Byzantine Prayer

Another beautiful piece by Radulescu from the AGP 85, previously mentioned. This is Byzantine Prayer opus 74 from 1988, for 40 flutists with 72 flutes. The piece is a requiem for Giacinto Scelsi.

On stage, the 40 flutists are arranged in eight concentric groups of 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 5, and 3 instrumentalists, from the center outward. The attentive reader will certainly have recognized the Fibonacci series in this progression.

The instrumentation is distributed as follows:

The central player (1) plays an octobass flute (3 8ths below the usual C flute);
The 2 players in the first circle have a contrabass flute and a bass flute;
The 3 players further out play a G flute (a 4th below the C flute: alto flute in English);
The first group of 5 players holds the same number of bass flutes;
The next three groups (8, 13, and another 5 players) play what I believe to be the common C flute (grand in the notes);
With the 3 players further out, we return to the G flutes.

The piece consists of a Litanic Refrain built on a theoretical A spectrum and three Intermundi that develop six other spectra and make extensive use of the ring modulation technique to generate frequencies.

Finally, the sound moves circularly because the 40 performers are distributed throughout the room.

Please note that the pieces contained in the AGP 85 are freely downloadable in FLAC format (lossless compression).

Horaţiu Rădulescu – Byzantine Prayer opus 74 (1988)

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