Veil

Liza LIM
Born 1966, Perth, Australia

Veil (1999)

flute/bass flute, bass clarinet, trumpet in C, percussion, piano, violin, violoncello
Commissioned by ensemble für neue musik zürich and Westdeutscher Rundfunk Koln for the Forum Junger Komponisten 2000
Published by Ricordi, catalogue 138547

Veil concerns itself with the paradox of obscuring something in order to perceive it with heightened senses; the detection of invisible presences through a movement at the edge of perception. Traditionally, a veil is a device that acts as a mediating force between viewer and object -- it creates a ritual space around the object, giving potency to the mystery of its forbidden presence. This play of absence and presence generates a poetry of the `oblique glance´ or `intensely averted gaze´.

Programme note © 1999 Liza LIM

First performances in Cologne (23 Feb 2000), Zürich and Aachen.