the light of the dark (2008) 13'

Instrumentation: flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, cello (performers double on a variety of instruments and percussion)

click here to view score

Commissioner: Eighth Blackbird

First Performer: Eighth Blackbird, University of Richmond, 26 March 2008

Program note:

the light of the dark was written for the ensemble, Eighth Blackbird. In my initial conversations with the musicians, they mentioned the "other" instruments that they play (accordion, guitar, percussion...), and I imagined a chaos onstage, with the musicians grabbing the nearest available instrument and playing music on it. The piece starts with a heavy-metal-esque cello line and builds from there into a kind of out-of-control late-night jam session, complete with unpredictable metallic crashes, swirling virtuosic fiddling and colliding glissandos.

—Michael Gordon