6 channel improvised performance, sampling and processing the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra,

playing Jonathan Harvey’s works, Body Mandala and Tranquil Abiding,

conducted by Illan Volkov,  at City Halls, Glasgow, Scotland, May 5th 2007. 

Recorded by Hear and Now, BBC Radio 3,  and selected as a ” Highlight of 2007 “. Presented by Sara_Mohr-Pietsch.

Background to Men being butterflies.

For three days I sit in the middle of this Glasgow auditorium watching and listening to this beast of sonic possibilities at work. In the hands of Illan, it seems they can make any sound. I have never before heard an orchestra with such an ability and seeming love of extended techniques. The variety and size of shapes and textures come and go as immediately or as delayed as is demanded by eye and baton, and with such clarity. Why on earth are we bothering with electronics?

With a dozen BBC mics amongst the players and six speakers enveloping the seating, I am preparing to do something I have wanted to do for years. Grab the sonic array of a symphony orchestra in full flight and convert its drama and delicate detail into new works of music that will swing layered and physical in the hall, just as the memory of their picture fades.  So I sit and I listen and I construct this instrument and scores to lift, transform and toss their playing off the stage and into the ears of the audience in-between Jonathan’s pieces.

It  wasn’t until after the concert that we  really meet and discover an inherent and unspoken understanding in his compositions.  In 2008, a delight therefore to receive J’s invite to work with Markus Stockhausen’s playing for Sargasso release Other Presences, Out comes Men being butterflies.