the heavens can make light and flame and ice and water

Aaron Holloway-Nahum

24 views

Solo

2022

8 min.

Accordion

Live Electronics

Program Notes: the heavens can make light and flame and ice and water was commissioned by the Royal Academy of Music as part of their Bicentenary 200 Commissions Project. The piece takes - as its starting point - a reading of a translation of a poem by Ukrainian poet Kateryna Babkina. This reading was analyzed (for pitch and rhythmic content), processed heavily (in the electronic samples) and reflected upon constantly while I was composing the piece. Throughout the piece, the player is directed to perform (in general) extremely quietly with violently loud accents. The effect is one of a text, or spoken dialogue that is half-remembered by the listener. The electronics alternatively veil the performance further, or illuminate it concretely with snippets of text and moments of concrete interaction with the live performer. Though the piece was composed mostly in 2021, it was completed and premiered three weeks into the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, in March 2022. It carries within it every resonance of sadness, anger, helplessness, smallness, and loss which I have felt in watching that criminal tragedy unfold.
Recording Notes: Iñigo Mikeleiz-Berrade, Accordion
Ensemble Name: Iñigo Mikeleiz-Berrade, Accordion