Gamelan - Gamelan de Solo

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Gamelan de Solo - Le jeu des sentiments

Maison des Cultures du Monde Inédit label
Recordings made by Marc Benamou

Recently a four-CD boxed set has arrived from France. 'Gamelan de Solo: le jeu des sentiments' comes from the Maison des Cultures du Monde in Paris on its Inédit label, and more specifically, in the lower-priced 'Terrains' series of ethnomusicologists' field recordings.

The recording does not have the scale of a court pendhapa, but is correspondingly more typical of the average performance environment. The first three discs form a sort of klenengan, although only four of the six pathet are covered. At last we hear a regular performance of gd 'Gambirsawit', supplemented with palaran that take its duration to nearly an hour.

The fourth CD is a collection of elements that might be heard in a wayang kulit, but the performances were not in an actual wayang context and so some of the garap is not as would usually be heard there.

Rasa (feeling, mood, etc) was the subject of Marc Benamou's PhD thesis, and is also the focus of the liner notes credited to him and Rahayu Supanggah (although they are not responsible for the inadequacies of the glossary and the photos).

These are outstandingly good notes, revealing what is really going on in the performances, and giving timed cues so that anyone can follow progress. At its price, this release is the bargain of the century.

Richard Pickvance has written a comprehensive review of currently available recordings of Javanese gamelan which appeared in Seleh Notes, Volume 13 No 3, June 2006.

The review is available to read, with additional material on the gamelan.org.uk website.