Neil Leonard
For Kounellis
The music on this recording was initiated when Grazia and Gianni Bolongaro, owners of La Marrana di Montemarcello asked me to record the sounds of Jannis Kounellis’ installation and make a piece in response. Kounellis’ untitled installation comprises 23 large church bells that appear to spiral out from a cylindrical chamber rooted in the Earth’s core. I was struck by the intensity of this chorus of silent tongues, facing the sky and projecting a colossal resonance that is felt but is not heard. …
Matanzas
* 2021 Stock * The music on this album is a reflection on living in and listening to the sounds of Matanzas, Cuba. Neil Leonard's recordings of folkloric musicians, interviews, urban surface noise and wetlands were in my ear while composing this work but not heard on the final pieces. What remains is the sensation “after listening,” the stillness and sense of wonder that lingers after hearing Matanzas. This album seemed to compose itself. In August 2016, midway through developing new work for Do…
Sonance for the Precession
The electroacoustic composition Sonance for the Precession was commissioned by Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA). The piece furthers Neil Leonard's practice in large scale sound installation, with recent commissions by documenta, Venice Biennale, and Fujiko Nakaya of Experiments in Art at Technology. The original composition, created for the quad adjacent to WCMA, played from the dome of the historic Hopkins Observatory, the oldest working astronomical observatory in the United States. The …