Sir Galahad and the Fiend (Holme Lacy)

Jan 16, 2017, 03:54 PM

Part of the Sacred Spaces project - visit www.citiesandmemory.com/sacredspaces for more information.

St. Cuthbert's, Holme Lacy reimagined by Nick St. George.

"I chose the organ playing from St Cuthbert's Church in Herefordshire as I felt the slabs of sound would be good raw material for manipulation. I then delved a bit into the history of the church which it turns out contains a stained glass window featuring two of the Knights of the Round Table; one of whom is Sir Galahad. Thanks to the Gutenberg Project, I found a 1918 Longman's school edition of the tales of King Arthur online, which included this tale of Galahad and the Fiend - a suitable story for this project with its comment on who may or may not merit being called a true Christian...

Having been involved in gathering the field recordings for Sacred Spaces, I supplemented the basic track with some bell ringing and further organ playing that was recorded in two of Bristol's redundant churches, but was surplus to Cities & Memory's requirements.

All the audio in this piece is, if you like, "organic" (sorry about the pun): organs, bells, Chinese Baoding balls, human voice. Treated, yes, but there are no sounds of purely digital origin present."