Obsidian Light

In August 2010 I arrived in Santa Cruz in USA for a Cabrillo Festival where a piece of mine was being performed. When I travel to concerts in different parts of the world, I often find myself in a state of half-awake/half-asleep, like many people. In Santa Cruz the jet lag was particularly overwhelming and I was waking up at all hours of the night. I then began sketching some ideas during these hours. Being in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people, perhaps, played a role in shaping the ideas that formed in my head. I was away from my studio and my piano and working at a completely different time of the day. Most nights it happened to be around 2 am, in the darkest period of the night, until just before dawn. This went on for a number of days and by the time I left I had lots of material that would become the basis of Obsidian Light. As I was developing these sketches I had no title for the piece yet. The music I was writing had a darkness that was, at the same time, not without light. I thought of obsidian stone which is formed when lava cools as it meets water. This stone is dark and glossy, but it is still possible to see some faint light through it. The piece starts with a single line in the lower strings and builds slowly, there is a middle section with reduced forces featuring woodwinds. The darker opening material then returns.

— Elena Kats-Chernin

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