Here are 7 pieces of classical music to fire the senses....
Messiaen Turangalîla-Symphonie
I knew the first time I listened to this piece that Messiaen had chromesthesia (or sound-to-colour synaesthesia) and I thought to myself ‘I really, really wonder what this piece looked like to this man.’ At first I thought it was almost like an oil slick – where you get that almost rainbow-like effect but less defined due to the nature of oil and water. But then I read that he saw a lot of greenish golds or blue-oranges when he wrote this work. Either way, it’s a nuts piece: sort of alien and unfamiliar but absolutely captivating at the same time.
Meredith Monk Dolmen Music
To me, this 1981 studio album is unmistakably music of the body, with artists like Julius Eastman on cello joining Meredith Monk’s voice. Monk treats the voice as though it were a limb, an extension of her body rather than something separate from it; you can’t fail to be struck by the physicality of her performance. And because the album is nonverbal, it carries a remarkable universality: much like watching someone begin to sway, you understand it instinctively, regardless of that person’s language, culture or background. I absolutely love it.
More classical music to fire the senses....
Berberian Stripsody
This bonkers work, which uses onomatopoeic sounds from comic strips, is basically a piece of theatre for solo female voice. But a big part of what I love about it is what it looks like on the page: it’s a graphic score, based on the imagery of comic books, with cartoon images of pigs, ducks and general madness. I often think it would be fun to go to performances where you can see the score of a piece as well as hear it, since that side of the music is often so interesting. And this one is a visual treat!
Tomás Saraceno Sounding the Air
This sound installation by the Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno consists of strings that are mounted in air – a little like a suspended spider’s web – and are essentially played by the wind. It’s a piece that you feel as much as hear, and it really makes you think about sound vibrations and the way that deaf people listen to music. I remember being in quite a lot of pain when I went to see it, and refusing to leave because the experience of focusing on it in that physical state felt so transformative. It was a very intense listening experience.
More classical music to fire the senses....
Chopin Waltz, Op. 64 No. 2
A few years ago, I worked with a production company that explored the way that music can impact taste. And I remember Chopin being mentioned as a composer best consumed with a sweet wine, such as Riesling, with the rationale that the music’s slow tempo and high pitch enhances the wine’s taste. Chopin’s Waltz No. 2 is very dear to me anyway as it was the last piece I performed as a pianist: I love the way it shifts from those slow, resonant chords into something more rapid and free flowing. So, the fact that you can also enjoy it with a Riesling makes me really happy.
Berlioz Symphonie fantastique
Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique isn’t just a piece about mad passions and drug-induced hallucinations — though those are themselves a kind of multi-sensory experience — but music that comes as close to physical theatre as sound can get. Just think about the ‘March to the Scaffold’: it’s music you can practically see unfolding. As with Turangalîla, every time I listen to it, I need a few hours to settle back down and I can only imagine what it would be like to hear it under the influence – of legal, homeopathic substances, of course.
More classical music to fire the senses....
Saariaho Sept papillons
Some time ago, I read an article explaining how butterflies are losing their colour and becoming more dull in response to a world that is, through the climate crisis, becoming less diverse. It got me thinking about the topic of colour – not least musical colour – and what happens if we allow all the colour that we hear to flood in. The result is Manchester Collective’s latest collaborative project, Papillons, centred around Kaija Saariaho’s delicate set of miniatures for solo cello, in which music combines with dance and visual art in a celebration of colour.
Who is Jasmin Kent Rodgman?
Jasmin Kent Rodgman, a British-Malaysian artist and composer, is co-artistic director of Manchester Collective. London-born, she studied composition at the University of Manchester before being appointed as a British Council and PRS Foundation musician-in-residence in China. She was named a Jerwood Composer with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2017 and has since created scores for orchestra, film, ballet and theatre, including the Olivier Award-nominated Paradise Now!.
