18: Two Images

1: Prologue|Movement|Coda ……. 2: Prologue|Movement|Coda

Two paintings, side by side. One cold, static and morbid, the other warm, fluid and alive. Both are supported by left and right panels.

As music we must take in the images from left to right and so move from darkness to light, from contained rage and depression to an outburst of joy and song. But there is no transition, simply two states of being.

The left panel of the cold painting is an unsettled accompanied horn call that presents the thematic material for all that follows. The main painting is a trapped cycle of sounds, with ever-changing shades of dusk. Its right panel is simply an angry re-utterance of the left for full orchestra, at first in unison but quickly morphing into unresolved canon; there is nowhere to go.

The warm painting has a left panel that is also a solo horn call but here there is contentment and light. The main painting takes the various small musical ideas that have been heard up until now and transforms them into a song of life affirmation. The right panel is a carefree thrill ride.