RUI DOS REIS

JENNIFER PAULL
interviews and investigates
the Portuguese composer-pianist

A myth is a fixed way of looking at the world, which cannot be destroyed because, looked at through the myth, all evidence supports the myth.

-- Edward De Bono (born 1933), consultant, prolific writer on lateral thinking, speaker, Maltese psychologist and physician.

Every now and then one receives a musical punch in the solar plexus. I have spent the last hour being pounded. I watched the DVD of Le Sermon de Gaļa and Meditatio XXI, two outstanding compositions by a truly remarkable Portuguese composer, Rui dos Reis.

Being a composer is one of the most difficult professions imaginable. 'You create, and you wait', about sums it up (Charles Ives was expert). Finding the soloist, the orchestra, the promotion material and financial backing has always been and will always remain the existentialistic intrinsic burden. The scale of the work you create makes life relatively easy (a piece for solo piano or unaccompanied flute, for example) or extremely difficult -- the above works for choir, soprano soloist, organ (one or two consoles) percussion ensemble including fujara, didgeridoo and a kaleidoscope of fascinating percussive colours and timbres.

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