Legends and Light Vol. 3

(Note for the protection of your equipment: the very quiet beginning is followed by an extremely loud orchestral tutti.)

There is a place, they say, on the Moon where the sun always shines. Binn an tSíorsholais (Gaeilge/Irish: pronounced “Bin on Cheerhullish” in English, it means “The Peak of Eternal Light”) was inspired by the astronomical fact that, because of the lack of tilt in the lunar axis of rotation, there is a peak at one of the lunar poles which is never in darkness, except during eclipses when the Earth comes between the Moon and the Sun in what would be a lunar eclipse on Earth (but a solar eclipse on the Moon).

I saw a solar eclipse in August 1999, in Tutrakan, Bulgaria. We were granted 2 minutes and 20 seconds or so of totality. The experience is extraordinary, and cannot be described, but it is etched indelibly onto the memory. I spent a lot of time thinking about that, and then took a step beyond that — what if it was a lunar eclipse, where the earth comes between the moon and the sun? We just see a reddening of the moon, but on the moon, you would have a solar eclipse, for the same reason — the earth blotting out the sun. I played this film in my head, and imagined the soundtrack I’d like to hear, and then the ideas started to flow.

In Binn an tSíorsholais, there are moments of absolute stasis, followed by bursts of activity which are meant to grab the listener’s attention. These bursts always have some sort of process behind them — it’s not just random chaos — and the listener’s job is to examine the detail and extricate from this information the direction the music is taking — the meaning of the music, in effect.

The music is in six easily discernible sections – an introduction to an explosive first section, followed by a transition to two sparkling antiphonal sections of differing characters. The return of the opening leads to the expansive final section. I like the simplicity of articulation in late Renaissance and early Baroque forms; instrumental pieces by composers such as Dowland and Castello always interested me, with their sections of self-contained gestures that connect and contrast.

The orchestra is divided into three bands: two complementary wind, string, and percussion bands on the left and right, and a brass and timpani band in the center with the harp. The piece uses this spatialisation of the players and the division of the orchestra to create antiphonal and spatial effects reminiscent of (necessarily imagined) optical phenomena. It was commissioned by Raidió Teilifís Éireann in 2004 for the 2005 RTÉ Living Music Festival, and it was performed by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra on February 19, 2005 at the Helix, Dublin.

— Fergus Johnston

Johnston and Artsada Ltd acknowledge the financial support of the Arts Council of Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon in making this recording possible.