Vortex Temporum is the late masterwork of pioneering spectralist Gérard Grisey, fulfilling his vision of a music that transfigures our experience of time. Symphonic in sonic wealth and scale, with lush spectral harmonies and feverish dance-like rhythms, its three movements were imagined as adventures through three time-frames: ‘normal’, human time, the ‘expanded’ time of whales and the ‘compressed’ time of birds.

Paired with Grisey is one of his students, Fausto Romitelli, whose La sabbia del tempo (The Sands of Time) is similarly inspired by the rich granularity of sound and time, and a brand-new work from Australian composer Lisa Illean, herself inspired by Grisey.

https://soundcloud.com/explore-ensemble/romitelli-la-sabbia-del-tempo

Distinguished composer Julian Anderson discusses Gerard Grisey’s seminal works on the subject of time in a free pre-concert talk: Julian Anderson on Grisey’s Vortex Temporum