Live recording performed by Róisín Walters
Instrumentation: violin
Type: solo
Year: 2015
Premiere: Performed by Róisin Walters, at Kirkos Blackout, 8th/9th May 2015, Katherine Brennan Hall, RIAM.
Duration: 14’
In the spirit of the Blackout series this piece has been written in the dark. The idea was forced upon me one night when there was an actual blackout at my house as I was writing. I continued by candlelight in an attempt to capture any sense of the surrounding darkness.
From a technical standpoint Messiaen has influenced this piece in a number of ways. The first is the use of added values to a standard rhythm by a note, rest or dot. I have used this idea to give character and a more unique speaking quality to the solo instrument. I have also used his technique of rhythms in augmentation/diminution. Slowing down phrases that we have already heard, in an attempt to match the achingly slow passages from his Quatour pour la fin du temps.