Angklung

Influenced by the ecstatic pure melody of the Japanese Shakuhachi and the soft, infinitely subtle tones of Javanese Gamelan, Anne Boyd’s Angklung is music of radical simplicity: it employs only four notes (one of which can be retuned to a non-tempered F-flat) and their octave extensions. Boyd once described Angklung – which was premiered by Roger Woodward at the 1974 Edinburgh Festival – as ‘the only perfect piece I ever wrote’ and its meditative atmosphere invites performers and listeners alike to tune themselves into the exquisite beauty of the subtly shifting sounds it presents.

‘Full of hypnotic beauty’

The Guardian (Denis Smalley), 6 September 1974

‘A gentle, rapturous essay in pianissimo shades, after the sound of the bamboo Javanese instrument of the same name.’

The Financial Times (Dominic Gill), 28 September 1974