Programme Note
The piece was written in southern Africa during the last few weeks of my mother’s life. I tried to write without any pre-planning whatsoever, taking each new step as it came. I wanted to be surprised at the result.
The title Into Darkness was not intended programmatically, but was to refer to the compositional attitude. However, this piece was unavoidably influenced by the circumstances of its composition, insofar as it developed into a slightly African sort of Totentanz.
There are two movements.
© Kevin Volans, Dublin 2002