Released in 1998, Imagined Oceans is an album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 Karl Jenkins

Karl Jenkins

-Other works:*Adiemus: Live — live versions of Adiemus music*Palladio *Eloise *Imagined Oceans *The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace...

. This work was inspired by thirteen lunar mare

Lunar mare

The lunar maria are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions. They were dubbed maria, Latin for "seas", by early astronomers who mistook them for actual seas. They are less reflective than the "highlands" as a result of their iron-rich compositions, and...

 for which the tracks are titled. The musical style is similar to Jenkins's Adiemus

Adiemus

-Concept:Each Adiemus album is a collection of song-length pieces featuring harmonised vocal melody against an orchestral background. There are no lyrics as such: instead the vocalists sing syllables and 'words' invented by Jenkins...

 compositions and each track explores the meaning of its Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 name through various musical techniques. Unlike most of the Adiemus pieces, the lyrics for Imagined Oceans consist of syllables from the tracks' titles rather than invented text.

Instrumentation

Instrumentation (music)

In music, instrumentation refers to the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and to the properties of those instruments individually...

• recorder
  Recorder
  The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
  
  
• 2 percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  ists playing:
  • cymbal
    Cymbal
    Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
    
    s
  • bongos
    Bongo drum
    Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...
    
    
  • tambourine
    Tambourine
    The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
    
    
  • timbales
    Timbales
    Timbales are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing, invented in Cuba. They are shallower in shape than single-headed tom-toms, and usually much higher tuned...
    
    
  • güiro
    Güiro
    The güiro is a Latin-American percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound. The güiro is commonly used in Latin-American music, and plays a key role...
    
    
  • triangle
    Triangle
    A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted ....
    
    
  • mark tree
    Mark tree
    A mark tree is a percussion instrument used primarily for musical colour. It consists of many small chimes – typically cylinders of solid metal approximately 6 mm in diameter – of varying lengths mounted hanging from a bar...
    
    
  • wind chimes
    Wind Chimes
    "Wind Chimes" is a song composed by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks for the American rock band The Beach Boys. The original version of the song was written and recorded for the aborted 1966 album Smile. The band completely re-recorded the song for inclusion on their next album, Smiley Smile...
    
    
  • sizzle cymbals
  • Chinese cymbals
  • bass drum
    Bass drum
    Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
    
    
  • tam-tam
  • tabla
    Tabla
    The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
    
    s
  • pandeiro
    Pandeiro
    The pandeiro is a type of hand frame drum.There are two important distinctions between a pandeiro and the common tambourine. The tension of the head on the pandeiro can be tuned, allowing the player a choice of high and low notes...
    
    
  • crotales
    Crotales
    thumb|right|Crotales are often used with other mallet percussionCrotales , sometimes called antique cymbals, are percussion instruments consisting of small, tuned bronze or brass disks. Each is about 4 inches in diameter with a flat top surface and a nipple on the base. They are commonly...
    
    
• strings
  String orchestra
  A string orchestra is an orchestra composed solely or primarily of instruments from the string family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass , the piano, the harp, and sometimes percussion...
  
  

Track listing

1. "Mare Crisium
   Mare Crisium
   Mare Crisium is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. This basin is of the Pre-Imbrian period, 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago. This mare is in diameter, and 176,000 km2 in area. It has a very flat floor, with a ring of wrinkled ridges...
   
    Introitus" (Sea of Crises) – 2:51
2. "Lacus Serenitatis
   Mare Serenitatis
   Mare Serenitatis is a lunar mare that sits just to the east of Mare Imbrium on the Moon.It is located within the Serenitatis basin, which is of the Nectarian epoch. The material surrounding the mare is of the Lower Imbrian epoch, while the mare material is of the Upper Imbrian epoch...
   
   " (Sea of Serenity) – 4:52
3. "Mare Vaporum
   Mare Vaporum
   Mare Vaporum is a lunar mare located between the southwest rim of Mare Serenitatis and the southeast rim of Mare Imbrium. The lunar material surrounding the mare is from the Lower Imbrian epoch, and the mare material is from the Eratosthenian epoch. The mare lies in an old basin or crater that is...
   
   " (Sea of Vapours) – 4:27
4. "Mare Australis
   Mare Australe
   Mare Australe is a lunar mare located in the southeastern hemisphere of the Moon. It is 603 kilometers in diameter, overlapping the near and far sides of the Moon. Smooth, dark volcanic basalt lines the bottom of the mare...
   
   " (Southern Sea) – 6:41
5. "Lacus Somniorum
   Lacus Somniorum
   Lacus Somniorum is a plain located in the northeastern part of the Moon's near side. It is located at selenographic coordinates 38.0° N, 29.2° E, and has a diameter of 384 kilometers...
   
   " (Lake of Dreams) – 2:39
6. "Lacus Pereverantiae
   Lacus Perseverantiae
   Lacus Perseverantiae is a small lunar mare extending westward from the northwestern exterior of the crater Firmicus, with smaller extensions to the northeast and northwest at the eastern terminus. Its name is Latin for Lake of Perseverance...
   
   " (Lake of Perseverance) – 8:41
7. "Lacus Doloris
   Lacus Doloris
   Lacus Doloris is a small lunar mare located in the Terra Nivium region at 17.1° N, 9.0° E. It is 110 km in diameter....
   
   " (Lake of Sorrow) – 4:55
8. "Mare Undarum
   Mare Undarum
   Mare Undarum is an uneven lunar mare located just north of Mare Spumans on the lunar near side, between the crater Firmicus and the eastern limb. It is one of the many elevated lakes contained in the Crisium basin, surrounding Mare Crisium. The selenographic coordinates of this mare are 6.8° N,...
   
   " (Sea of Waves) – 4:54
9. "Palus Nebularum" (Marsh of Mists) – 3:09
10. "Sinus Iridium
    Sinus Iridum
    Sinus Iridum is a plain of basaltic lava that forms a northwestern extension to the Mare Imbrium. It is surrounded from the northeast to the southwest by the Montes Jura range. The protruding part of the range at the southwest end is named Promontorium Heraclides, while that at the northeast end...
    
    " (Bay of Rainbows) – 2:13
11. "Mare Imbrium
    Mare Imbrium
    Mare Imbrium, Latin for "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains", is a vast lunar mare filling a basin on Earth's Moon and one of the larger craters in the Solar System. Mare Imbrium was created when lava flooded the giant crater formed when a very large object hit the Moon long ago...
    
    " (Sea of Showers) – 4:46
12. "Lacus Temporis
    Lacus Temporis
    Lacus Temporis is a small lunar mare that is located in the northeastern quadrant of the Moon's near side. The selenographic coordinates of this feature are , and it lies within a diameter of 117 km....
    
    " (Lake of Time) – 5:11
13. "Lacus Lenitatis
    Lacus Lenitatis
    Lacus Lenitatis is a small lunar mare in the Terra Nivium region on the Moon. It is located at 14.0° N, 12.0° E and is 80 km in diameter....
    
    " (Lake of Softness) – 3:24
14. "Mare Crisium
    Mare Crisium
    Mare Crisium is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. This basin is of the Pre-Imbrian period, 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago. This mare is in diameter, and 176,000 km2 in area. It has a very flat floor, with a ring of wrinkled ridges...
    
    " (Sea of Crises) – 5:39

Personnel

• Karl Jenkins Ensemble
• Nic Pendlebury – Conductor
  Conducting
  Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
  
  
• Pamela Thorby – Recorder
  Recorder
  The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
  
  
• Sarah Eyden – Soprano
  Soprano
  A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
  
  
• Micaela Haslam – Mezzo-Soprano
  Mezzo-soprano
  A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
  
  
• Heather Cairncross – Alto

Alternate versions

Jenkins has used the theme from several tracks in his other works. "Lacus Pereverantiae" shares its theme with "The Dagda" from Adiemus IV: The Eternal Knot

Adiemus IV: The Eternal Knot

Released in 2001, Adiemus IV: The Eternal Knot is the fourth album by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins as part of the Adiemus project. Inspired by Celtic history and mythology, this album served as the soundtrack to the S4C International documentary The Celts...

. "Palus Nebularum" shares its theme with "Isle of the Mystic Lake" also from The Eternal Knot.