Leo Chadburn, The Reflecting Pool
Instrumentation
Piano and analogue synthesizer.
Duration: 10 minutes | Written: 1999, revised 2024
Programme Note
A virtuoso piano gesture creates the illusion of a harmonic spectrum, which mutates and degrades through repetition and chromatic adjustment. Eventually, the long resonances of the piano appear to shimmer against synthesized pure waves, like a heat haze.
Press
...a series of patiently and elegantly intoned arpeggios whose sustain is underlined by electronic halos. It's one of several pieces here that seem to levitate almost motionless, quietly enveloping the listener with decaying overtones that seem to reveal more action than the rolling lines from which they emerged... Technically, not too much happens, but it's among the most exciting things I've heard all year... —Peter Margasak, Bandcamp Daily's Best Contemporary Classical Music of 2024.
Live Performances
- Xenia Pestova-Bennett, 5 December 2017, City, University of London
- Xenia Pestova-Bennett, 5 December 2020, Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin
- Justin Snyder, 9 October 2022, New Music Detroit
Recording
Appears on the album The Primordial Pieces, performed by Ben Smith (piano) and Leo Chadburn (synthesizers).
