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la naturalidad de su asentamiento
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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

infinitos planos musicales

English translation:

infinite musical planes

Added to glossary by Charles Davis
May 30, 2014 09:31
9 yrs ago
Spanish term

infinitos planos musicales

Spanish to English Other Poetry & Literature
An artistic description, while contemplating the extensive landscape:

Deseamos mantener la mirada atenta a los colores y a los planos sucesivos que ofrece la variada topografía del lugar, con los sentidos abiertos a los sonidos del campo, también organizados en infinitos planos musicales.

My rough version so far would be:
We want to remain attentive to the colours and unbroken plains that the diverse topography of this location offers, open (up) our senses, also arranged into infinite musical plains, to the sounds of the countryside.

Not entirely happy with "topography" in this type of text, and trying to find a way to fit in the music/sound that the author has done in Spanish.

The text continues: Visión y audición, en esta tierra, alcanza dominios lejanos, enlaza planos distantes.

So, she is focusing here on senses of sound and sight.

Any ideas, appreciated (while I wade through the rest!)
Proposed translations (English)
4 +3 infinite musical planes
Change log

Jun 3, 2014 22:00: Charles Davis Created KOG entry

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (1): Carol Gullidge

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Discussion

Carol Gullidge May 30, 2014:
planos sucesivos the thing is that whatever you decide these are, they are successive and not merging - which I personally would consider rather an over translation (just as I considered "plains" as a mistranslation!). But in any case, this is immaterial as the question is "planos musicales…"
Carol Gullidge May 30, 2014:
level When I suggest "levels", I'm not necessarily talking about something physical such as level landscapes (and certainly nothing like the Somerset levels!), but different levels of perception (perhaps). In this case, these different levels (e.g., of colour perception??) could be successive, but would be unlikely to merge into each other.

…

Re "in any case": of course it's entirely up to you - just as long as you discard "plains" in both instances!
Rachael West (asker) May 30, 2014:
In any case... I don't think levels is appropriate here.
Rachael West (asker) May 30, 2014:
Hi Carol, "Different levels", when viewed from afar, appear to merge together, unbroken. There are several ways of expressing this continuity of course, in addition to the literal "successive" which is also fine, however, I merely provided a simple rough draft for more context for my question.
Rachael West (asker) May 30, 2014:
Carol, I see your point. In "planos sucesivos" of the landscape, I imagine I confused it with the Catalan word for flatland/plains (plana, in plural, planes), plus it fit perfectly in with the descriptions given so far in the text. In planos musicales, of course the mistake (plain/plane) is more evident. Thanks for pointing it out.
Carol Gullidge May 30, 2014:
I know what plains are! Just don't see how this comes from "planos"
(= planes/levels , according to my trusty Collins, which makes no mention of plains)

And the levels would be successive without necessarily being unbroken, which would imply that they are all merged into one - which, as I see it, is far from the sense I get from the ST.
Rachael West (asker) May 30, 2014:
@Manuela, yes, I could perhaps. Thank you.
Rachael West (asker) May 30, 2014:
Plains... as is flatland, open terrain. Unbroken because they are succeeding one another.
Carol Gullidge May 30, 2014:
plains? Not sure where these are coming from, whether they be unbroken (??) or musical, or whatever...

Surely this is about something like "levels"?
Manuela Junghans May 30, 2014:
Maybe you could use landscape or scenery for topografía...

Proposed translations

+3
1 hr
Selected

infinite musical planes

I'm very conscious that resorting to so literal a translation goes against the grain, but I think it's really got to be this. If it sounded awful we'd have to do something else, but I don't think it does.

I would argue that all three words have got to be these. I don't see any problem with "musical" anyway. You could actually use "tonal", since this word has both visual and musical connotations, but there's no need; "musical" will do fine.

"Infinito" means, potentially, both an infinite number of and infinite in extent. "Endless" would cover it, but it sometimes carries a suggestion of something wearisome, and "infinite" seems to me to have the right tone: infinite space.

As for "planos", I think there is a double allusion here which should be kept if possible, and I think it's quite possible. On the one hand, "plane" is a property of a visual scene (the "picture plane" or planes within a picture), and on the other, it's commonly used in Spanish for a level within a musical texture. My son's piano teacher is always going on about "planos tonales", meaning, in plain language, making the melody stand out against the accompaniment. You can talk about "planes" in music in English too:

"The closing Hymne à l'amour contrasts calm, almost playful material with several more violent and dramatic outbursts; the different musical planes are made distinct by timbre and carefully shaded dynamics."
http://www.answers.com/topic/new-etudes-12-for-piano
Note from asker:
Yes! Exactly, the double allusion works very well here. The musical reference makes perfect sense. Thank you!
Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard
3 hrs
Thanks, Phil ;)
agree Carol Gullidge : although, to be honest, I think the only difficulty here lay in the confusion between "planes" and "plains"!
3 hrs
Thanks, Carol :)
agree Thayenga : Have a great day, Charles. :)
1 day 3 hrs
Thanks, Thayenga! Same to you :)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Well sometimes you can't see the trees for the wood. Thanks for your help!"
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