Decided to walk the three miles home turning over in my mind what has been written so far. Took a different route along the sea-front, into town and home across what used to be fields but is now miles of new housing. Other things for the piece surfaced, especially how an Indian rhythm may be utilised and then how finger-cymbals and cymbal-discs may be used in a sort of dialogue. This piece is concerned with the shift from the 'machine' to the 'magical'. Also, a title has presented itself.

On arrival home found that 'Stillusion' had arrived. Listened. 'Song of the Sea Goat' and 'A House of Hopes and Dreams' have always been my favourites. And then there's 'Under the Sky' in which Ian McDonald's style is unmistakable. Peter Sinfield: the 'colour' behind KC Mks I & II? There is a dynamic fusion of the opposites which are an integral part of the first four albums, as well as a remarkable poetic and colouristic sense. Things clarify further about the musical side of King Crimson which will be useful for the future analysis project. I'm pleased that Voiceprint have made 'Still' available again.

John Carr phoned about arrangements for getting to Monday's concert in London. I look forward to this immensely. Also contacted the Festival in Slovenia to thank them for offering to pay for me to attend Virelai's performance. Also sent off cheque so as to join BACS.

The parts/score have also returned from the binders, so last evening was a labelling/parcelling-up operation. A van has been ordered for today to collect these and transport them to London.

5 06/29/2000 Yesterday was a day of wonders. We drove to the Lake Disrict, lunch in the Apple Pie Shop in Ambleside, then set off, walking, to Low Pike (See A. Wainwright - Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Volume 1). Reached High Sweden bridge, crossed it and then up to Low Pike. It was a soft, grey and warm day. Lots of ferns have come out, and the visibility wasn't marvellous. The other mountains were shrouded in grey haze: High Pike to the north immediately along the ridge, Red Screes to the east over the valley, and to the west, the Langdales, the Conistons, Crinkle Crags, Bowfell etc. all just visible. Walked s-l-o-w-l-y back to Ambleside for a cup of coffee. The silence was just marvellous. Stopped and listed to it quite often. It was very warm.

Returned to find Peter Sinfield had sent the Tom Robbins book, 'Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates', and a polaroid of the wardrobe in his bedroom, with circus paintings on. When I was writing the brief analysis on 'Lizard' (now on the Present Moment pages - thanks Dan!) Peter told me his wardrobe had paintings of a circus nature on it. On the photo he has written, 'Would I lie (the wardrobe)!' Thank you, Peter. What a nice surprise!

Another surprise, too. Jacob Heringman had phoned/e-mailed saying the Radovljica Festival have offered to fly me out to Slovenia with Virelai, Jacob and Susanna's ensemble, to hear the two little pieces I've written for them in August when Virelai perform at the Festival. Thank you!

Today I'm accompanying for Associated Board exams. Didn't sleep well last evening. I was disturbed by ideas forming for the percussion due piece. Things are falling into place apropos this.

4 06/28/2000 Woke to very encouraging e-mail from Riccardo Terranova, my old friend who is now resident in Iowa. Also an e-mail from my old school chum Chris P-J, who would like to come to the Concerto premiere in November.

Yesterday completed and posted 'My Lute, Awake!' to Jacob. This is probably the fastest I've ever had to work on an arrangement. I hope it's what you envisaged, Jacob?

Worked a little on the percussion duo piece. The first section of this is gradually taking shape, the Ouspensky book providing the main conceptual ideas. One of Peter Dunton's fragments is entirely appropriate as the backbone for this section because of the mechanical nature of the material. Early days. However, I think the progress of the music from start to finish should be 'mechanical' through to 'magical'. The piece hasn't got to be complete until 2002.

On arriving home one of our neighbours handed me a package which the postman hadn't been able to put through the letter-box (and it wasn't 'Stillusion'...where is that package?!). The envelope had a DGM sticker on the front, and yes! It's the new transcription from Bert Lams of one of Robert's unreleased Soundscapes. I listened to this last evening: a beautiful piece. I suggested to Bert that we should have a Soundscape which wasn't as directional as the others we've worked on so far, and this is the one. A clear idea how to deal with this one has emerged immediately: single winds, single brass and strings? It could be reminiscent of Arvo Part meeting Webern when complete, but that will clarify.

It's one of those warm, grey mid-summer days. The lawn look better having been cut last evening.

3 06/27/2000 Yesterday had an all-out assault on Gail's song. It's nearly complete, with only two verses left to copy. I places new material added, with variations on Gail's original melody. Should have this finished, and sent to Jacob by the end of the day.

Called in to see my parents. My mother thinks my father had another small-scale stroke on Saturday evening, but he recovered quickly following the attack. She looked worried. I attached a new light-fitting onto the wall for my father.

To Martin Tauchen who wrote a note to me on the Guestbook: first, thanks Martin! Secondly, why did I turn to composition at 31, seemingly a late age for one to begin such a pursuit? I had always composed but never regarded what I'd done as being in any way interesting or 'serious'. I'll deal with the course of events in a number of paragraphs, as I feel it may be helpful to people.

Many things happen at the outset of mid-life. Although I had started my career as a flautist/guitarist and had built up quite an extensive teaching practice, a number of things happened. I was responsible for the music in a local church which prepared the way for creative work but, at the same time, I also lost my religious faith so I felt, in all honesty, I could no longer continue as part of a religious establishment. For me, Christianity had lost its numinous aspect. Around the same time, someone told me that there was a part-time music degree course at the University of Central Lancashire, in Preston. I 'felt' that I had to attend. It was during this time that I began to get lots of ideas for pieces. Studying harmony, counterpoint, analysis and music history gave me a great insight into musical techniques. I simply hadn't been mature enough to handle these sort of things some years earlier, at the time I studied the flute. I met James Wishart, the composer, and he offered to teach me Composition. It wasn't really teaching techniques, as much as opening the door on composers like Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Xenakis etc.

2) In 1987 another crucial event happened: I came across Jung's ideas. This came about because I'd been reading about Tippett's interest in Jung, and had also listened to many of his works. 'The Midsummer Marriage' is, of course, a huge insight into Jungian ideas. With my religious frustrations on the increase (I was still part of the church) I went along to some lectures on Jung at the local library given by a Canadian student who was studying for his PhD at Lancaster University. At the same time I had a remarkable dream: 'A man-woman, in shining armour, stands in a rocky pool. He/she smiles at me. The figure is holding three serpents which are writhing furiously. The figure continues to smile as if to say, "Do not worry about the serpents. They are under control". ' This dream left an incredible impression on me. I later came across a similar figure in many of the illustrations included in Jung's 'Psychology and Alchemy'. It is, of course, Mercurius, the god of the alchemists. Robert Aziz, the PhD student, recommended that it may be wise to begin a course of Jungian analysis. He gave me the addresses of two people who he felt could help, so I opted for Dr. Mc. This was the beginning of more or less everything that has happened subsequently. Dream after dream pointed to these two factors: a) leave the church; b) begin to compose seriously; c) realise that the 'outer' and 'inner' are one; d) use intuition for composing as opposed to rational methods. That was in 1987.

Subsequently, I studied Composition with Nicola LeFanu, Tony Gilbert and John Casken. I felt I needed to get to grips with technique. I listened to music day and night, on the radio, at concerts, with and without scores. There were several composers whose music I really liked: John Tavener, Nicola LeFanu, Arvo Part, some of John Casken's and Tippett's. It became clear that I had an affinity with 'English' music, which was very unfashionable at the time. I also listened to just about everything possible by Delius, Vaughan-Williams, Elgar and Holst. I'd also never stopped liking, and listening, to the music of King Crimson, Nick Drake and T2. They also had something which seemed important, which I later realised was a sense of 'wholeness': they, unlike many contemporary composers who seem weighed-down by technique, have accessed the world of the archetypes. I also read everything I could lay my hands on: music, psycholgy, religion etc. etc.

I began to submit my scores to the SPNM (Society for the Promtion of New Music). Miraculously, the pieces were selected to be performed, and through this excellent society I was able hear what I'd written played by excellent musicians. One or two of those pieces still stand up, and have been taken up by ensembles who continue to perform them today. One of the things which I learnt was that performers seemed to like performing my music. For music to catch on, I suppose that there has to be a sense of appreciation for the work (from performers and audiences) as well as a craft supporting its structure.

Then people began to commission works from me, sometimes for money sometimes not. I don't write just for money: sometimes I feel that if a piece has to be written, and something has to be explored, then it is more important to go ahead and write the piece without funding. I have heard many pieces which have received huge sums of commission funding which have received one performance and then subsequently died. I hold onto the fact that if the music is memorable, then people will want to hear it again. I also feel music has to include structural strengths (techniques) so that, even if people don't understand it, they 'feel' there is something else there and after repeated listenings something in the music reveals itself to them.

2 06/26/2000 Yesterday was an odd little day. For most of it I worked on arranging Gail Gillespie's song, 'My Lute Awakes', for Virelai's future concert in Slovenia. Managed, by the evening, to have completed a rough sketch. It needed fleshing-out a little, and this has been done. More work is needed, and this continues today.

In the afternoon we drove to Knott End, which is about a mile across the Wyre estuary from Fleetwood. You have to drive all the way round to it, as the ferry doesn't operate on Sundays. The tide was miles out, so we walked right out to the sea and then three miles northwards up the coast, returning along the sea wall parallel with Pilling. I cannot believe it! New buildings are even going up here! We think that in around fifty years the green areas, even around the coast, may have gone to new houses.

David phoned from Doncaster. Good recording of the piece!

E-mails from Peter Sinfield promising to send me a Tom Robbins book (thanks, Peter!) and lots of e's from Jacob Heringman. Judith e-mailed from the USA wanting further information on 'Afterwords'. Also sent her info. on 'One Flesh' and 'Sad Steps'. These are being included in a catalogue which lists recently composed pieces for viols.

Listened to 'Lizard'. The colours are blinding in this music. Also continued with the C.S. Nott book. Nearly complete. G's ideas are beginning to make more sense, but the parallels with Jung continue to resonate. I wonder if the twentieth century was the age of psycholgy/rediscovery of Gnostic ideas/the East etc. etc. as well as the growth of the 'new' sciences in an age of unparalleled idealism influenced by the former, wrapped-up in Postmodernism? The Brian Appleyard book lies in wait on the shelf to, hopefully, fill-in that area of missing knowledge.

1 06/25/2000 Cancelled my usual day at the RNCM Junior School yesterday so as to drive to Cartmel, in Cumbria, for the second performance of 'Just Lost'. David Rogers, post-production assistance and sleeve-designer extraordinaire, came over from Yorkshire to record the piece. A coach party of around 200 just happened to be at the recording in the afternoon (Cartmel, and its Priory, is a very popular tourist place), and the evening concert was attended by over 300 people. Bolton Chamber Choir are an extraordinary ensemble. The balance between the sopranos and altos, with the tenors and basses, is marvellous and their intonation is astounding. John Powell, their conductor and musical director, has done a great job in getting them to their present standard. Both recordings seemed to go well, and the evening performance was beautiful. During the afternoon rehearsal an strange thing happened: as I sat in the body of the church listening to the piece with my eyes closed, I imagined the final section of the piece coming from the unconscious, as it had done originally from a dream I had. The experience yesterday moved me greatly, so much so that it brought tears. The end section is simply sung over a G pedal-pitch in the basses with the choir circling over the top in long modal phrases. Technique was not paramount in this piece: it simply came from the unconscious, through pencil and onto the paper. A written improvisation? Many people came up to me both after the rehearsal and performance saying how much they had enjoyed it, and how beautiful they thought the music was. One lady said to me that she doesn't like contemporary music, but having heard a couple of my pieces likes what she's heard. Many asked when the CD was likely to be out. Cartmel is a lovely place.

I stood still quite a lot yesterday just looking around. Hampsfell, wher Sue and I walked a few months ago, looked resplendent in the late afternoon light, and in the space between rehearsal and performance we drove to the Haversham railway. This is a portion of track remaining between Newby Bridge and Haversham where steam locomotives run mainly for tourists. It was glimpse back into Sue's, David's and my own childhood. I remember, in the 1950's - when I was a child - waiting with my mother on Denstone station platform for the train to take us to Uttoxeter six miles away. We always travelled to town for market-days. Often, the engine driver used to lift me onto the footplate to see the workings of the engine, and once I was allowed to sit in the cab all the way to town. The smell of the steam and the coal and the wood is a memory which re-surfaced yesterday when the chap who maintains the engine said 'have a look in the cab!' Was England a better place to live in those far-off days, or are childhood memories clouding my mind? There wasn't so much damn traffic on the roads, that's for sure. The chap who looks after the Haversham railway told us the powers-that-be are now thinking of re-opening the old branch-lines. In the 1960's a famous government minister closed them, and so forced the goods traffic onto the roads. We are feeling the full impact of that decision now. In the 1980's another goverment minister said, 'People want to use their cars, so we will build more roads'. Problem: the UK is not a huge country; we have limited space; we cannot continue to build on already dwindling space; the land cannot support it; etc; etc; etc; It's all to do with one thing: revenue. We can only sit and watch (in horror) as our country dwindles in size even further...but, is their light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak?

Jacob Heringman also sent a little setting of Sir Thomas Wyatt by Gail Gillespie which he would like arranging for the Virelai Slovenia concert. I propose to get on with this today.

On Friday had lots of idea for the percussion duo piece. Notes written onto paper! Also managed to post all the parts and score of 'Red' to Scott and Ann. Concerto parts/score off to the binders, too.

Term is gradually winding-down. This year has passed with the twinkling of an eye.

7 06/24/2000 Lizard. Part 2.

Big Top

'Big Top', the final piece of 'Lizard' and originally the working title of the album (letter from Robert Fripp to Andrew Keeling, Winter 1970), balances with 'Cirkus' by being placed as coda to the entire work, as well as to the title-piece, 'Lizard'. A listener is brought to ground with a conscious reminder that the idea of the circus has run like thread-like through the work in a similar fashion to The Beatles' 'Sgt Pepper...'. However, Peter Sinfield has said (e-mail to Andrew Keeling, 23-vi-00) that a visit to a 'Bertram Mills' circus may have served as a catalyst for the work: 'I was introduced to various animal trainers, acrobats, the stern black-top-hatted ring master and...Coco The Clown...I came by affection/infection honorary circus folk at a very imperishable age (between 4 and 8). Add that to my later fascination with fun fairs.' The front cover-painting, as well as the music, gives very careful attention to detail in term of this circus/fun fair atmosphere.

'Big Top' is an instrumental in 6/8. It is 33 bars long, and includes a motley collection of instruments, used to evoke a typically circus-like instrumental accompaniment, perhaps as accompaniment for the trapeze, where the spectators' attention is not fully on the music but, instead, on the circus act itself. We hear, in the foreground, the mellotron strings, the bass guitar playing fifths and octaves, the drums battering snare, cymbals and open hi-hat on the strong beats, piano, fast oboe chromatic arabesques, marimba and hidden sounds whirling around in the background. The piece is, essentially, a loop.

'Big Top' resolves the tension of the gravitas of 'Lizard', and employs two chords: G7 and C. The piece is in C major, and in this way serves as a long-term harmonic resolution. It begins with a short anacrusis-like dominant prolongation before we hear two melodic phrases, a) and b), which are heard in the strings. These include the interval of the 3rd central to 'Cirkus'. However in the case of 'Big Top' the 3rd has been filled-in and transposed: a) C - (B) - A - (B); and transformed into the major as well as by retrograde form: b) (C) - B - (A) - G - (B). The latter version also reveals two interlocking 3rds: C - b - A - g.

The piece is interesting in other ways. Being loop-like the material is repeated round and round, like a giant wheel or roundabout, and begins in the far right of the audio-space. It gradually becomes central before, at the very end, moving upwards and over into the far left with an accelerando. It's as though what began as a rational experience, symbolised by 'right', has now ingrained itself into the unconscious, symbolised by 'left'. Perhaps it anticipates its gentler successor, 'Islands', which, through its use of femine symbolism such as water, ocean, the feminine per se, is preparing to connect us with an experience of the deep unconscious? Interestingly 'Formentera Lady', the first song-piece of 'Islands', is also in the same key/mode as 'Cirkus', E, but in the case of 'FL' music of a more passive type evolves. It is as though the conflicts of 'Lizard' are subsequently laid to rest in favour of the more Eros-laden music of 'Islands', and what was begun as far back as 'In the Court of the Crimson King' is, by now, treated in a very different way through 'feeling'.

6 06/23/2000 'Cirkus' - Part 1 (continued)

8) Alto saxophone solo heightens the words, 'lest the wheel stop turning', by circling over Phrygian cadence-like chords (C major - B minor). These Phrygian progressions also reflect the falling semitones in the voice part of the verses (i.e. at 'gave me each a horse..' of verse 1). Once again, the Phrygian chord movement is very much a King Crimson musical fingerprint. The mellotron pitches are also sustained over the bars by one beat, which is connected to the phrase structure which, in turn, has been stretched from four to six bars. This has the effect of tripping-up listener expectations;
9) Drums are omitted from bar 155ff. This is the still centre of the piece, and perhaps the fulcrum on which the structure balances. Idea of social chaos, reflected in the metaphor of the circus, is now mirrored by the musical structure. On either side of this quiet section are 114 bars, followed by 111 bars excluding the senza misura climax at the very end. The piece may then be regarded as being bipartite; like a huge musical see-saw or swing. This central section also balances with the opening verse, both being without drums. It is also interesting motivically: the left-hand of the mellotron plays B - C - A (minor 3rds) underpinning a B major chord;
10) Verse 4 - absence of drums ('Elephants forgot...' [drums=elephants?]); rapid descending arpeggios in the guitar part; drums re-enter on up-beat to 'I ran for the door...' giving the music great upward-thrust;
11) Instrumental - even greater intensity than before with minor 3rds reinforced in the piano part;
12) Quiet section; rhythmic symmetry in the second mellotron (three crotchets/two crotchet rests/three crotchets) plus motivic symmetry: mellotron II plays ascending C# - E nat. - C# crotchets; mellotron I plays descending C# - A nat. - C# mimims;
13) 'Rocking' minor 3rds are further intensified with the introduction of the cornet;
14) Penultimate section introduces rising A - B - C - D - D# which outlines a tritone (A - D#); bass guitar underpins this with a chain of tritones (A-D#, B-F, F#-C, G-C#). The tritones have been previously heard as part of the minor 3rd motive (Bb - E nat. of Section 3);
15) Coda - senza misura: the climax of the piece with huge mellotron-dominated chord cluster (F/Gb/Ab/B/C/Db/Eb) supported by cymbal rolls; F natural, as a root pitch in the mellotron, seems to give the impression of progressive tonality (i.e. a work which ends in a higher or a lower key as compared to the key of the opening):

Intro: E minor/mode (chord i)...Coda: f note-cluster (chord bii)

There is also a connection between this allusion to progressive tonality with the tone/semi-tone neighbour-note oscillations included in the melodic material of the verses.

The piece could be regarded as a musical metaphor: the idea of the circus, included in Peter Sinfield's words, is further conveyed by the bi-partite/symmetrical structural see-saw, which balances on the fulcrum of the still centre. More than that many of the musical motives seem to have symmetry as their basis, as well as rising and falling motion, which closely unifies the music with the words even further.

5 06/22/2000 Cirkus (from Lizard 1970)

Part 1 'Lizard' is a concept album with a difference from those of the period, where the idea of social chaos is wrapped-up in suitably fitting metaphors such as the circus, the family, The Beatles and the Lizard. I do not plan to analyse the complete work, but will concentrate on 'Cirkus' and 'Big Top', which are both related as they frame and balance the musical structure. This brief analysis (to be expanded at a later date) will be divided into parts.

Cirkus

'Cirkus' includes the letter C and K which, perhaps, stands for Crimson King in a similar way to the first album, which included the group's name in its title. 'Cirkus' has four verses which are prefaced by instrumental introductions. There is an absence of refrains, or chorus-like material. Instead, each of the verses, in turn, ascend to climaxes which create tension. This is also reflected in the structure of the entire piece, which begins softly (a harp-like, distant electric piano), gradually building in intensity throughout until ending with loud mellotrons, cornet and rolled cymbals.

The whole piece falls into fifteen distinct sections which I will deal with separately:

1) Intro. - harp-like piano introduces the minor third 'rocking' motive (pitch-classes 0,3 [E-G]). Tonality = E minor/mode;
2)Verse 1 - voice and electric piano sound the second important musical motive of oscillating tones, mainly E and its lower neighbour-note D (0,10) which gradually rise to the 'dawn' (V-B major) by the close of the verse. The verse also includes Phrygian cadence-like chordal progressions, which made an appearance on 'Epitaph' on ITCOTCK (1969);
3) Bar 25 introduces the 'rocking' mellotron motive, Bb - G (6,3), played mechanically in crotchets, which rises to E natural in bar 28. The much later song-piece, 'ProzaKc Blues', also explores the same pitches, although differently ordered. However, I believe that 'Dinosaur', included on 'Thrak' (1995), also references the minor third 'rocking' motive of 'Cirkus' as a kind of musical archaeolgy. Returning to 'Cirkus', the bass guitar anchors the texture with a G natural pedal pitch. The music returns to E in bar 31. In this way, the original E - G motive (3,0) of Verse 1, has now been reflected in the harmony (G minor - E minor mode). 'The World's My Oyster Soup...' ('The ConstruKction of Light', 2000), also utilises the pitches G and E as part of its riff;
4) Verse 2 - 'open' texture. Acoustic guitar word-paints the lyrics (i.e. 'pushed me down a slide...' is pointed-up by a guitar glissando;
5) The minor thirds of the instrumental, following Verse 2, is accentuated by bass guitar Bb - G - E - G (6,3,0,3) which not only uses the material from the mellotron's minor thirds, but also 'magnifies' it;
6) Acoustic guitar solo - a study in arpeggiated thirds (played as fast semiquaver triplets) which takes material from the mellotron's minor thirds. This another example of Robert Fripp's technique of closely unifying musical materials;
7) Verse 3 intensifies Verse 2 in textural terms.

(All analyses of the music of King Crimson/Robert Fripp is copyright, Andrew Keeling & Discipline Global Mobile, 2000.)

4 06/21/2000 Yesterday the parts for the Concerto and 'Red' were photocopied, and I managed to collate them last evening. The Concerto parts can be sent to the binders today, and then the parts for 'Red' can be bound here and sent to Ann. Found errors in both scores, so a new copy of the concerto will have to be sent to Diego and another score of 'Red' to Scott.

Had further thoughts about 'Cirkus' from Lizard last evening, so I'm thinking that a revision of the former analysis of it, which I did last January, can be included on the Diary probably over the next few days, and then offered to the Present Moment pages. The way in which 'Big Top' re-orders and transforms the minor 3rd motive of 'Cirkus' is most effective, as well as balancing the entire structure. I listened to the new edition of 'Lizard' two evenings ago, and this suggested further ways of working on it. I think 'Cirkus' is a very strong piece.

The record company who are interested in my CD contacted me again on Monday saying they think the art-work is fine, but needs tweeking here and there. They like Sid's painting, which I'm pleased about. However, I'm making no decision until July about the future of the CD.

Continuing with the C.S. Nott book. Is there a similarity between Jung's and Gurdjieff's ideas? The unconscious seems to inhabit their methods.

Today I'm accompanying for Asociated Board exams. Have to make two journeys over to Kirkham, with a break in between to visit the binders for the parts.

Another dream last night. The unconscious has a way of anticipating future events. If, from past experience, things don't go as indicated then the unconsious is completely out-of-kilter, and I doubt that very much. There is a strange ambience in the air: the reason for my migrains over the past few days? Or maybe just the anticipation of England being beaten?

3 06/20/2000 I felt completely out of sorts yesterday: taught till lunchtime and then went to my parents for lunch. Spent the afternoon cutting the Lilac tree in their garden, which was tiring. It turns out that my mother has kept ALL my letters which I wrote home from school from 1964 - 1969. There is huge packet containing them. The letters come complete in their original envelopes including original stamps! I couldn't believe it! Here's one that I chuckled at, and can half-remember writing because I had a pen, for a while, which wouldn't work properly.

25th July (1965)

Dear Mum and Dad,

It was nice seeing you yesterday. I have eaten the sweets. We did Stanford in Bb this morning.

With love from Andrew

What is odd about this letter, is that the writing is actually readable. Nowadays my writing is more or less illegible, which Peter Sinfield has referred to as a 'Gnostic scrawl'! Stanford in Bb, referred to in the letter, is one of every choristers finest memories: a Te Deum in Bb by the composer Charles Villiers Stanford.

My recent dialogue with John Eberhart has got me thinking a little more about TCOL (se John's Guestbook entry of 19-vi-00). When I analyse music I have to suspend value-judgements to say what there is IN a musical work. However, as a person who enjoys music I am probably no different from anyone else: I need to engage both rational and irrational faculties (thinking and feeling) so as to arrive at a whole judgement about the work in question. Also sensation and intuition (in a Jungian sense) are important tools for accessing art-works, telling me what they are and what are the possibilities for that work. A judgement, then, is a complex series of factors which, unconsciously, break down the parts of the work to arrive at an understanding of the whole. Naturally, we often approach art-works with our own superior faculty: a 'thinker' will approach a work differently from a 'feeler'. Although they may reach similar conclusions about it the method of analysis will be different.

However, I'm not sure that with a work like TCOL, as with some recent works of John Tavener's, or James Dillon's, or Gorecki's, that we can apply 'like/don't like' categories of criticism. Perhaps we may have to adopt alternative critical methods? Perhaps, even, a 'third' category may be appropriate: something Jung would have referred to as the 'tertium non datur', in a sense quoting the Axiom of Maria: 'One, then the two, then the three as the fourth'. For us, this idea poses something of a paradox. What Jung seems to be saying is that this 'third' idea, whatever that is - and he often applied this to the resultant factor which emerges from a conflict of one sort or another - emerges as a new, and different mode of interpretation to whatever situation we are in, especially when it is unlikely that a rational solution is to be found. In other words, it may be possible for us, by allowing this faculty to work through us, to reach out to that plane where the art-work in question exists.

All serious musical works take different stances, and require concerted efforts to 'crack' them. Personally, I have often found works are placed ahead of their time or, sometimes, not bound by time. These are the ones which may well reveal more to us on repeated listenings. Works such as Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon' and KC's 'In the Court of the Crimson King' fall into this category, as well as Schoenberg's, Berg's, Webern's, one or two of Tavener's, James Dillon's, Benedict Mason's and Simon Holt's work to name but a few. These works seem to include multi-levels of meaning.

I suspect that one of the chief problems that some have found with TCOL is the way in which it seems to go against the grain in terms of KC tradition, especially in terms of a seeming absence of tension and release, and could also be applied to the instrumentation in the work. After all, we must consider all the properties which go into making the complete work. I would actually argue that this tension does exist, but is more to do with the deployment, and the weighing of, Octatonic harmony and pitch-collections against modal/tonal collections which, as John Eberhart has referred to, as an 'unfolding', which seems to be heightened by the instrumentation. With this in mind, I wonder if we hear a sense of linear progression through TCOL, or is the idea of continuity somehow undermined by a kind of 'mosaic'-like form? Probably not, but it is worth consideration.

My analysis of TCOL made the point that a creative 'presence' seems to inhabit the collective name, 'King Crimson', at various and different points in time. It is as though this 'presence' decides on what music and words are to be written, somehow using the musicians as 'channels' through which this 'other' presents itself. 'Incarnation' may be a better term to use. This is not to say that the musicians are 'robots' and don't possess free-will (!!), simply that, perhaps, something greater than themselves is at work. This has more to do with 'essence' than anything else. TCOL, then, is probably the right work for the right time. In the end history, which gives opportunity for reflection, may well clarify this.

By taking Jung's 'third' category, the view of the unconscious, perhaps we can only allow the work in question to flow over and through us, by allowing it to unfold as it is? Some knowledge of Gurdjieff's ideas are, I think, indispensible for gaining an understanding of some of KC's more recent works, from Robert Fripp's 'Exposure' onwards, and this is perhaps where the crux lies. I feel that a transcendence of perceptions may be necessary for TCOL to impress itself on us. One thing is for sure: King Crimson's music, from every period, is not for the faint-hearted or those unprepared to think about it. That KC's music initiates discussion must surely be a sign of the strength of the music?

2 06/19/2000 Yesterday was a hot one! We drove to Stockton to collect Nicholas from University, and the temperatures were really sky-high. The usually bleak Bowes Moor looked a little less so, and we stopped to have a look in the Otter Trust. However, the admission prices were so extravagant we took one look and drove away, a shame because it's good to lend support to these things. Instead had lunch in Barnard Castle.

On return managed to complete half the part for Violin II-2 of 'Red'. Should be able to polish the whole thing off today. Then for the first time since September of last year I'll have some space. Tomorrow is a mammoth proof-reading day, and the Concerto parts, now complete, will be proof-read and Xeroxed. To the binders for them!

Interesting telephone conversation with Peter Sinfield last evening. The research stage of our project is beginning, and I'm looking forward to seeing what emerges as the summer months progress. We hope to meet, possibly in July. I'm still waiting for my copy of 'Stillusion' to arrive from the shop it was ordered from last week.

Janet W. came around with a birthday present: a CD of Celia Bartoli 'Live in Italy', which includes music by Caccini, Vivaldi, Berlioz and a host of others. We listened to Jimmy Webb's 'Ten Easy Pieces', and the Izzy Cooper album.

Today looks as though it will be even warmer than yesterday. The guinea-pigs have been moved to their summer residence: outside in the back-yard.

1 06/18/2000 Yesterday was fun! The RNCM teaching is getting easier now the Young Composers' concert has gone, and yesterday we listened to 'The Rite of Spring', some recent Judith Weir and then went to a concert. The playing was excellent, but apart from a J.S. Bach keyboard Concerto I was less convinced by the qualities of the actual music played. There was a Sonata for viola and piano by Glinka, and a Concertino for marimba and piano by Paul Creston which I felt were both rather weak, structurally speaking. The student performances were staggeringly good, as usual.

Sue was waiting at the station when I arrived home and we went for a meal and a drink at the River Wyre pub, then returned home to watch the match. At last! England actually won, although I don't think they played as well last night as compared with the Portugal game. I continued to cut/glue the violin II-1 part together of the arrangement whilst watching the match. Two parts remain to complete. Bert e-mailed saying he's just about to send the next Soundscape, so I aim to be clear of the current project before that arrives as it is a much longer one (25 minutes).

Jacob and Susanna also sent me a nice net-postcard. It shows a scene from Alice in Wonderland: says Alice to the cat, 'Would you tell me please which way I have to go from here?' 'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the cat. (How you seem to echo my current thoughts!) Linda and Kevin also sent a card with...yes...a Kingfisher on it. Thank you to you all.

It's Fathers' Day today. Elizabeth has sent me a card which includes the caption: 'I've never forgotten your good advice...I don't usually follow it, but I thought you'd be pleased to know that I remember it'.

Listening to Scriabin's Third Symphony 'Divine Poem' as I write this. Big music! Also listened to a Free album last evening. This is well and truly in the past for me. Reacted much less positively to the music than I used to.

7 06/17/2000 At 2130 last evening I wrote the final double-bar on the harp part, and everything is complete for the Concerto! All that remains is proof-reading of cello, double-bass and harp parts, then a Xeroxing and then postage.

Gilbert Isbin sent some music over the ether. Looks good!

Jacob Holm-Lupo sent a message apologising for not being in touch for a while, but his computer had been knocked-out in a thunder-storm three weeks ago. The new White Willow album, 'Sacrament', has just been released. Great!

On this day, just a few years ago (and I'm not saying how many years ago!), my mother brought me into this world. Presents on the table in the back-room which I'm just about to open before travelling to Manchester. There is a Concert today at 1300.

Looks like being another very warm day.

6 06/16/2000 Yesterday, after almost completing the harp part and recovering from a migraine which reached a crescendo around lunchtime, and gradually vanished after a school lunchtime curry (what wouldn't!), I arrived home around teatime. Elizabeth told me I'd had two phone calls: one from Peter Sinfield and one from Revd. Ian Makinson. As it was 17-30 and I had to be on the road, I quickly returned Ian's call, who said that he would like to hear the piece for Bolton Chamber Choir. Reaching for the map BCC had sent to me the previous day, I gave him directions, and then set out in the car. I arrived at the venue given on the map at around 1830, where BCC said they were going to run the piece prior to the performance at 1930. However, no sign of John Powell, the conductor, or BCC. Church very locked! So, I phoned Directory Enquiries who said there are three St. Thomas churches in Bolton, but not one listed as St. Thomas of Canterbury. 'Sit tight', thinks I, 'things can't get any worse.' It was then that Ian, and daughter Holly, arrived. Ian said he thought he knew where the church may be, so we drove to another St. Thomas's. Still not the one. Two out of three. Ian then made a brilliant suggestion: 'my cousin lives just around the corner and we'll drive to his house and ask him where the church is', which we did. Ian's cousin knew the venue and, in convoy, we drove to St. Thomas's of Canterbury. We arrived just in time to hear my piece. The amazing thing is that the title is 'Just Lost'! The piece was beautifully performed and many people said so at the end. The Minister of the St. Thomas's asked BCC to return next year and invited me to write another piece for the event, an idea which I gladly accepted. John Powell is very adept at picking interesting programmes, and last night's was no exception. Some interesting music by Aaron Copland which I didnt know, but also a really unusual piece by Percy Grainger called 'Shallow Brown'. Other pieces by Weelkes and Parry. In the case of 'Just Lost': I had a dream in 1994 of hearing voices singing music I'd never heard before. The sound was beautiful, and when I awoke I couldn't write down what I'd heard. The final section of the 'Just Lost' resembles that 'dream' music very closely. 'Just Lost' was written very quickly (two days) and seems to be a product of 'unconscious' writing.

5 06/15/2000 David Matthews phoned last evening wanting a biography from me for the programme for the Deal Festival. My Piano Quartet (Reclaiming Eros) is premiered there on July 28th. We had an interesting conversation about the Gurdjieff/de Hartmann collaboration, as I happened to mention that I'd been listening to some pieces from a CD which includes them during the day. This has clarified something else for me in terms of my own musical development, as gradually things begin to unfold. This may well take some time to achieve, but there's actually little that can be done consciously. I think it's more for the unconscious to work out. 'A man is unable to achieve very little by himself'.

Gilbert Isbin also made contact. Gilbert sent me his CD 'Gilbert Isbin Plays Nick Drake' and I felt was rather good. Gilbert asks if I'd like to play flute on an album he's doing.

Completed the double-bass part of the concerto and now halfway through the harp part which is the final one. Cello, bass and harp parts need proof-reading as mistakes are always made in the copying process.

Listened to Tool's 'Aenima' album last evening which had a strange effect on me, so much so that I had to stop listening. The last time I heard a piece of music which had the same effect was Section 25's 'Charnel Ground' back in the 1980's. Remembered I was driving to Fleetwood one dark and wet evening and listening to John Peel's show. The Section 25 piece came on, and goodness! Did that get under my skin! Music has many different ways of affecting us. Also listened to ProjeKct X, Focus's 'Moving Waves' and Nick Drake's 'Bryter Layter'. Nick Drake: the way the accompaniments heighten the melodies which carry the words. N.D.'s music seems to be Schubertian at the compositional level. 'One Of These Things First' was my favourite yesterday. I thought the Focus was rather beautiful, but doesn't work as well structurally. Noticed the album had been recorded very quickly, and thought that perhaps it was more of a case of coming up with the goods quickly?

The C.S. Nott book continues to make me think.

Bolton Chamber Choir have sent me a huge map for my journey for the first performance of the piece this evening.

4 06/14/2000 Woke to find message from Dan saying he has put TCOL analysis on the PM page. Thanks, Dan!

Went to hear/see Paul Rodgers at the Apollo Theatre in Manchester last evening. I thought initially 'OK. Well, I suppose it'll be an evening of nostalgia'. But, wow! Paul Rodgers is a man who likes performing, loves his audience and, it seems to me, loves life. Geoff and Dave (brother-in-law and friend) and I thought the concert was tremendous. Most of the songs have a I - bVII - IV chord basis, with introduction verse/chorus/middle solo/chorus (or variant). Who's worried? P.R.'S voice sounds absolutely fantastic. 'The voice of a generation of the blues'. The Apollo was full to bursting, which surprised me. P.R's kids, Jasmin and Steven Rodgers, opened the show, and I felt they have tremendous potential: two great voices who both play acoustic guitars. P.R. has obviously had a positive presence in his family. Afterwards recovered with a cup of tea at Dave's and perused his huge CD collection. Whenever I go into someone's house I usually end up by searching through the CDs/records. Listened to 'progressive' rock pieces I didn't know by bands like Clear Blue Sky, Atlantis and others. He also has an interesting looking box-set of CDs which covers the early period of progressive which I don't know (Supernatural Fairy Tales - Rhino Records?). Noticed a song of Peter Sinfield's had been included on this.

Yesterday got half-way through the double-bass part of the Concerto. Should complete this today. Only the harp part remains. Thank goodness! Getting further ideas for future percussion-duo piece too which were scrawled into the notebook and filed for future reference. The C.S. Nott and Ouspensky books seem to have fuelled something here in this this respect.

The parcel which arrived yesterday was indeed from David: the new, improved version of my CD. Will listen further today, but on a brief hearing it is sounding fine to my ears. Received positive feed-back from Linda and Kevin for the art-work on Sunday. Kevin seems to think that the sleeve-notes read logically and are reasonably unpretentious, and Sid's painting is immediately eye-catching.

3 06/13/2000 Woke late this morning: alarm-clock failed. Threw pair of trousers and shirt over my pyjamas and drove Elizabeth to the bus-stop as she has a GCSE Maths exam today. Just got there in time!

At the moment half-way through the double-bass part of the Concerto. Cello part was completed yesterday. Sorry Scott! Still haven't completed the second violin parts but should have them done by the weekend.

Yesterday called in to see my parents. Tried to see the problem with the light-fitting on the mirror in the bathroom but failed. Call on Friday: the Lavender needs cutting in the garden.

Peter Dunton also phoned. Strange moment! P. told me that Landberk had contacted him, and I was playing Landberk's 'Indian Summer' album at the very time of his telephone call. Other listening yesterday included Ian Boddy and Markus Reuter's 'Distant Rituals' (Din 2). What beautifully evocative music this is. Discovered Sid Smith is also credited on the cover. Also played Nico's 'Marble Index'. Played Sophia Gubaidulina's 'In Croce'. I've no idea why, but why do I hear the Nico album in the Gubaidulina? Also listened to Gerald Barry's 'Piano Quartet', one of my favourites, and 'An introduction to John Martyn'. The latter is fitting as 'Solid Air' and 'May You Never' are both dedicated to Nick Drake, as is my Concerto. Must listen to some N.R.D. fairly soon. Also listened to 'Adiemus III' by Karl Jenkins. Don't know this music.

Picked a book up from the Library which Andrew Bass referred me to: Bryan Appleyard's 'Understanding the Present' (Picador - 1992).

Brother-in-law Geoff has bought me a ticket to see/hear Paul Rodgers (ex-Free) in Manchester this evening at the Apollo Theatre. Free's second album (Free) was one of my all time favourites. I felt after that they somehow lost that 'thing' they had. With that album it was the economy of material I liked.

Rushing off to the Post Office as a parcel has arrived that I wasn't at home to receive. I have a feeling this is the second edition of the CD with new improved post-production + art-work by David from Doncaster.

2 06/12/2000 Sue, Linda, Kevin and I walked around Levens Hall Park yesterday. It was too windy to climb a mountain. Has there been a shift in the seasons? Am I imagining it, or does Spring now begin in late February, with warm weather in May, and back to Autumn in June? Linda bought me a Kingfisher ornament. However, we continue to search for the real thing but in vain. The Levens gamekeeper moved us on as we'd strayed from the path. 'Didn't you see the notices at the gate? Keep to the paths!', he said sternly. We were sitting by the river eating lunch and watching the Swallows flying all around. We felt like school-children who'd been caught smoking behind the bicycle-sheds.

Walked to the Barnshop for coffee. Stood and looked at the old farm. Lots of thick ivy on the walls, and thought of the past amongst the thousands of people flooding in for coffee of which I was one. The modern world has encroached on the Lake District. Is Andrew Blake correct when he says we have made ancient wisdom something of a lifeline for us in the contemporary world? Something we can hold on to? I certainly sense this whilst listening to Tavener, Part and , in some ways, Gorecki. Is this why there was such an interest in the place where tradition meets innovation in the contemporary music world? Or is it just marketing: the postmodern ethos of selling what is collectable? Gurdjieff certainly thought that all great art reflected the Law of Three and the Law of Seven, and that the dances and movements were more modern than the moderns yet rooted in the past. The artist Louis de Wet once said to me that we have to return to tradition to make our art count. The link with traditon, for me, is THE most important aspect of my own creativity. The archetypes are, after all, primordial. If one is in touch with this dimension then it cannot help but speak. The problem with the contemporary music world, or so it seems to me, is that all this has been lost at the expense of hard-headed ambition, money-making and the angst caused by all of this, as well as the endless search for what may be termed 'original' and 'academic'.Is this why so much art is just downright ugly? The 'spirit' left years ago. I'm beginning to feel that music should be perhaps be a 'prayer', something which affects listeners for the better and not for the worse. Listeners receive enough angst in their daily lives than to have to face it in the concert hall. And that is another story.

Returned and dived into the part-copying of the cello part of the Concerto. Listened to bits and pieces from Please (1968-69), Jimmy Webb (Ten Easy Pieces) Tom Waits (Bone Machine) and Cross and Ross (Bored Civilians). While listening to Beefheart's 'Trout Mask Replica' a thought struck me: does one of the members of King Crimson like Captain Beefheart? For example, 'Dig Me' from 'Three of a Perfect Pair' has the spikey twin-guitar sound of 'Neon Meate Deam of a Octafish'. There's something of 'Dali's Car' and the shifting-metres and dissonant harmony of 'Hair Pie: Bake 2' which re-surfaces on 'Larks' III and IV'. It's probably incidental, but is there something of the first track from 'Strictly Personal' which resonates in 'ProzaKc Blues'? Or, put another way, is the influence of Allen Ginsberg and the Beat Generation poets also realised by Beefheart.

1 06/11/2000 A line leapt from the page I've just been reading. C.S. Nott says of his father that he never took advantage of the weaknesses of others. His father also had many saying one of which was 'what one day gives another takes away'. Synchronicities abound...waiting: for what I've known for a long time is just about to occur.

7 06/10/2000 Last evening took a train to Liverpool to see Keith and Julie Tippett in concert at the Bluecoats Arts Centre. Could only stay for the first half, because I had to be on the train back here by 2130, but the first half, an hour of improvisation, was revealing. There was a section of musical dialogue for plucked/muted-string harmonics and thumb-piano. The shape of the improvisation was controlled and expressive. K.T.'s harmonic thinking has 'something' about it.

Also heard that Rachel Taylor gave two performances of my piece for violin and piano, 'Unseen Shadows', on Tuesday and Wednesday in London. Also a member of Bolton Chamber Choir phoned on Thurday evening asking details for programme notes for the concert which includes my new piece on Thursday of next week: 'Is the OPUS 20 CD really called 'Hidden Steams?' It seems that my spelling is once again causing problems! Slight improvement on the time it was called 'Hidden Screams' in the programme notes for the premiere, which was spotted just in time for revision.

Managed to complete the viola parts of both 'Red' and the Concerto. Should be able to complete the cello and bass parts for the concerto and the Violin II parts for 'Red' next week. Received the parts for the woodwind and brass back from the binders plus a full-score of the Concerto to send to the warm-up conductor for November. Might just manage to complete the parts for both slightly earlier than expected.

Heard from the University of Manchester who have offered me some teaching for next year.

Whilst reading the C.S. Nott book on the train today had a particularly clear vision of how things may be turning out for me both musically, practically and philosophically. This has something to do with renunciation. The day at the RNCM J.S. was also productive, although I was sad to say goodbye to several of my students who next year move on to Univerities and Conservatoires. Listened to Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastique), Gorecki (Third Symphony) MacMillan (Children's Songs), Stravinsky (Three Pieces for String Quartet) and Keeling (Upon the Edge of Autumn). It seems that perhaps my colleague is also about to move on to a new post. Went to Blackwell's in Oxford Road and bought a book on Sufism.

6 06/09/2000 The ConstruKction of Light. Part 7.

A few words...on words.

Although I am unqualified to speak about the lyrics of King Crimson, I have made one or two observations during this analysis.

It is clear that there has been something of a gradual transformation in the lyrics of the group since the late 1960's/early '70's. However, I think there are many similarities between Peter Sinfield's words and Adrian Belew's, which will be looked at more completely at a later date. Adrian Belew's words have some of the influences from the Amerian Beat Generation poets such as Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady. This influence is particularly apparent in 'Dig Me' from 'Three of a Perfect Pair' (1984) where the influence of Kerouac is felt. Also, 'Indiscipline' from 'Discipline' (1981) with the letter-writing style of Cassady, but nowhere more apparent than on 'Neal, Jack and Me' from 'Beat' (1982), which narrates an imaginal journey/city-scape. This style meshes with the musical influences heard in the group at that time, in particular the Minimalist school of composition: Steve Reich and Philip Glass. It as though the group neutralise the subjective style found in some British rock music, with a more objective outlook. This, of course, also fuses with Fripp's interest in Gurdjieff.

The words of TCOL contain many allusions to American literary styles. 'Prozack Blues' speaks for itself, by nodding in the direction of urban blues styles. The refrains of the title piece appear to include word 'cut-ups', where words are cut out of their original context and re-arranged in different orders. This is a technique used by the composer John Cage, a style later utilised by David Bowie. However, the verses of 'TCOL' seem to refer to a five-line Haiku style. Haiku was a favourite form of Jack Kerouac's and the words do seem to point specifically to American culture by mentioning Andy Warhol, sci-fi and, in an academic way, archaeology. By employing these not only is Belew pointing to the implausible to make something even more implausible (how is it actually possible to construct light?) but using an Eastern (Buddhist) form of writing to convey something which always remains elusive.

'Into the Frying Pan' seems to utilise a three-line Haiku style, which Kerouac renamed 'pop'. 'Frying Pan' deals more with the reality of life following the 'otherness' of 'TCOL'. 'Oyster Soup', however, seems to point towards the style of writing found in a poem such as 'Howl' by Allen Ginsberg, crossing the Whitman-like influence found in some of Ginsberg's work with that of Biblical prose. 'I Have A Dream' comes from the famous saying by Martin Luther-King, and in this way connects with the earlier 'ProzaKc Blues'.

Conclusion

'The ConstruKction of Light' includes many stylistic references: influences from the Eastern European musical tradition of Stravinsky and Rimsky-Korsakov (Octatonic pitch collections/Augmented pitch collections),placed alongside Blues styles, fused with techniques found in American Minimalist music, together with interests in Gurdjieff and the poets of the American Beat Generation. This seems to set TCOL in the context of paradox, by presenting a sort of super-objectivity. As listeners we are made aware of an 'otherness' which always remains somehow elusive. The interest, in the the work, on tritones is something to be mentioned. I heard someone recently say, 'tritones..are most immobilising material to use...no wonder some ancient theorists called them "diabolus in musica" becaus the devil rooted you to the spot'. In King Crimson we find a directional stasis which shouldn't work but does. 'TCOL' seems to me to be a work full of paradox, invention and compositional/literary skills par excellence. 'TCOL' works on every level as an important objective art-work.

5 06/08/2000 The ConstruKction of Light. Part 6 cont.

The World's My Oyster Soup...

The following pieces will be dealt with in greater detail at some point in the future. It is my intention to briefly overview some of the elements included in them.

'Oyster Soup' is, essentially, based on three pitches: E, G and Bb. In this way it refers back to the diminished riff of 'ProzaKc Blues'. The entire piece sounds raga-like in terms of its drone-like quality. The song-piece pivots on both pitches E natural and G natural, but the single dimension of pitch and mode is offset by the metric interplay of the piece, where the basic crotchet pulse is used as a basis in which to hang many different metres. The lyrics also refer back to 'Discipline' (1981) with the inclusion of the line 'frame by frame'. This also connects with the line 'chit chat' found in 'ProzaKc Blues'.

Larks' Tongues in Aspic - Part IV

This piece refers back to 'Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part II' (1973). This, a new frame of reference for the former, stretches the original in many different ways. Here, instead of the original 5/4 rhythm we hear, now, rhythmic-interlocking of two guitars which, in turn, places the interlocking of pitch, found in 'TCOL', firmly in the rhythmic dimension. It sounds as if the whole piece is a study in syncopation, rhythmic-interlocking and collaging of counterpointed meters which, in a very real way, refers back to the title piece of 'Thrak' (1995) where two ensembles (double trios) are pitted one against the other.

'Larks' Tongues IV' is introduced by three power chords C, Bb and B. If the Bb is omitted the C - B descent of 'ProzaKc Blues' is brought into the foreground. The ritornelli are on E, with abruptly modulates to G. The two inside, flanking sections are in 6/4 made from falling and rising tones set in the context of tritone dyads played in semiquavers. One such example is: Eb-Dd-Eb over an A natural which fall on and off the beat. The fast central section is played over power chords E - G - E- D. This, again, outlines the minor thirds explored in the song-pieces. There are other examples of the minor third, such as G - Bb. The piece ends in F#, at a tritone distance from the C of the opening. It as though the localised tritones have now been reinterpreted as a huge structural prolongation. This, in some ways, refers to Schenkers concept of the 'motivic parallelism' where a motivic feature is hidden, as a prolongation, marking an important structural landmark. In the case of 'Larks' IV' it refers to the entire structural duration. The piece leads directly into 'Coda: I Have A Dream' which I have over-viewed in Part 3 of this brief analysis.

4 06/07/2000 Since Monday managed to copy the parts for Violin I and Violin II of the Concerto: 1,160 bars altogether. By 1600 yesterday able to Xerox three of each. Arrived home from teaching and continued with the cut/glue process of parts for 'Red'. Now half way through the viola part. Only the second violins left to do after this, having decided once the violin parts were done to copy the double-bass, cellos and violas instead.

Also managed to listen to the new XTC album last evening to accompany part copying. The songs on 'Wasp Star Apple Venus Vol. 2' are excellent. But they remind me, stylistically speaking, of Paul McCartney very much indeed. Always liked XTC but haven't really been conscious of their recent work. Plan to listen to Tool's 1996 album 'Aenima' today.

E-mail from Patricia Fripp, who is sending one of the audio tapes. Diane is sending the ProjeKct X album, so Ill be able to see how that works against TCOL.

Having completed the Ouspensky started C.S. Nott's 'Teachings of Gurdjieff - a Pupil's Journal' (Penguin 1961). The Ouspensky is one of the best books I've read and having pencilled-in notes against much of it plan to return to it in due course.

The ConstruKction of Light. Part 6 cont.

FraKctured

It seems to me that the process of the gradual construction of light continues with 'FraKctured'. This is an instrumental piece derived, in part, from 'Fracture' the piece which concludes the 1974 King Crimson album, 'Starless and Bible Black'.

The piece is largely centred on augmented pitch collections. This is, in some ways, the opposite to the Octatonic centre-of-gravity of 'TCOL'. In other words, King Crimson seem to be going to great lengths to balance the 'tonality' of pitch/mode/key centres from piece to piece.

a) Begins with whole-tone pitch collection C, D, E, F#, G#, A#. Bass on C. The process of guitar dialogue/interlocking continues here.
b) Interlocking augmented collections (augmented collections are derived from the whole-tone), and bass shifts to dissonant G natural, C, G# and eventually to E natural, before the music reaches E major with an added 6th (pentatonic) and augmented triad on G. Tension at this point.
c) 'Fracture' fast arpeggios in the guitar part which outline parallel triads: i) (from bottom upwards)G,A,Eb,F,G; ii) Ab,C,Eb,Gb; iii) C,Db,E,F,G; iv) Eb,F,G,A,B - C# passing-note (E nat. in bass); v) Ab,Bb,C,D,E (E nat. in bass). The chord shifts are achieved by 'Tertian' harmonic pivoting. Rising scale, presented as chords, ASCENDS to balance descending scales of 'TCOL': A7, B7, C#7, C# leads to:
d) Bright, shining guitars (no drums) in harmonic sequential pattern. This descends to balance the ascending music: 5/4 C maj.7/Cmaj.7/C min. nat.7/C min. nat.7/Bb maj.7/ditto/Bb min. nat7/ditto/ Ab maj.7/ditto/Ab min.nat.7/ditto/ Eb/G(pause chord). Outlines whole tone but achieved tonally.
e) Fast parallel arpeggios descend. Rise eventually to the bright, shining guitar passage. This time the passage descends to D major.
f) Fast parallel arpeggios through cycles of keys. False recapitulation with lots of shifting metres. Rises to bright, shining guitars through the same harmonic sequence as before but now centred on: E maj.7/ditto/E min. nat.7 then the same structure but through D, C, Bb, Ab, G. In other words, this descent is being lengthened with each subsequent airing. It also a musical landmark, denoting the end of each section of fast arpeggios.
g) Distorted and very fast guitar passage on E in two parts: first coming to rest on G, then continuing with a moving key-centre to C#, B and G.
h) 'Clean' fast arpeggios with second guitar playing B, A and F.
i) Recapitulation: whole-tone reasserted before shifting to E pentatonic. Ends on E minor, with a G natural pivot-note preparing the ambiguous pitch-centre of 'Oyster Soup' which follows.

3 06/06/2000 The ConstruKction of Light. Part 6.

Into the Frying Pan

I plan to give an overview of the remaining song-pieces, and other pieces of TCOL beginning with 'Into the Frying Pan'. Afte the brightness of the title piece we are plunged back into the frying pan of every day existence which the text of this song deals with:

a) Drum opening 'sizzles', and is sample-like immediately painting a the subject.
b) Contrary motion ritornello drawn from ProjeKct 2's 'Contrary ConstruKction': one guitar plays descending chromatic scale (C,B,Bb,A,Ab,G,F#,F,E,D#,D,Db,C) while the other plays the same ascending (C,Db,D,Eb,E,F,F#,G,Ab,A,Bb,B,C). Bass:a C pedal which sometimes shifts to a displaced Eb. They both meet on F#, which again outlines a C/F# tritone which seems to be at the centre of the work. The chromatic scales also convey the symmetrical shape of the bowl of the frying-pan itself.
c) Verse over chords, C, E, F# and F (C-F# is taken into the harmonic context). Verse 2: ditto. Ends with Fripp's ascending guitar. The double-tracked voices includelots of chromatic inflections, as well as the ryhtm guitar, which sound Indian-like but are more likely to suggest the slippery surface of the frying pan as we are 'cooked' in the processes of everday life.
d) Contrary motion ritornello: on E. This time the guitars meet on Bb and the ritornello is shortened, closing on an augmented chord (E - bass; G# - guitar 1; C - guitar 2). This, in some way, anticipates 'FraKctured'. Noise acceleration into:
e) Verse 3 on C.
f) Middle solo - Fripp widely displaced guitar solo creating allusion to counterpointed solo instrument through the displaced pitches.
g) Hard unison riff. This is another perspective on the contrary- motion idea, but here using C natural as an axis of symmetry which the instruments descend to: c, Eb, c, E, c, F#, c, G, D#-E-F-F#-G-Bb-C-Eb (repeat [note the C-F# again]); at end of repeat G becomes the new axis of symmetry: G, g, Bb, g, B, g, C, g, C#, D#-E-F-F#-G-Bb-C-Eb (note the G-C# tritone here, looking back to the Octatonic scales of 'TCOL') then repeats the C axis riff. It can be seen that chromatic scales are outlined by every other note, with the end of phrases as pure chromatics.
h) 'Unwinding' middle painting the words, 'And how life unwinds', over chordal pitches F#, F, E, G, G#, F#. This underlines the tritonic counterpole of C with F#, and is another variant of the chromatic idea which makes up the entire song.
i) Verse 1 recap.
j) Dyadic contrary-motion ritornello: bass - G#, A, G#, G, while guitar 2 plays G#, G, F#, F and guitar 1 plays C, B, A#, A. The music then returns to the contrary motion idea to end on E/C.
k) The contrary motion ritornello now has the guitars two octaves apart ending on a unison E, with drums in 5/8 playing against the pulse.
l) Hard-edged unison riff (see g) ends on F.
m) soundscape coda stretching the chromatic Eb-E etc. of the hard-edged riff. This is symphonic taking the music onto a different, symphonic level. Ends on D natural. This would mean the piece has a 'progressive tonality' about it, by beginning on C and ending on D.

By including the piece in the analysis it illustrates that timbral changes from piece to piece are not only similar in character to 'Discipline' (1981), but also underlines the process of change from human to spirit to human to spirit etc. in the song-piece as they progress to purely instrumental piece. In this way it does bring to mind words of Gurdjieff's about 'turning in a circle of insignificant matters' which some of the lyrics seem to suggest.

2 06/05/2000 Yesterday afternoon, after completing TCOL Part 5, walked up Nicky Nook and back through the Grizedale Valley, completing the walk in Scorton. The Lake District was covered by cloud, as it had been raining hard in the morning. Returned home to complete the cello and double-bass parts of 'Red'.

Received an e-mail from Bert Lams who has completed transcribing the next Soundscape. This one looks like it may be for small orchestra rather than just strings. Scott thinks he may be able to augment Opus 20 with single winds so we can get this new one, and possibly two others, done.

Turning to the Glennie Percussion Concerto part-copying today. This is going to take up the next half of term.

Mark Taylor also e-mailed mentioning Francis Schaeffer and Nick Drake. Schaeffer was one of the first authors to get me really interested in philosophical issues. Thanks, Mark, for your message.

Also looked at 'Into the Frying pan' last evening. This, along with the remaining pieces on TCOL, will make up part 6 of the analysis. ITFP is an excellent song-piece.

1 06/04/2000 The ConstruKction of Light. Part 5.

The ConstruKction of Light (title-piece):

The material for the title piece is derived , in part, from ProjeKct 2's 'Heavy ConstruKction' and 'Light ConstruKction'. This applies specifically to the 'interlocking' or guitar dialogues which make up much of the material of the first part of the piece.

Structure

The piece is divided into two parts, the first part being longer than the second. However, part one is divided into seven sub-sections which I will deal with separately in terms of the material included in them. The piece is an extended essay in Octatonic pitch collections, and counterpointed rhythmic metres:

Part 1 - Section 1 (Introduction): this is prepared by a sustained Soundscape-like dyad, which includes the pitches C#/Bb which are pitches 1 & 7 of an Octatonic collection, C#, D, E, F, G, Ab, Bb, B. This collection is further explored in Section 2. The dyad becomes a background event, eventually shifting to a single C#. The bass plays a moving, chromatic line accompanied by drums. The bass line includes an oscillating semitone at the end of phrases, which prepares the fuller music of the subsequent section. The metre eventually doubles-up, illustrating significant rhythmic material which is further developed in Section 2;

Section 2: each section is delineated by three further sub-sections: i) this involves two guitars in dialogue over a moving bass line. The drums are omitted in the first instance. The pitches explored, in dialogue, are the pitches of the above Octatonic collection: C#, D, E, F, G, Ab, Bb, B. One guitar plays C#, E, G, Bb from this particular Octatonic scale, while the other plays the pitches, D, F, Ab, B. This clarifies that the so-called 'interlocking' guitars are exploring odd and even numbered pitches of the Octatonic (i.e. each playing a dimished seventh chord on C# and D repectively) but this technique, by using different timbres of each guitar, is further clarifying the compositional procedure for the listener. The exploration of Octatonic pitch collections is a characteristic of the earlier piece, 'Red' (1974); ii) the entry of the percussion cuts-across the pulse. The drums play the following metres: 6/8, 6/8, 9/8, 9/8, 6/8, 9/8, 12/8. This rhythm was introduced in the introductory section; iii) descending Octatonic scale which further utilises the previous metre - 6/8 E, D, 6/8 C#, B, 9/8 A#, G#, G, 6/8 F, E, 12/8 D, C#, B, A#, 9/8, G#, G, F, Pause bar E. The scale extends from E - E. E is also used as a 'pivot' pitch linking the different Octatonic and modal collections explored in the piece.

Section 3: further interlocking C# guitar dialogue, with more complex final descending scale;

Section 4: more menacing. The bass crawls upwards, while the guitars play in 5/4 counterpointed against the 5/8 drum metre. There is something of Gamelan techniques about this. A new Octatonic collection is employed: C, C#, Eb, E, F#, G, A, Bb. Although the section comes to rest on a pause on G natural (the tritonic-opposite to C#) the guitars continue through the pause, before reaching a section of 3/4 with repeated pitches C# - E natural. E natural (included in the Octatonic collections) is again included. The E natural also connects with the subsequent section:

Section 5: this bright, sparkling music in C# minor minor pentatonic, repeats the C# - E repetitions within the texture. Although shifting metres are explored, 6/4 (from 'ProzaKc Blues') seems to be at the centre. One gets the impression that a gradual construction of light, from the dark pessimism of 'ProzaKc Blues', is in progress. The section refers back to some of the timbres of King Crimson Mk IV, and some of the metric preoccupations of that particular ensemble. The section ends with the repeated pitches E and G, although it is extended. G natural is central to the subsequent section:

Section 6: the music moves to its modal pentatonic tritonic opposite, G, Bb, C, D, F, which eventually shifts, by an abrupt-modulation, to B minor pentatonic. The section ends with the descending scale, G, F, E, D, C#, B, A#, G#, G, F, E, D, C#, B, A#, coming to rest on G natural, which is the first Octatonic scale used in the piece. Fripp is utilising pitches common to all collections, by dividing his material tritonically;

Section 7: Octatonic on G (G, Ab, Bb, B, C#, D, E, F). This displays a Guitar Craft-like circulation texture. Rhythmically, the guitars play minims, while the bass play quavers, with the guitars moving to crotchets but with syncopation locked-together by the bass quavers. This also forges a consistency in metre when the music moves into Compound time. The scalic decent comes to rest on a chord: C (bass); F#, G, B, E & B (treble). C & F# also include the tritone interval central to the whole of TCOL. C & F# is also a long-term 'prolongation' in 'Larks' IV' ('motivic parallelism'), although I don't think that is the main issue in this piece. This chord closes the first part, and descends a semitone into and for the subsequent part of the piece:

Part 2: this part of the piece is sub-divided into five sections, as well as being the part involving the words. These highlight 'opposites', which may be word 'cut-ups' (I plan to look at the lyrics in more detail at a later stage). It is 'on' B minor pentatonic, with Fripp's guitar part initially playing the pitches B, D, B, D spread over two octaves, being the quotation from 'Sunday All Over the World'. The verses illustrate symmetrical bars: 'on' C# (10/4), 'on' G (2 X 10/4), 'on' B (10/4), 'on' C# (10/4), 'on' G (2 X 10/4), 'on' B (10/4). It can be seen that a 'circle' of three modes is operative. The interlocking-dialogues of the guitars have now been taken into the vocal parts, which illustrates a hocket-like technique. The piece ends on B, which is the leading-note of the 'C' centre of 'Into the Frying Pan'.

7 06/03/2000 A VERY wet, grey day in Manchester. My umbrella is now just two pieces of loose cloth hanging down from the twisted metal-struts which, today, flapped around uselessly in the wind and rain. The buses, whisking their way along Oxford Road, threw-out huge volumes of water from the puddles at the roadside, which very nearly soaked me. Now, experienced in avoiding this, I leapt out of the way several times.

Lots of good feedback about the Composers' Concert a fortnight ago. Some new student pieces are already evolving. Listened to Gorecki's 'Totus Tuus' with students. Interested with the way Gorecki uses many Ib and Ic chords at cadence points without resolving them. This creates a kind of sacred open-space and, to my mind, is both beautiful and evocative. Read an interesting document by Michael Finnissy.

Train journeys spent sleeping (to Manchester) and reading Ouspensky, plus further ideas for Glennie/Bruford piece scrawled onto pages of book. A working-title has also revealed itself.

On return e-mails waiting from Peter Sinfield (who had sent one earlier, too), John Carr (who has kindly offered me a lift to the KC concert in London on July 3rd), Patricia Fripp and John Stevens.

Continue with the cut/glue part-copying for 'Red' this evening. Finished the first violin parts yesterday. Now onto the parts for the second violins.

6 06/02/2000 The final day of the half-term break. Yesterday was a cut-pasting day: managed to complete Violin I-2 of 'Red'. This will be a long haul, however one part per day should mean it will completed in around nine days. The huge task of copying the harp and string parts for the Percussion Concerto begins next week as well. Woodwind/brass parts plus further copy of the full-score for the 'warm-up' conducter all done and sent to binders last week. This has to be completed by the end of July. Had further ideas for the piece for Glennie and Bruford over the past two days, which have been scribbled down and placed in the folder for that particular project. I have to organise myself carefully, with folders for each project or the tendency is that we are knee-deep in bits of paper with various writings on them. It look as though the composing/writing projects for final half of this year/next year look likely to be: a) Soundscapes/Crimson arrangements; b) Glennie/Bruford piece; c) Sinfield/Keeling; d) Holm-Lupo/Keeling; e) KC analysis project. I suspect other things will come along in the meantime; f) CD release.

The ConstruKction of Light. Part 4.

I plan to look at one song-piece (ProzaKc Blues) and one instrumenetal piece (The ConstruKction of Light). The latter, which includes a final section of words, I consider to be more of an instrumental piece, the words coming at the end, as they do, as the climax to the structure or coda-like.

ProzaKc Blues

'ProzaKc Blues' strikes a listener, for the first time, as an unusual inclusion on a King Crimson album, and an unusual part of King Crimson musical vocabulary. Bearing in mind my suggestion - one that does remain very much as a 'suggestion' (TCOL could be perceived in many different ways) - that the album may be regarded as a gradual unfolding of 'light' as a means of conveying musical, or otherwise, 'truth' then 'ProzaKc Blues' stands at the 'human' end of experience. It is also the King Crimson approach for the interpretation of a blues structure and is, in this way, related to 'Catfood' on 'In the Wake of Poseidon' (1970). This could be regarded as another reference to historical King Crimson repertoire. The words 'Elephant Talk' and 'Chit-Chat' included in the lyrics of 'ProzaKc Blues' also looks back to 'Discipline' (1981).

Prozac is medication given, under medical supervision, for depression. It also has other uses, and has been called 'the happy pill'. The song has been placed at the outset of TCOL as way to provide the listener with a glimpse of human experience, and possibly to provide an insight into experience achieved by chemical-medicinal means. The blues-like voice (Adrian Belew's altered by electronic means?) is perfectly suited to this as the blues is, traditionally, associated with the cry of the repressed. Both Prozac and Blues suggest the same thing: melancholia. The song also functions as structural anacrusis for the entire work, and links with the the C natural at the end of 'I Have A Dream', creating a circular-like structure.

Structure

The song may be broken into sections: a) Structural anacrusis/Introduction (C7 - B7); b) Riff as anacrusis to sung verse; b1) verse over riff; a1) chorus over introduction chords; b) riff; b1) verse over riff; a1) chorus over intro chords; b2) guitar solo over riff; a2) guitar solo over intro. chords; b) very brief riff; b1) verse over riff; a1) chorus over intro. chords; b) very brief riff; b1) verse over riff; a1) chorus over intro chords; b3) guitar solo over riff section prepared by modal guitar patterns minus riff (the riff has been removed being replaced, instead, by the double-tracked interlocking 'clean' modal patterns); a2) guitar solo over into. chords; b1) riff with improvised 'blues' vocal; a) introduction (C7 Soundscape); c)gap followed by downwards glissando with percussion attack as a way to end. This presents a structure which is framed, by exluding the final glissando, by riff and descending introduction material. This arch-like shape, or cyclic (cicular) idea, which seems to be at the back of the entire work, is reflected microcosmically in 'ProzaKc Blues'. I also feel that we are given a glimpse of 'otherness' with the gradual foregrounding of 'Soundscape' texture as the song unfolds in time.

The structure of 'ProzaKc Blues' is, essentially, a twelve-bar blues, on 'E', 'A', 'E', C7 and B7. The piece ends un-resolved on C7. The glissando suggests cliche and decline. However, any pre-conceptions we may have of the traditional twelve-bar structures are quashed by the rhythmic dimensions which will be discussed later.

Musical materials

The piece, itself, is made from very simple musical materials, much in the same way as any 'blues' and is, therefore, an exercise in economy. It includes two elements being an extended study of two musical intervals: a) semitones found in descending form; b) minor thirds which balance the descent of the semitones by ascending. I will discuss each briefly:

a) The introduction includes the descending semitones as part of the chords C7 (VI7 in E) and B7 (V7 in E);

b) The minor thirds are found mainly in the riff, although the vocal part is saturated by them. The riff is made of two piled-up minor thirds treated in linear fashion: E,E,G,E,Bb,E,E,G,E,Bb//E,B,E,G,A,Bb,E,E,G,A,Bb (Pitch-classes [E=0]: 0 0 3 0 6 0 0 3 0 6//0 7 0 3 5 6 0 0 3 5 6). When the riff moves to 'A' the pitches are: A,A,C,A,D,A,A,C,A,D,A,Eb,A,C,D,E,A,A,E,C,D although this section is transformed on 'even' numbered verse by subtractive rhythm.

The inclusion of displaced patterns heard in Robert Fripp's guitar part, create the perfect foil for Adrian Belew's hard-edged riff, and the two dismembered guitar solos. Fripp's part is made from angular, calmly placed circular modal patterns, which sometimes include the Bb from the riff. It is as though Belew's part suggests the human dimension, and Fripp's the 'otherness' I have mentioned.

From this it is clear that the music is operating in the Aeolian mode with the inclusion of the 'blue-note' Bb (in E) and Eb (in A). These pitches are not only important for a 'blues' to work aurally, but in TCOL connect from piece to piece, and to convey 'otherness'. Tritones have always been found in Robert Fripp's musical language. We could also say that the 'presence' of King Crimson, or the 'presence' which is passing-through King Crimson as a vessel for expression, is penetrating the human level of melancholia. That the letters 'Kc' are found within the title of the piece, 'ProzaKc', may help to reinforce the idea.

The rhythmic dimension

Verse sections: the M.M. marking is crotchet = 112, and the bars are mainly in 6/4. If we 'feel' a slow blues in 12/8 and fit the dotted crotchet rhythm from that into the dotted minim rhythm of 'ProzaKc Blues', then it is possible to regard the subject material (i.e. Prozac) as a metaphor: the 'reality' of the rhythm has been 'bent'. However, this becomes even more pronounced when we feel that Fripp is playing in a different metre: during the 'A' modal section of two bars of 6/4 the circular-patterns seem to have three bars of 4/4.

Chorus sections: the rhythm of chorus 1 is in 13/8, divided as 4+3+3+3 quavers (C7), the 11/8, divided as 4+3+4 quavers (B7), with a 9/4 bar to close (C7). Subsequent choruses transform the original in to even bars of 12/8.

Final solo: the first four tutti bars of final solo section is an example of recent Crimson rhythmic procedures. It is a though all the instruments 'stagger' the bar-line: a) the 'calm' circular guitar play even quavers within the 6/4 bars; b) the bass divides into dotted crotchet, quaver, crotchet, crotchet, quaver, quaver and dotted crotchet; c) the snare attacks follow the following sequence over a period of four 6/4 bars: the first attack happens on the first of the first 4 quavers, then the 9th quaver/ then on the 2nd quaver, then the 7th, 9th, 11th/ 2nd, 4th, 8th, 11th/ 1st, 4th, 8th; d) the solo part is in the forground also tripping-up listener expectations. The impression given is one of confusion, achieved by a collage of meter.

The middle guitar solo is also interesting from the point of view of the rhythm section: a) Section on 'E'=8 bars of 6 quavers with beat 2 accented; b) Section on 'A' 4 bars of 6 with last two syncopated and heightening the chromatic anacrusis back into: c) 4 bars of 6/4, prefacing the C7 and B7 chords.

5 06/01/2000 Returned to Ouspensky's 'In Search of the Miraculous'. Hadn't quite completed this since starting it last year. Things seem to happen for reasons. Some very interesting words: a 'synchronistic' event, which reinforced what I was trying to say in Part 2 of the analysis of TCOL included in the Ouspensky.

Was that the final visit to Liverpool University? Prof. O. seems to imply that there may be some employment for me next year. Managed to sort out all the student marks for the orchestrations. I still have a feeling something else is opening-up elsewhere...

Returned and spent from 1730 - 100 on TCOL. Discoveries follow:

The ConstruKction of Light. Part 3.

Overview of TCOL

Although I do not wish to push this point too far, it seems to me that the 'presence' of King Crimson has generated, in The ConstruKction of Light, music which lends credence to such an idea of 'presence'.

Gurdjieff makes the point in Ouspensky's 'In Search of the Miraculous' (Arkana, 1987), that Fourth Way schools differ from other schools in terms of being an impermanent way, and that they appear and disappear as if governed by laws which are not their own. Gurdjieff also says that the 'fourth way' has a work of a definite significance and when the work is complete the 'fourth way' disappears from the given place, in its given form, to reappear in another place and in another form. I suggest that King Crimson are such an undertaking, and part of the work of the Fourth Way. This might suggest that the music created is, somehow, conceived yet not conceived just by King Crimson and, in particular, Robert Fripp. The music shows itself to be multi-dimensional, highly unified and organised in many different ways and, as already stated, an example of 'objective art'.

TCOL is a mammoth study in many varieties of musical techniques. There is particular emphasis placed on minor thirds which are employed in a structural way, to forge a high degree of unity between certain of the song-pieces and purely instrumental pieces. It is also unified by key or, rather, by pitch centres which takes the motivic unity onto a higher, macrocosmic level.

Minor thirds are also found in the diminished seventh triads which derive from Octatonic collections. These are found particularly in the title piece of the work, 'The ConstruKction of Light' which is a magnificent essay of interlocking Octatonic scale processes, reinforced by the antiphonal, interlocking guitar parts. I believe, in part, that these 'circulations' are to be found as part of the Guitar Craft canon of repertoire. (To imply that the piece is generated simply by 'processes' would be unfair both to the music and to King Crimson. I do not want to suggest that the term 'process' is in any way associated with processes found in works which employ Serialism as a generating factor). The Octatonic collections also generate tritones, which are included in the structure both at a localised level and to propel longer, structural prolongations. There is an example of a 'motivic parallelism' in 'Larks' Tongues IV'.

Augmented/whole-tone aggregates are also employed in 'FraKctured', which balance the Diminished aggregates of the title piece. Although it may be too early in the analysis to make this point, it does bear-out the point made in Part 2 which implied the instrumental pieces illustrate places where we feel, as listeners, music of an 'objective' nature. I believe the music of 'The ConstruKction of Light', 'FraKctured' and 'Larks' IV', particularly, underlines the theory put forward to some extent.

Rhythmically speaking the work is a labyrinth of shifting metres and interlocking metrical collages. There are symmetries to found in the metrical dimension which support and strengthen the harmonic and motivic unity. I suggest further that the music conveys a wholeness which I have seldom experienced before in the field of rock music, or other musics. Poeticism is not the point of this work. It would be out of place and, in a sense, out of time. Instead, we are removed, almost, from purely 'felt' subjective human experience - magnificently underlined by the lyrical content of the song-pieces of the album - into the area of thinking-intuition where feeling-sensation play only a minor role. I do not want to suggest that feeling and sensation, which are the polar opposites of thinking and intuition, are not present: they are, particularly with reference to the self-quotations which include not only the references to 'Larks II' and 'Fracture' but also to 'Elephant Talk', on 'ProzaKc Blues', referring back to Discipline (1981), and to the open-string displaced minor thirds in Sunday All Over The World's 'Sunday all over the World' (1991) in the title piece.

Structure

I would like to convey the unity generated by pitch in the following diagram, although I will be forced to resort to prose-writing as well. I will not, at this stage, focus on discussions of each separate piece, but plan to concentrate on an overview of the whole:

1) ProzaKc Blues: on 'E'; E, G, Bb important in the riff. Semitone descent, in the introduction, and choruses (C7[VI7] - B7[V7]) also introduces the concept of 'descent' felt in all areas of the work. (These descents may also have an 'extra-musical' association with the 'failure' to achieve 'goals' by human methods [medical means/drugs/drink/icons/ideologies], as some of the lyrics seem to suggest);

2-3) TCOL: tonality constantly shifting due to use of Octatonic collections and the diminished chordal aggregates which derive from them. However, begins on 'C#', and ends on 'B'. This is an example of 'progressive-tonality' and reinfoces the idea of descent felt in the work. B natural is the leading note of the subsequent key-centre of 'Frying Pan';

4)...Frying Pan: on 'C', but also brings into play E & G minor thirds, outlining a C major triad. Ends on 'F', but Soundscapes closure includes a version of the Eb-E nat.-D nat. chromatic line included in it though, here, presented in augmentation;

5) FraKctured: extensive study in whole-tone and augmented chordal collections. Begins on 'C' (which connects with 'Frying Pan'). Piece is sectionalised into distinct parts which repeat although transformed and extended each time. The sections approximately follow this order: a) Introduction: presentation of Whole-tone/augmented material; b) Episode: fast guitar arpeggios which break the Augmented collections into single pitches. Harmonic movement achieved by 'tertian' (pivot-pitch) methods; c) Climax: bright, shining guitars supported by bass, of jazz-like chords [although this is a very long way from anything to do with jazz] which, again, underlines the principle of descent in the work. Ends E minor, which connects with:

6)...Oyster Soup: all on 'E'. Pivots on E, G & Bb which connects it to 'ProzaKc Blues';

7-9) Larks' Tongues...IV': on 'E'. Begins with power-chords, C, (Bb), B which connect with the introduction of 'ProzaKc Blues'. Intervals of minor thirds, G-Bb, E-G etc. are crucial to the success of this piece. Many examples of microcosmic, or localised, tritonic movement in guitar II. Ends F#, tritonic opposite to the beginning, creating a 'motivic parallelism';

10) Coda: I Have a Dream: essay in descending, harmonic cycles. First four bars are A minor, Aminor/G, C/G, F# augmented, followed by G minor, G minor/F#, Bb/F, C/E. etc. The first chords, in each four bar cycle, are: A minor, G minor, F minor, Eb minor, C# minor and B minor. In other words the harmony is not only generated sequentially, but outlines a descending whole-tone scale (i.e. A, G, F, Eb, C#, B). It is as though the song rams-home and intensifies the descending scalic idea of the whole work. There are three and a half complete cycles (note that it is cut before the full duration of the fourth cycle) before ending on a C major first-inversion chord (C/E), with Soundscapes bringing the work to rest on a single middle-C natural. This brings the work back to the outset, and to the C7 (VI7) chord of 'ProzaKc Blues'.

It seems that there is an extant narrative included, and it is heightened by equally appropriate musical/structural means. Is it possible that King Crimson are suggesting that, humanly-speaking, it is impossible for us to escape the Wheel of Life, except that we turn and work on ourselves? 'I Have a Dream' seems to spiral as if out-of-control by turning us back to the horrors of paranoia, mentioned at the beginning in 'ProzaKc Blues'.