Extracts from the soundtrack of Ken Russell's film

  • 1(pic,afl)01(bcl)0/0110/3perc/Horg(out-of-tune pf,cel).untuned zither/vn(va,regal).vc.db
  • soprano
  • 20 min

Programme Note

Separated from the horrific images of Ken Russell’s film, Davies’s music is violent and brooding on its own terms. The first of the four movements in an unsettling sombre Andante featuring solo alto flute; then comes ‘Sister Jeanne’s Vision’, a frenzied movement incorporating segments of chant. ‘Exorcism’ is a musical picture of extreme corruption resolved in a prayer, and the finale includes the maniacally jerky execution music together with a postlude where the flute is now in relief.

Paul Griffiths

Discography