Chasm

Chasm is inspired by both meanings of the word: a deep fissure in the earth’s surface, and a profound divide between people. Visiting Patuna Chasm near Wellington, literally standing inside a split through the land, was a moving experience that led me to reflect on the word's other meaning. In a world that feels increasingly fractured, this piece emerged from a deeply personal desire to navigate that feeling.

Chasm opens with a unison note that fractures, splitting into two voices. The entire work grows out of this idea, including a lamenting melody set against and around the grounding of the open string. What unfolds is rhapsodic and intense, lyrical and questioning, sometimes withdrawing into contemplation and other times intensifying into something more anguished and virtuosic. There is a sense of wrestling with something that cannot be resolved. The violin’s timbre frequently shifts from a rich expressivity to harsher, transparent tones. Eruptions into passages of fierce virtuosity never fully resolve. Ultimately the music opens out, as if looking up from within the fracture.