WORDS AND SILENCES

NOTES:
Time: April 22, 1967 - December 31, 1967

In the spring of 1967, the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton (1915-68) was given a reel-to-reel tape recorder to use in his hermitage. The recordings he made are intimate, ranging from thoughts on Samuel Beckett to Sufi mystics to the 1967 Louisville racial protests to Michel Foucault. He also managed to immediately use the tape recorder both as a contemplative tool and a medium for self-discovery.

The album is a musical portrait of Merton, and brings together sampled recordings of his voice with a new ensemble. The album is an exchange between Merton and the ensemble, with subtle references to the music he loved throughout his life, from sacred to folk to John Coltrane to Kansas City jazz. Merton’s words still feel relevant today, both in terms of the solitude and reflection experienced during the pandemic, and of the demand for racial justice happening across the country. His work shows how the movement and tension between contemplation and action are not opposed; they complement one another.

MOVEMENTS:

PART ONE:
1. Sound of an Unperplexed Wren
2. A Feast of Liberation
3. Who Is This I?
4. Well, Cats, Now We Change Our Tune
5. Strange Things You Sometimes Find

PART TWO:
6. Thinking Out Loud in a Hermitage
7. Breath, Water, Silence
8. A Hawk Flew Fast Away
9. Let There Be a Moving Mosaic of This Rich Material
10. New Year’s Eve Party (of One)
11. One Plus One Equals One

PERFORMERS AND INSTRUMENTATION:
Jeremy Woodruff: Flute/Alto Sax/Bari Sax
Katie Porter Maxwell: Clarinet/Bass Clarinet 1, 2
Phil Rodriguez: Trumpet 1, 2
William Lang: Trombone
Brian Harnetty: Piano 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

TRANSPOSED SCORE

PERMISSIONS:
All archival recording used with permission from the Merton Legacy Trust, New Directions Publishing Corp., and Now
You Know Media, Inc.

Copyright 2022