Audio

"Pentacle" - Gillian Williams, violin; Arun Rao, cello

A pentacle is a star-shaped figure formed by extending the five sides of a pentagon. In magic, such a figure is used both as a symbol and as an enclosure within which spells are enacted. The five sections of my Pentacle define a musical space within which, by repetition and variation, a few basic elements take on a meaning which transcends their individual significance.

The violin and cello play together in the odd-numbered sections, while the even-numbered ones are, respectively, a grave and passionate meditation for cello, and a frenzied toccata for violin. The finale section begins as imaginary folk-music but ends aggressively. Pentacle , composed in the first months of 2000, is dedicated to Gillian Williams and Arun Rao, who commissioned it and first performed it in Dublin’s Hugh Lane Gallery in September 2001.