First Version - March 25, 2025
Latest Version - May 22, 2026
6 Bass Clarinets
Artists - John MacLachlan (composer)
Movements - N/A
Duration - 6'30"
Difficulty - High
Composition Opportunity - Personal Goal
I was keen to write a piece for an ensemble consisting of many bass clarinets. I began by sketching two chords, which open the piece and can be heard throughout. This piece is meant to depict a shadow so intense that it appears to create an endless void wherever it travels, like a black hole. During the piece, the shadow absorbs light, which vainly tries to escape from the pit created by the darkness that surrounds it, sometimes trying to climb out gradually, and sometimes rocketing into the sky, only to be sucked back into the shadow. Ultimately, the faint glow of the light is only barely visible in the smothering murk.