Karkata

Karkata is dedicated to the pianist Nic Gerpe, who commissioned several pieces (including this one) to be companion miniatures to George Crumb’s Makrokosmos, volume I, for performances and release on his solo album “Makrokosmos 50 project”.

The title of my companion piece to Crumb’s Cancer, Karkata, translates from Sanskrit as cancer, the fourth sing of the zodiac and my own sign. Esoterically, Karkata (Cancer) stands for the interaction of time and space on the involutionary path of the soul. The opening descending harmonic progression of four chords, sliding into each other chromatically, evolves throughout that entire piece and embodies the cancer’s backward motion and it’s natural instinct of hiding under the rock or in its own shell.

I am grateful to Nic Gerpe for this wonderful initiative and for inviting me into this project as I always felt connected to Crumb’s music and its unmatched finesse.

Recorded and released by Nic Gerpe