Palimpsests

Relevant Tones - A podcast by Seth Boustead - Mondays

Categories:

A palimpsest is a manuscript whose original text has been scraped or washed away and overwritten with a new one, often many times over.  The original text is still present but visible only in fragments. This concept has inspired composers to overlay music in similar ways to fascinating effect. We feature a small sample of musical palimpsests. Music by Kevin Ernste, George Benjamin, Paul Novak and Gabriel Kahane.