Composer: Anne BoydDavies, John2024-08-162024-08-16https://hdl.handle.net/1885/733714686"Boyd has composed only two works for solo piano: Book of the Bells and the earlier Angklung (1974). Her musical style is well suited to the instrument. The use of exotic modes in both vertical and horizontal structures, delicate ornamentation in the upper registers and the accumulation and dispersal of sonorities result in a texture that resembles the piano writing of Debus y and perhaps Messiaen, rather than the percussive style adopted by many twentieth century keyboard composers. The inspiration for both works is found in nonWestern musical traditions. Angklung refers to a type of Balinese gamelan instrument and also to the gamelan angklung, an instrumentaJ ensemble. Book of the Bells also has its origins in the music of Asia, recalling the delicate tintinnabulation of Buddhist temple bells. As inAngklung, interest is focused primarily on sonority. However the fundamental material of Book of the Bells is more wide ranging, and the resultant colours are more vibrant, less soporific than those of Angklung. Each bell is assigned certain characteristics of mode, registration, rhythm and in some cases melody or ornamentation. The first bell to be heard occupies the upper middle register of the piano. Initially just three notes, it quickly accumulates two more, adding a characteri tic minor second and minor ninth (or augmented octave) (see Figure 10). seems that Boyd's purpose is to emulate the untempered tuning of the bells. The spelling of the chord provides insight into the composer's thought processes: the D sharp and E flat are clearly not considered equivalent pitches, even though they are, of course, the same key on the piano. The first bell sound is characterised throughout by this tonal structure. For the first few minutes of the work it tolls insistently, providing a backdrop of sound for the entry of other bells. The second bell is in a lower register, and contains the interval of a major seventh or diminished octave (see Figure 10). The third bell initially occupies a similar register to the first, but is distinguished by its melodic role. Again the minor ninth is clearly heard. of extreme difficulty; however the tempo throughout is unhurried and the numerous long and tied notes allow time for the performer to leap, as it were, from bell to bell. The predetermined characteristics of each bell assist the pianist in the rapid location of chords. As the work progresses, the bells seem to develop personalities: musical dialogues ensue, and the 'characters' come and go, sometimes dramatically, sometimes imperceptibly, as if in some wordless drama. Like Angklung, Book of the Bells has a timeless, otherworld quality: gamelan performances can last for days, and the passing of time has little meaning in a Buddhist monastery. It seems as if there is no beginning and no end to this piece, as if the listener just happened by as it was going on. As new bells enter, each with its distinctive timbre, the range of sound is extended outward until by the middle of the work the whole keyboard is employed, the low sonorities adding sympathetic vibrations to the texture, the uppermost bell adding splashes of colour. The notation of the piece has by now become very complex indeed (see Figure 11), and again the Debussy/Messiaen analogy might be drawn. At first glance the appearance of the notes on the page gives the impression Book of the Bells was written as a special challenge to the virtuosity of the Australian pianist Roger Woodward and it was commissioned by him with assistance from the Music Board of the Australia Council in 1981. In fact the first performance was given in London some five years later by Sally Mays." -- Deborah Crispaudio/wavClassical Music1981