the blinding access of the grace of flesh

Chris DENCH
Born 1953, London, England

the blinding access of the grace of flesh (2003)

flute, clarinet in C, voice, guitar, percussion, violin and violoncello
Commissioned by ELISION Ensemble with the assistance of the Australia Council

"When I asked Ma Nelson what this picture [Titian's Leda and the Swan] meant, she told me it was a demonstration of the blinding access of the grace of flesh"
--Fevvers, in Nights at the Circus by Angela CARTER

Episodic memory recalls direct perception; semantic memory recalls meaning. Nodes are concepts in semantic memory -- memes -- that ultimately can be associated with neural activity in the brain. The linkage of nodes is the essence of what we refer to as meaning, and is assembled as a hierarchy. The level of the node, whether concept (the simplest recognisable unit), proposition, or schema, determines the complexity of the idea, behaviour, or artifact that it helps to sustain in the culture at large.
--adapted from Consilience by Edward O WILSON

This piece can be `read´ in a number of ways. Firstly, the work conforms to one of my preferred structural archetypes, that of the cosmological Standard Model. Secondly, the sections' titles indicate that the work describes a gradual increase in musical dimensionality, as described in E O Wilson's comments on memes, from the scaled-up point-like single dimension of node, to the surface-like duets of proposition, and ultimately the space-like plenum of schema. Finally, the title leads us to imagine the work as a metaphorical reminiscence -- or, as the text suggests, melancholy recollection.

the blinding access of the grace of flesh is dedicated to ELISION Ensemble, and to Kathryn Sullivan.

Programme note © Chris DENCH