Hanging Gardens

Programme notes

(Dixit Casteels) I would have liked to title this piece suspended gardens, because in the French language, gardens do not hang but instead, are suspended. When I learned about the gardens of Babylon in primary school, my imagination was fired by the vision of guys with cool names like Neglathphalasar or Nabuchodonosor, strolling in immense gardens which four corners hung from cables descending from huge vertical poles, resulting in the whole gardens gently swayed in suspension. 

The compositional structure of Hanging Gardens is simple: one melodic idea and one chord that branch out like rhizomes beyond the limitations of acoustical instruments thanks to the electronic sounds. The musical composition was completed before the creation of the videos. Yet, this piece is not about describing one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, nor nature, canopies or green fingers. Colliding in my mind were the beauty of prime numbers that some mathematicians call natural numbers, Dali-esque structures floating in midair, metastatic growth, the freedom of physical weightlessness in a zero gravity-force environment and the power of mental arborescence. 

The demise of the composer's father in Belgium prevented him to attend the premiere of Hanging Gardens in the concert hall of the Esplanade on 25-10-2015 by the Philharmonic Winds conducted by Leonard Tan with sound processing by Dirk Stromberg and video by Andrew Thomas.

Handwritten sketches and drafts

to be found in chapter VII of the white cover, A3 size, 600 pages sketchbook

Completion of the composition 

9-IV-2015

Anaylsis 

see Hanging Gardens (2016) under Articles

Review

"Its Wagnerian scope was a breathtaking one, a massive canvas of sound... Its gravitation to the key of G major provided the work's pivot, which suggests that there is hope for humanity after all". 

Chang Tou Liang, Singapore