About this Piece

The title of this piece is adapted from The Bell by Iris Murdoch. The novel features a legend of an abbey bell submerged for centuries in a lake and an ominous recurring dream from which the dreamer awakens feeling uncertain whether they have heard a sound or dreamt it. The plot also highlights a number of pairings: an ancient bell and a new one, a sacred community and a secular one, dual leaders, twins, and lovers.

Antiphonal percussion setups mirror each other. Strings are arranged in matching pairs or trios. Celesta doubles on Rhodes electric piano. As the music retraces subtly diverging paths through a recurring harmonic cycle, the string players are variably asked to play with no vibrato (in order to emphasize the tuning of different pitches against each other) or to play with a slow, measured vibrato, manipulating their pitches in sync with one another in parallel ripples.

Sound shimmering above the surface of the water. Water shimmering beneath the surface of the sound. A memory of a mirage played back from old tape. Slow, lyrical strains wafting over a landscape. Deceleration and acceleration. Tuning and attunement. —Noah Jenkins