The almost flute-like melody represents travel out into hushed space and then returning. Space music seeks to illuminate the wondrous love affair humans have with the stars and the cosmos. It’s also representative of the later years of our lives, and the question arises as to how we will handle it”with fear and uncertainty, or with a sense of adventure and growth.īeneath the Radiant Stars serves as a tribute to anyone who has lain outside at night, watching the flickering light of far-off stars as they move across the sky. Regarding Into The Gloaming, she states, Twilight is a very magical time as the sky shifts toward deep blue and then darkness. Venus recently came as close to Earth as it ever does, and Venus holds a special place in mythology with its feminine mystique, so I had strong feelings as I was writing. With Venus Rising, Bowles says she attempted to musically conjure the sense of a planet rising on the horizon and moving across the sky. I tried to capture the feeling of suspense, the look of diffused light, and the majesty of nature shrouded and not quite seen clearly. Mist creates a hushed, mystical, magical environment and recalls the fables about Avalon. The composition The Sweetness of Mist was inspired by the haze that sometimes envelops her Connecticut island home. Our oceans are what make life on Earth possible, and humankind first visited the far corners of our world by sea travel, so this piece contains the up-and-down motion, the rocking movement of the sea, symbolic of the beginning of the journey. The Shimmering Land album begins with the ebb and flow of Undulant Sea with its wave-like rocking motion and powerful underlying emotionalism. Often inspired by a combination of awe and wonder regarding the cosmos, outer space and celestial bodies, Bowles also views more terrestrial nature as a huge inspiration, whether I’m walking in the woods, listening to the natural sounds found outdoors, enjoying waves on a shoreline, or studying the night sky. One of the questions I always ask is: How do we want to express our creativity in the world? On a personal level, my interest in the psyche cannot be separated from my interest in creating music. Jung wrote that the psyche strives towards wholeness and consciousness. She has extensively studied both Jungian psychology and shamanism. Specializing in working with dreams, creativity, and trauma. There are other influences in Bowles’ music as well. That started me on the road to composing seriously. But even as a child I also had a fascination with electronic music which came to the forefront in my life in the 1980s when I started listening to Steve Roach and also to the Hearts of Space radio show. I am an admirer of Bach for his transcendent clarity, Prokofiev for always putting the wrong note in the right place, Handel and Arvo P¤rt for their sacred choral music, Copland for his talent as an orchestrator, and Stravinsky for his overall genius. She began playing flute at a young age and studied classical music throughout her school years, eventually earning her B.A. ![]() In addition, Bowles contributed the opening and closing pieces for the Zodiac series of recordings, a 12-CD classical-crossover set released by Angel/EMI.īowles’ foremost influence is classical music. Her work also has appeared on two compilation albums, The Other World (Hypnos Recordings) and Soundscape Gallery 2 (Lektronic Soundscapes). These works and others for trumpet and synthesizer were featured on From the Dark Earth, with Bilger as soloist.īowles’ next solo CD was the acclaimed A Quiet Light. The first of these, Night Sun Journey, was premiered by Bilger at the International Trumpet Guild Conference, followed by the premiere of Places Where Rivers Meet at Washington’s National Cathedral. She then stretched the genre’s musical boundaries with a groundbreaking series of commissions from David Bilger, Principal Trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra, for new works combining trumpet and synthesizer. ![]() I find that whether composing or listening to music, when it’s right I feel a resonance, a moment of truth, like the vibration of a perfect interval in tune.īowles has been prominent in the fields of ambient and space music for the past 20 years, since the release of her first two recordings”Inner Space and Solstice Dreams”in 1993. Within the music there are many different layers of listening, and also different ways of listening. When you first listen, it may sound like you are floating in space, but careful discernment unveils a melody and structure there, explains Bowles, who is a classically-trained musician. On her new album, The Shimmering Land, the music has different sections, purposeful movement, counterpoint, shifting textures and specific emotionalism. When synthesist Meg Bowles creates her ambient musical soundscapes, she does it as carefully as any classical composer.
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