In 2021, under the umbrella title Kosmoscópio, Richard Rijnvos started a series of compositions dedicated to the nine components of the “Musica Universalis”. Commonly referred to as the “Harmony of the Spheres”, this ancient Greek philosophical abstraction contemplates the various proportions in the movements of celestial bodies.
Aphrodíte represents the planet Venus and is scored for Japanese mouthorgan (shō) and string sextet. The work consists of fifteen consecutive sections, the first being an otherworldly approach (kefáli), and the last one being an evaporating departure (ourá). In between we follow thirteen orbits (trochiá): a cosmic observation of the ‘pentagram of Venus’, the apparent path of the planet as observed from Earth. In an ideal performance the members of the sextet are positioned in a circular space, facing inwards, with the shō in its centre, and the audience all around them in an amphitheatre setting. At the end of the coda, each member of the string sextet walks offstage, one after the other, whilst performing an ostinato, leaving the shō behind, all by itself.
Seléne consists of five main sections, each four minutes in duration, depicting a predominantly monochrome sky, with in its centre the consecutive lunar phases (as seen from Earth): starting at the obscured New Moon, step by step transforming, from a multi-textured Half Moon to a bright polyphonic Full Moon, then back again to the original starting point. The shorter sections in between, each sixty seconds long, represent the intermediate phases. In an ideal performance the members of the quartet are positioned in a circular space, facing inwards, with the audience all around them in an amphitheatre setting. The cello is the first to split off and rotate outwards, personifying the first glimpse of moonlight (Waxing Crescent). The viola joins when we reach First Quarter, then the second violin (Waxing Gibbous), and midway the first violin (Full Moon). This process is then reversed until a New Moon is, yet again, nowhere to be seen.
Naomi Sato – shō [1]
Ives Ensemble
Josje ter Haar – violin [1,2]
Emma Breedveld – violin [1,2]
Janneke van Prooijen – violin [1]
Heleen Hulst – viola [1,2]
Ruben Sanderse – viola [1]
Job ter Haar – cello [1,2]
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 00:52:07
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | TTK0151 |
| Qualities | DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, DXD 24 Bit, FLAC 192 kHz, FLAC 96 kHz |
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| Artists | |
| Composers | |
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| Original Recording Format | |
| Equipment | Microphones: Josephson C617 w/ Gefell MK221 capsules (main & height) Microphone preamps: Grace Design m801mk2 AD/DA conversion: Merging Technologies Hapi MkII, Merging Technologies Anubis, Grimm Audio CC2 Monitoring (recording): Audeze LCD-X Monitoring (mastering): Grimm Audio LS1be, Grimm Audio SB1 Cabling: Grimm Audio TPR XLR |
| Producer | Hans Erblich |
| Editing | Hans Erblich |
| Recording Engineer | Brendon Heinst |
| Mastering | Brendon Heinst |
| Recording Location | Doopsgezinde Kerk, Haarlem (NL) |
| Release Date | January 16, 2026 |
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