Aylward / Wien Celestial Forms & Stories CD

Inspired by Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and Calvino's deconstructive analysis of the classic Roman recasting of Greek myths, John Aylward's "Celestial Forms and Stories" establishes musical analogs to Ovid's way of depicting the world. Featuring musicians from Klangforum Wien in chamber formations, "Celestial Forms and Stories" encapsulates the transformative nature of myth, constantly being reimagined and reinterpreted over generations and retellings. Aylward writes: "The entire nexus of Greek mythology is in constant need of new analysis and artistic interpretation lest it become stale and unable to reflect the 'universal contiguity' Calvino so aptly recognizes. Even Ovid's stories were not his own, but rather the myths of the day retold under his own artistic renderings. And so perhaps Ovid is one of the first to abide by the old adage that the act of writing is to rewrite the already written. I would like my Celestial Forms and Stories to be received also as an act of rewriting these myths that Ovid immortalized, in my own way, and through my own revelation of transformation."