I originally wrote this piece in 2021 for string quartet and string orchestra, and called it Shiva Dances. I had initially thought of my Second String Trio whose form is based on North Indian classical music, with a slow contemplative introduction leading to a fast dancelike movement. I decided to use a variation of this form again, where in the first version the solo quartet play elaborate solos, something in the manner of the Indian sitar. I happened to listen to a recording of a radio talk by Aldous Huxley about symbols. I was very struck by his description of Shiva, the god of creation and destruction:

I bought a small dancing Shiva statue myself for inspiration, and following Huxley’s description I devised a piece with an extensive slow introduction, based on its opening melody which is in a modal C major with flattened B, followed by a set of four dances, based on the four elements: earth (loud and vigorous), water (a series of virtuoso solos followed by a moto perpetuo), air (a light scherzo) and fire (an energetic waltz). The dances culminate in a fortissimo repeat of the opening theme, in its initial C, and a quiet coda which reaches out towards the timeless.

 

I made this solo violin version in 2022 for Peter Sheppard Skaerved. In transforming the original piece into a work for solo violin I inevitably lost a lot of the underlying harmony, but since my original inspiration was music from a solo sitar I was able, I think, to present the work in an equally satisfying way.

 

DM