Jatayu

for flute/piccolo/alto flute and 8-channel tape Jatayu was written for and with flautist Jonathan McIntosh in Spring 2002. It takes its title from a great golden bird in the Indian epic, the Ramayana. The piece follows the course of an episode in the Ramayana where Jatayu responds to a distress call from the princess Sita who is being carried away by the evil demon Ravanna. Jatayu fails in his attempt to rescue her and falls from the sky, fatally wounded. The music juxtaposes the stylised renditions of such epics as the Ramayana, found in Indonesian gamelan music, with a more direct narrative expression.

Listen to this piece on Rachel's Radio