New Work for Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen

Co-commissioned by Klang Festival, Copenhagen for their 2021 season.

Skin Deep is a setting of ‘East of the Sun and West of the Moon’ as a breaking of reverie. Following the point at which wax is spilt onto the bear and a carefully fabricated world crumbles, two densities of shadow press together like oil and water. One presents a potential for despair and apathy, while the other is fragmented and allows a chance for autonomy to surface in the otherwise-passive story of the ‘one who is saved’ – who moves beyond the tangible realm of known experience to demand and insight change. The piece specifically sketches the conversations with each of the four winds – the first three having never travelled so far, and the final North Wind agreeing to take the journey.

I find this story to be particularly interesting, as the setting details a breaking down of the “fairy-tale ending” that has become a standard for storytelling. Instead, an aftermath of journey and expectation unravels to define the narrative, and specifically for the female character to take back her narrative.

The conversations with each of the four winds are indicated by a slowly ascending piano line, played on the upper harmonic partials to create an echoed bell-like sound. As the piece builds, so does the presence of fragmented melodic figures – before the final journey returns to a reiteration of the work’s opening – removing all expectation, returning to a point of stillness. The strings are orchestrated against the woodwinds and brass like oil and water pressing together yet never blending – creating a tapestry of two worlds that are incompatible, that of pre-conceived ideals and reality.