This was intended to be a shortish work
that would make less demands for resources and choir size than my works
for double choir and so be easier for a moderate-sized amateur choir to
put on - but then the Composer goes and makes up for that by asking for
a second set of timpani! What shall we do with him?! Well, in order to
make this work as easy as possible for an amateur choir to programme, I
have produced a part for piano which can be used in place of that for
the second timpani set. It isn't quite so effective, but it does
work,and indeed has its own very definite appeal.
The two sets of timpani, or the timpani and piano, are meant to be
antiphonally placed.
I had strongly in my mind the imposing image of the mountain Ama Dablam towering over the little Nepalese village of Tengpoche and its rather well known gompa (Buddhist monastery) along the main route for trekkers and mountaineers to Everest Base Camp; indeed, Lhotse and the top of Everest can be seen from Tengpoche, further up the valley. The shape of Ama Dablam from this viewpoint is rather like a skyward-pointing very squat thumb and forefinger.
The 'words' for the choir are just the mantra syllables om - ah - hung -- the latter syllable elsewhere often being spelled hum, but in this case I want to keep to the usual Tibetan pronunciation. These syllables carry a multitude of esoteric meanings that have been imparted upon them through many centuries of use, but the essence is that of enlightenment, the meaning of the three syllables corresponding to some extent with the concept of the Trinity in Christianity, but with a more mystical and, one might say more rarefied, less personal emphasis. Although the mantra is much used in Buddhism, it belongs to all humanity, the cosmos, and is not the exclusive property of any one religion or spiritual path. By repeating this mantra, anyone can help open their mind to the divine source in whatever faith or spiritual path they already follow, without committing themselves to any contradictory belief system.
Later note (April 2008) - I have since distanced myself from Buddhism and indeed all esotericism, 'sacredness' and 'spirituality', pointing myself instead to pure self realization, which is something different, as I explain in Exit 'Spirituality' - Enter Clear-Mindedness on my Self Realization site. Also, as explained in Interference and Attacks from Astral ('Dark') Entities, mantras and other supposedly sacred things such as symbols (including the much hallowed OM) are all sourced from the astral sub-reality ('the dark side') and not from any beneficial source.
It is thus most helpful and healthy if we all completely disregard any metaphysical, religious, mystical or 'spiritual' connotations or associations of mantras used in this or any of my works, and regard the mantras as being simply practical, down-to-earth building blocks for the respective compositions - regardless of the fact that when I composed the works I was still embracing the 'spirituality' phenomenon and didn't then understand the harmful aspect of the mantras (especially during the extended repetitions that are normal in religious use).
Although the mantra syllables are sung or chanted continually, I feel that this work is not in itself a devotional one but rather a work of broader vision, which includes a portrayal of a particular type of devotion as part of a landscape. It is the whole landscape that is important - NOT the nature of the mantra itself.
I use no specific traditional chants, at least relating to anything in recorded human history, but the choir's lines nonetheless have the feeling of being based in various ancient sorts of chant. The hypnotic incantatory section that begins at figure H in the score (5'34" in my CD recording of the work) has about it a mysterious and intriguing sense of immense antiquity, as though coming from another world entirely, and it brings to me an intense, although visually vague, memory of monks chanting it somewhere, which couldn't possibly be on Earth.
As I'm an incarnation of a new soul, this cannot be a normal past life memory of my own, but I am aware of various sources of memories that I might possibly have got this one from, experiencing it almost as though my own. It's even conceivable that the memory has come directly from 'fundamental memory', the universal 'memory bank' of fundamental consciousness, which is effectively 'the Ultimate' - and I suspect that it could be that it is this 'fundamental memory' that feeds into all the most deeply inspired music and indeed art, and then often gives the artist the impression that they are re-creating something that's been created before, because that's very likely just what they're doing, albeit usually incorporating new elements too.
With the low sun the mountains cast deep shadows in the valleys, and of course often broken clouds may cast shadows on the mountain itself and punctuate and in many ways accentuate the glory of the sunrise. And so we have it in the music, with moments of sublime radiance, mysterious shadows and rugged severity. The form of the work has been arrived at intuitively and cannot be ascribed to any traditional form.
Much use is made of low organ pedal notes in this work, so it is particularly worthwhile listening to the recording of it through hi-fi loudspeakers or headphones that have a really extended bass - audible down to 25 Hz or lower in your listening environment. Computer speakers will thus lose some dramatic effects.