When I became fascinated with Jung, many people made a joke of my name in relation to the Jungian concept of The Self! Pure coincidence I would suggest although a Jungian might say there is at least some synchronicity here.
In my opera Analysis for non binary voice, electronics and optional string quintet. https://composersedition.com/susannah-self-analysis/ I explore scenes from my own Jungian Analysis, some of which in hindsight are very funny such as The Crazed Conductor and The Casting Couch.
But it is an enduring love affair with Jung that leads me deep into drawing inspiration from his magnitudinous works to compose pieces such as E Perso Nel Tempo which is inspired by the Red Book https://composersedition.com/susannah-self-e-perso-nel-tempo/ ( chamber orchestra with voice) https://composersedition.com/susannah-self-e-perso-nel-tempo-version-for-chamber-orchestra/ (without voice).
View over Lake Maggiore from the dining room at The Eranos Centre
Inevitably my interests led me last autumn to the Eranos Centre in Switzerland where I gained the opportunity to make a composing retreat. Out of the experience I have created two contrasting works.
First a formal composition: Harbour 8' for solo violin, string orchestra and wind quintet https://composersedition.com/susannah-self-night-sea-journey-ii-harbour/
Here is a synthetically generated performance of how Harbour will sound
The Harbour at The Eranos Centre
The second piece is called Journey to The Self. I created this on my return using more experimental composition techniques interfaced with stands of Jungian thought and my own observations.
Journey to the Self is a meditative account of my four day composing retreat at The Eranos Centre in Switzerland, October 2022. In particular Jung liked to attend and speak at conferences here . The verbal reflections include synchronistic observations, quotes from Jung , Murray Stein and my own impressions which connect to the piece I composed at Eranos called "Harbour". For the soundscape for Journey to the Self I multi-layered my voice using various transformations set against the backdrop of a gong that is in the garden at Eranos. I then delicately dusted in a deepening synthesiser to enhance the dream like quality of the refection.
Here is the link to the film of Journey to The Self
The Round Table at the Eranos Centre overlooking Lake Maggiore
Finally I made the 1'30" video by the lakeside at Eranos to give a taste of the inspirational qualities that have led me to embark on this work.
View from the room where Jung stayed at The Eranos Institute
