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To Awaken a God

Kris Peysen

For this piece, I took a somewhat different approach towards conceptualization. Rather than have an overall arc in mind or an idea of various “events” that would occur throughout, I instead decided to start at the beginning, with a simple melody in the flute, and see where that would lead me. The rest of the piece flows organically from this one theme, as new ideas and melodies are constantly spun out and introduced until the piece at last reaches its apocalyptic climax.

I titled the piece To Awaken a God partly in reference to this climax, as well as to the musical processes that led me to arrive at it. Gods are portrayed in myriad cultures and mythologies, and they are invariably beings of immense power, and often better left undisturbed. For this piece, I wanted to end strongly, with no hint of closure or release. The resulting raw power displayed in the final bars is, I think, godlike. When the piece finally arrives to this point, there is nowhere to go from there, so it simply ends—leaving the rest, if there is any, up to the listener’s imagination.

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