Metamorphosis

Commissioned as part of the ANAM set, this piece for violin and piano sits in a collection of 3 short movements. I wrote this piece for emerging violinist Grace Wu who told me her favourite period of music to play was romantic. For this reason, I knew I wanted there to be a beautiful melodic section somewhere for her to enjoy. However, during the process I found myself gravitating towards much darker, more textural ideas as I reflected on world events during the pandemic. This got me thinking about life a lot though, and that without darkness we can’t have light and vice versa. We can’t experience joy without pain and no joy can last forever. Sometimes in darkness we can find joy, and sometimes while experiencing joy we also feel pain in knowing it will soon dissipate. After the tension that grabs you in the first movement of the piece, and a 2nd movement which is full of frantic, slightly chaotic energy, I wanted the audience to feel a huge sense of relief when hearing the final movement and therefore experience a heightened sense of emotion. However there is also an intentional foreboding undertone and strange sadness. This piece was a journey to write, and is still one of my favourites.