METAMORPHOSES (Syrinx et Pan)

The legend of the birfh of the pan pipe
(Extracts from "Metamorphosls" of Ovid)

Music : Jean-Claude MARA and Jean DAHAIS
recorded in the cathedral of Altenberg (Germany)
Jean-Claude MARA : pan pipe
Jean DAHAIS : organ
Ulrich MARXCORS : percussion

1. Metamorphosis :
prologue : sounds coming from the origin of humanity.

2. Dream in Arcadia :
dazzling brightness, dark shadows, stormy wind, streaming waters... in the antique Greece.

3. The God Pan :
with impetuosity and vehemence the goat-footed God Pan rushes down from the Olympus.

4. Reverie of Syrinx :
her beauty is fascinating, she dwells in deep forests and on fertile fields, her sisters, the nymphs, have called her "Syrinx".

5. Pan in love :
on his way Pan discovers Syrinx. Touched by her beauty, he clamours his love.

6. Flight of Syrinx :
Syrinx is terrified : the strange appearance of Pan frightens her. She runs away, Arriving at a river bank, she cries for help. Pan, chasing the nymph, flnally catches her. Syrinx asks her sisters to transform her : she is changed into reed. Instead of holding the nymph's body. Pan is keeping only some stems of reed.

7. Pan’s solitude and despair :
Pan exhales his grief. The reed, moved by the wind, emits a fine sound like a complaint.

8. The legend of the God Pan :
Pan is charmed by these sweet and new sounds and says to Syrinx :
"Thus my conversation with you will indefinitely continue"
And Pan called his charming and soul-stirring flute : "Syrinx".


In his composition 'Syrinx and Pan', J.C. Mara uses completely new means of expression and presentation, combining pan pipe, organ and percussion, I perceived all the sonorous intensity of the pan pipe, the lowest and the shrillest sounds, the slightest aspiration, the warmest timbre and the shrillest cry of despair.
This composition relates the legend of the birth of the pan pipe. Listening to this music I imagine the playing nymphs, I see the pursuit of Syrinx and her transformation into reed which finally turns into a sublime instrument.
At the end I hear Pan playing a very beautiful melody on his new-created instrument : 'The legend of the God Pan' - the apotheosis of this unique composition.

-- Jöri Murk

Extract PAN_AMOUREUX :