First Ocean

Around 2011, French composer Éliane Radigue began the Occam Ocean series of solo and ensemble pieces composed for individual instrumentalists. In each piece, a performer's personal technique and particular relationship to their instrument function as the compositional material. The “knights of the Occam,” as Radigue refers to the performers participating in the project, are musicians who have developed individualistic, creative approaches to their instruments; and the resulting compositions are not transferable to other performers on that instrument. I first became aware of her music when trumpeter Nate Wooley performed her Occam X during Big Ears 2023.

Citing the ocean as a calming antidote to the overwhelming nature of our wave-filled surroundings, Radigue has named the components of her Occam series with images of water in mind. Solo pieces are Occams, duo pieces Rivers, and larger ensemble pieces Deltas. With the extreme simplicity of Occam’s razor, there are no written scores, only verbal instructions, and things move at a deliberately slow pace, so Radigue is very particular about which musicians she’ll trust to perform her music. The first Occam, Occam 1, was a solo for harpist Rhodri Davies, and the Occam series has continued steadily to the present, now counting well over fifty individual solo and ensemble pieces.

Occam 1 was included in the album Occam Ocean 1 released in 2017 on the French Shiin label. The album includes a duo, Occam River I with Carol Robinson on reeds and Julia Eckhardt on viola; three solo pieces, Occam I for Rhodri Davies (harp), Occam III for Carol Robinson (reeds), and Occam IV for Julia Eckhardt (viola); and the ensemble piece Occam Delta II for Carol Robinson (bass clarinet), Rhodri Davies (harp), and Julia Eckhardt (viola).

Here, then, on this First Ocean of 2024, is an excerpt of a 2014 performance of Occam 1 by Rhodri Davies. FYI, the full version on Occam Ocean 1 is 29 minutes long and probably sounds nothing like anything you'd imagine a half-hour harp solo would sound like.