Klokken

Program Note:

Klokken, commissioned by Charles Lilly, takes its title from a Hans Christian Andersen short story of the same name, in which two young boys venture into the forest in search of a mystical bell—heard but never seen. Inspired by this tale, I sought to capture the mystical bell’s elusive quality by imitating the unusual harmonic structure of a bell through the distortion created by vocalizing into a saxophone. I hope the result is as bewildering as the story implies. 

Klokken is paired with another one of my works, Skyggen, a solo piece for a vocalizing flutist, also inspired by an Anderson story. In both compositions, I delve into the intricate relationship between performer, instrument, breath, and physicality.