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An Acoustic Mandala for the Fourteenth (Tibet for Tibet) for small orchestra and percussion ensemble

This orchestral work (composed in homage to the fourteenth Dalai Lama) was inspired by the ceremonial tradition of the Tibetan sand-mandala. The primary research focus is equidistant scale theory and proportional form. The circular mandala is represented in all aspects of form. Proportion and transition is shaped with reference to Pi and the golden ratio. The number 14 is used as a focus for equidistant symmetries. Pitch-organisation was derived from equidistant multiplications/divisions of the number 14 relative to the orchestral range written as numerical frequencies.

The aesthetic goal was to cohesively combine the soundworlds of Tibetan Ceremonial and Contemporary Classical Music. As the chant (inflected monotone recto-tono recitation) is synonymous with Tibetan ceremonial music, this piece is based upon fourteen chants. Consistent reference to the (just-intonation) tritone suggested each chant should span a tritone: a chromatic group of seven notes. Pairing two chants in upper and lower registers, these fourteen-note sequences produced a Chant Matrix. Using symmetrical patterns reminiscent of the sand-mandala I derived fourteen chords from the Chant Matrix. The whole piece is composed from fourteen (14-note) chants and fourteen (14-note) chords. In a manner similar to Lutosławski’s chain-forms, this material is also used to distinguish formal parameters (see score preface).

Whilst this submission represents an original addition to existing research in orchestral composition, references must be made to Toshiro Mayuzumi’s Mandala Symphony (1960). Mayuzumi’s integrated six-note rows and compositional materials acquired through analysis and structure of the overtones from the bell of a Buddhist temple seem comparable to my seven-note chromatic chants and how I paired them through equidistant reference to pitch-frequencies.

This work was premiered by the University of Manchester Symphony Orchestra to a sell-out audience at the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, Manchester 22nd October, 2010 and performed on the following night at the Great Hall, Liverpool.