In an Elegiac Way
scored for two violins, viola and cello
duration 14 minutes
In an Elegiac Way consists of mourning for what once was — grief, stillness. The music is slow and introspective, expressive and psychologically complex.
Strange Sadness centers around an inexplicable sorrow, as if you exist in an in-between world, as if you're living under a glass dome. It seems to give voice to a greater suffering, one you are part of — a loss of freedom. In Surreal, Suspended States, time itself becomes fluid — as though you are drifting through a landscape where everything feels both near and unattainable. In Frozen, fragile… (from afar), time stands still — a frozen world, like the memory of something that was never fully spoken.
The work seeks to be a layered and subtle reflection of the disorienting experience of loss and the enigmatic process of mourning. The music does not speak loudly, but rather suggests.
I Strange Sadness
II Surreal, Suspended States
III Frozen, fragile… (from afar)
'In an Elegiac Way' is dedicated to Desguin Quartet. The first performance was on November 18, 2020 in deSingel, Antwerp (Belgium).