Dedicated to Natalie Sherer
Duration: ca. 8 min.
For solo piano
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In one way or another, most of my output is influenced by some image or landscape. Obsidian Wasteland is exactly as it sounds. While writing the work, the focus was based on sounds and extended techniques that could be done inside the piano and on the keys. Utilizing a wire brush and yarn mallet gave access to many timbral possibilities. To create coherence with sound rather than with melody, I chose to focus on rhythmic elements to try and create a sense of connection with these different noises. Eventually cluster chords find their way into the landscape and leads to a violent explosion of discord, then finishing with a calm “aeolian harp” effect, which is created by strumming the strings inside the piano while silently depressing the keys. The world in which this piece lives could be seen as post-apocalyptic with a barren obsidian wasteland beneath a tinted yellow sky; barren and wasted, these sounds float away into infinite.