Charlemagne Palestine

The Golden Mean captures Charlemagne Palestine at the Chapelle de la Sorbonne in Paris on 2 November 1979, during the Festival d'Automne, playing two Bösendorfer Imperial grand pianos. The concert was recorded by Radio France for a broadcast by Daniel Caux on France Culture's Atelier de Création Radiophonique.

The first part starts from a single middle C sounded very slowly on both pianos. One note at a time, Palestine adds the minor second, the major second, the minor and major thirds and the perfect fourth, each interval beating against the others, until the tritone arrives and throws the whole structure into confusion. In his own notes he writes that some say melancholy is the ringing of the minor third. The second part sets out again from two Cs an octave apart, with intervals closing in from above and below, and ends by fading away.

Over about forty minutes the overtones of the two instruments beat, ring and pile up into the singing, almost orchestral mass that makes Palestine's strumming music unlike any other minimalism.

Hand-made CD in a velvet-covered box designed by Charlemagne Palestine, available in five colours.