Tales of Frozen Time
Levente Tóth - Photography & Music
Coming soon: The Ray Bradbury Chronicles inspired by ten Bradbury classics.
THE RAY BRADBURY CHRONICLES (2025)
1. There Will Come Soft Rains
2. The Lake (Innocence / Drowning / Reunion)
3. The Golden Kite, The Silver Wind (War / Realization)
4. The Messiah (Apparition / Exaltation / Sorrow)
5. A Miracle Of Rare Device (Vision / Sceptic / Child)
6. Fahrenheit 451 (City / Escape / Exile)
7. On The Orient, North (Romance / Death / Together)
8. The Scythe (Lives / Cuts / Madness)
9. The Drummer Boy Of Shiloh
10. Kaleidoscope (Scattered / Last Emotions / Earth)
All tracks composed, performed and engineered by Levente.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
An album inspired by ten classic works by the great master of words, Ray Bradbury - phenomenal human insight, poetry, and wisdom that took the shape of realist, not just fantasy and science fiction, stories. A master of writing, who often used sci-fi and fantasy settings to tell us something deeply human about ordinary people like us. Using "old-fashioned" composition resorting to the toolkit of musical story telling, here are ten tracks inspired by my favourite works.
1. There Will Come Soft Rains
An automated house, a smart home we might call it today, lives on without its inhabitants who died in a nuclear holocaust - until fire breaks out and the house dies… with just one speaker surviving among the rubble. A meditation on technology that outlives its creators... and on the definition of what is human. The story's meaning transcends and goes far above the specific setting that stems out of Cold War angst.
2. The Lake (Innocence / Drowning / Reunion)
A ghost story only Ray Bradbury could imagine and write with such poetry. A childhood summer break, the building of sandcastles with a girl… who tragically drowns. Many years later, the sand castle built by the grown-up boy in memory of that summer is completed by someone… who left little footprints in the sand between it and the lake…
3. The Golden Kite, The Silver Wind (War / Realization)
A sublime Cold War parable that is universally valid today, too, for too many senseless conflicts. Two towns competing with each other in their military might and defences come to the realisation that peaceful collaboration benefits both sides. Whilst it is written in a joyful, often funny manner, it is as hard-hitting as the best of Stanislaw Lem's caustic parables and fables.
4. The Messiah (Apparition / Exaltation / Sorrow)
Below its surface it is a story about one's chasing of one's selfish desires and visions instead of focusing on the true values... and the selfless sacrifice one can make, no matter how much it aches. The story transcends specific (and any) religion - as usual, it is something universally human that Bradbury captures in a deceptively simple tale.
A changeling Martian turns up in the priest’s little church on Mars and takes the shape of the Messiah. After the exaltation of his discovery, the priest agrees to free it from his thoughts that force it into that shape… as long as it returns at Easter each year…
5. A Miracle Of Rare Device (Vision / Sceptic / Child)
A poetic parable about imagination, soul, open mindedness… and the effect cynical sceptics have on others’ dreams and visions. The fascinating mirage seen by two men, made to disappear by a cynic, reappears when an innocent child stares into the distance.
6. Fahrenheit 451 (City / Escape / Exile)
The seminal dystopia about a society where books are banned and burned. The fireman’s awakening leads to his escaping from that world - and he finds a group of people living in exile where each person has memorized a book and passes it on orally from generation to generation.
The novel is not only about censorship and the role of art in our lives - it is about what makes us human and what dehumanizes us.
7. On The Orient, North (Romance / Death / Together)
A ghost story again - one of utter poetry and humanism, once again... A fading ghost travels on the Orient Express, trying to get to Scotland eventually - where he hopes that people who have not given up on ghost stories will revitalise him. A nurse, who travels on the same train, falls in love with him - but she dies due to her heart problems when they reach England… The two ghosts in love travel onward to Scotland...
8. The Scythe (Lives / Cuts / Madness)
A farmer discovers that each blade of wheat he cuts with his scythe is a life that ends. He stops cutting them - but then nobody can die any more, not even those suffering. He descends into madness, realising that by inheriting the farm and running it, he took on the role of the Grim Reaper... and starts cutting again, relentlessly, the wheat.
9. The Drummer Boy Of Shiloh
Before what has become a famous battle, the little drummer boy cannot sleep - and the general has a chat with him about his role, about the battle, and life… boosting the boy’s morale. A sublime tale about fear, sense of purpose, and the marks we leave behind in life. Bradbury finds the poetic and the humane in the most inhumane episodes of Mankind's history... this story is no exception. It is based on a real person, he was only 11 at the time of the (in)famous battle and, after a respectable military career, he had been laid to rest in the Arlington Cemetery.
10. Kaleidoscope (Scattered / Last Emotions / Earth)
Astronauts get ejected into space after their ship explodes. They meditate about life and the imminent death… with one of them wishing to be able to do one last good deed, something only he would know about… before he, entering the atmosphere, is seen as a shooting star by a child.
All tracks composed, arranged, performed, and engineered by Levente. All rights reserved.
Cover art design by Levente.
Coming soon in 2025.
RITUALS (2021)
1. Standing Stones
2. Circling Dervish
3. Tea Ceremony
4. Solstice Dance
5. Tenebrae (Introitus - O Vos Omnes*)
6. Gravity Assist Manoeuvre
All tracks composed, performed and engineered by Levente.,
except (*) based on O Vos Omnes by Tomas Luis de Victoria.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
The album was inspired by ancient and modern rituals from around the world. From Neolithic times to modern day space exploration, the tracks explore various ceremonies and ritualistic activities.
From the mysterious standing stones, presumably built for unknown rituals, to Far Eastern tea ceremonies, Christian traditions of the Tenebrae, the dance of the whirling Sufi dervishes, the album travels to the world of space ambient music, too - as it ends with a track dedicated to the almost ritualistic, by now classic, manoeuvre used to accelerate deep space probes using another planet's gravity.
All tracks composed, arranged, performed, and engineered by Levente.
Final section of Tenebrae is based on O Vos Omnes, by the Renaissance Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria (16th century).
Cover art photograph and design by Levente (based on a shot of the standing stones at Avebury, England).
1. Boccaccio's Decamerone
2. Abbey Of Sant'Antimo
3. Marco Polo
4. The Lonely Bard
5. Dances At The Royal Court
6. Dante's Divina Comedia
7. The Master Builders
8. Waverley Abbey Ruin
9. Florentine Spirit
10. The Battle Of Anghiari
11. Toledo Atmospheres
All tracks composed, performed and engineered by Levente.
Sound design (Korg Kronos, Korg M3, Korg N5, Waldorf Blofeld, Yamaha FS1R), music, cover art and photos: Copyright 2019 by Levente. All rights reserved.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
Convivium is a carefully assembled selection of electronic compositions from Levente's thematic albums.
These tracks are rather unique musical time travel adventures, as they were composed with Medieval and Renaissance music's stylistic elements in mind, whilst at the same time they rely on state-of-the-art electronics.
Convivium means feast or banquet, and the selected compositions evoke the moods of Medieval and Renaissance get-togethers, tapping into the flavors of secular Early Music.
Other tracks selected for this composition are of a more solemn or meditative feel, as a reprise between the music of joyous gatherings...
Tracks were taken from the albums Tales From Time, Ex Libris, Explorers, Empires Of Silence, and Firmamentum.
All tracks composed, arranged, performed, and engineered by Levente.
Final section of track (6) is based on J. S. Bach's Organ Concerto in A Minor, BWV 593 (which in itself is a transcription of a Vivaldi concerto for strings).
Cover art photograph and design by Levente (based on a shot of Gloucester Cathedral cloisters, United Kingdom).
ABOUT THE ALBUM
1. Vanishings I. (01:37)
2. Salvador Dali - The Art of Cinema (05:26)
3. Raphael - Portrait of a Young Man (05:29)
4. Karl Friedrich Schinkel - Cathedral Towering Over a Town (03:30)
5. Vanishings II. (02:10)
6. Leonardo da Vinci - The Battle of Anghiari (07:07)
7. Rembrandt van Rijn - Storm on the Sea of Galilee (03:48)
8. Vanishings III. (01:45)
9. Caspar David Friedrich - Cloister Cemetery in the Snow (06:17)
10. Johannes Vermeer - The Concert (04:49)
11. Pablo Picasso - The Painter (05:48)
12. Vanishings IV. (02:15)
All tracks composed, performed and engineered by Levente.
Sound design (Korg Kronos, Korg M3, Korg N5, Waldorf Blofeld, Yamaha FS1R), music, cover art and photos: Copyright 2018 by Levente. All rights reserved.
The album's tracks are musical interpretations of destroyed, lost, or not yet found stolen paintings.
The chosen paintings allowed a compositional adventure that ranged from Renaissance early music style to Baroque secular and sacred music elements to more abstract ambient soundscapes:
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Salvador Dali's The Art of Cinema (1944), a painting that was part of the cycle The Seven Lively Arts, was destroyed in a fire.
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Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1513) was stolen by the Nazis, and it has been missing since Word War II.
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Carl Friedrich Schinkel's Cathedral Towering Over a Town (c. 1813) was destroyed by fire, but some copies of the painting still exist.
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Leonardo da Vinci's fresco, The Battle of Anghiari (1505), has a fascinating history. After decades of search, recent evidence suggests it is under later frescoes in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Charcoal studies and sketches survive, also engravings and a copy by Rubens give us an idea of what the fresco must have looked like.
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Rembrandt van Rijn's only seascape, the Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633), was stolen in 1990 and not yet retrieved.
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Caspar David Friedrich's atmospheric Cloister Cemetery in the Snow (1818) disappeared in 1945.
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Johannes Vermeer's The Concert (1664), which depicts a man and two women performing music, was stolen in 1990.
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Pablo Picasso's Collotype entitled The Painter (1963) was lost in a plane crash in 1998.
Cover art is based on an engraving that depicts Leonardo da Vinci's 16th century fresco, The Battle of Anghiari.
1. Entering
2. Carolingian Beauty (Sant'Antimo abbey, Tuscany)
3. Under Revolving Skies (San Galgano abbey ruins, Tuscany)
4. Waverley Ruins (Waverley abbey, England)
5. Renaissance Spirit (Santa Croce, Florence)
6. Deep Forest Convent (Capuchos convent, Sintra)
7. Orange Tree Cloister (Seville Cathedral)
8. Of Kings and Saints (San Juan de los Reyes, Toledo)
9. Earthquake Remains (Carmo convent, Lisbon)
10. Exiting
All tracks composed, performed and engineered by Levente.
Sound design (Korg M3 & Yamaha FS1R), music, cover art and photos: Copyright 2017 by Levente. All rights reserved.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
The album was inspired by, and sets out to convey, the atmosphere of some quite unique gems of Medieval and Renaissance architecture - with extensive sound design and fusion of electronic ambient, Medieval and ethnic music flavours.
The abbey of Sant'Antimo, near Montalcino in Tuscany, is renowned for its unsurpassed beauty - dating back to the Carolingian era, the building is one of the most sublime examples of Romanesque architecture, set in a typically spellbinding Tuscan landscape.
The huge ruins of the Cistercian monastery and abbey of San Galgano, in the visually stunning Orcia Valley in Tuscany, constitute a rather unique and atmospheric landmark in any season.
Waverley abbey is the oldest Cistercian abbey in England, dating back to the early 12th century. Its enigmatic-looking ruins are set in splendid natural surroundings, hiding between the hills of Hampshire.
Santa Croce in Florence is the largest Franciscan basilica in the world. Its main cloister, which dates back to the 15th century, is a wonderfully tranquil example of Renaissance simplicity and purity.
The abandoned Capuchin convent hiding in the forest outside the Portuguese town of Sintra was established in the 16th century. It is now a World Heritage Site, known as the Capuchos convent, and it immerses the visitor in its truly unique and enigmatic, but also humbling, ambience.
The orange tree cloister in Seville, near the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, is a wonderfully tranquil oasis that dates back to Moorish times. The track combines Eastern and Western music elements for the depiction of such confluence of styles and cultures.
The monastery of San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo is a mesmerising example of Isabelline Gothic architecture, which was founded in 15th century. It is like a solidified Messiaen organ composition... hence the idea and the textures of the track, too.
The Carmelite convent in Lisbon, known as the Carmo convent, was largely destroyed by the 1755 earthquakes. Its majestic ruins now host an archaeological museum.
(2016)
1. Flow I.
2. REKAL Inc. (inspired by We Can Remember It For You Wholesale)
3. Human Is (inspired by Human Is)
4. Flow II.
5. Stigmata (inspired by The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch)
6. Twelve Realities (inspired by Faith of Our Fathers)
7. Imperial Truths (inspired by The Man in the High Castle)
8. Fading to Chaos (inspired by Ubik)
9. Flow III.
10. Identity Regained (inspired by The Divine Invasion)
11. Replicant’s Dream (inspired by Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
12. Flow IV.
All tracks composed by Levente, except the following based on songs by John Dowland (The Second Book Of Songs, 1600): (1) & (12): Flow My Tears, (4): Come Ye Heavy States of Night, (9): Woeful Heart of Grief Oppressed.
All tracks arranged, performed and engineered by Levente. Music, cover design & photo: Copyright 2016 by Levente. All Rights Reserved.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
“...the supposedly real world has begun to feel more and more like a Philip K. Dick novel. [...] You might note that, alongside Dickensian and Kafkaesque, we now have an adjective to describe this state of affairs. Phildickian. And the world seems more phildickian every day.” (Jesse Hicks, The Verge, 2012)
Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) was an American writer, whose works, exploring philosophical, political and theological themes, have moved from a rather unique corner of “science fiction” into mainstream (including cult film adaptations like Blade Runner and Minority Report) and into courses on literature.
In Dick’s exquisitely complex, often disturbing (and disturbingly prophetic) universe there are numerous veiled or direct references to John Dowland, the English Renaissance composer.
While navigating through Dick’s unique and turbulent world, these references for me were akin to encountering safe shores of humanity, of familiar and cosy reality, where one could stop for a moment among the many turbulent flows and currents.
This album is about those shores - the human, sometimes background or secondary, stories and undercurrents in Dick’s ever-changing labyrinthine universe.
Among the compositions, which were inspired by these, there are also a few tributes to John Dowland - hopefully adapted to fit into the Dick-inspired musical world as Dick’s references to the music of a distant past fit into his universe...
1. Lifted Into Orbit (Hubble Space Telescope)
2. Vaults of Heaven (Canterbury Cathedral)
3. Overhearing the Stars (Arecibo Observatory)
4. Constellations of Arabesques (La Mezquita, Cordoba)
5. Cosmic Addresses (Mount Palomar), In Memoriam Edgar Froese
6. Monsoon Skies (Angkor Wat)
Cover photos & design by Levente.
All tracks composed, performed & engineered by Levente
ABOUT THE ALBUM
"Sky is of all visual impressions the nearest akin to a Feeling - it is more a Feeling than a Sight. " (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
Mankind has been querying the skies for millennia, driven by scientific and/or spiritual motivations.
The album is inspired by these two different approaches, with tracks dedicated to some of the most notable places where we have turned our gaze toward the skies.
The tracks inspired by astronomic observatories and places of worship demanded compositional styles to range from medieval music to oriental to ambient music.
One track is also dedicated to the memory of the electronic music legend Edgar Froese, who passed away in 2015.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
Dedicated to a few great explorers - some were human, some were created and sent by mankind to explore new worlds...
"Columbia - The Last Flight" is dedicated to the memory of the astronauts on board the Columbia space shuttle, tragically disintegrated on re-entry.
"Hillary & Tenzing" is dedicated to the two great men who took on the might of the Himalayas.
"Marco Polo" is of course dedicated to the great adventurer and explorer who changed our perception of what lies to the East from us... even if many of his claims could never be substantiated, his journey remains a unique venture into the unknown.
"Weimar Variations" is a humble hommage to that unique explorer of sound, J. S. Bach.
"Voyager Ascent" is a piece of fractal music, dedicated to the great emissaries of our planet, the Voyager 1 & 2 space probes.
"Outland" is dedicated to the memory of the late Carl Sagan, who was not only a unique scientist, but who also managed to capture and convey the poetry in scientific and space exploration...
5. Sun Tzu – The Art Of War (In Memoriam Akira Kurosawa)
6. Leo Tolstoy - War And Peace
8. Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 (City / Chase / Escape / Exile)
9. Stanislaw Lem – Solaris (Apparitions / The Ocean)
ABOUT THE ALBUM
The album is inspired by some of my favourite books.
Due to the choices made, the music depicting the moods and stories of these books ranges in its style from early medieval, through Japanese and Eastern European, to electronic atmospheres.
All tracks composed, arranged, performed and engineered by Levente, except:
Purgatory section of "Dante - Divina Comedia" is based on the Adagio movement in J.S. Bach's Organ Concerto In A Minor, BWV593.
Cover photo & design by Levente.
Many thanks to Andreas Sumerauer for the rare and exquisite medieval instrument sound sample libraries.
Additional 'turning pages' sounds on tracks 'Turning Pages I. ... IV.' recorded and processed by Levente.
6. Forgotten Battlefields (Fearless/The Field/Battle/Aftermath)
9. Leaving The Dark Ages (Inquisition/Lights/Procession/Hope)
ABOUT THE ALBUM
A few tales, moments, images of distant worlds...
The first half of the album ventures into the far Orient, its past and present, contemplating the imagery of intimate Eastern ceremonies, cities, monasteries...
The second part immerses itself in the world of medieval bards, battles, the Dark Ages and enlightenment...
All tracks combine the characteristic 'sound' of these worlds with electronics, sounds of rare medieval and ethnic instruments being used in conjunction with synthesized atmospheres.
“It takes rare imagination to blend eminently electronic music with the recognisable style and flavours of 14th century early music and gripping Far-Eastern harmonies - but these tracks do just that.” (Arad FM, 2002)
All tracks composed, arranged, performed and engineered by Levente, except:
Forgotten Battlefieds, Fearless part: based on La quarte estampie royal, Anonymous, 14th century.
Forgotten Battlefieds, Aftermath part: based on Ja nuns hons pris, attributed to Richard I. Lionheart, 12th century.
Many thanks to Andreas Sumerauer for the rare medieval instrument samples.
Cover photo and design by Levente.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
Ambiental electronic soundscapes, infused with ethnic / new age elements... Mostly inspired by places visited in the past - or, as in some cases, places one can only imagine visiting...
The CD was originally released on the Vitaminic label, and the track "Into The Storm" was also featured on the Christopher Franke-founded Sonic Images / Earthtone Records compilation "Noua Romanie - Rebirth of a Nation".
Cover photography and design by Levente.
Review in Aural Innovations (Issue 15, April 2001) by Jerry Kranitz:
"The aptly titled Places is just that... a series of expressions of impressions inspired by the mood of places in Britain and in Levente's homeland, Transylvania.
Levente became interested in synthesizer music in 1987 and was involved in presenting a series of radio programs in Transylvania on the history of electronic music.
"Faces Of Dartmoor": a track with continually changing moods and paces that include gorgeous melodies and beautifully painted aural landscapes. There's a rapid syncopated synth pattern that reminded me of Tangerine Dream, and part of this even reminded me of early Yes during their more pastoral moments.
Other highlights include "Heart Of Orion", a quiet, atmospheric spacescape piece.
"Carpathian Flight" is a fiery, majestic symphonic work with driving percussion and is very much in the Vangelis mold. Levente successfully communicates, as intended, the feel of flying over the Carpathian mountains. What a view!
In summary, if you're a fan of Levente's stated influences or just dig accessible symphonic progressive music than you'll certainly enjoy his inspirational, melodic, and image inducing brand of keyboard music. "