Violine II (Aqua Luna)

My String Sextet 'Aqua Luna' is in five movements, each of which is descriptive of a named sea or ocean of the Moon. Movement I begins with a short introduction representing the rising of the moon - Luna Ortis, which leads to The Sea of Waves - Mare Undarem. This second section portrays mainly gentle and playful waves and although there are moments of more turbulent music, the waves never become genuinely stormy. The viola solo and subsequent slow moving chords of movement two, convey the stillness of The Sea of Tranquillity - Mare Tranquillitatis. This movement’s middle section describes The Sea of Clouds - Mare Nubium. Here the fragmented writing for violins and violas describes small whispy clouds drifting aimlessly around, and from time to time they join with cellos in more sustained chordal writing as the clouds become larger - as if heralding a storm. A storm never happens and the clouds drift away as the music returns to that of The Sea of Tranquillity. The rhythmically active third movement describes The Sea of Crisis - Mare Crisium. In the form of a scherzo and short trio, the music’s nervous and tense nature, combined with frequent dissonant writing, depicts a state of almost continuous anxiety. For Mare Frigoris, tremolos, chromaticism, spiky staccato writing and the high lying solo violin lines are used to describe The Sea of Cold. The fugal last movement represents The Sea of Fecundity - Mare Fecunditatis, the various appearances of the rhythmic fugal sections are separated by more homophonic passages which are loosely based on the chords from the work’s introductory bars. Here though, they appear in reverse order, to represent the setting of the moon - Lunam Occidere.