A layered piano cycle exploring twelve spiritual icons. âIconographyâ is a compilation of the opening section of each of 12 Iconsâthe full cycle is more than 8 hours long. The First Icon explores the key of C...

1 MP3 Songs in this album (44:02) !
Related styles: NEW AGE: Neo-Classical, NEW AGE: Healing



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About The Twelve Icons


The Twelve Icons cycle was composed in twelve consecutive weeks, beginning in mid-November 1993 and ending in late February 1994. I was âgivenâ the symbols/icons before starting the cycle, together with very specific instructions for its creation, which took place one week at a time, with three sessions per week, entirely by candlelight. Sometimes I was able to invite friends to witness the act of composition. My tools were a digital piano and a hardware sequencer (for recording in MIDI, âMusical Instrument Digital Interface,â a protocol for communication between synthesizers and computers). The multi-track piano sequences were subsequently transferred to a Macintosh-platform software sequencer. They have not been edited.

This is an âascensionâ cycle, with each Icon exploring the essence of a single musical key, beginning in C with The First Icon and continuing in half-steps through to B, The Twelfth Icon. Each Icon has twelve parts within its core symbol. These I call âelements.â The first six elements, composed in the first session of the week, form a set of working definitions for the Icon. The following three elements are a set of examples, employing and developing the definitions. The final three elements offer a complex, fully-integrated understanding of the Icon expressed in music. At the time of creating this cycle, I was moving from improvisational jazz, and its concurrent patterns, to the precursor of the melodic, symphonic forms I currently use. There are some motifs from The Twelve Icons that reoccur throughout my work, and the cycle has provided me with a musical/emotional/spiritual frame for the music that follows.

How to interpret this work within a single Icon? Consider that each Icon takes a spiritual symbol/concept and renders it into music. So: The Cosmic Tree (medieval icon, roots on earth, leaves touching Heaven, symbolic of the One and the earth united in harmony): it dreams; in it all life flows; how does it greet the morning?; how does it appear on the outside?; sensing inside the Cosmic Tree; linking--it joins Heaven and Earth; in it are power, heat and light. It drinks from the eternal skyrain; so then it leafs; it is one with both worlds.
âCynthia Sternau

Iconography of The Twelve Icons:

The First Icon The Cosmic Tree [C]
1Dreaming; 2Flowing; 3Morning; 4Outside; 5Inside; 6Linking; 7Power; 8Heat; 9Light#1; 10Skyrain 11Leaves; 12Earth

The Second Icon Sunlight [C#]
1Sunbeam; 2Moonbeam; 3Spring; 4Summer; 5Fall ; 6Winter; 7Idea; 8Shape; 9Art; 10Sharing 11Augment; 12Whole

The Third Icon Godlight [D]
1Presence; 2Balance; 3Glow; 4Purple; 5Rainbow; 6Golden; 7Promise; 8Knowledge#1; 9Faith; 10Joy 11Merging; 12One

The Fourth Icon Healing Light [Eb]
1Gift; 2Need; 3Sensing; 4Moving; 5Touching; 6Healing; 7Life; 8Death; 9Transform; 10Choice; 11Destiny; 12Return

The Fifth Icon Human Life [E]
1Individual; 2Collective; 3Provide; 4Cultivate; 5Build; 6Judge; 7Awareness; 8Intelligence; 9Synthesis; 10Archology; 11Ecology; 12Macrocosm

The Sixth Icon Awakening [F]
1Vision; 2Action; 3Emergence; 4Learning; 5Growth; 6Creation; 7Responsibility; 8Empowerment; 9Evolution; 10Community; 11Purpose; 12Unity#1

The Seventh Icon The Earth in the Cosmos [F#]
1Sphere; 2Orbit; 3Sun; 4Moon; 5Stars; 6Space; 7Plantanimal; 8Human; 9Alien; 10Seed; 11Shoot; 12Flower

The Eighth Icon Love [G]
1Recognition; 2Passion; 3Look; 4Touch; 5Embrace; 6Enter; 7Fire; 8Ice; 9Ember; 10One#2; 11Two; 12Three

The Ninth Icon The Lake of Calm [Ab]
1Reflection; 2Waveform; 3Ripples; 4Windtouch; 5Foamspray; 6Stormwatch; 7Liquidmass; 8Solidbody; 9Balance; 10Stilltime; 11Quietworld; 12Allpeace

The Tenth Icon The Wheel [A]
1Portal; 2Spin; 3Pathway; 4Knowledge#2; 5Prophecy ; 6Guide; 7Body; 8Mind; 9Soul; 10Energy 11Entity; 12Unity#2

The Eleventh Icon The Flame [Bb]
1Light#2; 2Door; 3Change; 4Open; 5Gold; 6Cosmic Energy; 7Magic; 8Reality; 9Synergy; 10Godspirit; 11One#3; 12Trinity

The Twelfth Icon The Egg [B]
1Vessel 2Force; 3Summon; 4Fill; 5Empower; 6Send; 7Creator; 8Keeper; 9Allthatis; 10Light#3; 11Knowledge#3; 12Unity#3