Description
Kathedrale is a somewhat instinctive musical response to Andreas Gursky's iconic large-scale photograph, Kathedrale I. Shot inside Chartres Cathedral, five tiny figures are enveloped and dwarfed by a wall of enormous stained glass windows. The image is typical of Gursky's style; often vast in scale and shot from distant, elevated perspectives, his photographs are at once epic in their conception and intimate in their detail. Kathedrale is something of a departure from the driving rhythms and dances that usually characterise my music. Instead, the piece consists of a series of drawn out, descending suspensions that gradually move from the accordion's bright, extreme high register to its darker lower echelons. The slowly unfolding harmony may suggest the play of light and shade through the windows themselves and the timbral similarities between the accordion and the church organ are also hinted at. But the work is primarily an abstract reflection: an exploration of stillness and introspection. c Gavin Higgins