HERRCD09 SON OF MAN
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All music and noises © Copyright Paul A. Williams aka Elwood Herring - Please read these notes before downloading
NOTE ON PLAYING MIDI FILES: All my MIDI works are meant to be played using the standard Microsoft GS Wavetable. Usage of any other wavetable will give unintended results. By all means experiment if you have the capability, but please be aware that what you end up with will not be what I intended!
Also, some MIDI files played on Winamp before version 5.3 (and it appears, after 5.541) will not play correctly. If you use Winamp, please up/downgrade to a version between 5.3 and 5.541 (incl), or alternatively, download this version or go here where you can download ANY version of Winamp.

Mins Electronic Symphony "Son of Man" op.12 (1980)
66:00 A synth excursion based on Robert Silverberg's book. There are seven areas which the Hero has to traverse. The music is appropriate for each area, and ranges from fairly melodic (Ice & Fire) to extremely dense (Old & Heavy) to solo instrument (Empty & Dark). Challenging stuff - as is the book. The sound quality is not as good as I would like, but it was originally recorded on cassette tape in 1980.

There are two or three versions of almost all of the "movements" if you include the MIDI versions below, so if you like you can play mix & match to get the best version.

The whole symphony (plus extras) is available in a handy zip file on MegaUpload.


  MIDI Mins Descriptions of individual movements
1. Old (Original)   10:05 Lumpy arrogant primitive sounds with an emergent marching rhythm towards the end. Quite a harsh piece, which it was meant to be from the start. (This track, along with "Ice" and "Heavy" are just too weird to be turned into MIDI files.)
1. Old (new version)   10:10 I recently took another look at this piece, and decided to modify it a bit. This version sounds even more "old" to me, so here it is.
2. Ice   09:22 High tinkly sounds using a whole-tone scale (one of my favourites) which gets progressively less hospitable and more threatening. (I'm far from happy with this piece, but I'm not going to tinker with it now.)
3. Fire 08:45 Fiery brass fanfares striding raucously about, with accompanying screeching fireworks overhead. This piece along with "Slow" are the most tuneful sections of the whole symphony. The MIDI version is simplified and doesn't really do the "fireworks" justice, but is otherwise note for note identical.
4. Heavy   12:21 Music that can't bear its own weight; it is totally formless and chaotic, its only purpose is to keep going at all costs. After ten minutes of painful struggling it runs out of energy and crumples slowly into the dust.
5. Slow 15:30 A ponderous organ solo which was improvised and recorded entirely in one sitting. Hymnlike and contemplative, this is music that's in no hurry and should be listened to on those terms.

The MIDI version was made in 2006 but doesn't quite have the same effect as the original. It is about 3 minutes longer however.
5a. Intermezzo
(The Fall)		   03:00 Basically the "Heavy" movement sped up and reversed. There are two versions of this piece, both of which are included in the Zip file above.
6. Empty / Dark 08:30 A solo instrument contemplates its own navel, coming to the conclusion that it doesn't even know what it's supposed to be. Eventually lies down in the dark and gives up. Maybe not the most exciting music in the world, but when in context with the rest of the piece it makes perfect sense. You hear the various themes from earlier movements explored and rejected one by one before the character tries in vain to keep his spirits up and stay awake in a totally blank landcape.
7. Reunion 01:50 Exactly as described in the book (as closely as I could manage) - you hear the wailing of Wrong mingled with thunder which starts off the general festivities. I quite like the peculiar harmonies when the brass fanfare comes in - made up of whole major chords moving in parallel to produce the odd effect.




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