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clarinet, 2 violins, viola and cello

• Hall: a splinter of silence in the belly of time; facsimile 

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• Hall: a splinter of silence in the belly of time 

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• Neville Hall: Selected Works 

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E flat clarinet, bass clarinet, bass trombone, cello and double bass

The sound is of whirlwind underground
Earthquake, and fire, and mountains cloven;
The shape is awful like the sound,
Clothed in dark purple, star-inwoven.

Thus Panthea, an ocean nymph, describes the appearance of the Phantasm of Jupiter, or the ‘Tremendous Image’, summoned in anguish by Prometheus in Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound.

Prometheus is seen here as a symbol of those who challenge tyranny for the sake of mankind. By stealing fire from Olympus to give to humans, Prometheus incurred the wrath of Jupiter. He was chained to a rock where, each day, an eagle tore out his liver, and each night it grew whole again. He cursed Jupiter and was hounded by the Furies.

Maui stole fire from his grandmother Mahuika to give to humans and changed himself into an eagle to escape the flames.

It is the energy of the curses, the hounding, the wrath of Jupiter, the flight of the eagle, the gift of fire, as well as the compassion of Prometheus and Maui that I have sought to reflect in the music.

Of Whirlwind Underground is in one continuous movement comprising eighteen merging sections incorporating various combinations of instruments and solo breaks. The quintet grows from two musical ideas, one rhythmic, first stated by the double bass at the very beginning; and the other melodic, introduced straight after by the Eb clarinet. These ideas are juxtaposed, combined, protracted, contracted and variously transformed throughout the piece, while other accompanying and punctuating particles develop and take on greater significance as the music progresses.

• Cresswell: Of Whirlwind Underground; computer-set 

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• Cresswell: of whirlwind underground; computer-set  Year: 2005 

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• Lyell Cresswell: Of Whirlwind Underground; video 

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• Cresswell: Of Whirlwind Underground 

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• 175 East vol. 5 

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• Cresswell and Psathas: works  Year: 1999 

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• 175 East vol. 4  Year: 1999 

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• Waiteata Collection of New Zealand Music Vol. 8 - Chamber Music II  Year: 2005 

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flute (piccolo and alto flute), E flat clarinet (A clarinet, bass clarinet), bass clarinet; horn, bass trombone; percussion (1 player: friction drum/lion's roar, vibraphone, low tom-tom, bass drum, percussion cluster, piccolo snare drum); violin 1, violin 2, cello, double bass

“The “Tower of Babel” does not figure merely the irreducible multiplicity of tongues; it exhibits an incompletion, the impossibility of finishing, of totalising, of saturating, of completing something on the order of edification, construction, system and architectonics."
Jacques Derrida

“Babel is the sign that every utterance or every text is riven by faults and fissures…rushing away into the vacuum formed by its own notes”
Gary Shapiro

The two quotes above were found after I had already started work on this piece, and decided on a title, but their relevance to the actual composition of the work gained exponentially as the première approached. The piece as it now exists is incomplete as far as my original plans are concerned, but I hope it isn’t entirely incoherent. In any case as I’m the only one to know what those original plans were, who’s to know? And isn’t this the case with virtually any work? So perhaps I should have kept quiet instead of fessing up…

Back to the music. In keeping with Breughel’s two paintings of the Tower of Babel, in which builders are shown “hewing architectural rationality from the ancient rock” the piece opens deliberately with what one critic pejoratively referred to as the “frantic agglomeration” of some of the music played at a 175 East concert in 2000. The texture does clear however, and the piece proceeds through a number of phases of ensemble independence and unity. And if you really think I’m going to give away the plot…

some other plots for Babel was commissioned by Mark Menzies with funding from Creative New Zealand, and is dedicated to the extraordinary performers at the premiere and to Glenda Keam, all of whom, through their enthusiasm, commitment and encouragement, brought the piece to life.

• Gardner: some other plots for babel; computer-set 

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• Gardner: some other plots for babel; computer-set 

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• James Gardner: Some other plots for Babel; audio 

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• James Gardner: Selected Works 

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• 175 East Vol. 6 

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• Gardner: Charge and other works 

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