METAMORPHOSES

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 cailed 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 cailed his charmlng and soul-stirring flute : "Syrinx".

Extract PAN_AMOUREUX :