival of Flanders Antwerp and Muziektheater Transparant, on the occasion of the contemporary music festival Music@Venture, curated by Jonathan Harvey. NADA BRAHMA (Sanskrit) literally means “God is Sound”. “Creation, the cosmos, the world is sound, and sound is the world. Even emptiness is sound. The Spirit and the Soul are sound”, Joachim-Ernst Berendt. NADA BRAHMA forms the third part of the Tantric Cycle, a series of compositions based on Eastern philosophy and Buddhism. They are a continuation of works such as the three Ragas. The work consists of seven parts: 1. Cosmic Time 2. Cosmic Energy 3. Sacred Noise 4. Cosmic Pulsations 5. Cosmic Chord 6. New Spirituality 7. Cosmic Silence The composition is based on algorithmic processes, which form the basis of the music and the text. Wim Henderickx wanted to construct a text that was abstract and had no semantic meaning, but which, in terms of sound, was reminiscent of ancient languages such as Sanskrit and Latin. The work is scored for a soprano solo, an ensemble of 11 musicians (3 strings, 6 wind instruments and 2 percussionists) and live electronics. The instruments are a metaphor for the worldly, while the electronics fulfil a cosmic function. The programming of the electronics was realised in collaboration with Jorrit Tamminga.