September 13, 1995

Dame Blanche [1995]

About four Ladies: the Douce Dame sans Merci; Hecate, the Moon Goddess; the Black Madonna; and the White Lady. Medieval chansons are used for each Lady, which are integrated into the music. Additionally, the Radio Chamber Orchestra has had a special percussion instrument built, a so-called ‘Octo-rattle,’ a wheel with eight large rattles that all sound at once.

Walter van Hauwe plays five different recorders, placed in a rack before him, ranging from soprano to contrabass. He also operates a set of four digital reverb processors, each of which can place the input note into ‘infinite reverb,’ until he lets a tone or layered sound fade out or stop all at once. He controls these processors with twelve pedals.

The parts:

  1. Prelude
  2. Double I
  3. Douce Dame
  4. Double II
  5. La Luna
  6. Double III
  7. Madame Noire
  8. Double IV
  9. Dame Blanche
  10. Postlude
  • Radio Kamerorkest, conductor: Péter Eötvös; Walter van Hauwe: recorders and electronic devices; Sound technique: Paul Jeukendrup