Silence in Between (2020)—11'

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Silence In Between is inspired by the process of dissolution—I find it fascinating to see an effervescent tablet or a drop of food coloring gradually dissolving into water. Inspired by this idea, the piece is entirely built on four progressions and extensions of them (in a very liberal sense, see notes below). Those four progressions are elaborated, stretched, stacked vertically, or laid out linearly. Starting from the beginning, the dissolving process of these four progressions gradually slows down canonically, diminishing along the way, and almost reaches a single-note state in the “Still Center” section. Then these progressions build back up from there, finally reaching the final “Unravel” section, which reveals the piece’s only melodic idea. Therefore the piece can be considered to realize a “V” structure: instead of developing, the music unfolds through thinning out, slowing down, then gradually building back up. 

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Toru Takemitsu stated in his book Confronting Silence that “the dolphins’ communication takes place, not in their sounds, but in the length of silences between the sounds.” I find this statement to be very inspiring, hence the title of this piece. Therefore the full structure of this piece is: four parallels dissolving slowly, reaching the “silence in between,” then “un-dissolving” back up toward the end.

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3[picc]3[Eh]22, 4331, timpani, 2 percussion, piano, harp, and strings.

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