Apokalypsis / James Wood

Apokalypsis takes its principal texts from The Book of Revelation. Here, St. John’s vision is of seven angels, to whom are given seven trumpets – as each angel sounds his trumpet, he foretells of a particular catastrophic event. The similarities between these events and our predicament are obvious, and yet our own attempts to avert the ultimate catastrophe continue to be dogged by bureaucratic impotence at best and political sabotage at worst.

In Apokalypsis St. John’s texts will be juxtaposed with contemporary forecasts and reports of recent natural and man-made disasters which bear a chilling resemblance to the original visions.

Apokalypsis is designed for performances in cathedrals, large churches and other large spaces, both to maximise the element of the live spatialisation of the saxophones, and also to exploit the buildings’ splendid acoustics, in turn enhancing both the resonance of these magnificent instruments and their natural ability to blend and balance with the organ in a grandiose setting.

James Wood (January 2019)