Batture

Instrumentation: soprano and piano

Duration: 8′

Program note:

Batture was written for the Astralis Duo, commissioned as part of the Rising Water Project, and is dedicated to Stephanie Aston and Katalin Lukács.

The text from this work is an excerpt from Batture by Megan Burns, used with permission from the author:

listen to me, listen
the water will take everything

the depth of water will swallow fear, cypress knees kneeling in vigils
for safety, untack reprieve, a whole community:
let the water come, take a deep breath
pack as though you will never return
from Batture, Megan Burns

A primary focus in composing this work is an attempt to capture a deep sense of loss, in the multiple senses of that term as it is attached both to Megan’s poem and to the Rising Waters project as a whole. Part of this focus draws on music that is nested in very deep silence, or at the very least, music that is bordering on silence, that revels in resonant space, and that at times feels as if it is on the verge of dissolving or collapsing.