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The Sounds of Sinai: a sonic intervention in the book of Exodus

by John Harvey

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1.
Part 1 10:13
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2.
Part 2 14:42
3.
Part 3 13:10
4.
Part 4 13:10
5.
'The Golden Calf' 04:12

about

In 2016, John Harvey composed ‘Image and Inscription’ – a sound art work, which was subsequently released on CD by the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales.

The work is a sonic oratorio based upon Exodus 19.1–3.45. The narrative relates the events surrounding the delivery of the Decalogue, principally. Initially, they sounded out as an ephemeral speech act, prior to becoming an inscribed text. The composition returns them, and their context, to the condition of sound. It represents a suite of sonic landscapes that summons the terrain, cataclysmic phenomena, loud noises, music, ritual, and figures featured in the narrative. The central text (or libretto) on which the artwork is based derives from the principal clause of the Second Commandment, forbidding graven images (Exodus 20.4). The term ‘graven’ (Hebrew: pesel) means ‘to engrave’.

Here, the clause – taken from the 'Welsh Bible' (1588) and Authorised Version (1611) – sonified in three ways: 1. Mechanically engraved on a metal matrix; the sound of the process was stretched, digitally, and modified through synthesizer filters in order to generate tonal characteristics apposite to the mood of the text’s context. 2. Recorded speech. The text, spoken in Welsh and English, was engraved on two 33rpm vinyl records, and manipulated on record player decks. 3. Pictorial engravings depicting Moses on Mount Sinai – derived from 19th century Welsh and English pulpit bibles – were converted into a data-stream capable of being processed on sound software.

The paper explores the transformation and fusion of the text within the framework of biblical studies, biblical painting, landscape studies, music, and film adaptations and scores portraying the story of Moses and the Israelites.

The presentation is, here, in four parts (which does not reflect the divisions of the paper), followed by a recording of the sound presentation.

Further information about 'The Bible in Translation' album is available at:

auralbible.weebly.com

credits

released May 3, 2021

Personnel: John Harvey.

Instrumentation for sound presentation: Adobe Audition CS6, Apple MacBook Pro OS X 10.8, Allen & Heath Xone:23C mixer, Apple MacBook Pro, Apple iMac OS X 10.11, Korg Kaoss Pad KP3 and Kaoss Pad Quad, metal matrix engravers, Moog MF-101 Low Pass Filter, Moog MF-102 Ring Modulator, Moog MF-103 12-Stage Phaser, Moog MF-104M Analog Delay, Moog MF-105 Midi Murf, Moog MF-108M Cluster Flux, Roland SP-404 SX Linear Wave Sampler unit, Sherman Filterbank 2 filter unit, Sherman/Rodec Restyler filter unit, and Stanton S-150 record turntable.

Context: Public lecture presented at the Drwm, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK (November 1, 2017).

Source of sound presentation: John Harvey, 'The Bible in Translation' (Aberystwyth: National Screen and Sound Archive, 2016) [GENCD8003]

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John Harvey image

John Harvey Aberystwyth, UK

I’m a practitioner and historian of sound art and visual art, and Emeritus Professor of Art at the School of Art, Aberystwyth University, UK. My research field is the sonic and visual culture of religion. I explore the sonic articulations of the Christian religion by engaging visual, textual, and audible sources, theological and cultural ideas, and systemic and audiovisualogical processes. ... more

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