Stonehenge

A huge circle of boulders has been standing in South-West England for
almost 3,500 years, and despite research and calculations made by many
scientists, man is still not certain as to the real significance of the
site. Throughout the ages people have made guesses and suppositions
about the Gods worshipped and rituals enacted there, but until today
no-one has proved conclusively any of these hypotheses. One of the
currently held positions is that Stonehenge represents a giant
calendar. Because of the specific placing of the boulders, it is
possible to observe the sunrise, the end of the midsummer and
midwinter’s day, through the sunbeams. It is also possible to read the
lunear positions through the diagonals ... in short: the changing of
the seasons becomes apparent through this mysterious monument in stone.

The piece attempts to put atmospheric pictures into music. Although no
concrete story or clear-cut scenario is used, a number of clearly
recognizable images are represented. Thus, the first section evokes the
somewhat misty and hazy atmosphere engulfing the monument. When the
orchstra (at letter F) reaches its first voluminous sound eruption, it
is as if the massive boulders become audible, even touchable by means
of the pregnant minor third chords used. The main theme - constructed
from the five tones CAFBG makes its presence felt throughout the piece.
Almost as a “Leitmotiv” it symbolizes the arrangement of the central
boulders in a shape of a horse-shoe, which is the nucleus of his huge
collection of stones. A special effect can be found at letter S when 5
soloists play a five part hymne, whilst the remaining of the musicians
create a special atmosphere by means of a sung “choir of monk and
druids”. It is as if the voices of a distant and unknown past have not
yet been completely silenced: Stonehenge still keeps its own secrets ...