The Seventh Sun For Orchestra

Abstract

In this work I have created sounds to represent a series of events that signify the apocalypse in Buddhism, the day that seven suns appear in the sky. It is said to bring about the end of this old, present world. No one knows when and how this is going to happen. In Asian cultures, people believe in the cycle of life. Everything has its own beginning and progresses to an end. I wish that one day, after a long period of suffering from violence, a world full of hate will also come to an end, and one of peace and kindness will begin. Inspired by South-East Asian music, the main thematic material is generated from the musical languages associated with the Pi Mon, a traditional Thai double-reed instrument with a metal bell. The sound of this instrument is associated with sadness and rituals. Those especially familiar with Thai culture may note these connections. In the past, the Pi Mon was occasionally accompanied by crying singers at funerals. In The Seventh Sun, reed instruments are combined with muted trumpets to render the crying Pi Mon. The glissandi played by strings imitate the singers. Later, the flutes replace the trumpets and the glissandos disappear. These orchestral effects change the timbre of the music after the climax. The melodic contours, rhythmic patterns, and articulations borrowed from the Pi Mon style to create laments gradually disappear into a massive sound that depicts the seventh sun. Here, the frequency content of the metallic percussion becomes the source for the pitch collections in the harmony, which creates a piercing brightness. Additional elements such as chanting and heterophonic textures evoke a religious atmosphere. Hierarchical and cyclical structures associated with gamelan provide the harmonic structure in some passages and render a cyclic form that parallels the extra-musical aspects of the piece.